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| Great Scientists; a quick overview | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 27 2007, 01:31 PM (138 Views) | |
| christianorder | Dec 27 2007, 01:31 PM Post #1 |
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Great Scientists Aristotle - Aristotle was interested in what could be learned directly from the physical world. He classified knowledge into different fields, and wrote a book, Physics, that described how nature should be studied. Aristotle looked at objects as well as living things to see how they relate to each other and form part of a larger order. He was a student of Plato and would go on to become a tutor of Alexander the Great. “Wisdom is the knowledge about principles and causes.” - Aristotle Archimedes - Archimedes was a great mathematician whose achievements included working out the ratio of a cylinder’s volume to that of a sphere. He also used math to explain the principles behind levers, pulleys, and other important aspects of the physical world. He was also a skillful engineer, designing machines to lift water and heavy loads with relatively little effort, and was frequently called on to solve problems by the king of his native city-state, Syracuse, in Sicily. “Eureka!” (I’ve found it!) - Archimedes Zhang Heng - Zhang Heng, astronomer and mathematician, was a highly principled and versatile official at the Han emperor’s court. He applied the first grid systems to maps, studied lunar eclipses, and charted 2,500 stars with the help of a moving celestial sphere. He also designed an odometer, (a wheeled device for measuring distances) and an earthquake warning system. “The sky is like a hen’s egg…the Earth is like the yolk of the egg.” - Zhang Heng Alhazen - Alhazen, born in the Persian city of Basra (now Iraq) is often regarded as the founder of the science of optics. He conducted experiments to investigate reflection and refraction (bending of light), and used mathematics to analyze the results. “It is not a ray that leaves the eye and meets the object that gives rise to vision.” - Alhazen Roger Bacon - The name “Doctor Mirabilis,” meaning wonderful teacher, was a nickname given to the medieval philosopher, Roger Bacon. He was fiery, hardworking, and an ardent seeker after truth. After teaching the works of Aristotle at the universities of Paris and Oxford, he became a Franciscan friar. He gathered all his ideas about mathematics, physics, grammar, and philosophy into a huge book, Opus Majus, which he then sent to his supporter Pope Clement IV in Rome. But his efforts were in vain, since the pope died before he could read this extraordinary compendium. Bacon was eventually imprisoned by the Franciscan order for his outspoken views. “Experimental science is the queen of knowledge…” Roger Bacon Galileo Galilei - The Italian mathematician Galileo Galilei made outstanding advances not only in the fields of mathematics, but also in physics and astronomy. He lived at a time when Italy’s powerful city-states were at the center of a revival in learning in Europe, and when new ideas could be quickly spread by printed books. Impressed by the work of Archimedes, Galileo used mathematics instead of logic to work out problems. His belief in the importance of collecting evidence to support a theory marked a turning point in the way scientists worked. He conducted experiments with moving objects tom prove new laws of physics. Among his numerous mechanical inventions was a powerful telescope that began to reveal the secrets of the solar system. However, for Galileo, challenging existing ideas came at a price and brought him into conflict with the Catholic Church. “I discovered in the heavens many things that had not been seen before our own age.” - Galileo William Harvey - In 1604, William Harvey was one of London’s leading physicians. He set out on a career as a lecturer, medical practitioner, and royal physician, but it was his research that brought lasting fame. Harvey insisted on testing by observation and experiment rather than accepting traditional ideas. He questioned existing beliefs about the heart and blood, and set out to identify their true function. He published the results in a book that became a cornerstone of modern anatomy. “I began to think there might be movement in a circle…” - William Harvey Isaac Newton - “I now demonstrate the frame of the System of the World,” said Isaac Newton in his great book Principia Mathematica. This brilliant British mathematician and experimenter is one of the most important figures in the history of science. He set out a set of simple but fundamental laws using math to explain the forces that govern everything in the universe. Although he preferred to work alone, he became involved in public life, first as a politician, then as Master of the Mint, responsible for England’s coinage, and for 24 years as president of the Royal Society in London. “If ia have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” - Isaac Newton, writing about Galileo and Kepler Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier - Lavisier identified 33 elements, gave oxygen its name, helped to explain the processes of combustion and respiration, reorganized scientific terms, and published the first modern chemistry text book. He was a supporter of social reform but, like many aristocrats, he was executed during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. Benjamin Franklin - In the18th century, little was known about the mysterious force now called electricity, until Benjamin Franklin began a series of experiments in his hometown of Philadelphia. In the most famous of these, he proved that lightning was a natural form of electrical charge. This extraordinary philosopher, inventor, and statesman began his career as a printer’s apprentice and ended as a Founding Father of America’s new democracy. He was at the forefront of revolutionary ideas in science and politics and traveled frequently to Europe. His best-known inventions are the lightning conductor and bifocal spectacles, and he introduced words like negative, positive, and charge. “Well done is better than well said.” - Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1737 Joseph Banks - English naturalist and explorer Joseph Banks traveled around the world on the first scientific voyage led by Captain James Cook. By his return three years later, Banks had documented hundreds of previously unknown animals and plants. His lifelong enthusiasm for botany is reflected in every aspect of his career. He set up a herbarium of his collections in London and his house in Soho Square became a meeting place for the scientific community. As president of the Royal Society, London, his influence was far-reaching. Many of the specimens he collected are still studied by scientists today. Georges Cuvier - When Georges Cuvier joined the staff of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris in 1795, France was emerging from a turbulent political revolution. Cuvier used the museum’s collections to forge an exceptional career studying animal anatomy. He was a brilliant lecturer and draftsman, and claimed he could reassemble a mammal skeleton from a single bone. Cuvier was the founder of vertebrate paleontology (the study of fossils of extinct animals with backbones.) “Life on this earth has often been disturbed by dreadful events.” - Georges Cuvier Charles Babbage - Throughout his life, Charles Babbage worked on designs for huge automated calculating machines. He was a gifted mathematician with a variety of practical and scientific interests. Saturday evening parties at his London home were filled with educated society guests. He had a particular passion for printed astronomical and mathematical tables, which drove him to design his great machines; he wanted to make the tables free from human error. Babbage spent a fortune on his ambitious projects, but died a disappointed man - although he is now hailed as a pioneer of modern computing. Michael Faraday - Michael Faraday had little education, but in 1812 a free ticket to lectures by leading chemist Sir Humphrey Davy transformed his life. Employed by Davy as a chemical assistant, he accompanied him on a scientific tour of Europe. By 1821, Faraday became superintendent of the well-equipped laboratory at London’s Royal Institution. He was a dedicated experimental scientist, and became fascinated by electromagnetism (magnetism caused by a moving electric charge). Faraday devised a method of using a magnetic field to produce a continuous electric current, and applied this to a design for an early version of the electric motor and a dynamo, a device that converts mechanical movement into electric power. Thomas Edison - The “Wizard of Menlo Park,” Thomas Edison, was a tireless inventor and shrewd businessman. His inventing career began when he was a young telegraph operator, and he went on to establish a highly productive laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. He researched 3,000 different materials for filaments in the search for a long-lasting electric light bulb. He set up an electrical distribution company - a pioneering step in the mass production of electricity - and exploited the potential of this energy source to transform work, home, and entertainment. “Genius is one percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration.” - Thomas Edison Louis Pasteur - The role of bacteria, and other microscopic organisms in causing disease was a mystery in the early 19th century. Many people believed that infections could appear spontaneously, out of the air or in living matter. The French biochemist, Louis Pasteur, was the first person to prove that microbes reproduce. His germ theory of disease revolutionized medical science, and he urged hospitals to use hygienic practices, such as hand washing, to prevent the spread of infection. Through patient, methodical work and careful experimentation, Pasteur tracked down dangerous microorganisms, and went on to develop vaccines to protect both animals and humans from some of the most feared diseases. “In the field of observation, chance favors the prepared mind.” - Louis Pasteur Dmitry Mendeleyev - When Russian chemistry professor Dmitry Mendeleyev began to plan a text book for his students in 1869, there were 63 known elements - now 117 have been identified. These elements were the single substances that form the basis of all matter, which are often bound together into materials called compounds. In the 19th century, chemists developed new techniques that allowed them to split up compounds and isolate more elements. As knowledge grew about atoms, scientists began to look at ways of classifying elements. Mendeleyev arranged them in a Periodic Table that has become the cornerstone of modern chemistry. “The elements, if arranged according to their atomic weights, exhibit an apparent periodicity of properties.” - Dmitry Mendeleyev Marie Curie - An eager young student, Manya Sklowdowska arrived in Paris in 1891 in search of a college education that was denied her in her native Poland. She married a French physics professor, Pierre Curie, who was as idealistic and determined as herself. Their story is one of patient work, tragic setbacks, and remarkable achievements. Captivated by the mysterious rays that had been detected in uranium, Marie and Pierre discovered two far more powerful radioactive elements - polonium and radium. After Pierre’s accidental death in 1906, Marie worked on alone, bringing up their two daughters and overcoming the difficulties of being a woman working in a man’s world. Not only was Marie Curie the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, but she was also the first person ever to receive two Nobel prizes. “A new world opened to me, the world of science.” - Marie Curie Albert Einstein - When German physicist Albert Einstein died in 1955, his brain was removed by a pathologist and examined. Contrary to expectations, it was the same size as that of the average person. Einstein was a mathematical genius, with a unique ability to look at the existing laws of physics and extend them in a new and revolutionary way, His ideas continue to be tested by other scientists long after he wrote them down. He predicted the energy contained within the atom and changed our understanding of how the universe works. Although Einstein was reluctant to see the atom’s power harnessed in an atomic bomb, during World War II, he supported the Allies’ nuclear weapons program because he was afraid that Nazi Germany would develop its own. “E=mc2” - Albert Einstein, Special Theory of Relativity Edwin Hubble - During the early years of the 20th century, there was a huge step forward in people’s understanding of the universe. It was a time of exciting new ideas in physics, and high-tech observatories were being built, with much larger, more powerful telescopes. In 1919, an eager young astronomer, Edwin Hubble, joined the staff at Mount Wilson Observatory, near Los Angeles. He began making careful studies of variable stars in the spiral arms of the Andromeda nebula. Nebulae are sets of stars that look like hazy clouds. Within 10 years, he had discovered that there are star systems far beyond our own system, the Milky Way, and that the universe is rapidly expanding outward. “The history of astronomy is a history of receding horizons.” - Edwin Hubble Francis Crick and James Watson - The name of the chemical DNA, which stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, has become a household word. In the early 1950s scientists were struggling to understand its role in the cells of living organisms. Linus Pauling in the US and a team in King’s College, London, were close to a solution, when tow outsiders, Francis Crick and James Watson, joined the field. They gathered information and built large models of the molecules that make up DNA, until they pinpointed its exact shape. On March 4, 1953, they started assembling a spiral structure (a double helix); by March 7 it was finished; and by April 25 it was in print. They had discovered “the secret of life.” “We think we have found the basic copying mechanism by which life comes from life.” - Francis Crick, letter to his son Michael, March 17, 1953 Alan Turing - During World War II, a brilliant British mathematician, Alan Turing, developed a machine that cracked the German Enigma Code. Turing’s ideas about computing were well in advance of his time. He was interested in the idea of a machine, which was more flexible than a calculator and capable of working like the human mind to handle a variety of tasks. After the war, Turing worked on several large-scale computer projects, including a design for the Automated Computer Engine (ACE), Britain’s first stored-program computer. By the end of the 20th century, his idea for an intelligent machine able to assist us in almost any aspect of life had become a reality - the modern computer. James Lovelock - Earth systems science is the study of the whole Earth, including its biosphere, atmosphere, and geology. This way of looking at our planet as one interconnected unit owes much to writer and environmentalist James Lovelock. As a freelance scientist, he forged a career as a medical researcher, NASA space scientist, meteorologist, and geologist. A skilled inventor, he devised instruments for detecting chemicals in the Earth’s atmosphere, and traces of life forms on Mars. In the 1960s, Lovelock developed a theory that describes Earth as a living organism regulated by processes that maintain its suitability for life. He named this theory Gaia, after the Greek goddess of the Earth. “We should be the heart and mind of the Earth, not its malady.” - James Lovelock Richard Feynman - The Feynman family car in the 1970s was a yellow camper van covered with squiggly drawings, and the license plate read, “Quantum.” Physicist Richard Feynman’s area of research was quantum electrodynamics. This looks at how articles and tiny “packets” of energy (quanta), interact within the atom to produce electromagnetic radiation. Feynman’s diagrams (used to decorate his car) were a code to show the interactions between these particles. “All scientific knowledge is uncertain. This experience with doubt and uncertainty is important.” - Richard Feynman, The Meaning of It All Stephen Hawking - The frail figure of Stephen Hawking in his wheelchair has come to symbolize the triumph of the highly intelligent mind over matter. Despite a crippling illness, he has had an exceptional career as an astrophysicist and science communicator, exploring big ideas about black holes and how the universe began. His book A Brief History of Time remained n the best-seller lists for over four years. A popular science celebrity, he gives public lectures, comments on current issues, and has even appeared in episodes of Star Trek and The Simpsons. |
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| Archistrage | Jan 4 2009, 11:52 PM Post #2 |
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I deal primarily in metaphysics. I have a good background in Christian doctrine, and, something rare in the population these days, I can visualize the concepts of relativity and quantum physics, something few people have been able to do since Einstein. So I work with metaphysics. Understanding the theological reasons behind cosmology and relativity. Archistrage |
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| cade skywalker | Mar 8 2010, 05:43 PM Post #3 |
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Padawan Guardian
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I think Leonardo Davinci could be considered a Great scientist as well because he was famous for his paintings such as the Mona Lisa and the last supper. He was famous for keeping his research in mirror writing and researching into Flight and the Human anatomy. Leonardo Da vinci studied and had a good knowledge of aeronautics, anatomy, astronomy, botany, civil engineering, chemistry, geology, geometry, hydrodynamics, mathematics, mechanical engineering, optics, physics, pyrotechnics and zoology. Leonardo da vinci had plans on how to make helicopter's, a tank, the use of concentrated solar power, a calculator, a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics and the double hull way before any of this was actually created. Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.- Leonardo da vinci Here is a picture of Leonardo's da vinci's work on how the Human emybryo works since the writing is written in mirror writing. http://static.newworldencyclopedia.org/thu...in_the_Womb.jpg this is just my View. you may disagree with them |
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| Silmerion Skywalker | Mar 9 2010, 04:00 AM Post #4 |
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Master Consular/Scholar/Healer
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That is very interesting Cade, thank you for sharing it. Master Silmerion |
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7:09 AM Jul 11