~ Famous Scientists ~

[MysteRy]

Prafulla Chandra Ray



Early Life and Education:

Prafulla Chandra Ray, one of the first Indian chemical researchers, studied at the prestigious Edinburgh University. After graduating from university, he took a position as a Chemistry Professor at the Presidency College in 1889. Berthelot who was a very famous chemist, helped and encouraged him with his admirable research in Ayurveda.

Contributions and Achievements:

In 1902, his research work of History of Hindu Chemistry was published. In 1892, he established Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works that incredibly flourished under Ray’s management. Ray represented many Indian universities at international seminars and congresses. He got elected as the Indian Science Congress President in 1920.

Prafulla Chandra Ray wanted to use the marvels of science for lifting up the masses. Many of his articles on science got published in renowned journals of his time. Ray was a very passionate and devoted social worker and he participated eagerly and actively in helping out the famine struck people in Bengal in 1922. He promoted the khadi material and also set up many cottage industries. He was a true rationalist and he was completely again the caste system and other irrational social systems etc. He persistently carried on this work of social reformation till he passed away.

[MysteRy]

Prokop Divis



When it comes to the development of lighting rods, you may initially think of Benjamin Franklin and his electricity-related experiments. You may not know of Prokop Divis who happens to be the first one who invented the grounded lighting rod which is still used in today’s modern infrastructures. He was also a natural scientist, theologian, and one of the Czech canon regulars during his time. A man of science from the earlier centuries, Prokop Divis thought ahead of his time and made this classic invention.

Early Life and Background

Prokop Divis was born as Václav Divíšek on the 26th of March back in 1698. He was born in Helvíkovice, Bohemia which is now known as Ústí nad Orlicí District of the Czech Republic. When he was a child, his initial studies began when he went to the Jesuit gymnasium in their town. In 1716, when Prokop was 18, he then entered a gymnasium which was run in Louka, in one of the Premonasterian abbeys there. It was there where he was able to complete his basic education in 1719.

After he was able to complete his basic education, he chose to enter the novitiate of the abbey and he took the name Prokop or what is also known as “Procopius.” A year after his entry into the novitiate, he was able to complete the probation period. Another year later, he professed the religious vows he had in the Order.

Prokop then continued to improve his knowledge by studying both theology and philosophy while he was preparing for his ordination into priesthood. He was ordained later on in 1726. Three years later, he began to teach philosophy at that abbey’s gymnasium. He taught until 1735 and during this time, Prokop had been instructed by his abbot to go to the Paris Lodron University, now known as the University of Salzburg. While he was there, he pursued his advanced studies in the field of theology. He was able to complete his doctoral dissertation and in 1733, he was able to have his Doctor of Theology degree.

After the completion of his degree, he went back to the abbey and resumed how he was with the monastic life being a canon regular. There, he served as the abbey’s sub-prior. In 1736, he was then appointed as a pastor of one of the parishes in Primetice which is now a part of Znojmo. He was in that area for 5 years until he was called back to his own abbey in 1741. When he was recalled that April he then became the abbey’s prior.

Career as a Scientist

Although definitely a man who believed in God and served the church, Prokop still was able to make his own contribution as an inventor and scientist whose product is still being used today. He earned the needed experience to come up with his invention when he was still in the parish.

During his time in the parish, Prokop had been responsible for managing the farmland which was in their vinicinty. He was also in charge of the water conduit construction there, which gave him the exposure he needed to understand how things worked. Because of the time he spent managing the farm, he developed an interest for something which was then the current buzz in the scientific community—electricity. After his curiosity was piqued, he began to perform his own experiments and with great success.

When Georg Wilhelm Richmann who was one of the professors at St. Petersburg reached Prokop’s knowledge, he then became interested in atmospheric electricity. The cause of death of Richmann had been because of being struck by lightning. Since electricity was a big thing back then, exploring all possible options as well as sources of electricity had sparked the interest of Prokop. Because of the instance of Richmann’s death, it prompted Prokop to build what he called as the “weather-machine” when he went back to Primetice.

While he was doing his research, he was able to come up with the very first grounded lightning rod. He made use of the safe empiric method to conduct his research, and from how he observed thunderstorms, he was able to deduce that lighting only happened to be an electrical spark. He also realized how he can imitate lightning even in just a smaller scale. This was what he did and he found ways to make thunderbolts making contact with objects on the ground harmless.

One other important discover he made was how metallic points and not any other material can quickly attract as well as discharge the electricity faster than other materials. This was when he began to make the first application of what he then later on finally developed as the grounded lighting rod. So much so was his success that he even demonstrated his findings at Vienna’s Imperial Court. It was Emperor Francis Stephen who invited Prokop to repeat the experiments he had conducted before the Vienna Imperial Court. The demonstrations he did were even honored with the presence of no less than the Empress Maria Theresa. Very much pleased, the imperial couple gave Prokop two heavy golden medals to show their appreciation of his work.

This was in 1754, 6 years before Benjamin Franklin made his lighting rod in the United States. The main difference was that Benjamin Franklin’s lighting rod was not grounded and therefore did not work well while Prokop’s was. This difference made the defining factor of the perfectly working lighting rod from the other not so perfect invention. Apart from his invention of the very first lightning rod that was fully functional since it was grounded, he also created the very first electrical musical instrument. This was called the Denis d’or. It was invented in 1753, and this instrument had properties which allowed it to imitate the sound that other instruments made.

Initially, Prokop only studied science for the sake of being able to find the truth. But when he realized that he could utilize his findings, he did and made the most productive use of his scholarly knowledge. In 1765, Prokop died on the 21st of December while he was in Primetice.

[MysteRy]

Pythagoras



Pythagoras, a very famous philosopher from Greek and also a religious teacher, was born in c. 575 B.C on the Samos Island. He was the leader of the school of thought that believed that souls could be transmigrated and also developed it as a universal principle.

His father was Mnesarchus. He ran to the South of Italy to get away from the oppression of the Polycrates who had come into power in 538 B.C. It is said that he has also been to Babylon and Egypt. He and his supporters came into power in the south of Italy in Croton. That’s where Pythagoras established a school for new sect. It is predicted that Pythagoreans participated in the home government so that they could preach people to lead pure and simple lives as per their teachings. But, unfortunately the enemies attacked the Pythagoreans and the whole sect was eradicated. So the Pythagoreans were either evicted from Italy or they left the town willingly after they were attacked. He passed away in c. 495 B.C. in Metapontum.

Religious Teachings

Pythagoras and his supporters contributed a lot to both science and religion. The teachings he gave about religion were based on the principle of metempsychosis according to which the believe was that the soul was eternal and that it was intended to be reborn until it could set itself free from the phase of wholesomeness of its life.

Pythagoreanism was differed from other systems of philosophy. It did not just seek the truth of life but also gave preaching about leading the way of life till final destination. This aspect made it more similar to mysterious religions than that to philosophy. Many beliefs taught were unthinkable or supernatural that came up from various sources like sympathetic magic, folk rituals and Greek traditional beliefs that were held by them while they developed extremely rational and imaginative systems of science.

Another important aspect of this theory was relationship of the entire life. It was believed that the spirit was present in animals as well as vegetables but there is no proof about this that it was believed by Pythagoras that he believed that spirits could be born in form of vegetables or plants. He said that he had heard his friend’s voice in form of a dog’s howl. It was said that the number of lives as each soul would be born was infinite. This all came from their religious teachings. Pythagoras himself said to have remembered four diverse lives. The followers of Pythagoras and the sect joined into this confidentiality but it was later said that the commands were not observed devotedly.

Mathematical Teachings

The parts between the Unlimited and the Limited were set by the Pythagoreans. It is assumed that Pythagoras himself that the universal principle was a number and limited and gave shape to matter. It was his research on the musical intervals that led to discover that the main intervals, that fell amid the initial four integers, could also be expressed in the form of numerical ratio. He also came up with a theory that the summation of the initial four integers is 10 and gripped the complete nature of the number.

Pythagoreans’ work regarding the “Tetractys of the Decad” was so respected that people preferred to oath by this rather than their gods. The famous theorem of the right angled triangles that was discovered by Pythagoras has already been found in the scripts from the time of Hammurabi, a king of Babylon. Still, Pythagoras did some remarkable work in arranging and organizing the knowledge of mathematics.

Pythagoras concluded the two contradictions, unlimited and limited, as vital principles. The evenness or oddness of Numerical is equated with Unlimited and Limited, just as plurality and one, female and male, left and right, movement and motionlessness, crooked and straight, darkness and light, oblong and square, and bad and good. It was not clear whether there were one or more reasons for setting out these categories.

Cosmological Views

The Pythagoreans came up with cosmology and had different views from their attendants. It was only because of their knowledge of Mathematics and beliefs of religion. Their most important aspect was that the planet Earth was the shape of the sphere and it rotated in the centre place in the universe. They believed that there was fire in the centre of the system but it was not visible to the people as they said their side of earth was turned away from it. They also believed that the sun was reflected from this fire and the rest five planets were far away and they had to take longer routes around. It is unknown that how much part of this theory was given out by Pythagoras on his own. Later it was said by many people that this theory was given out by Philolaos although it was whole group of people who circulated this view.

Pythagoras was very well known for his teachings of religion and mathematics in the western world. He made a very good religious teacher and many of ancient believes in Greece are based on teachings of Pythagoras.

[MysteRy]

Rachel Carson



“Through all these new, imaginative, and creative approaches to the problem of sharing our earth with other creatures there runs a constant theme, the awareness that we are dealing with life with living populations and all their pressures and counter pressures, their surges and recessions. Only by taking account of such life forces and by cautiously seeking to guide them into channels favorable to ourselves can we hope to achieve a reasonable accommodation between the insect hordes and ourselves.” – Rachel Louise Carson

American marine biologist, writer and naturalist, Rachel Louise Carson is famous for advancing the global environmental movement through her writings. She is regarded as one of the most influential people of the 20th century.

Early Life:

Born on May 27, 1907 on a small family farm near Springdale, Pennsylvania, Rachel Carson was the youngest of the three children. As a child she spent a lot of time exploring the forests and streams around her farm, developing a great passion for nature. She became a devoted writer and published her first story at the age of eleven in the St. Nicholas Magazine.

Carson received her early education at a small school of Springdale and then completed high school in nearby Parnassus, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1925 at the top of her class of forty-four students. The same year, she entered Pennsylvania College for Women (later Chatham College) as English major determined to become a writer; however inspired by an outstanding biology teacher at her college she switched her major to biology.

Contributions and Achievements:

After graduation she held a summer study fellowship at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. There she fell in love with the ocean, which later became the topic of several of her best-selling books. She then entered Johns Hopkins University (on the basis of scholarship she received upon her graduation from Pennsylvania College) and completed her masters in marine zoology while serving as a teaching subordinate and part-time instructor in biology at Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland.

Carson’s distinction in both writing and biology earned her a part-time position with the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries in 1935, in a temporary job where she wrote radio scripts on marine life. Her articles were published regularly by the Baltimore Sun and other of its syndicated papers. From 1936 to 1952 she became a full-time employee of the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), moving into positions that further polished her skills as a writer and editor; she was finally appointed editor-in-chief of the information division.

Carson published her first and favorite book in 1941, ‘Under the Sea-Wind’: A Naturalist’s Picture of Ocean Life”. Her second book, ‘The Sea Around Us’, was published in 1951 and explored the origins and geological aspects of the sea and was published. It won the National Book Award, selling more than 200,000 copies. In 1955, upon completion of The Edge of the Sea, Carson began focusing on her growing concern over the effects of chemicals and pesticides on the environment. Her last and perhaps the most famous book, ‘Silent Spring’ was published in 1956. It awakened society to a responsibility to other forms of life.

Death:

This great woman died from cancer on April 14, 1964. Her interment is situated at Parklawn Memorial Park and Menorah Gardens in Rockville, Maryland.

[MysteRy]

Ramon Barba



Ramon Barba may very well be the most well-known Filipino scientist especially to the agriculturally-involved individuals in the Philippines. This is because of his contributions for the advancements concerning the mango industry in the country. Being one of the leading exporters of mangoes all over the world, Ramon Barba’s scientific breakthroughs in the field of horticulture or the science of growing and cultivating fruits has been a much welcomed improvement to the country’s mango export industry.

Early Life and Personal Background

Ramon Barba was born on August 31, 1939 as the youngest of the four children. His father, Juan Madamba Barba was a lawyer, and his mother Lourdes Cabanos was, like Ramon himself, a University of the Philippines graduate too.

He finished his elementary education in 1951 at the Sta. Rosa Academy where he was the third highest in his batch. His high school years were spent in the University of the Philippines. That was where he met Dr. Helen Layosa Valmayor who was famous for her research about orchids and she was his teacher in their Biology laboratory classes.

Ramon Barba went to the University of the Philippines in Los Banos, Laguna to finish his college degree. In 1958, he graduated and gained his degree in Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, major in Agronomy. His inspirations had been Juan Cabanas, his grandfather, who was then an official of the BPI or the Bureau of Plants and Industry and Dr. L.G. Gonzales who is considered as the father of horticulture in the Philippines.

He received a scholarship which allowed him to attend the University of Georgia where he was able to conduct a number of experiments about how to make plants flower using gibberellic acid along with potassium nitrate. In 1962, he graduated Master of Master of Science in Horticulture from the University of Georgia.

Ramon Barba didn’t stop at gaining his master’s degree with distinctions from the University of Georgia. He furthered his education by finishing his Doctorate in Plant Physiology, specializing in Tropical Fruits and Tissue Culture in the East-West Center in Hawaii. He earned his doctorate in 1967 and this makes him a Ph.D. in Horticulture.

Career and Contributions in the Field of Horticulture

The Philippines is known as a largely agricultural country, and Ramon Barba’s dedication to finding a solution to help the mango export flourish even more has made a great positive impact to the country’s benefit from this fruit-bearing tree. However, his road to success wasn’t easy.

Filipino mango tree growers already had a practice on how to make the mango trees flower and it involved using smoke to help bring about flowering. Barba, however, saw this as a tedious and expensive practice which was what made him think of a more probable and practical solution to make the mango trees flower more while he was still a student.

He had to face several rejections when it came to his proposal of applying the technique he developed to make mango trees flower more often which would lead to more fruit production. The trees are seasonal, and this limits the country’s chance to earn from export because of the wait that the trees naturally need to have before being able to bear more fruits. Thanks to the help of Ramon Barba’s friends in Quimara Farms who were Mr. and Mrs. Jose Quimson, Ramon Barba was able to conduct his experiment on 400 mango trees which were 10-12 years old each and yielded positive results from his studies.

The research he conducted at the University of the Philippines in Los Banos made use of ethylene in combination with potassium nitrate. Since ethylene was a gas and in order to induce flowering, the plant has to be covered in the substance being used, he had thought of using potassium nitrate based on other studies which showed that there was a link between the two.

Lo and behold, the results from the simple experiment were astounding. After combining a kilo of potassium nitrate with a hundred liters of water and spraying it on the plants, the buds began forming a week later. After two weeks, these buds became flowers and from further studies conducted, the spraying of potassium nitrate and water onto mango trees helped in tripling the yield which made mangoes available thrice instead of just once a year. Trees which were sprayed with the potassium nitrate and water combination had fruits which were 15% smaller, but overall, the mangoes were great and the trees which had been sprayed still give fruit even after 30 years later.

Even after having the positive results, Ramon Barba met another challenge regarding the patent of his invention. He had read in a paper that another individual had patented his invention, but he went on to contest it as he along with everyone else in the Philippine scientific community believed that it was his invention. After getting in touch with a lawyer, they brought the case up with the Philippine patent office and after investigation, they learned that no patent has been granted yet and the supporting documents he gave regarding his research proved that he was indeed the inventor for the mango flowering method.

The Positive Effects of Ramon Barba’s Efforts

Since the discovery of Ramon Barba’s method to induce flowering for mango plants, the mango industry in the Philippines has experienced and mangoes have since then been considered the number one fruit crop of the country. Apart from the mango producers themselves, other business sectors such as the producers of the pest control chemicals, harvesters, sellers, and all the other smaller groups of workers related to mango industry had benefitted from his invention.

Because of his invention, Ramon Barba became one of the recipients of the 1974 TOYM Awardees for Agriculture and he has also received the IBM-DOST Award in 1989 as well as the DA-Khush Achievement Award and the Gamma Sigma Delta Achievement Award both in 1995. In 1974 as well as 1981, the Crop Science Society of the Philippines gave him the Best Paper Award. In a country where agricultural export plays a big role in the economy and improvement of lives, Ramon Barba’s contributions are indeed worthy of the recognition.

[MysteRy]

Randy Pausch



Most people do not really think of scientists as humans who live and die just like the rest of society. After all, the most common belief is that scientists hold the cure for everything and if they do not already have the cures, they are working on it for sure. However, there is one guy that has given scientist a human face and that is late Randy Pausch who was known for his intelligence first but will be forever remembered for his teachings in achieving dreams.

Who Is He?

Randy Pausch was one of the best known, Design, and Human Interaction at the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University. From 1988 to 1997 though, he was a teacher at the University of Virginia. Not only was he brilliant, but he was also an award winning teacher and a very well-known researcher who worked on various projects with Adobe, Google, EA, and Walt Disney just to name a few notable partnerships. He was also known to have pioneered the Alice Project which is one of the most successful non-profits out there. He and Don Marinelli co-founded The Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon. He was indeed a wonderful human being but sadly, he lost a long fought battle with pancreatic cancer back in July 2008.

It is always sad to lose such a great mind to cancer but what makes his story even more profound is the way he said good-bye. His is a wonderful story that is worth sharing- not only will it bring you to tears but will teach you so many things about human perseverance and how it is to achieve one’s dreams.

Randy Pausch’s Legacy

Most people have given at least a moment’s thought about what their last words would be. For some, it would be nothing more than a few faltering last-minute instructions while others will think of ways they can still tell people off on their death bed. But this is not the case with Randy Pausch. He had bigger and better plans and he wanted to touch as many people as humanly possible.

Also, while most people would have chosen those paths for their “last words”, the late randy Pausch was not like most people since he had bigger and better plans. In September, he delivered a speech that elevated him from a previously unknown computer science expert to a virtual celebrity by way of his lecture to special students at Carnegie Mellon University. Now, such a speech might have otherwise been unrecorded had it been delivered a few years back but thanks to the powers of modern technology, his lecture was retained and spread so it could later be heard by millions of people whose lives it will and has changed. Not only has it touched individuals, but it has also worked its magic in American politics and is poised to become a publishing phenomenon.

His remarkable tale is known as “The Last Lecture” which is really just something of an academic conceit where teachers were asked to think how it would be like if they were near death and had to sum up all the wisdom they had acquired throughout the years so they can share it with their students. The catch is all the know must be summed up in the amount of time it would take to deliver a lecture.

Now this is where Pausch really stood out because the 47 year old father of 3 wasn’t just imagining when he gave students a final lecture. He had just been to the doctor and was positive for pancreatic cancer which meant his last lecture, really was to be his last. He was given an hour to deliver his last lecture and it was to a jam-packed lecture hall where he gave his moving speech about what it was to achieve childhood dreams. Despite the fact that his days were limited, he had a very optimistic outlook in life and his lecture was full of laughter but had more than its fair share of tears. In fact, people who were at the lecture said that it reminded them of a scene from The Dead Poets Society. Many people who have recently developed a love for public speaking say that is was a great reminder of how they should be living their lives.

People often have very strong and varied reactions when it comes to news of their impending demise but people everywhere have to admit that Randy Pausch handled it with grace and panache that is not always seen in cancer patients. To have come up with such a profound and heartfelt speech is something that not a lot of people would have the nerve to do but is something that he had the heart and presence of mind to accomplish.

The people who were there to witness the speech were lucky since they go to hold onto something of the man. Others who weren’t there missed the lecture of a lifetime but it is not like they can get in on some of his teachings and wise words. As mentioned earlier, his book is about to become a publishing success and should not be missed by people who have a deep love for stories of people losing to cancer but winning anyway.

The family and students of the late Randy Pausch are sure to miss him but they have the ultimate honor of being loved and taught by this remarkable man who took news of his impending death smoothly and used it to teach the world a thing or two about living. So you see science isn’t just about white lab coats and faceless and nameless geniuses trapped in labs. Sometimes, they are real life men who battle real life problems and lose only to come out the winner anyway. It is very rare to see such people but apparently, Randy Pausch is one of them and his legacy will be something to talk about for years and years more to come seeing as its impact is just that wonderful and that profound.

[MysteRy]

René Descartes



René Descartes was a highly influential French philosopher, scientist and mathematician, who is widely considered to be one of the celebrated geniuses of the 17th century. His legendary experiment of presenting a geometrical point using a pair of ordered numbers (now called coordinate geometry) almost kickstarted modern mathematics.

The famous skepticism of Descartes, that distrusted every belief but his own conscious thinking, is usually credited as the terminus a quo for modern philosophy. He is also known as the “Father of Modern Philosophy”.

Early Life and Education:

Born in Indre-et-Loire, France in 1596 to a parliamentarian, Descartes graduated from the Jesuit Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand. He later acquired a degree in law from the University of Poitiers in 1616.

He was recruited in the army of Maurice of Nassau in the Dutch Republic, where he managed to make some time to study mathematics, physics and philosophy nonetheless.

Contributions and Achievements:

Descartes was one of the most influential persons in the Scientific Revolution. He virtually condensed the range and variety in the World by his well-known phrase; “matter in motion”. He wrote various books and papers about optics, and examined the rainbows. He declared there was no vacuum, but supported momentum conservation. Descartes also devised the principle of inertia. A supporter of the wave theory of light and vortex theory for planets, he thought of the universe and the human body as a giant machine. He is also described as the father of analytical geometry.

His most significant philosophical position was connected with the mind-body dichotomy. Descartes explained that mind was external to the physical body into which it entered through the pineal gland. He thought that science is an activity of the observing mind (res cogitans) to perceive an observed objective reality (ref extensa). Using one concise phrase, “cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am), he changed the whole direction of Western philosophy. Descartes is credited as the first thinker to offer a philosophical framework for the natural sciences. His theological beliefs became controversial at the time and faced direct opposition from the Pope.

The theories and treatises of Descartes immensely influenced countless aspects of the physical and scientific world.

Later Life and Death:

René Descartes died of pneumonia on 11 February 1650 in Stockholm, Sweden, where he was invited there to teach Queen Christina.

[MysteRy]

Richard Feynman



Richard Phillips Feynman was a prominent American scientist, widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential theoretical physicists in history. Feynman revolutionized the field of quantum mechanics and formulated the theory of quantum electrodynamics. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1965.

Early Life and Education:

Born in 1918 in Brooklyn, Richard Feynman’s parents were of Jewish descent. Feyman earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1942.

Contributions and Achievements:

Richard Feynman was one of the key figures in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos during World War II. After the war, Feynman accepted teaching positions at Cornell and the California Institute of Technology. He was awarded the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics for successfully resolving problems related to the theory of quantum electrodynamics.

Feynman also formulated a mathematical theory that dealt with the phenomenon of superfluidity in liquid helium. In collaboration with Murray Gell-Mann, he extensvely studied weak interactions such as beta decay. Feynman played a vital role in the development of quark theory by presenting his parton model of high energy proton collision processes.

Feynman is credited with the introduction of fundamental computational techniques and notations into physics. The Feynman diagrams have radically changed the way in which basic physical processes are conceptualized and calculated. As a legendary educator, Feynman was awarded the Oersted Medal for Teaching in 1972.

On a mission to increase the understanding of physics among the general public, Feynman wrote “The Character of Physical Law” and “Q.E.D: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter”. He also published various advanced works that have become definitive references and textbooks for scholars and students alike.

Later Life and Death:

Richard Feynman died of abdominal cancer on February 15, 1988, in Los Angeles. He was 69 years old.

[MysteRy]

Rita Levi-Montalcini



“Above all, don’t fear difficult moments. The best comes from them.” – Rita Levi Montalcini

Today women have occupied a greater name in the field of science, proving that they are capable of equating men in their abilities to conduct scientific research. They have taken significant positions in the scientific field as compared to the more traditional roles: mother, wife, and homemaker that existed in the past centuries.

Italian Neurophysiologist, Rita Levi-Montalcini is one exceptional woman, who through her pioneering contribution and hard work has set an amazing example for other women to follow her footsteps. She won the 1986 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine which she shared with the biochemist Stanley Cohen, for their discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF), a protein that causes developing cells to grow by stimulating surrounding nerve tissue. At 101 years, she has the stamina that many younger people might envy. On her workdays Rita gives equal time to her namesake brain research laboratory and her foundation to support African women with potential for scientific accomplishment.

Early Life, Education and Career Achievements:

Rita Levi-Montalcini was born on April 22, 1909 in Turin to a Sephardic Jewish family. She was the youngest child of her parents, Adamo Levi, an electrical engineer and talented mathematician, and Adele Montalcini, a painter. She enrolled in the University of Turin in 1930 to study medicine, despite her father’s belief that women should not pursue careers. After completing her graduation in 1936, she went to work as Giuseppe Levi’s assistant, but her academic career was cut short by Benito Mussolini’s 1938 Manifesto of Race and following the introduction of laws barring Jews from intellectual and professional careers.

“This led me to the joy of working, no longer, unfortunately, in university institutes, but in a bedroom.”

Dr. Levi-Montalcini simply constructed a laboratory in her own home and conducted research in secrecy. For the next few years conducted experiments on chicken embryos, she would cook and eat the remaining yolks. While acting as a doctor in Italian refugee camps, she took out time to publish her research on the sources of nerve constructs.

Subsequent to the Germans invasion of Italy, she left for Florence and lived underground with her family. When the war ended, she accepted a one-year residency at Washington University in St Louis, but stayed more than three decades. She worked together with zoologist Viktor Hamburger and after sometime with biochemist Stanley Cohen, pioneering nerve-growth factor (NGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF). Levi-Montalcini and Cohen won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1986.

Indeed, the latter part of Levi-Montalcini’s life consists of a long list of scientific prizes and honors. In addition to her continuing research, she is an FAO Goodwill Ambassador (1999) and an Italian Senator For life (2001).

“It is imperative that we support FAO’s campaign, urging young people, who more than adults enjoy the ability to spring into action, to play what could be a decisive role in the elimination of this tragic reality. I ask you to join us by participating in FAO’s campaign against world hunger”.

[MysteRy]

Robert Bosch



Robert August Bosch was a German inventor, engineer and industrialist who founded Robert Bosch GmbH, one of the world’s leading engineering firms, in 1886. Robert Bosch is also noted for inventing the spark plug and the electrical magneto for automobiles.

Early Life and Education:

Born on September 23, 1861, near Ulm in Württemberg, south-western Germany, Robert Bosch attended the Technical University at Stuttgart. He also received training in mechanics in Ulm, Great Britain and the United States.

Contributions and Achievements:

Robert Bosch established the Robert Bosch GmbH Corporation, one of the leading producers of automotive technology who also manufactured numerous other products. Bosch made important contributions to the expansion of the automobile industry and related sectors.

Bosch started his own company, “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering”, when he was only 25. He invented a magneto for gas engines in 1887, which was used in an automobile engine almost ten years later. He also invented the first spark plug, an invention which revolutionized the operation of automobiles. His company largely benefited from the war, but Bosch open-heartedly donated more than ten million marks back to the German public.

Bosch Industries faced severe crisis after the war due to the depressing economic downfall, but the company massively restructured in 1927, expanding into the manufacture of cameras, power tools, television sets, refrigerators and radios.

Later Life and Death:

Robert Bosch died on March 12, 1942 in Stuttgart, Germany, of complications resulting from an inflammation of the middle ear. He was 80 years old.

[MysteRy]

Robert Boyle



Robert Boyle was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, scientist and theological writer. As one of the early pioneers of modern experimental scientific method, Boyle’s contributions ranged over a number of subjects, including chemistry, physics, medicine, hydrostatics, natural history and earth sciences.

Early Life and Education:

Born in Ireland on 25 January, 1627 to a wealthy and influential family, Robert Boyle’s father, Richard Boyle, was Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland. Boyle received the best education from various prestigious schools, including Eton, where he studied philosophy, religion, mathematics and the latest trends in physics and chemistry.

Contributions and Achievements:

After studying a few years under the local parson, Boyle gained a strong interest in science. He gathered many prominent scientists from various fields of science who had weekly meetings in Oxford and London. The group later became the Royal Society of London. Boyle was elected its president, but he declined the position as the required oath breached his strict religious beliefs.

Boyle was the earliest-known scientist to really publish his work. He carefully collected his experiments, along with his failures and findings. His 1660 scientific paper, “The Spring and Weight of Air”, mentioned the usage of an improved vacuum pump of a custom design. Boyle siginificantly modified the clumsy and inefficient pump of Von Guericke, which needed two men to operate, and with great effort. In Boyle’s new design, vacuum could be sustained with only one operator in a very efficient manner.

Boyle carried out various experiments which helped him in the discovery of the relationship between pressure and volume of gases. This resulted in the “Boyle-Mariotte Law” which implies that if the temperature is constant, the volume of gas is inversely proportional to the pressure. The phrase “chemical analysis” was also coined by him.

In that era, it was widely believed that elements like salt and water could be broken down no further. Boyle largely opposed the theories of basic elements.

Later Life and Death:

Boyle was a very pious person and died, having never married, from paralysis in London, on 30 December, 1691. He was 64 years old.

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Robert Brown



When it comes to the field of botany and palaeobotany, Robert Brown is a man who has made numerous important contributions because of how he had used the microscope in his studies. The Brownian motion is named after him, and some of his more famous scientific contributions to botany include providing one of the earliest and most detailed descriptions of the nucleus as well as details about cytoplasmic streaming. Some of the first studies in palynology were done by Brown, and he also was the first to recognise the differences between angiosperms and gymnosperms. Apart from those, he had also contributed to plant taxonomy where his discoveries are still credited in the plant families known today.

Early Life and Educational Background

Born on the 21st of December in 1773, Robert Brown was the son of an Episcopalian reverend named James Brown and Helen nee Taylor. Helen was a Presbyterian minister’s daughter. Robert Brown’s hometown was in Montrose and he had attended their local Grammar School which is now known as the Montrose Academy. He then attended the Marischal College in Aberdeen and was a Ramsay scholar but had to withdraw in his fourth year because his family had to move to Edinburgh.

In the University of Edinburgh, he studied medicine but developed a keener interest for botany. While he did not take a degree, he had shown an interest for natural history. In 1791 a year after they moved, his father died. During his time in the university, he was able to attend lectures held by John Walker who was a respected natural historian and he had also begun having correspondences with William Witheron who was one of the leading botanists back in those days. During this time, Robert Brown was able to discover Alopecurus alpinus, a new species of grass and he was able to finish his first botanical paper called “The Botanical History of Angus.”

Robert Brown and his Passion for Botany

In 1793, he dropped out of his courses in medicine and around a year later, he had been commissioned as a part of the Fifeshire Regiment of Fencibles where he was a surgeon’s mate. The regiment assigned to them in New Ireland was with little action though, and because he had a lot of time to spare, he had spent his time on pursuits related to botany.

His life in the military had not suited him and prevented him from getting access to libraries and from being able to begin his own collection of plant specimen. In 1798 and through Jonas Dryander, the librarian of Sir Joseph Banks who he met in London during recruitment, Robert Brown was able to become one of the associates of the Linnean Society. This then became his chance to be part of naturalist expeditions. Sir Joseph Banks had quite a time convincing the lord lieutenant of Dublin to release Brown, but in the end was able to. Brown was still able to receive his pay and commission which he had been using to support his widowed mother who was in Edinburgh.

His being accepted as a naturalist opened doors for him to explore and pursue his love for botany. He had made preparations for his trip to Australia by studying the plant specimen that Sir Joseph Banks had previously collected from the area. He was instructed to collect different scientific specimens but the main priority was to collect insects, plants as well as birds. He had been on the journey of collecting specimen with Ferdinand Bauer who was a botanical illustrator and a gardener named Peter Good who had helped him come up with his collection.

In December of 1801, Robert Brown and the Investigator arrived in what was then called as King George Sound which is currently Western Australia. During his time in Australia, Brown was able to collect around 3400 species—2000 of which were previously not known. Constant dampness during the expedition had threatened Brown’s collection, and a huge part of this collection had been lost though, when on their way back to England, the ship called Porpoise carrying most of the specimens got wrecked. After collecting the specimen, he went back to Britain in the year 1805 and had spent a good five years working on the specimens he had gathered during the expedition.

Works and Legacy

From the expedition Brown had been in, the major work he was able to publish about the Australian plant specimens was called the Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van-Diemen which appeared in 1810. This work had gained popularity because of its quality as well as its support for Jussieu “natural system” style of classification instead of the more rigid Linnean classification system.

Brown had a publication called “Observations, systematical and geographical, on the herbarium collected by Professor Christian Smith, in the vicinity of the Congo” in the year 1818, and around four years later, he was elected as a Fellow of the Linnean Society.

In 1827, the Brownian motion came to life when Brown observed that small particles ejected from pollen grains executed a kind of continuous and jittery movement. He was able to observe the same thing happening to inorganic matter and although no theory was provided as to why these particles moved this way, this phenomenon has been and is still called as the Brownian motion.

He had read a paper to the Linnean Society in 1831 which was published in 1833 where he had named the nucleus of cells. While this part of the cell had been observed by Leeuwenhoek back in 1682, it was Brown who had named it the “cell nucleus” and gave credit to Franz Bauer’s drawings and observation of this regular feature in plant cells.

From the year 1849 to 1853 he was the president of the Linnean Society. Robert Brown had been the first Keeper of the Botanical Department for the Natural History Department of the British Museum. He was able to hold this position until his death on the 10th of June in 1858. As one of his legacies in botany, his name is credited in the Australian her genus called Brunonia and other Australian species he had discovered during his stay there.

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Robert Bunsen



Robert Bunsen (In full: Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen) was an eminent German chemist. Bunsen, along with his fellow scientist, Gustav Kirchhoff, is credited with the breakthrough discovery (1859) that each element emits a light of characteristic wavelength. The event caused a revolution in the field of spectrum analysis, and later led to the discovery of two alkali-group metals, namely cesium and rubidium. He is also noted for developing the famous Bunsen burner, with the help of his assistant, Peter Desaga.

Early Life and Education:

Born at Göttingen, Germany in 1811, Robert Bunsen’s father taught modern philology at the University of Göttingen. He earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at the same university in 1830, and himself became a successful professor at the Universities of Marburg, Breslau and Heidelberg.

Contributions and Achievements:

Robert Bunsen’s research on the highly toxic arsenic-containing compound cacodyl in 1837 was one of his first acclaimed works. He extensively studied emission spectra of heated elements, with Gustav Kirchhoff, which helped them discover caesium in 1860, and rubidium in 1861. As one of the early pioneers of photochemistry and organoarsenic chemistry, Bunsen formulated various gas-analytical methods. He built the Bunsen burner with his laboratory assistant, Peter Desaga, in 1855; an invention which greatly bettered the form of laboratory burners.

Bunsen is also credited with the 1841 invention of the carbon-zinc electric cell, as well as the grease-spot photometer in 1844, which measured the light produced by the cell. He obtained magnesium in the metallic state for the first time and analyzed its physical and chemical properties. A few other inventions by Bunsen include the filter pump in 1868, the ice calorimeter in 1870, and the vapour calorimeter in 1887.

Later Life and Death:

Robert Bunsen died in Heidelberg, south-west Germany on August 16, 1899. He was 88 years old.

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Robert Goddard



Robert Goddard (In full: Robert Hutchings Goddard) was an eminent American phyisict and inventor. Widely regarded as the founder of modern rocketry, Goddard created the first liquid-fueled rocket. He published “A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes” in 1919, a classic treatise that remains the most influential work in 20th century rocket science.

Early Life and Education:

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1882, Robert Goddard earned a B.S. degree in physics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1908, and an A.M. degree in physics from Clark University in 1910. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1911, he became a very popular physics professor.

Contributions and Achievements:

Robert Goddard was the first scientist to transcend the traditional focus from the substance to be ignited to oxygen, the element essential for combustion. He established that rockets based on atmospheric oxygen can never fly in space, where the lack of oxygen will eliminate combustion. Goddard also discovered the rate of combustion depends on the amount of oxygen.

Wernher von Braun, a German physicist and a friend of Goddard, instituted the German Rocket Society in 1927, following Goddard’s March 1926 launch of a rocket fueled by gasoline and liquid oxygen. The German army started research to create a long-range missile using liquid propellants in 1931. Goddard unknowingly assisted the program by answering telephone queries from German engineers. However, by 1939, Nazi aggression alerted him.

From May to July of 1940, Goddard explained U.S. Army and Navy officials about the German threat and the necessity for the United States to produce its own long-range missiles. Although war planners largely ignored him, thinking that Germany was not capable of launching a missile across the Atlantic, Goddard worked for the navy between 1942 and 1945, as director of research in the Bureau of Aeronautics, creating experimental engines.

Later Life and Death:

Robert Goddard became a consultant for Curtiss-Wright Corporation, a leading aircraft firm, in 1943, and director of the American Rocket Society in 1944. He died of throat cancer in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 10, 1945. Goddard was 62 years old.

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Robert Hooke



The British natural philosopher, architect and polymath, Robert Hooke is perhaps the most neglected natural philosophers of all time despite the significant role he played in the scientific revolution. His prominent contributions include: the iris diaphragm in cameras, the universal joint used in motor vehicles, the balance wheel in a watch, the origination of the word ‘cell’ in biology, he was Surveyor of the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666, architect, experimenter, worked in astronomy – yet is acknowledged mostly for Hooke’s Law.

His name is somewhat obscure today, due in part to the hostility of his well-known and dominant colleague, Sir Isaac Newton.

Early Life:

Robert was born on the 18th of July 1635 at Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, England. He was the last of the four children of John Hooke and Mirena Blazer. His father was the minister of the Church of England. Most of his early life, Robert had a poor health due to which he received most of his early education at home from his father, who was also in charge of a local school. As a youth, Robert had a natural curiosity in his surroundings and interest in mechanical works and drawing that he pursued in various ways all through his life.

At the age of thirteen young Hooke was able to enter Westminster School, and from there went to Oxford, where some of the finest scientists in England were working at the time. There he built a good impression with his skills at designing experiments and building equipment. He was appointed as a chemical assistant to Dr Thomas Willis and later met the natural philosopher Robert Boyle, and gained a position as his assistant from about 1655 to 1662.

Contributions and Achievements:

During November 1661 he was appointed curator of experiments to the Royal Society after a proposition made by Sir Robert Murray. In 1664 Sir John Cutler settled an annual gratuity of fifty pounds on the Society for mechanical lectureship and in the following year Robert was nominated professor of geometry in Gresham College, where he later resided. After the Great Fire of 1666 he constructed a model for the rebuilding of the city, which was highly approved, although the design of Sir Christopher Wren was preferred.

Hooke’s contribution to biology is mainly his book Micrographia which was published in 1665. He developed the compound microscope and illumination system (one of the best such microscopes of his time) and used it in his demonstrations at the Royal Society’s meetings. Using it he also observed organisms as varied as insects, sponges, bryozoans, foraminifera, and bird feathers. This was a best-seller during his time.

His other contributions include: the law of elasticity, attracting principle of gravity, he resolved the problem of the measurement of the distance to a star, it was him who actually created the air pump on which Boyle’s experiments could be conducted, etc.

Death:

This inspirational founder of modern science passed away on March 3, 1703 in London, England.