MANORAMA

TELL ME WHY
October 2016 Volume: 10 , No: 10

FROM THE HOUSE OF MA6IC POT. THE WHII,IWIIRAMA YUII8OOK.

•

YAIIITHA a TIlE MAlAYAlA IWIIRAMA lIMY

Tell Me Why has

just completed ten years.
On this occasion we pay homage to
some great scientists who shaped
the world.

PATHFINDERS
'
If I saw further than others, it is
because I was standing on the shoul­
ders of giants,' Isaac Newton said
once.
Thanks to various breakthroughs
in science, people today enjoy a bet­
ter quality of life. We prevent epi­
demics, invent new machines, and
bring the world together with gadg­
ets like the TV and computer. But
these advancements did not appear
magically out of nowhere. In fact,
they were created by the unflagging
efforti and struggles of dedicated
men of science through the ages.
The following pages tell you about
some of the great scientists.

Why is Pythagoras consid­
ered one of the greatest
scientists of all time?
philosophy, as well as mathemat­
ics, science, and religious mysti­
cism . It is also believed that he
had a signif icant inf luence on
medicine, music, astronomy, and

P
divination.
ythagOraS was an
Ancient Greek mathemati­ Introducing
cian and philosopher who un breakable
lived more than 500 years Pythagorean
Theorem ...
before Christ.
He spent most of his life in
the Greek colonies in Sicily
and southern Italy. He was
also a philosopher, and
founder of the religious
movement called Pythago­
reanism.
Pythagoras had a group
of disciples who followed
him around, and taught oth­
er people what he had
taught them. He made cru­
cial contributions to modern

4

Pythagoras is best known
for the mathematical theory
named after him. He is with­
out doubt, one of the great­
est scientists not only of the
ancient world, but of all
time.
Why is Hippocrates called
the 'father of western medI­
cine'?
H
i Ppocrates , a G reek
physician, l ived i n the 5th
cent u ry BC, and f o u nded
the H i ppocratic School of
Medicine. He revol ution­
ised G reek medicine, f o r
he believed i n , a n d devel­
oped the practice of the
c l i n ical method of obser­
vatio n . This was the care-
100 Great Scientists
f u l noting of all the symptoms
of a d isease, and of the chang­
es i n a pati ent's condition d u r­
i n g the i l lness.
H i ppocrates bel ieved that the
body m u st be treated as a
whole . He made medicine a d i s­
cipline d isti nct f ro m other
f ields, and his biggest contribu­
tion was that h e rejected su per­
stition and the belief that
s u pernatural, or divine f orces,
were the cause of i l l ness .
In short, it was H ippocrates who
transformed medicine into a sci­
ence. He wrote on a variety of
medical topics including diagno­
sis, epidemics, obstetrics, paedi­
atrics, nutrition and su rgery.
To this day, newly q ualif ied
doctp rs take an oath cal led the
H ippocratic Oath that lays down
the basic ru les of conduct that
doctors must f ol low.
5
 • •

What makes Aristotle a conditions would always remain

giant among scientists? the same. He studied zoology

A
very closely, and through caref u l
ristotle was one of the observation, h e was able to arrive
most respected Greek at his conclusions. His caref u l
thinkers. He was the star study of animals enabled h i m to
pupil of Plato, a f amous classif y them into different groups
G reek philosopher. He was and species.
also the teacher of Alexan­ Aristotle's inf luence on western
der the Great! culture and science has been
Aristotle wrote on many
subjects including physics,
biology, zoology, meta­
physics, logic, ethics, aes­
thetics, poetry, theatre,
music, rhetoric, linguistics,
politics, and government.
He believed that the Uni­
verse was eternal, that
there was neither a begin­
ning nor an end. Aristotle
accepted that things can
change, but, fundamentally I
believed that the overall

6 Tell Me Why
 •

EUCLID
• • • •

• • • •

• • • • •

• • • • • •

• • • • •

enormou s. His writings

show him to be a man of
tremendou s intellect, who
thou g ht deeply about the
world.
Why is Euclid called the
'father of geometry'?
E u clid, who was born in
Alexandria in Egypt, lived
more than 300 years before
Christ. He is renowned to
this day for his book 'Ele­
ments'.
For centu ries, this book
was one of the main texts
for teaching geometry. 'Ele­
ments' is divided into thir­
teen books, which cover
plain geometry, arithmetic
and nu mber theory, irra­
tional nu mbers, and solid
geometry.
Man with No Roots
Very little is known about Euclid's
personal life. The first references
were made about him many years
after his death. However, his work
is immortal.
His books begin with basic defi­
nitions, and then go on to prove
different mathematical theories.
So, it is only natu ral that Eu clid is
called the father of geometry. He
stressed the importance of logic
and reason in teaching and u nder­
standing maths. Though some of
his books are lost, at least five of
them are still in existence, and
are proof of his remarkable gift for
mathematics.

100 Great Scientists 7

 � " '
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.
' " ' 0 " •
, "'" ""�'li

ARC H I M EDES -'

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levers worked, and built war machines.

What are the major con­ But, Archimedes is most famous for
tributions made by the Archimedes Principle which
Archimedes? explains how to measure the volume

A
of an irregular object.
rchimedes is best Archimedes discovered his princi­
remembered as an ple quite by accident. He noticed that
ancient Greek scientist the water level of the bathtub rose
who made legendary when he got in, and he realised that
contributions to mathe­ you could measure volume by putting
matics, physics, engi­ it on water, and measuring how much
neering, and astronomy. the water level rose. Supposedly, the
Archimedes, who lived scientist got so excited by this discov­
about 300 years before ery that he ran through the streets
Christ, is also remem­ naked, yelling 'Eureka!' which is
bered for his d iscovery Greek for ' I f ig u red it out! '
of the relation between
the surf ace and vol u me
of a sphere, and its cir­
cumscribing cylinder.
He played a major role
in developing calculus
and analysis. This sci­
entist explained how

8
 Eratosthenes calculated its size with
good accuracy. He also calculated
What is Eratosthenes the tilt of Earth's axis fairly accu rate­
famous for? ly. Eratosthenes produced the first

E
map of the world which used meridi­
ratosthenes was an an lines and parallel lines. These
Ancient G reek scientist were similar to our modern lines of
born in the town of latitude and longitude. This great sci­
Cyrene, which is now in entist can be said to have invented
Libya, i n about 276 BC. geography.
He was famous as a In fact, today we still use the word
mathematician and he invented for this new discipline.
geographer. 'Geo' was G reek for 'Earth' and 'gra­
Eratosthenes pro- phy' meant 'field of study . '
duced a reliable, logical Eratosthenes also wrote books o n
method to discover philosophy, mathematics, astrono­
prime nu mbers. It's my, history, comedy, and poetry. His
known as the sieve of all-round knowledge made him the
Eratosthenes, and is ideal choice for the most prestigious
still important in modern job an academic could enjoy in
number theory in an Ancient G reece. He was the Director
updated form. of the Library of Alexandria, the great­
Assu ming that the est intellectual institution of the
Earth was a sphere, ancient world.

100 Great Scientists 9


What are the contributions
of Ptolemy?
P
tolemy was a Greek
astronomer, astrologer,
mathematician and geogra­
pher who lived and worked
in Alexandria in Ancient
Egypt, in the second centu­
ry AD.
PTOLEMY
,
H is work 'Almagest,' is one of
the most important works in
ancient astronomy. It covers the
motion of Sun, Moon, and the
planets around the Earth. It also
contains a catalogue of stars with
their brightness on a logarithmic
scale.
Ptolemy's description of the
Universe was accepted by the
astronomical community for
more than a thousand years.
Ptolemy's second important
work is called 'Geography.' It is a
thorough discussion of the geo­
graphic knowledge of the G reco­
Roman world .
Ptolemy's treatise on astrology
was influential because of its
p ractical treatment of astrology.
Ptolemy discarded practices that
did not have a logical basis, and
also believed that astrology was
not a completely reliable science.
Tell Me Why
Why are Galen's contribu­ Empire's greatest physician. He
tions to medicine impor­ had great expertise i n anatomy,
tant? surgery, pharmacology and ther­

G
apeutic methods.
alen was a Greek who G al e n had an absol ute bel ief
became the Ancient Roman in the power of experiment and
observation . H e did not believe
i n merely fol lowi n g what books
told h i m was t ru e . He needed
to verify the truth for h i mself.
H is anatomical reports, based
mainly on d issection of mon­
keys, remained u n contested
u ntil 1 543, when pri nted descrip­
tions and illustrations of h u man
dissections were p ublished .
Galen, the great scientist, con­
solidated the work of previous
Greek medical researchers, add­
ing the results of his own research,
to create an incredibly long-last­
ing medical doctrine. This medi­
cal doctrine dominated the
Western world for 1 500 years.

100 Great Scientists 11

Why is Alhazen known He developed the scientific method of
as the pioneer of mod­ experimentation , and was the first
ern optics? person to formulate hypothesis and

B
orn in the tenth cen­
tury AD, Alhazen was
an Arab who was known
as the first true scientist.
conduct verifiable experiments. A sci­
entist, philosopher, astronomer, and
mathematician, Alhazen wrote over a
hundred books, more than half of
which have been preserved .
One of his most i nfluential writings
field of optics. In this book,

Translations
I n tile 16- ceatulJ,
Galen's arIgIat Bretk
texts were trMslatld
Into latin IIJ HttIItr
legendary pllysiclan.
Andre.s vesaUus.

12 Tell Me Why

Alhazen gave experimental
proof of the nature of light,
the structure of the eye and
the basic principles of
reflection via mirror.
stated that contrary to pop­
ular belief, the eye does not
send out rays to the object it
sees. Rather it is the light
reflected via the object that
the eye beholds.
This was a completely
new and revo l utionary
concept. The book com­
prises seven vol­
u mes, and was translated
i nto Lati n .
Why was Roger Bacon
called Doctor Mirabilis?
R
oger Bacon was an
English philosopher and
Franciscan monk who pro-
100 Great Scientists
ROG ER BACON
moted experimental science and
was deeply interested in the study
of nature.
He studied mathematics,
He astronomy, optics, alchemy and
languages. H is studies on the
nature of light, and on rainbows,
are especially noteworthy, and he
seems to have planned and inter­
preted these experiments care­
fully.
He seriously studied the prob­
lem of flying in a machine with
flapping wings. He was also the
first person in the West to give
exact directions for making gun­
powder.
Roger Bacon's work was talked
about everywhere, and eventual­
ly won him a place in popular lit­
eratme" as a kind of wonder
worker. He was also called Doc­
tor Mirabilis- 'mirabilis' in Latin
means 'wonderful teacher.'
13
 COPERNICUS

accepted, whereas earlier mod­

Why is Nicolaus Coperni­
cus considered to be a key
figure in the field of astron­
omy?
els had not been, because his
was more detailed and accurate.
He also had a better formula for
the calculation of the positions of
the planets at different times of

N
the year.
icolaus Copernicus was The Roman Catholic Church
a 1 5th century astronomer, criticised Copernicus' theories. It
mathematician, translator, went so far as to ban his book 'De
artist, and physicist, among
other things. Sometimes even
He is best known as the the universe loses
first astronomer to put for­ its control.
ward the idea of a system in
which the planets and plan­
etary objects orbit the Sun.
By 1 508, Copernicus had
begun to create his model
of the planetary system,
suggesting that the Sun,
and not our Earth, was the
centre of the U niverse. His
model of the U niverse was

14

R evolutionibus Orbium
Coelestium , ' after he died,
and it rem ai ned a forbidden
book for almost three hun­
dred years.
The ideas of Copernicus
were instrumental i n the
evolution of the field
astronomy. I n fact, alm ost
every notable astronom e r
who came after him was
influenced by his theories.
Who was Paracelsus?
P
aracelsus was
renowned Germ an physi­
cist, and botanist of Swiss
origin. His path break ing
findings i n botany and med­
icine m ade him a pioneer in
his field.
100 Great Scientists
P aracelsus becam e a notable
physician in the early 16th centu­
ry. He rejected m ost of the preva­
lent and widely accepted world
views, and m agic theories of
medicine. While work ing on med­
ICines, P aracelsus brought
together the use of chem icals in
m edicines. In 1 526 , he coined the
of term 'zincum ' for the chem ical
elem ent zinc. He is also k nown
for discovering 'laudanum ' which
is an alcoholic herbal preparation.
P aracelsus was a strict follow­
er, and a firm believer of the clas­
sical G reek concept of elem ents.
However, he added his own find­
a ings to this concept. P aracelsus'
real nam e was P hilippus von
Hohenheim .
The name 'P aracelsus' was actu­
ally a nick nam e. It m eans 'equal to
or g reater than Celsus' and refers
to his m edical sk i l l .
15

Why does the work of
Andreas Vesalius repre­
sent a milestone in medl·
cine?
Not H ollow
It was Andreas VesaUus who
first concluded that nerves are not
hollow.

A ndreas Vesalius was the observations Vesalius had

the founder of modern anat­ made during his dissections. The
omy. This 1 6th century phy­ bo ok destroyed the misconcep-
sIcian and surgeon
completely revolutionised
the science of biology and
medicine.
By careful and painstak­
ing dissections of cadavers,
he learned a great deal
about the structure of the
human body and laid the
foundation for modern
physiology.
In 1 543 , he published a
remarkable book 'De hum­
ani corporis fabrica'. It was a
fully illustrated anatomy of
the human bo dy, based on

16
tions in anatomy that had
persisted for over a thou­
sand years.
Vesalius' anatomical
studies corrected many reli­
gious beliefs and the finding
of a previous physician
Galen, who had dissected
apes because religion for­
bade him to dissect real
human cadavers.
Vesalius was the first sur­
geon to actually cut open a
cadaver or dead body of a
human being, and his
exceptionally detailed mus­
cle drawings changed med­
ical history for all time.
Who was Tycho Brahe?
T
ycho Brahe was a borg ' in 1 576 . He also b u ilt a
famous Danish astronomer
who played a vital role in
100 Great Scientists
the development of various astro­
nomical instruments.
He devised his own instrument,
even before the invention of the
telescope, to observe the heav­
ens. These instruments allowed
Brahe to determine the move­
ments of heavenly objects more
precisely.
Brahe made sign ificant contri­
butions in the study of the M oon
and the planet M ars, which
would later prove extremely
useful to other astronomers.
I nstru ments bu ilt by Brahe
proved to be very helpful in
accu rate determinations of lati­
tude and longitude.
Brahe bu ilt his fi rst observato­
ry at Herrevad Abbey in 1 572,
and nother one named ' U rani­
third one cal led 'Stjerneborg' i n
1 58 1 .
17
What make Galli 0 Galilel opened the eyes of the world to
a remarkable cienti t? a new way of thinking about how

G
the solar system works.
alileo Galilei was a For many years, scientists had
groundbreaking Italian believed that the solar system
astronomer, physicist, revolved aro u nd the Earth, and
mathematician, philoso- that the Earth was the centre of
pher and inventor. He the U niverse.
Galileo was the f i rst scientist to
prove that this wasn't correct. He
stated that in f act, the solar sys­
tem revolved aro u nd the S u n . He
also invented an improved tele­
scope so that he could gaze f ar
into space. He was the f i rst to
see J upiter's moons, and the
f i rst to realise that our Moon was
covered with craters. Besides
inventing the i mproved tele­
scopes, he also i nvented the
compass and a thermometer.
Galileo has played a major role
in the scientif ic revol ution of the
17th centu ry.

Tell Me Why

Why is Johannes Kepler
considered one of the lead­
ers of the scientific revolu­
tion?
J
Ohannes Kepler was a
leading astronomer of the
Scientific Revolution. The
Scientific Revolution is the
term used to describe the
emergence of modern sci­
ence that took place
throughout the 1 6 th and 1 ]t1l
centuries.
Before the Scientific
Revo l ution , astronomy
was closely tied to astrol­
ogy, which is the belief
that the movement of the
stars and planets can be
i nterpreted to pred i ct the
future.
100 Great Scientists
As the Scientific Revolution
progressed, astrology increas­
ingly came to be replaced by
astronomy as a modern, legiti­
mate science. Johannes Kepler
is best known for his discovery
that the orbits in which the Earth
and the other planets of the solar
system travel around the Sun are
elliptical, or oval, in shape.
He was also the first to explain
correctly how h u man beings see,
and demonstrated what happens
to light when it enters a telescope.
In addition, he designed an
instrument that serves as the
basis of the modern refractive tel­
escope.
Since he was such a prominent
figure in the field of astronomy, a
lot pf spots on distant planets
have been named after him such
as 'Kepler's C rater on Mars' and
'The Kepler C rater,' on the Moon.
19

Why is William Harvey's
work a milestone in medi­
cine?
by the contraction of arteries.
Harvey's k nowledge came from
observations he made of blood
flowing through the veins and
arteries of living animals that he

W
cut open. This may seem cruel,
i lliam Harvey was an as there were no anaesthetics in
English physician who lived Harvey's time.
in the 17'h century. He was
the first person to correctly
describe blood's circulation
i n the body.
He showed that arteries
and veins form a complete
circuit and that this circuit
starts at the heart, and
leads back to the heart. He
also established that the
heart's regular contractions
drive the flow of blood
around the whole body.
Before his discoveries,
blood was thought to ebb
and flow through the body

20 Tell Me Why

Nevertheless, it is how
we arrived at an u nder­
standing of blood and its
circulation in the body.
William Harvey' s work
also laid down the founda­
tions of physiology, which
is the study of body func­
tions.
What is the importance of
Blaise Pascal's work?
B
, aise P ascal was a 1 71h
century French philosopher
and scientist who m ade
important contributions to
maths, science, and philos­
ophy. While he was still a
teenager, P ascal becam e
one o f only two people who
had developed and con-
100 Great Scientists
BLAISE PASCAL
structed a work ing m echanical
calculator.
As a m athem atician, P ascal
developed two separate fields of
m aths - projective geometry, and
probabi lity theory. This probability
theory was born out of P ascal's
study of gam bling problem s, and
had an important im pact on the
developm ent of m odern day eco­
nom ics.
In projective geom etry, he
developed what becam e k nown
as P ascal's triangle, in which the
sum s of successive numbers built
on them selves to form the num e r­
ical row beneath.
P ascal's scientific theories were
import ant to u nderstanding the
properties and volume of solids
usinQ cycloids. P ascal was also
an expert in various languages,
and a well-versed religious phi­
losopher.
21
 ROBERT BOYLE

Why is Robert Boyle who transformed chem istry in the

referred to as a founder of 1]fh century. Till then, chem istry
modern Chemistry? was confined to alchemy and mys­

R
ticism .
obert Boyle was a Alchem y was the study of how
fam ous Anglo Irish scientist to change basic substances such
as m etals into other m ore valua­
ble substances. Boyle m ade
chem istry a science based on
m easurem ent.
He defined elem ents, com ­
pounds and m ixtures and he
coined the new term 'chem ical
analysis, ' a field in which he m ade

TORRICELLI

En .... TorricIlli_
inentor of tilt .......
He WIS .haDaD ........
.

best bowl 'II' Ids COIItrIBtioB

to ... .

22 Tell Me Why

several contributions. Rob­
ert Boyle is m ost famous for
Boyle's Law. It was the first
of the gas laws linking the
pressure of a gas to its vol­
um e. He established that
electrical forces are trans­
m itted through a vacuum ,
but sound is not.
Boyle also stated that the
m ovem ent of particles is
responsible for heat.
was the first person
write specific experimental
guidance for other scien­
tists, telling them the
im portance of achieving
reliable results. He was
indeed a 'm ighty chem ist'.
Robert Boyle is regarded
as the first m odern chem ist,
and is referred to as one of
the founders of modern
chem istry.
100 Great Scientists
Who was Marcello Malpighi?
M arcellO M alpighi was an Ital­
ian biologist and physician who
had a wide knowledge of both
plants and anim als, and m ade
contributions to the scientific
study of both.
He founded the sciences of
m icroscopic anatom y and histol­
ogy. He studied animal tissues
extensively for 40 years, using
m icroscopes that he had m ade
himself.
M alpighi was the first person to
see capillaries in anim als. He dis­
covered the link between arteries
and veins that had eluded William
Harvey.
He M alpighi was also the earliest
to person to observe red blood cells
under a m icroscope. He is noted
for his studies on the structure of
glands.
In his treatise De polypo cordis
published in 1 666, M alpighi
explained blood com position, as
well as how blood clots are
form� d . H is research provided a
foundation for later advances in
physiology, em bryology, and
practical m edicine.
23
Why is Christiaan Huygens the planets, the M oon, and Orion
considered a leading scien­ Nebula. H is k een interest in the
tist of his time? field of astronomy led him to

C
measure time and other matters
hristiaan H uygens, a that relate to mechanical physics.
Dutch philosopher and math­ One of his most important con­
ematician, was one of the tributions was that he explained
leading scientists in the 1 m the vital principles of classical
century. H e started b y trying physics lik e centripetal force and
to disprove theories that had gravity in a vacuum in another
been established by Ancient book of his.
G reek s in geometry.
He was interested in tele­
scopes and astronomy, and
spent a lot of time designing
methods to improve the
mechanical and optic per­
formance of telescopes.
In his book entitled 'Sys­
tema Saturnium' published
in 1 6 59, he noted the dis­
covery of the rings around
the planet Saturn, and
made observations about

24 Tell Me Why
 ' . . - '.' - ' "
l� . �lEEU�EN�9EK' -�
�

Huygens also put forward ies was also one of his first. His
a theory explaining the observations, in 1 6 74, of scummy
wave behaviou r of light. His pond water, led to the first visual
reputation as a scientist descriptions and illustrations of
and a scholar becam e such common organism s as the
k nown worldwide, and algae spirogyra. This contributed
rem ains so to this day . . towards the foundation of several
branches of biology.
Why is Antonie van Leeu­ He m ade one of the first record­
wenhoek called 'father of ed observations of bacteria when
microbiology'? he studied the plaque from his

A
' teeth. He noticed what he called
ntonie van Leeuwen­ 'anim alcules' in the saliva sam ­
hoek was a 1 ?11l century ple. These anim alcules were
D utch scientist. He is best actually bacteria. He gave cells
k nown for discovering pro­ their nam e because he thought
tozoa, and creating m ore they resem bled the shape of a
than 500 sim ple m icro­ monk 's quarters.
scopes. Although Van Leeuwenhoek
Van Leeuwenhoek was never received any form al scien­
the first scientist to closely tific tr aining, he is considered to
observe cells u nder a m icro­ be the father of m icrobiology for
scope. One of his m ost his contributions to that field of
groundbreak i ng discover- science.

100 Great Scientists 25

 ISAAC NEWTON

Weird
A weird fact about Newton is that
in spite of being so scientifically
What makes Sir Isaac New­
minded, he believed in the exist-
ton a legendary figure?
ence of the 'philosopher's stone',

S ir Isaac Newton, an Eng­

This was a legendary substance,
allegedly capable of turning inex­
lishman who lived in the 1 7'-h
pensive metals into gold, Newton's
century, i s a scientific leg­ great ambition was to find it!
end . He came up with
numerous theories and
contributed ideas to many different fields including physics,
mathematics, and philosophy.
In 1 687, Newton published his
book P h i losoph i ae Natu ralis
P rincipia M athematica. I n it, he
describes u n iversal g ravitation,
and the three laws of motio n . I t
is widely regarded t o b e one o f
t h e most important books in the
history of science. It is well
known that his work on for m u ­
la ting a theory o f g ravitation
was inspired by watching an
apple fall from a tree !
During his lifetime, Newton
developed a new type of mathe-

Tell Me Why

matics called calculus, and
made breakthroughs in the
area of optics such as the
reflecting telescope. He
also discovered that white
light is made up of a wide
range of different colours.
Newton was a deep think­
er with an insatiable curios­
ity to know everything about
everything he saw. His con­
tributions are so numerous,
that he changed forever the
way in which we look at the
world.
hat Is Halley' Comet?
E
d mond H a l ley w as a n
Engl ish s c i e n t i st who
b e c a m e v e r y i nte rested
in a comet t h at he saw i n
1 68 2 . Afte r b e i n g t o l d
t h at a s i m i l a r c o m et h ad
100 Great Scientists
HALLEY
appeared i n 1 53 1 a n d 1 60 7 ,
h e s u s pected t h at i t w a s t h e
same c o m et t h at h e had see n .
By using the laws of gravity dis­
covered by his friend Sir Isaac
Newton, Halley realized that he
could predict when it would return .
Halley worked out that the comet
would appear in our skies every
75 to 76 years.
He was correct in his predic­
tion, but sadly when the comet
did reappear, he was no more,
and he cou ld not witness the
confirmation he had waited for
so eagerly. In his honour, the
comet was named after him.
Though he is remembered
foremost as an astronomer, HaI­
ley also made significant discov­
eries in the fields of geography,
mathematics, meteorology, and
physics. Halley was very close
to Newton .
27
Why is Carl Linnaeus one the name of the genus, and the
of the giants of natural sci· second, the species. The classifi­
ence? cation of living things is called tax­

I
onomy.
n the 1 8th century, the In 1 737, Linnaeus published the
Swedish naturalist and phy­ first edition of his book titled Sys­
sician Carl Linnaeus intro­ tema Natu rae or System of
duced the scientific system Nature. Over the years, Linnaeus
of classifying plants and continued to develop his ideas
animals that is used all over
the world to this day. For you
this may be a
Under this system, each
tomato. But, I cal1
living thing is assigned a
this Solanum
name consisting of two Lat­ Lycopersicum.
in words. The first word is

,
DANIEL BERNOULLI

Daniel Bernoulli was a renowned .

mathematician. He is especially remembered for
his applications of mathematics to mechanics,
especially fluid mechanics.

28 Tell Me Why

and add new species so
that the book grew in a peri­
od of about 30 years from
1 2 outsize pages in its first
edition, to 2400 pages in its
twelfth edition.
This was the first serious
attempt ever made to docu­
ment al l of our planet' s spe­
cies. It was a huge effort ,
and it won Linnaeus acclaim
as the 'Father of Taxonomy'.
Why Is Joseph Black
famous?
J
osePh Black, a British
chemist and physicist, is
famous for his discovery of
carbon dioxide. Black was
always a meticulous chem­
ist, keeping careful note of
all his results and measure­
m ents. It was this which led
100 Great Scientists
JOSEPH BLACK
to his discovery of carbon dioxide.
Black also took an interest in
the science of heat. I n the 1 8th
century, there were several com­
peting theories about the nature
of heat, and how it related to tem­
perature.
Black's investigations not only
clarified the distinction between
temperature and heat, but also
resulted in the theory of l atent
heat. Black was a gifted and
effective teacher. H is cou rse in
chemistry proved so popular that
many students, even those with
no particu lar interest in the sub­
j ect, were eager to attend.
Alongside his teaching, Black
carried on an active and
demanding medical practice.
J osep h Black, widely respected
both as a scientist and a physi­
cian, is truly one of the titans i n
t h e world o f science.
29
 HENRY CAVENDIS H

experim ent. He was the first to

m easure the force of g ravity
What was Henry Cavendish between m asses in a laboratory,
renowned for? and to produce an accurate val­

T
ue for Earth's density.
he English scientist Hen­ Henry Cavendish also experi­
ry Cavendish was an exper­ mented with electricity, but m uch
im ental chem ist and of his work on the subject was
physicist par excellence. only published after his death. He
Cavendish was the first to was renowned for the great accu­
recognise hydrogen gas as racy and precision of his scientific
a distinct substance. He research.
called it inflamm able air.
Cavendish showed that
hydrogen is m uch less
dense than air. In 1 785, he
published a paper showing
the Earth's atm osphere
consists of fou r parts nitro­
gen to one part oxygen.
In addition, to his
achievem ents i n chem is­
try, Cavendish is also
known for the Cavendish

30 Tell Me Why
 gas based on its properties.
P riestley a l so m ad e another
Why was Joseph Priestley d iscovery t h at has been h i g h ly
a remarkable scientist? appreciated by s u rgeons

J
osePh P riestly, an Eng­
lishman is noted for his
groundbreaking contribu­
tions to experimental chem ­
istry, electricity, and
chem istry of gases.
Before him , scientists
thought that the air on Earth
consisted of carbon dioxide
and hydrogen. P riestley
brought 1 0 m ore gases to
this list, such as nitrogen,
hydrogen ch loride, carbon
monoxide, nitrous oxide
and oxygen.
He isolated oxygen in its
gaseous state, and con­
ducted a series of experi­
m ents to distinguish each
worldw i d e . He d i scovered
nitrous oxide, which was also
known as l a u g h i n g gas . It was
the fi rst s u rgical a naesthetic to
be u sed .
the P ri estley's best known
achievem e nt in the field of
biology in 1 772 was his work
with p h otosynthesis. P ri est­
l ey's other i nterest i n g d i scov­
eries include the fact t h at
g raphite is a g oo d e l ectric con­
d u ctor, a n d t h at g um m y t ree
sap i s a good e raser for pencil
m arks.
Did you know that you can
enjoy, you r favourite fizzy drink
thanks to Joseph P riestley, for he
was the one who invented soda
water?

100 Great Scientists 31

Why is William Herschel would also discover Titania and
considered a great astrono- Oberon, which were the m oons of
mer? Uranus as well as Enceladus and

W
M im as, the moons of Saturn.
illiam Herschel was a Herschel m aintained that the
German-born British scien­ solar system is m oving through
tist who becam e one of the space, and found out the direction
m ost important astrono­ of that m ovem ent. He also sug­
m ers of the 1 8th century. He gested that the M i l ky Way was in
built his own telescopes. the shape of a disc. Herschel is
From the garden of his considered to be the founder of
house, William Herschel m odern stellar astronom y.
noted 'every star in the William Herschel, a great scien­
heavens' through a tele­ tist was a gifted m usician too. He
scope that he had con­ played the oboe, violin, harpsi­
structed himself. chord and organ.
He also m anufactured
over 400 telescopes that
,
AN DERS CELSIUS
were in great dem and
worldwide. His study of the Anders Celsius, a Swedish astrono­
heavens led him to the dis­ mer, is best remembered for the
covery of a planet that Celsius temperature scale, which
would eventuall y be called was developed by him in 1742.
Uranus. William Herschel

32 Tell Me Why
 ANTOINE LAVOISIER

How did Antoine Lavoisier found that when mercury oxide is

revolutionise chemistry? heated, its weight decreases. The

A
oxygen it releases has exactly the
ntoine Lavoisier revolu­ same weight as the weight lost by
tionised chem istry. It was the m ercury oxide. After carrying
he who coined the nam e out furt her experiments, Lavoisier
oxygen for the elem ent announced a new fundamental law
r eleased by m ercury oxide. of nature- the law of conservation
He found that oxygen of m ass. This law states that the
made up 20 per cent of air, total m ass of a chem ical reaction' s
and was vital for com bus­ products is identical to the total
tion and respiration. He mass of the starting m aterials.
also concluded that when
phosphorus or sulfur is
We have to
bu rned i n air, the products
thank Lavoisier in
are form ed by the reaction every breath.
of these elem e nts with oxy­
gen.
The elements carbon and
hydrogen were also nam ed
by him . Another m ilestone
was when Lavoisier cor­
rectly identified sulfur as an
element. A year later, he
,
100 Great Scientists

What do we know about
Jean Baptiste Lamarck?
J
ean Baptiste Lam arck
was one of the pioneers in
the field of biology.
In fact, the very nam e
'biology' was coined by this
Pathetic Figure
Even though a great
scientist, Lamarck became
a pathetic figure during his
later days. He was blind and
poor, and died in 1829.
34
F rench naturalist. He is best
rem em bered for his theory of
evolution. According to this theo­
ry, the characteristics an organ­
ism develops during its lifetim e in
response to its environment are
inherited by, or passed on to, its
offspring.
Lam arck was the first to use
the term invertebrate to describe
anim als without backbones. He
began collecting fossils and
studying all sorts of sim ple spe­
cies.
As a result of these studies, he
was able to revise the classifica­
tion of lower anim als that had
been unfinished by the Swedish
biologist Linnaeus.
Lam arck's study of inverte­
brates also led to the publication
of his m ajor work 'The Natural
H istory of I nvertebrate Anim als'
in 1 81 5- 22 .
Tell M e Why

Why is Pierre-Simon
Laplace always remem­
bered?
P
ierre-Sim on Laplace
was a French physicist and
astronom er of the 1 9th cen­
tury. He had a phenom enal
natural m athem atical fac­
ulty, and predicted m any
things, using only m aths.
These predictions were
later confirm ed with power­
ful telescopes. He wrote a
book explaining his theory
of the origin of the solar sys­
tem .
Laplace presented a l ittle. What w e
steady stream of rem arka­
ble m athem atical papers
that spread his fam e .
P ierre-Sim o n Laplace i s
100 Great Scie ntists
PIERRE LAPLACE
�
highly regarded for his influential,
five-volume treatise which devel­
oped a strong m athem atical
understanding of the m otion of
the heavenly bodies. This work
interpreted the geom etric study of
classical m echanics, starting up a
wider range of problems.
Laplace's work, and the results
he produced, m ade him one of
the m ost im portant and influential
scientists that the world has seen.
The Laplacian differential opera­
tor that is nam ed after him is
widely used in m athematics.
Laplace won m any awards for
his studies, and he was m ade a
m arq u is, but he rem ained m od­
est, sayin g , "What we know i s
know not is
imm ense."
His work regarding the theory of
probability and statistics is con­
sidered pioneering.
35

Why is Edward Jenner
assured of a place In hIsto­
ry?
E
dward Jenner, a doctor
in England, lived during the
1 8th century.
At that time, smallpox was
a dreaded disease that
killed thousands of people
every year. Smallpox is an
i nfectious disease which
causes pus-filled blisters to
spread over the body, and
often resulted in death.
Jenner noticed that milk­
maids were immune to
smallpox. He thought that
this was because they were
often infected by cowpox, a
disease similar to smallpox,
but less severe.
36
EDWARD JENNER
J e n n e r bel i eved that the p u s
from b l isters caused b y cow­
pox protected the m i l kmaids
from s m a l l pox. He tested the
t heory by i nocu lating a boy
called James P h i pps, his gar­
dener's son, with pus from cow­
pox b l i sters. James expe rienced
a fever, but he did not get small­
pox.
Jenner repeated the experi­
ment on more than 20 people,
proving that those he had inocu­
lated with cowpox, were immune
to smallpox.
Edward Jenner thus became
the pioneer of the world's first
vaccine- the smallpox vaccine.
His work on smallpox made him
internationally famous.
To day, smallpox has been com­
pletely eradicated from the world,
thanks to the smallpox vaccine,
and Edward Jenner.
Tell Me Why

Why is Samuel Hahnemann
famous?
S am uel Hahnem ann, a
German physician, founded
homeopathy.
Hahnem ann believed that
the m edicine he had been
taught to practice som e­
tim es did the patient more
harm than good.
He carried out experi­
ments. on the cu rative pow­
er of bark , which was the
source of qu inine. He was
the first person to observe
that a rem edy that produc­
es sym ptom s in a healthy
person will cure those sam e
sym ptom s when m an ifest­
ed by a person in a disease
state.
100 Great Scientists
SAMUEL HAHNEMANN
A Scary Experiment
Habneunn conducted a ratber
scary experiment on billl self.
At a time wilen lie was perfectly
bealthy, lie brought on the
sym,... .f a malaria attack by
giving blmself repeated doses
.f quinine, wldeb is usually used
to treat malaria.
This principle that 'lik es are
cu red by lik es' is the very founda­
tion of hom eopathy. Hahnem ann
is called the 'father of experim en­
tal pharm acology' because he
was the first physician to prepare
m edicines in a specialised way,
by f rst trying them on healthy
hum an beings, to determ ine how
the m ed icines acted to cure dis­
eases.
37

What do we know about
John Dalton?
J
Ohn Dalton, a British sci­
entist, is probably best
known for his groundbreak­
ing research and contribu­
tions to two com pletely
different fields- atom ic theo­
ry and colourblindness.
It was discovered in 1995
that Dalton actually had a
very rare form of colour­
blindness- he was only able
to see one colour, yellow.
So, he studied the prob­
lem in great detail and con­
cluded that colo u rblindness
was a genetic feature, as
his brother was also colour­
blind.
Dalton was also very
38
�111."'l;; ntial I:"' r-,I;; st ... c!y of m eteor­
ology, specifically barom etric
pressure. This led to his publica­
tion of a series of papers called
Experim ental Essays in which he
discussed the m akeup of m ixed
gases.
The m ost im portant of all Dal­
ton's investigations are those
concerned with the atom ic theory
in chem istry. The research had a
great impact on atom ic theory. He
created a listing of atom ic weights
for six different elements - hydro­
gen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon,
sulfur, and phosphorous.
Dalton's interpretation of atom ic
theory m aintained that atom s are
com bined in chem ical reactions,
but also that they can be separat­
ed and rearranged. Without
doubt, it was John Dalton's atom ­
ic theory that laid the foundations
of m odern chem istry.
Tell Me Why
Why is Andre-Marie Ampere
considered a scientific
genius?
A ndre-M arie Ampere was
a French physicist and
mathematician, who made
the revolutionary discovery
that a wire carrying electric
current can attract or repel
another wire next to it, that's
also carrying electric cur­
rent. The attraction is mag­
netic, but no magnets are
necessary for the effect to
be seen.
Ampere went on to for­
mulate Ampere's Law of
electromagnetism and pro­
duced the best definition of
electric cu rrent of his time.
He also proposed the exist-
100 Great Scientists
Polymath
A person of great learning in
different fields of study is known
as a polymath. Andre-Marie
Ampere was a polymath for he was
well versed in history, poetry, phi­
losophy, and the natural sciences.
ence of a particle we now recog­
nise as the electron, discovered
the chemical element fluorine,
and grouped elements by their
properties.
In recognition of Ampere's con­
tribution to modern electrical sci­
ence . the 'ampere' was
established as a standard unit of
electrical measurement, in 1 88 1 ,
forty-five years after his death.
39

What were Amedeo Carlo
Avogadro's contributions
to physics?
A m edeo Avogadro was
an outstanding Italian phys­
icist who lived in the 1 8th
century.
Although he had followed
the fam ily tradition by stud­
ying law, he gradually lost
interest in legal m atters.
He fou nd science was
m uch m ore intellectually
stim u l ating.
M athem atics, and phys­
ics, in particu lar attracted
his logical m ind. Avogadro
is chiefly rem em bered for
his m olecular hypothesis,
first presented in 1 81 1 . He
stated that equal volumes
40
New Experiment
Although Robert Boyle's chief
scientific Interest was chemistry.
his first (IUIJUshed scieAtlflc work
in 1661 was 'New Experfiients
Physica-MeclluieaR. TOKItfng tilt
Sprint of ttie Air, Iftdits £ffIett'.
of different gases contain an
equal number of m olecules, pro­
vided they are at the sam e tem ­
perature and pressure.
Am edeo Avogadro was a g reat
scientist who m ade im portant
contributions to physics. Howev­
er, he never received any awards
for his discoveries.
Avogadro's hypothesis gained
acceptance only after his death
as people did not recognise their
significance. I n honou r of his con­
tributions to m olecular theory, the
number of m olecules in one m ole
was nam ed Avogadro's n um ber.
Tell M e Why

Why is Johann Gauss con­
sidered to be a mathemati­
cal genius?
J
Ohann Gauss was a Ger­
man m athem atician who
had a rem ark able influence
in m any fields.
These included the num ­
ber theory, statistics, analy­
sis, differential geometry,
electrostatics, astronom y
and optics.
Gauss system atised the
study of num ber theory and
was fundam ental in consoli­
dating it as an im portant
discipline. Gauss also dis­
covered Ceres, the largest
of the asteroids orbiting the
Sun. His Theory of Celestial
M ovem ent rem ains a cor-
100 Great Scientists
nerstone of astronom ical com pu­
tation to this day. Am ong m any
other achievem ents, Gauss is
responsible for a procedure used
currently in all sciences to m ini­
m ize the im pact of measurem ent
error.
He k ept a diary of his discover­
ies, listing 1 46 discoveries, which
was lost for over 40 years after his
death. Gauss is deserved ly
rank ed as one of history' s m ost
influential m athem aticians.
Why is Humphrey Davy regarded
as one of the luminaries of the
cientlfic world?
S
i r H um phrey Davy was an
English chem ist who m ade m any
notable contributions to science,
especially in electroc hem istry. He
is renowned for the invention, in
1 8 1 5, of the Davy safety lam p
41

that helped to prevent
explosions in coal m ines.
Davy was the first to isolate
several chem ical elem ents,
including sodium and potas­
sium .
He discovered boron, and
found that nitrous oxide, or
laughing gas, had anaes­
thetic properties that could
be useful in su rgery. Davy
did m any experim ents on
the effects of breathing in
certain gases- and once,
almost k il led himself by
inhaling a m ixture of toxic
gases.
His research included
work on early form s of elec­
tric batteries, and the use of
electricity to isolate chem i­
cal elem ents. He also ana-
42
An Accident
An accident with nitrogen trichlo­
ride damaged Humphrey Davy's
eyes while he was working in the
lab. So he depended a lot on the
help he got from a colleague,
Michael Faraday.
Iyzed m inerals, and com pleted
m any studies in tanning and agri­
cultural chem istry.
Did you k now that in 1 809,
Hum phrey Davy i nvented the very
first electric light? He did this by
connecting two wires to a single
battery, and then attaching a
charcoal strip between the other
two ends of the wires. The
ch� rged carbon then glowed,
m ak ing the very first arc lam p.
Hum phrey Davy was one of the
greatest scientists, ever in the
history of m ank ind .
Tell Me Why

Why is Michael Faraday
known as the 'father of elec­
tricity'?
M
ichael Faraday was a
19th century British chem ist
and physicist. He is often
called the father of electrici­
ty with good reason .
H i s work on electrochem ­
istry and electrom agnetism
laid the foundation for m any
areas of science. It was in
1831 that Faraday discov­
ered electrom agnetic induc­
tion, the principle behind the
electric transformer and
generator. This discovery
was crucial in allowing elec­
triCity to be transform ed
from a curiosity, into a pow­
erfu l new technology. He
100 Great Scientists
was partly responsible for coining
m any fam il iar words including
'electrode', 'cathode' and 'ion'.
Faraday laid the basis of the elec­
trom agnetic field concept in phys­
ics, discovered the laws of
electrolysis, and invented electro­
m agnetic rotary devices that were
vital in the creation of electric
m otors. Faraday has thus played
a key role in the development of
electricity for use in m odern tech­
nology.
I GEORG SIMON OHM
Georg Simon Ohm was a German
physicist and mathematician. He
was born on 16th March, 1 789.
Ohm's Law, which shows the rela­
tionship between voltage and cur­
rent, was discovered by him.
43

Why is Friedrich Wohler
one of the luminaries of the
scientific world?
F
riedrich Wohler was a
Germ an chem ist
who
chose to be a teacher of
chem istry. He was one of
the finest scientists of the
1 9th century.
Wohler gai ned interna­
tional renown from two path
break ing discoveries. In
1 827, Wohler prepared the
first pure sam ple of alum in­
ium . This m etal is the third
most prevalent element in
the Earth's crust, but it is
exceedingly difficult to iso­
late it from its com pounds.
He also discovered how
to m ak e u rea in the labora-
44
tory without the use of a living k id­
ney. This was an im portant
discovery, because it heralded
the end of an existing theory that
organic com pounds could only be
m ade by living things. Wohler was
the co-discoverer of beryllium , sil­
icon, and silicon nitride.
In 1 832, Wohler, along with
another scientist Justus Liebig
published a study on the oil of bit­
ter alm onds which proved that a
g roup of atom s can act lik e a sin­
gle elem ent, and be exchanged
for elem ents in chem ical com ­
pounds. This too, took the scien­
tific world by storm .
What do we know about Justus
-Liebig?
J
ustus Liebig is considered to
be the founder of organic chem is­
try. Liebig was one of the first
Tell Me Why
 J U ST U S LIEBIG

try. Liebig developed an instru­

m ent for determ ining the carbon,
chem ists to organise a hydrogen, and oxygen content of
modern laboratory that organic m aterials. In 1 832, he
becam e the m odel for and Friedrich Wohler published
teaching practical chem is- their study of the oil of bitter
alm onds which proved that a sin­
gle com pound can behave l ik e
a n elem ent in a chem ical reac­
tion. This becam e the foundation
of the theory of com pound radi­
cals.
Liebig advanced the idea
t h at c h em i st ry cou ld revo l u ­
Father of t i o n ise farm i ng and g reatly
i nc rease yields in a book t hat
Fertilizer Industry
he wrote . In t h i s book , he d is­
Liebig established that c us sed p l ant n u t ri t i o n , and
nitrogen is an important c h em ical transform ations in
plant nutrient. So, he is
plants and a n im al s .
sometimes referred to as
Liebig i s best rem em bered for a
the 'father of fertilizer
process for reducing silver salts
industry:
to m etallic silver that becam e the
basis for m odern m irror m ak ing.

100 Great Scientists 45


Who was Jean Louis Agas­
siz?
J
ean Louis Agassiz, a
Swiss-Am e rican naturalist,
was an outstanding com ­
parative anatom ist. When
he was only 21 years old,
I have
better knowledge
of fish.
46
LOUIS AGASSIZ
he publ ished the wo rk that
lau nched h im on his long and
d istingu ished scientific career. It
was titled 'The Fishes of Braz i l '
a n d i t was t h e m ost im portant
account of a local fish fau na
published till that tim e .
Later, Agassiz work ed under
Georges Cuvier, another brilliant
com parative anatom ist. Agassiz
m ade extensive contributions to
ichthyological classification,
including of extinct species.
Ichthyology is the branch of
biology devoted to the study of
fish . Agassiz also played an
im port ant role in the study of geo­
logical history including the found­
ing of glaciology. He was a person
wjth m any interests- a biologist,
physician, geologist, teacher,
and m ost im portantly, a prom i­
nent i nnovator i n the field of the
study of natural sciences.
Tell Me Why
Why is Charles Darwin one
of the most influential sci·
entists in history?
C
harles Darwin was an
English naturalist who is
best k nown for his ideas on
Most Influential
Darwin has been described
as one of the most influen·
tial thinkers of all time. He
was the first to make people
aware of their place in the
evolutionary process.
Darwin is burled in West­
minster Abbey.
100 Great Scientists
evolution. In 1 83 1 , Darwin set sail
on the H M S Beagle, a naval sur­
vey ship. Darwin's job was to col­
lect plant and anim al specim ens
from the countries the ship visit­
ed. The voyage took five years.
For Charles Darwin, the m ost
important part of the journey was
the tim e spent in the Galapagos
Islands which are the hom e to
plants and anim als that can't be
found anywhere else in the world.
On his return to England, Dar­
win started to piece together his
theory of natural selection which
explains how populations evolve.
In 1 859 , Charles Darwin pub­
lished his book 'On the Origin of
Species'.
According to this theory, all spe­
cies qf lite have evolved over tim e
from common ancestors. Charles
Darwin changed the way humans
viewed themselves.
47

Why Is Claude Bernard
called one of the greatest of
all men of science?
His experimentation also
helped show the significance of
the pancreas. In 1 857, Bernard
discovered glycogen, the large
m olecule found i n anim als' l iv­

C
ers which acts as a reserve store
laude Bernard, a French of carbohyd rates, and helps to
physiologist, has been reg u late blood sugar. Bernard
called one of the greatest of also stud ied the nervous sys­
all men of science. Bernard tem . While e ngaged in this
was fascinated with the researc h , Bernard m ade the
mechanics of digestion. im portant d iscovery that oxygen
He m ade a n um ber of was carried around the body by
experim ents in which he
m ade openings into the
stom achs of l ive anim als in
order to study their work ­
ings. His experiments
resulted in a num ber of
important discoveries,
including the finding that
the sm all intestine played a
k ey role in the digestive
process.

48

the red corpuscles in an
animal's blood.
Bernard was one of the
founders of experimental
medicine, and played a vital
role in laying down the basic
rules of experimentation in
the life sciences.
What were Hermann Lud­
wig Helmholtz's contribu­
tions to science?
H
ermann Ludwig Helm­
holtz, a German physician
and physicist, is best k nown
for the law of the conserva­
tion of energy. He also
made significant contribu­
tions to physiology, optics,
electrodynamics, mathe­
matics, and meteorology.
100 Great Scientists
In 1 847, he published his
paper 'On the Conservation of
Force ' . This was the fi rst expla­
nation of the fu ndamental con­
cept of conservation of energy.
H is i nventions of the ophthal­
moscope a l lowed physicians to
see i n side the eye, and revo l u ­
tion ized t h e field o f ophthal­
mology.
H e l m h o ltz was a k een m ath­
emat i c i a n , and i n 1 858 p u b ­
l ished the paper which
provided a k ey t o the f u nda­
mental structure of m atte r . H e
also i nvesti g ated the physics
of tone and colo u r percept i o n .
B ut above a l l , it i s h i s theory o f
the conservation o f energy that
is h i s g reatest contri butio n , for
it i s n e of t h e broadest and
most i m portant general izations
ever k nown i n the h istory of
science.
49
 JAMES JOULE

Why was James Joule an m echanical energy which pow­

extraordinary scientist? ered the dynam o . The principle

T
of conservation of energy
he English physicist becam e the first law of therm ody­
Jam es Joule studied the nam ics, a field of physics that
nature of heat, and estab­ Joule is referred to as the chief
lished its relationship to fou nder of.
m echanical work . Joule was the first person to cal­
He showed that the vari­ culate the speed of a molecule of
ous form s of energy­ gas, about 457 metres a second for
m echanical, electrical, and oxygen at average temperatures.
heat - are basically the
sam e , and can be changed,
one into another. This is
k nown as the conservation
of energy, and the idea was
proved by Joule in a series
of experim ents.
In his early years, Joule
proved that heat produced
in a sm all electrom agnet
b u i lt by h im was from
electrical energy, which
was i n turn, generated by
This would lay the founda­
tions for the kinetic theory of
gases in the future. Joule
recognised the need for
standard u nits of electricity.
In fact, the u nit of energy is
nam ed the 'joule' in recog­
nition of his contributions.
Why is Gregor Mendel
known as the 'founder of
modern genetics'?
G
regor M endel, a 1 9th
century m onk, is the found­
er of m odern genetics. He
is famous for his pea plant
experim ents which helped
to establish som e of the
now accepted laws of
heredity. Heredity is when
certain traits like eye col­
our, height, and athletic
abi lity are passed from the
100 Great Scientists
parents to the children. In biology
the study of heredity is called
genetics.
In 1 856, M endel began studying
hereditary features in pea plants,
and concluded that all living
things, including humans, passed
on their characteristics to their
children i n predictable ways.
M e ndel grew, and tested alm ost
28,000 pea plants during 8 years
of research. He cam e up with the
term s recessive and dom inant, to
describe types of genes that are
passed down through genera­
tions.
M endel's findings, which he
presented on m eetings of the N at­
ural History Society of Brno, in
1 865, were rejected by his fellow
scientists while he was alive. It
wasn't until later that his work was
rediscovered and confirm ed
through further experimentation.
51
Why is Louis Pasteur a sci­ process became known as pas­
entific trailblazer? teurization, and is still done on

L
many foods such as milk, vinegar,
ouis P asteur, a French wines, cheese, and ju ices. He
chemist and microbiologist studied the immune system and
made many important dis­ vaccination through his research,
coveries related to the and helped produce the first vac­
immune system, vaccina­ cine for rabies, saving the life of a
tions, chemistry, and the young boy in 1 885.
nature of diseases. P asteur is also responsible for
P asteur's work helped many breakthroughs in the field of
show that microorganisms chemistry. He discovered the
are the true cause of many
diseases. P asteur used his
knowledge of germs to
investigate how beverages
such as wine and milk were
spoiled by microbes such
as bacteria.
He found that heating up
the liquids would kill most of
the microbes, and allow the
beverages to last longer,
and be safer to drink. This

52
molecular basis for the
asymm etry of certain crys­
tals, and m ade im portant
discoveries related to the
nature of tartaric acid.
Today, Louis P asteur is
k nown as one of the m ost
im port ant scientists in his­
tory.
Why was Gustav Kirchhoff
an outstanding scientist?
G
ustav Kirchhoff, a Ger­
m an physicist, is rem em ­
bered for his pioneering
work in spectroscopy, which
perm itted investigation of
the chem ical com position of
stars.
His circuit laws are the
fou ndation of electrical
engineering. I n 1 845, while
still only a student at the
100 Great Scientists
u niversity, Kirchhoff wrote a paper
detailing his circuit laws.
Kirchhoff discovered that ther­
m al radiation is given off by all
objects that have a tem perature
greater than absolute zero, and
gave a proof for his law of therm al
radiation in 1 86 1 . He experim ent­
ed with electrical circuits and
spectroscopy, and coined the
term 'black -body' radiation in
1 86 2.
Along with Robert Bunsen,
Kirchhoff founded the science of
spectrum analysis by proving that
every elem ent gives off a charac­
teristic wave length of light when
heated to incandescence.
He also discovered that when
light is passed through a gas, the
gas absorbs those wavelengths it
wOuld have em itted if heated.
This discovery was of great im por­
tance to the field of astronom y.
53

Why is Joseph Lister known
as the 'father of modern
surgery'?
er for generations of patients by
introducing sterilization tech­
niques in the operation theatre.
His greatest contribution to m edi­
cine was to prom ote the use of

J
carbolic acid as an antiseptic.
osePh Lister, a British He lived in an era when sur­
surgeon, m ade surgery saf- geons wore dirty aprons, surg ical
instrum ents were u nclean , and
surgeons didn't even wash their
hands before carrying out opera­
tions. Lister soon realised that
u rgent changes were needed to
prevent so many people dying
after surgery, due to infection . He
tested what would happen if the
surgical i nstrum ents and bandag­
es were treated with carbolic acid,
and he was pleased to see that
inJection was significantly
reduced.
Other surgeons soon followed
his exam ple. Carbolic acid was
used on bandages, and was even

54 Tell Me Why
 Degree
Wundt graduated with a degree
in Medicine from the University of
Heidelberg in 1 856. In 1867
sprayed into the air during he became a professor at the
operations to kill bacteria, university, where he created the
and reduce the risk of the first course in the science of
wound becoming infected. psychology.
lister is often called the
'father of modern surgery'
because of the life saving the u sage of experimental
precautions he introduced methods in psychology. He
in the field of surgery. developed psychology as an
independent field of science,
What is Wilhelm Wundt and set u p a laboratory to
remembered for? explore the n at u re of rel i g i o u s

W
ilhelm Wundt, a Ger­
m an doctor and philoso­
pher, is acknowledged as
one of the greatest and
m ost infl uential psycholo­
gists of all time.
As one of the early pio­
neers of scientific psychol­
ogy, Wu ndt introduced
bel iefs, identify mental d isor­
ders and abnormal behavio u r,
and find damaged parts of the
b rai n .
He also published the first jour­
nal of psychology, ' P h i losophis­
che Studien' or ' P hilosophical
Studies' in 1 88 1 . Wilhelm Wundt
was in fact, the first person to ever
call himself a 'psychologist' .

lOa Great Scientists 55


Why was James Maxwell a
remarkable scientist?
J
am es M axwell, a Scot­
tish physicist and m athe­
m atician, was a rem ark able
scientist. He brought togeth­
er a large number of equa­
tions, experim ents,
observations related
electricity and m agnetism ,
and showed them to be dif­
ferent m anifestations of the
sam e phenom enon.
M axwell produced a set of
equations that explain the
properties of m agnetic and
electric fields, and help
show that light is an electro­
m agnetic wave. He also
described the nature of Sat­
urn's rings as numerous
56
sm all particles, rather than a solid
or fluid ring.
Maxwell 's contributions in the
fields of k inetic theory and ther­
m odynam ics are m any. He is
even believed to have created
the first true colour photograph .
His contributions played a n im por­
tant role in the advances m ade in
20th century physics.
and
to What is Dmitri Mendeleev remem­
bered for?
D
m itri M endeleev was a R us­
sian chem ist and inventor who is
best k nown for his discovery of
the periodic law, which he intro­
duced in 1 869 , and for his form u­
la.t ion of the periodic table of
elem ents.
As a professor, M endeleev
taught first at the St. P etersburg
Technological Institute and then
Tell Me Why
 Crater and Element
The crater Mendeleev on the Moon,
at the University of St. and the radioactive element Men­
P etersburg. Realizing he delevium are named after
was in need of a quality Dmitri Mendeleev.
textbook to cover the sub­
'
ject of inorganic chemistry,
he put together one of his Chemistry. It was during this time
own, The P rinciples of that Mendeleev made the discov­
ery that led to his most famous
This is not a achievement. He noticed certain
chess board. recurring patterns between d iffer­
ent groups of elements and, using
existing knowledge of the ele­
ments' chemical and physical
properties, he was able to make
further connections.
He systematically arranged the
known elements by atomic weight
in a grid-like diagram. His dia­
gfam, known as the periodic table
of elements, is still used today.
He also wrote a book on the spec­
troscope.

1 00 Great Scientists 57

Why is August Weismann
considered to be one of the
greatest biologists of all
time?
A
ugust Weism ann was a
Germ an biologist and one
of the founders of the sci­
ence of genetics. He is best
known for his 'germ plasm '
theory. Weism ann's early
studies were on the hydro­
zoa, which are sm a" preda­
tory anim als which live
m ostly in the sea.
Weism ann's research on
hydrozoa convinced him
that the germ cells of ani­
m als contain 'som ething
essential for the species,
som ething which m ust be
carefully preserved and
58
passed on from one generation to
another'.
Thus was born the theory of the
germ plasm , which he em bodied
in a book first published in Ger­
m an and then in English. Its
essence was the notion that a"
living things contain a special
hereditary substance, the germ
plasm .
The general idea is still accept­
ed as valid today, though in place
of germ plasm one speaks of chro­
m osomes, genes, and DNA. Weis­
m ann's ideas made him one of the
leading biologists of the world.
What are the contributions Rob­
ert Heinrich Herman Koch is
known for?
R
Obert Koch was a fam ous
Germ an physician who gained
renown as one of the founders of
Tell Me Why
 ease. These rules are k nown as
'Koch's postu lates'. M any of the
bacteriology and m icrobiol­ basic principles and techniques of
ogy. Koch was very m uch m odern bacteriology were adapt­
interested in how the dis­ ed, or devised by R obert Koch,
ease k nown as anthrax who therefore is often regarded
spread from cattle to as the chief founder of that sci­
hum ans. ence.
He laid down four criteria Robert Koch's brilliant contribu­
in 1 890 for establishing the tions were ack nowledged in 1 9 05,
cause of an infectious dis- and he won the Nobel prize for
M edicine for his ground break ing
Have work on tuberculosis. Directly or
any idea about indirectly, Koch has influenced
Anthrax?
authorities in m any countries to
introduce public health legislation
based on k nowledge of the origin
of various infections.
He is also responsible for a
m ore enlightened attitude towards
the measures for controlling such
diseases, and the hygiene that
m ust be observed for preventing,
as well as treating them .

59

What was Wilhelm Ront­
gen's claim to fame?
W
ilhelm R ontgen, a Ger­
m an scientist, was
recipient of the first Nobel
P rize in P hysics. R ontgen
carried out research in sev­
eral fields, but his m ai n
claim t o fam e is the discov­
ery of X-rays.
In 1 895, R ontgen was
conducting an experim ent
by passing an electric cur­
rent through a gas
extrem ely low pressure. He
noticed that even though
the room was dark, and the
tube was covered with black
carbon, a screen covered
with fluorescent m aterial
was being lit up.
60
By placing a photog raphic
p l ate at the other e n d , R o ntgen
was able to captu re the im age
t hat was being lit up by these
u n known rays . S i nce he did not
know the nat u re of these rays,
the he called them X-rays . The fi rst
X- ray ever taken was an im age
of R ontgen 's wife's hand . H i s
d iscovery o f X-rays ushered i n
a g reat revo l ution i n t h e fields
of physics and m ed i c i n e .
Why Is Thomas Alva Edison a
colossus in the world of science?
T
at homas Edison's story is truly
an inspiring one. He struggled at
school, but loved reading and
conducting experim ents.
This Am erican inventor began
sending and receiving messages
via morse code- an electronically­
conveyed alphabet using differ-
Tell Me Why

ent clicks for each letter - at
the age of 1 5. Later, he
invented a version of the tel­
egraph that could send four
messages at once. In 1 877,
Edison invented the phono­
graph. The phonograph was
a machine that recorded and
played back sounds. He per-
For the future
world ....
E DISON
Small Step
Great discoveries start with a
small step. When Edison was nine
years old, his mother gave him a
book on how to do simple experi­
ments at home. This sparked his
interest in science, and led to many
wonderful inventions.
fected the phonograph by record­
ing 'M ary had a Little Lamb' on a
piece of tin foil!
I n 1 878, Edison invented the
light bulb, as well as the power
grid system, which could gener­
ate electricity, and deliver it to
homes through a network of wires.
Edison registered 1 ,093 patents
in the US, as he continued to
invent products. He made signifi­
cant contributions to storage bat­
teries and motion pictures. His
i nventions changed the world for­
ever, and Edison remains a
colossus in the field of science to
this day.
61

Why will Alexander Gra­
ham Bell be always remem­
bered?
Bell heard the sound of a plucked
string al ong som e of the electrical
wire. This was caused because
one of Bell's assistants, Thom as
A. Watson, was trying to reactivate

A
a transm itter. It made Bell believe
lexander Graham Bell he could send the sound of a
was an influential scientist, human voice over the wire.
engineer, and inventor who After receiving a patent on
is considered to be the M arch 7'h, 1 876, for transm itting
inventor of the first practical sound along a single wire, he suc­
telephone. Bell's mother and cessfully transm itted human
wife were both deaf, and this speech on M arch 1 0.
motivated his research on Bell's first words with the work­
hearing and speech. ing telephone were spoken to his
Bell experimented with assistant Watson . They were " M r
sound, working with devic­ Watson, com e here. I want t o see
es such as a 'harm onic tel­ . you."
egraph, ' that is used to Bell also had a strong interest in
send m u ltiple m essages -other scientific fields, conducting
over a single wire. While m edical research, searching for
trying to discover the secret alternative fuel sources, develop­
to transm itting m u ltiple ing hydrofoil watercraft and m uch
messages on a single wire, m ore.

62 Tell Me Why
 IVAN PAVLOV

m easure the dogs' saliva produc­

tion when they heard the bell.
Why Is Ivan Pavlov an Icon­ P avlov found out that once the
ic figure In science? dogs had been trained to associ­

I
ate the sound of the bell with food,
van P avlov, a Russian they would produce saliva, wheth­
physiologist, is an iconic fig­ er or not food followed. P avlov
ure who was the first to offer becam e fully convinced that
a scientific approach to psy­ human behaviour could be under­
chology. stood and explained best in phys­
P avlov studied m edicine iological term s, rather than in
under a fam ed physiologist m entalist term s. He won the 1 904
of the tim e, S . P . Botkin, Nobel P rize for P hysiology or
who taught him a great deal M edicine.
about the nervous system .
P avlov is known prim arily
for his work in conditioned
r esponse.
He conducted a legend­
ary experim ent in which he
trained h ungry dogs to drool
at the sound of a bell, or
buzzer. M om ents before
feeding, a bell was rung to

100 Great Scientists


Why is Emil Fischer one of
the great scientists of all
time?
E
m il Herm ann Fischer,
m ore commonly known as
Em il Fischer, was an em i­
nent Germ an chem ist. He
received the Nobel P rize for
Chem istry in 1 902 in recog­
nition of his work in the sug­
ar and purine groups.
Em il Fischer helped to
reorganise the teaching of
chem i stry, and to establish
research facilities. His work
in organic chem istry was
prim arily on the constitution . physicist who discovered radio­
and synthesis of substanc­
es present in organisms.
Fischer laid the chem ical
foundations for biochem is-
64
try by his study of sugars,
enzym es, purines, and proteins.
He was also instrum ental in the
discovery of barbiturates, a class
of sedative drugs used for insom
nia, epilepsy, anxiety, and anaes­
thesia.
Fischer's keen u nderstanding
of scientific problems, his intuition
and love of truth, and his insist­
ence on experim ental proof 0
hypotheses, m arked him as one
of the truly great scientists of all
tim e .
How did Henri Becquerel discov
er radioactivity?
H
enri Becquerel was a Frenc
activity through his investigation
of u ranium and other substances.
Becquerel had becom e a high I
respected physicist by 1 896. Afte
Tell Me Wh

the discovery of the X-ray in
1 895, Becquerel began to
investigate whether there
was a fundamental connec­
tion between this form of
invisible radiation and visi­
ble light.
His expertise with phos­
phorescent materials, his
Generation Next
Henry 8ecquerel came from a fami­
ly of scientists. His father and
grandfather were scientists, and
his son became a scientist too.
familiarity with uranium com­
pounds, and his general skill in
laboratory techniques, including
photography, all played a key role
in his discovery of radioactivity.
Becquerel experimented by plac­
ing phosphorescent crystals on a
sealed photographic plate that
had been wrapped in opaque
paper, and never exposed to
direct light.
After the plate was developed,
images were visible on it. He
passed the results on to Madame
C urie, who named this phenome­
non radioactivity. In 1 903, Bec­
que rei shared the Nobel Prize for
Physics with the chemists Pierre
and Marie Curie.
65

Why does ax Planck's
work have far reaching
benefits?
Max
P lanck was a Ger­
man theoretical physicist,
who made significant con­
tributions. He changed
our u nderstanding
physics when he discov­
ered that hot objects do
not radiate a smooth , con­
tinuous range of energies
as was earlier believed .
I nstead, he fou nd that
the energies radiated by
hot objects have distinct
values. H is d iscovery was
the begi n n i ng of the Q u an ­
tum theory - an entirely
new type of physics that
revol utionized our u nder-
66
MAX PLANCK
standing of atomic and s uba­
tomic processes. In fact, we can
say that the Quantu m theory
g rew from the ideas of M ax
P lanck.
A quantum is the smallest pos­
sible amount of energy. P lanck' s
constant - a fixed number- i s used
to calculate the energy of quanta.
The theory has been developed
of to explain the behaviou r of parti­
cles and the energy they emit.
P lanck was awarded the Nobel
P rize for P hysics in 1918.
What was Sigmund Freud's great­
est achievement?
S
igmUnd Freud was an Austri­
. an neurologist. He is best known
for developing the theories and
techniques of psychoanalysis.
P sychoanalysis is a m et h o
of t reatment t h ro u g h w h i c h a
Tell Me Wh
 Freud established a theory as to
why this happens often to som e
analyst uncovers uncon­ people. Sigm und Freud's greatest
scious conflicts based on the achievem ent was in the area of
free associations, dream s, the unconscious m ind.
and fantasies of the patient. Although many before him were
All of Freud's work aware of its existence, he was the
revolved around the m ind­ one who was finally able to
how it work ed, and how to achieve scientific recognition in
diagnose and treat certain the area of psychoanalysis.
m aladies of the m ind. He
analyzed himself as well .
It's a dream.
H e began t o pick apart his
dream s, and tried to deci­
pher their m eaning.
In dOing so, he provide�
an incredible account of
how dream s originate and
why. He explored what
would become k nown as
Freudian slips, where one
has a slip of the tongue and
either m isreads som ething,
or forgets a name.

100 Great Scientists


Why is it said that J.J.
Thomson took science to
new heights?
J
. J . Thom son, an English
physicist, took science to
new heights with his 1 89 7
discovery of the electron -
the subatom ic particle.
When Thomson began
his research career, it was
thought that atom s were
the sm al lest particles.
Nobody had a clear picture
of how atom s m ight look. It
was already known that
atom s were associated i n
som e way with electric
charges.
I n 1 897, aged 40, Thom ­
son carried out a now
famous experim ent with a
68
J .J. THOMSON
cathode ray tube. His experim ent
proved the existence of a new
fundamental particle that was
m uch sm aller than the atom . It
was nam ed the electron .
In discovering the electron,
Thom son also m oved towards the
invention of an imm ensely impor­
tant new tool for chem ical analy­
sis - the m ass spectrom eter.
Then, in 19 1 2, Thom son dis­
covered that stable elem ents
could exist as isotopes. Isotopes
are different form s of the sam e
elem ent that exist with different
atom ic m asses.
J.J. Thomson was awarded the
Nobel P rize for P hysics in 1 906.
What were the longterm effects of
Heinrich Hertz's work?
H
einrich Hertz, a bril liant Ger­
m an scientist, conducted experi-
Tell Me Why
 magnetic waves led to f u rther
experimentation with this new
ments that proved the f orm of electromagnetic radiation,
behaviou r of the electro­ which was called 'Hertzian
magnetic waves predicted waves'.
by James Maxwell. Around 1 91 0, this was replaced
He also built an appara­ with the term 'radio waves'. Hertz'
tus to measure the velocity discovery eventually led to the
of the electromagnetic invention of the wireless tele­
waves. In addition, Hertz graph, and the radio.
proved Maxwell's theory
that light and heat are elec­ Just creating
tromagnetic radiations. waves.
Hertz d iscovered the pho­
toelectric effect which
states that a charged object
loses its charge f aster when
exposed to u ltraviolet light.
The unit of f requency -
measured in cycles per
second- was named 'hertz'
in his honour.
Hertz's proof of the exist­
ence of airborne electro-

100 Great Scientists 69

 scientist Kishori Mohan Bandyo­
padhyay. Ross made the impor­
What is Ronald Ross' name tant discovery that malaria could
associated with? be controlled by preventing mos­

R
quitoes from breeding.
onald Ross was an Indi­ Mosquitoes lay their eggs in
an born British doctor who stagnant water. By not allowing
is famous for his work con­ stagnant water to collect, both
cerning malaria. He was their breeding and the spread of
able to successfully demon­ malaria are controlled. Ross also
strate how the malaria bac­ established an organization to
teria resided in the fight malaria specifically in Sri
mosquitoes' gastrointesti­ Lanka.
nal tract. Ronald Ross received the
He worked in the I ndian Nobel Prize for Physiology o�
Medical Service for 25 Medicine in 1 902, for his work on
years, and his research the transmission of malaria.
started while he was at the While Ross is remembered for
Presidency General Hospi­ his malaria work, this remarkable
tal. ·man was also a mathematician,
From time to time, he epidemiologist, sanitarian, editor,
went around a nearby vil­ novelist, dramatist, poet, and an
lage to collect mosquitoes amateur musician, composer an
with the help of the Indian artist!

70 Tell Me Wh

Who was Thomas Hunt
Morgan?
T homas H unt Morgan
was an eminent American
zoologist and geneticist. In
1 909, he had begun his
study of Drosophila mela­
nogaster, or the fruit fly.
He chose this part icular
insect for his study of genet­
ics since it was cheap, and
took up little room in his
cramped laboratory.
As a result of his research ,
Morgan was able t o deter­
mine the precise behaviour
and location of the genes
Sense of H umour
Thomas Morga. was a Jovial ••
witII a SIal of hUllOUr, and a flair
for practIal _. M.....·s data,
oftH ICI'IbMId • tlll lIIck If USId
IIIVIlIpes, .. .... dICInttd
with '" cerpsn .
• Radha Nalr
chromosomes. Morgan received
the Nobel P rize in P hysiology or
Medicine in 1 933 for his discover­
ies on the role that the chromo­
some plays in heredity. Morgan's
work has played a key role in
establishing the field of genetics.
,
.... ·f ..
.

responsible for mutations i n .

. . . ..
-
. .. .. . .
.

./
these flies.
.
........ ... .

He theorized that genes '. .

are linearly arranged in the

100 Great Scientists


Why is Marie Curie one of
the legendary figures in
science?
M
arie Curie, a P olish
born French chemist and
physicist, is a legend for
many reasons. She was the
first woman to win a Nobel
P rize, and the first person,
and only woman, to win it
twice. M arie's research was
in the field of radioactivity.
With the help of her hus­
band P ierre Curie, she
made numerous scientific
discoveries; including one
showing that radiation did
indeed come from the atom
itself.
In 1 903, the Nobel P rize
in P hysics was awarded to
72
M arie and P ierre Curie as well as
Henri Becquerel for their work in
radiation. In 1 91 1 , M arie Curie
was awarded another Nobel
P rize, this time in Chemistry, for
her discovery of radium and polo­
nium, and subsequent research.
M arie Curie became internation­
ally famous, and scientists came
from around the world to study
radioactivity with her. The Curie
Institute in P aris, founded by M arie
in 1 92 1 , is still a major cancer
research facility to this day.
Why is Ernest Rutherford called
the father of nuclear physics?
E
rnest Rutherford is considered
to be the father of nuclear physics
because his research has played
a key role in the current under­
standing of the nuclear level
structure of atoms.
Tell Me Why
 RUT H ERFORD

the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in

1 908.
Rutherford worked on The Rutherford model of the
radioactivity, coining the atom was simplified i n a well
terms 'alpha' and 'beta' to known symbol, showing electrons
describe the two different circling around the nucleus like
types of radiation emitted planets orbiting the sun. This
by u ranium and thorium. symbol is now recognized around
He also observed that the world as a symbol for atoms
radioactive material took and atomic energy in general.
the same amount of time
for half of it to decay. This
became known as its 'half
life'. R utherford and his
students successfully con­
ducted the first experiment
in splitting an atom, and
also discovered the neu­
tron. The element 1 04,
rutherfordium, is named
after h i m . I nterestingly,
even though his research
was in the field of n uclear
physics, he was awarded

100 Great Scientists

 through wires. In 1 897, he formed
a wireless telegraph business in
What is Marconi's contribu­ England. In 1901 , Marconi sent
tion to science? radio signals across the Atlantic

G
Ocean for the first time. As a
UglielmO Marconi, a result of his success Marconi was
famous Italian physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize for Phys­
invented the wireless tele­ ics in 1 909 , along with Karl Ferdi­
graph. He is hailed as the nand Braun, 'in recognition of
'father of radio'. their contributions to the develop­
He began conducting his ment of wireless telegraphy'.
experiments with radio
waves with the aim of utiliz­ Why is Albert Einstein called a
ing them to produce a use­ scientific genius?

A
ful system of 'wireless
telegraphy'. Radio waves lbert Einstein was an intellec­
are streams of energy that tual giant whose scientific
carry electric signals achievements influenced the phi­
th rough the air. Marconi losophy of science forever.
created a telegraph that . Born in Germany, he made awe­
could send electric signals, some contributions to the field of
using radio waves. th eoretical physics, and in 1 9 2 1 ,
The signals travelled won a Nobel Prize for his work in
through the air, instead of th is field.

74 Tell Me Why

In 1 9 05, he began pub­
lishing the components of
his Special Theory of Rela­
tivity, in which he demon­
strated that time was
relative to the speed at
which the observer was
travelling.
The essence of Einstein's
Special Theory of Relativity
was that if matter is con-
EINSTEIN
Einstein the Musician
Albert Einstein, the scientific geni­
us, was a great musician as well.
His love of music was nurtured by
his mother, a gifted pianist.
verted into energy, then energy
released can be shown in the
simple formu la E=mc2 where c
represents the velocity of light, E
the energy, and m the mass.
In 1 9 15, Einstein rocked the
world with his General Theory of
Relativity. It explained a lot of how
time and distance may change
due to the 'relative' or different
speed of the object and the
observer. Einstein became
famous overnight, and all of a
sudden, he was showered with
honours from all over the world!
.. Einstein's vision and his theo­
ries of relativity and quantum
phYSics are without doubt, the
hallmarks of a scientific genius.
75
 ALEXANDER F LEM ING

What interested him was the

fact that in the area surro u nding
How did Alexander Fleming the mould, the bacteria had dis­
make history? appeared. He kept a strain of the

A
mould alive, and began testing it
lexander Fleming, a on laboratory animals. With fur­
Scottish biologist, pharma­ ther experimentation, Fleming
cologist and botanist, made established that this mould, that
history with the discovery of he named penicil l i n , could
penicillin, the world' s first destroy many types of bacteria,
antibiotic substance, in 1928. such as the ones responsible for
Fleming was studying scarlet fever, meningitis, and
deadly bacteria when he d iphtheria.
made his awesome dis­ Fleming p u blished his
covery, qu ite by accident. research on pen i c i l l i n , and two
He had unintentionally left other scientists, H oward Florey
open the cover of the bac­ and Ernst Boris C h a i n , d iscov­
teria c u lt u re plate with ered how to isolate the penicil­
which he was working lin and increase its potenti a l .
when he went away on a These f i n d i n g s were u sed t o
holiday. When he returned, massprod uce penici l l i n i n o rder
he noticed that a mould to treat wounded soldiers d u r­
had formed on the exposed i n g World War I I , t h u s saving
cu lture. m i l l ions of l ives.

76 Tell Me Why
 become known as the Bohr mod­
el of the atom in 1 9 1 1 . His work
Who was Niels Bohr? was published in 1 9 1 3. Bohr

N
expanded Rutherford's work on
eils Bohr was a Dan­ nuclear structure and also the
ish physicist, philosopher quantum theory work proposed
and promoter of scientific by Max Planck. He adapted them
research. Bohr began into what became widely known
research on what would as the Bohr model.
Bohr was one of the first to final­
It's the
ize a model that demonstrated
Bohr model
everywhere... electrons orbiting the n ucleus of
an atom, and also the first to theo­
rize that an electron could move
from a higher orbit to a lower one,
and that in the process energy
was emitted.
Bohr explained that each ele­
ment on the periodic table had
chemical properties that were
determined by the number and
behaviour of their electrons. This
g reat scientist was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics in 1 922.

77
 the beginning for H ubble. He con­
tinued measuring distances and
Why is Edwin Hubble velocities in deep space.
famous? His findings, published in 1 929,

E
dwin Hubble, an
American astronomer,
made a huge impact on
astronomy, and science in
general, by demonstrating
that other galaxies, besides
our own M ilky Way, existed.
Less than a century ago,
many scientists believed
there was j ust one galaxy,
the M ilky Way.
On December 3011\ 1 924,
Edwin H u bble announced
he had evidence that the
M ilky Way galaxy was j ust
one of the many galaxies in
the Universe.
Discovering that our gal­
axy wasn't alone was j ust
led to the widely accepted notion
that the Universe is expanding.
The well known H ubble Space
Telescope is named after Edwin
H u bble.
The Hubble Space Telescope
has provided valuable research
data and images since it was car­
ried into orbit in 1 990, leading to
many breakthroughs in the field
of astrophysics.
Despite his accomplishments,
H u bble never won the Nobel
P rize in physics, since at that
time; astronomers were not eligi­
bl.e for the award.
However,Edwin H u bble has
received other accolades, howev­
er. Both an asteroid and a M oon
crater bear his name.

78 Tell Me Why

Why is Hermann Joseph
Muller considered an out­
standing scientist?
H erm ann Joseph M u l­
Ier is best known as the
founder of the field of radia­
tion genetics, for which he
HERMANN MULLER
Fly Lab
Muller was _ If _ who
founded 1Iat Fly tab'. TIll. lab was
tile entre of IIIIfII11Rt rtUII"CII
IIl8 If II
In..... ftJ
mr.••,111 II
received the Nobel P rize in P hysi­
ology or M edicine in 1 946.
M u ller is best rem em bered for
his demonstration that m utations
and hereditary changes can be
caused by X-rays striking the
genes and chrom osom es of living
cells.
H is studies of the processes
and frequencies of m utations ena­
bled M u ller to form a picture of the
arrangements and recom bination
of genes. This later led to his
experimental induction of genetic
m utations through the use of
79

X-rays in 1 926. This highly
original discovery estab­
lished his international rep­
utation as a geneticist and
eventually won him
Nobel P rize.
M u ller frequently warned
the public of the long-term
dangers of radioactive fall­
out from nuclear war and
nuclear testing. He
played an im portant role in
raising public awareness in
this area.
How did James Chadwick
change the course of sci­
ence?
J
am es Chadwick was
an English physicist whose
research with radioactivity
80
pointed to the presence of a parti­
cle with no electrical charge in the
nucleus of atom s. In those days,
m ost researchers believed there
were electrons within the nucleus
as well as outside it.
the Chadwick and som e others,
believed in the possibility that
particles with no charge could be
in the nucleus. This was the neu­
tron and its discovery by Chad­
wick dram atically changed the
thus course of science.
It m ade it possible to artificially
create elements heavier than ura­
nium . Chadwick received the
Nobel P rize in P hysics in 1 9 35 for
this discovery.
Jam es Chadwick led the British
team in the M anhattan P roject, in
which the UK and Canada sup­
ported the United State's World
War II effort to build the world's
first nuclear bom b.
TeLL Me Why

Why is Linus Pauling con­
sidered an extraordinary
person?
peace activist, author, and educa­
tor is extraordinary for his many
achievements.
Pau ling was awarded the Nobel
Prize in Chemistry in 1 954 for his

L
scientific work. In 1962, he was
inus Pau ling, an Amer­ awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
ican chemist, biochemist, for his peace activism. This makes
him the only person to be award­
ed two unshared Nobel Prizes.
In science, Pau ling was a found­
er of quantum chemistry, molecu­
lar biology, and molecular
genetics. To him we owe several
indispensable scientific concepts.
By the early 1930s, Pauling was
able to show that quantu m chem­
istry could do more than produce
results that agreed with experi­
ments. He used it to correctly pre­
dict the properties of molecules
and their structures. In 1 957, he
was instrumental in gathering a
petition to ban nuclear weapons

81
 atoms, setting off a chain reaction
that would release enormous
testing. It was signed by amounts of energy.
over 1 1 ,000 scientists from In 1 938, Fermi received the
50 countries. Later, the Nobel Prize in Physics for his
United States, the United work on induced radioactivity by
Kingdom, and the Soviet neutron bombardment and the
Union agreed to a partial discovery of transuranic ele­
nuclear test ban, mainly as ments.
a result of the petition. Paul­ His experiments led to the first
ing received the 1 962 Nobel controlled nuclear chain reaction
Peace Prize for his efforts. in Chicago, on December 2nd,
1 942. Subsequently, d u ring World
Why will Enrico Fermi's War I I , Fermi became one. of the
name be always remem­ principal leaders on the Manhat­
bered? tan Project, which focused on the

E
development of the atomic bomb.
nrico Fermi, an Italian , Fermi was also deeply interest­
physicist is remembered ed in high-energy physics, and
as the architect of the nucle­ led investigations into the origin of
ar age. cosmic rays, and theories on the
Fermi discovered that fantastic energies present in cos­
uranium neutrons could be mic ray particles. Element 1 00,
used to split other u ranium fermium, is named in his honour.

82 Tell Me Why
 ALBERT SABIN

immediately began research on

the nature and cause of polio, a
What are Albert Sabin's viral infection that can result in
contributions to science? death or paralysis.

A
Sabin proved that polio viruses
lbert Sabin was a Pol­ not only grew in nerve tissue, as
ish-born physician and was generally assumed, but that
virologist - a virologist is a they lived in the small intestines.
scientist who studies virus­ This discovery indicated that polio
es. After qualifying as a might be prevented by a vaccine
doctor in 1931 , Sabin taken through the mouth.
Albert Sabin will always be
remembered as the scientist who
developed the live poliovirus vac­
cine that made eradication of the
disease a possibility .
To ensure its safety , Sabin and
his colleagues took the vaccine
themselves before testing it on
others. Sabin also developed vac­
cines for encephalitis or swelling
of the brain, sand-fly fever, and
dengue fever - viral diseases
transmitted by mosquitoes.

100 Great Scientists 83


Why is Francis Crick con­
sidered to be one of the
luminaries of science?
F
rancis Crick, an Eng­
lish molecular biologist, will
always be remembered as
one of those responsible for
u nveiling the mystery of the
((
84
DNA molecular structure. In the
early 1 950s, scientists had
learned a lot about genetics, but
they still didn't understand the
structure of the DNA molecule­
and they needed to u nderstand
the structure of DNA, in order to
fully understand genetics.
In 1 95 1 , Crick went to Cam­
bridge in England to work in the
Cavendish Laboratory, in order to
study the structure of DNA. Along
with James Watson and Maurice
Wilkins, Crick developed the dou­
ble helix structure of the DNA
molecule. They shared the Nobel
Prize for Physiology or Medicine
in 1 962.
Crick also wrote several text­
books. He will always remain one
of the luminaries of the scientific
world for his famous discovery . . . a
discovery that became a mile­
stone in science.
Tell Me Why
 RICHARD FEYNMAN

are conceptualized and calculat­

ed. He also studied the physics of
Why is Richard Feynman a super cooled liquids. I n order to
great scientist? increase the understanding of .

R
physics among the general pub­
ichard Feynman was lic,
an American scientist who Feynman wrote two important
is considered to be one of books- 'The Character of Physical
the greatest and most influ­ Law' and 'Q. E . D : The Strange
ential theoretical physicists Theory of Light and Matter'. He
in history. was awarded the 1 965 Nobel
Feynman revolutionized Prize in Physics for successfully
the field of quantum resolving problems related to the
mechanics and form u lated theory of quantum electrodynam­
the theory of quantum elec­ ics.
trodynamics.
Feynman is responsible Why is James Watson consid­
for the introduction of fun­ ered one of the titans of science?

J
damental computational
techniques and notations ames Watson, an American
into physics. The Feynman molecular biologist, geneticist,
diagrams have dramatically and zoologist shared the 1 962
changed the way in which Nobel Prize in Physiology or Med­
basic physical processes icine for discovering the structure

1 00 Great Scientists 85

of DNA in 1 953. He gained
worldwide fame and promi­
nence as the joint author of
the four scientific papers
between 1 953 and 1 954,
which he co-wrote with fel-
86
JAMES WATSON
Intelligence Test
The first test to assess practical
intelligence is known as the
Binet - Simon scale. It was devised
by a famous French psychologist,
Alfred Binet.
. Sneha Rao
low scientist Francis Crick. Their
work laid down the double helical
structure of deoxyribonucleic
acid, or DNA.
The DNA molecule is a mega
molecule that is the fundamental
substance in the process of
genetic replication. One of the
most celebrated science writers,
Watson published his textbook
' Molecular Biology of the Gene' in
1 965 and his best-selling autobio­
graphical book 'The Double Helix,'
in 1 968.
Watson helped to establish and
direct the Human Genome Pro­
ject at the National I nstitute of
Health, where he oversaw the
Tell Me Why

mapping of the genes in
h u man chromosomes. His
own genome was
sequenced in 2007, making
him the second person to
have this done.
What makes Stephen
Hawking truly remarkable?
S
tePhen Hawking, the­
oretical physicist and cos­
mologist, is remarkable in
many ways. Despite chal­
lenging physical impair­
ments, he has contributed
hugely to the world of sci­
ence.
Hawking suffers from a
type of motor neuron dis­
ease that has left him
almost completely para-
100 Great Scientists
lysed. This did not stop him from
working on the subject of black
holes and providing theories for
their behavior, including the idea
that they emit radiation.
Hawking believed black holes to
be celestial death traps that swal­
lowed up all energy. However, he
determined there was room for
this phenomenon, through the
merging of quantum theory, gen­
eral relativity and thermodynam­
ics, distilling it all into one path
breaking formula in 1 974.
Hawking wanted to write a book
about the mysteries of the uni­
verse that would connect with the
public. This task seemed impos­
sible after he lost the abilities to
write and speak. But Hawking did
n9t give up, and his vision was
finally realized when his 'A Brief
H istory of Time' became a best­
seller.
87

Who was Sushruta?
S
ushruta, who lived in
the ?Ih century BC, was an
ancient I ndian surgeon who
was famous for his pioneer­
ing operations and tech-
niques. His book the' S ushruta
Samhita', is an advanced collec­
tion of the surgical practices that
he developed, as well as informa­
tion on other specialties like med­
ICine, paediatrics, geriatrics,
diseases of the ear, nose, throat
and eye, toxicology, aphrodisiacs
and psychiatry.
Examples of some of Sushru­
ta's groundbreaking operations
include rhinoplasty which i nvolves
repairing or restructuring the
nose, removal of a dead foetus,
and surgical removal of stones in
organs like the urinary bladder.
Sushruta used wine to dull the
pain during operations. He
encouraged his students to prac­
tice surgical techniques by oper­
ating on objects like watermelons
and reeds.
Sushruta took surgery in ancient
India to admirable heights and
TeLL Me Why

because of his nu merous
contributions to the science
and art of surgery in I ndia,
he is regarded as the 'father
of su rgery' and -the 'father
of plastic surgery'.
Why is Aryabhata consid­
ered to be a giant among
mathematicians?
A
ryabhata was a great
mathematician and astron­
omer in Ancient I ndia. He
wrote many mathematical
and astronomical treatises.
H is chief work was the
'Ayrabhatiya' which was a
compilation of mathematics
and astronomy.
Ayrabhatiya covers sev­
eral branches of mathemat-
100 Great Scientists
ics such as algebra, arithmetic,
plane and spherical trigonometry.
I ncluded in it are theories on con­
tinued fractions, sum of power -
series, sine tables, and quadratic
equations.
Aryabhata also did a consider­
able amount of work in astrono­
my. He knew that the Earth is
rotating on an axis around the
Sun and the Moon rotated around
it. He discovered the position of
nine planets and stated that these
also revolved around the sun.
Aryabhata stated that the cor­
rect number of days in a year is
365. He was the first person to
mention that the Earth was not flat
but, in fact spherical shape. This
great man has been honou red in
many ways. The first I ndian satel­
lite was named 'Aryabhata'. A
l unar crater and an I ndian research
centre also bear his name.
89

What were Sir Jagadish
Chandra Bose's contribu­
tions?
S
ir Jagadish Chandra
Bose is one of the most
famous among Indian sci­
entists. He was a physicist,
biologist, biophysicist, bota­
nist and archaeologist, as
well as a writer of science
fiction .
Bose proved by experi­
mentation that both animals
and plants share much in
common. He demonstrated
that plants are also sensi­
tive to heat, cold, light,
noise and various other
external stimuli.
Bose built a very sophisti­
cated instrument called
90
C rescograph which could record
and observe the minute respons­
es of plants to external stimulants.
He authored two illustrious books
and extensively researched the
behaviour of radio waves.
Bose devised another instru­
ment called 'Coherer'. ln 1 9 1 7, he
founded the Bose Institute, and
dedicated it to the promotion of
scientific studies in India.
I N DIA'S P R I D E
Some more scientists who made
our country proud ...
Meghnad Saha - Astrophysics
S.N. Bose - Theoretical Physics
S.S. Bahtnagar - Space Technology
Y. Subbarao - Biochemistry
Homi Bhaba - Atomic Science
Har Gobind Khorana - Biochemistry
E.C.G. Sudarshan - Quantum Physics
Tell Me Why

Why is Srinivasa Ramanu­
jan considered a mathe­
matical genius?
S
rinivasa Ramanujan
was, without doubt, a math­
ematical genius. Without
any formal training in the
subject, he made significant
contributions to the theory
of n umbers, i nvestigation of
elliptical functions, infinite
series, continued fractions,
and Mock theta functions.
Ramanujan showed a
natural inclination towards
mathematics when he was
ten years old. By age 1 1 , he
had more mathematical
knowledge than two col­
lege students who were
lodgers at his home. He
100 Great Scientists
completely mastered advanced
trigonometry by the age of 1 3,
and discovered sophisticated the­
orems on his own .
His memory for mathematical
formulae and constants seems to
have been boundless- he amazed
classmates with his ability to
recite the values of irrational num­
bers to as many decimal places
as they asked for.
Ramanujan went to Cambridge
i n April 1 91 4, thanks to the help of
Prof. G . H . Hardy. Two years later,
he was awarded the equivalent of
a PhD. for his work. The note­
books he had brought from India
were filled with thousands of identi­
ties, equations and theorems which
he had discovered for himself.
In 1 91 8 Ramanujan became the
first Indian Mathematician to be
elected a Fellow of the British
Royal Society.
91
 c.v. RAMAN

light can donate a small amount

of energy to the molecule. As a
Why is C. V. Raman consid­ result of this, the light changes its
ered to be a cientist par colour and the molecule vibrates.
excellence? The change of colour can act as

S
a 'fingerprint' for the molecule.
ir C.V. Raman is best Today, Raman spectroscopy,
known for his work in the which relies on these 'finger­
field of light scattering. prints,' is used in laboratories all
Raman was intrigued by the
blue colour of glaciers and Searching
the Mediterranean Sea and for the Raman-
wanted to unravel the mys­ Effect.

tery as to why water, a col­

ourless liquid, appeared
blue to the eyes.
Thus, he began a series
of experiments on the scat­
tering of light which u lti­
mately led to what came to
be known as the 'Raman
Effect'. Raman also discov­
ered that when light inter­
acts with a molecule, the

92

over the world to identify
molecules and to analyze
living cells and tissues to
detect diseases such as
cancer.
Sir C .V. Raman received
the Nobel Prize for Physics
in 1 930. He was the first
Indian to win the Nobel
Prize for Physics, and is
considered to be a scientist
par excellence.
What were Subrahmanyan
Chandrasekhar's achieve­
ments?
S
Ubrahmanyan Chan­
drasekhar worked on the
origins and structures of
stars, earning an important
place in the world of sci-
100 Great Scientists
ence. Chandrasekhar was one of
the first scientists to couple the
study of physics with the study of
astronomy. His most celebrated ·
work concerns the radiation of
energy from stars, particularly the
dying fragments known as white
dwarfs.
Chandrasekhar shared the
1 983 Nobel Prize in Physics for
his work on the physical process­
es involved in the evolution of
stars. He worked on a wide vari­
ety of astrophysical problems.
At the University of Cambridge,
he developed a theoretical model
explaining the structure of white
dwarf stars. NASA renamed the
Advanced X-ray Astrophysics
Facility as the Chandra X-Ray
9bservatory in his honour. This
observatory helps astronomers
better understand the structure
and evolution of the U niverse.
93
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100 Great Scientists 95

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Fax: ++91 - 481 -1564393 Opp. PonInsaIa c..,.- Poot (OIMBATORE

1056. Avlnislll Rood, (Opp.NlIgIrI Super MaIllot),

E mail: sub5<rIptionOmJn m ...,. Manonmo, 101, 5anshInt BuIldIngs,
.In
� 641 01B. Tel: 2241911 (Or).
� Tel: 022 39495969/ 24901331, 64530315
HYDERABAD

Cio. Dr. BC MiIhur, 8-H29n. Rood No.12,

BANGALORE

No.m. 3n1 11oor, KanIN Court.

MoIIyaIa ....,.. 2245470 (Goo) FiIlC D422 2245367.

BonjIri ..., tt,dorabod-SOO 034.

MoIIyaIa --

t./Bagh Rood, BMgaIort-27.

BHOPAL

GopoI Bhowan, No.161. ZOllO 1, M P Nagir.

...,. MInor-.
Tel: 040 23314168 /23324692.
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"", -' RoyaI IIusInoss Cllirnbfts,

(HENNAI

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KOLMTA JAJPUR

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MoIIyaIa �

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96 Tell Me Why
 Are scarecrows really scary?
Not scary enough! Farmers used to
put scarecrows up in the middle of a
field of crops to frighten crows or other
birds, so they wou ldn't eat their crops.
The birds were supposed to think
the straw figure dressed in old clothes
was a real man, and fly away in fear.
Well , at first the scarecrows kept the
birds away, but birds will stay away
from anything they don't u nderstand,
even drying laundry. So, after a few
days, the birds came back, and ate
the crops just as they did before there
was a scarecrow.
In fact, sometimes, in a field of corn,
you might find a flock of crows perched
right on the scarecrow, seeming to
Question sent by: enjoy his company! But farmers put
Tapsi Khanna, on e-mail. up scarecrows anyway. They feel saf­
Send us your questions er with them out there, whether they
E mail: tellmewhy@mmp.in scare the birds or notl

100 Great Scientists 97

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Printed and Published by V. Sajeev George. on behalf of M.M. P�blications Ltd. P.B. No. 226. Kotlayam - 686 001
at M.M. Publications Ltd. P_B. No. 226. Kotlayam - 686 001 and Malayala Manorama Press. Kottayam - 686 039
and published from M.M. Publications Ltd. P.8. No. 226. Kotlayam - 686 001.

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