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The Scientists:
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the letter and you will be brought to the beginning of the appropriate biography list. A B C D E F G H I K L M To Biographies HOME N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Jump-Off Page J
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Universe, The Long Chain of Complications (San Francisco: Freeman, 1969). It was written simply and plainly for a general audience, and enables us "to view ourselves both as a part of the atomic microcosm and as part of the universe that dwarfs us." Archimedes (287-212 B.C.). Forever to be known for the Archimedean principle: "a body plunged in a fluid loses as much weight as ..." Avogadro, Armedeo (1776-1856): The Italiian scientist after which is named the Avogadro's Law, viz,. "equal volumes of different gases, pressure and temperature being equal, contain the same number of molecules"; or, "equal volumes of gases or vapours contain the same number of molecules." (Click on letter to go to index.)
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Coming from a poor family, Faraday was apprenticed at the age of fourteen to a bookbinder: "he was allowed to spend as much time reading books as he did binding them." One of the books he found himself regularly binding was the Encyclopedia Britannica. After six years of book binding, to his very good fortune, Faraday, at the age of 21, was introduced to Sir Humphrey Davy; he went and joined Davy at the Royal Institution as Davy's personal assistant. (A story describing the relationship of Davy and Faraday would prove to be a mighty interesting one.) At any rate, Faraday led a very illustrious career as a scientist. (In those days they called themselves natural philosophers; and indeed, Faraday was a philosopher: his researches are pointed to as illustrative of the power of the inductive philosophy.) Though there developed quite a dispute over the point, Faraday is generally credited with the discovery of electromagnetic induction (1821), and described certain elements and chemical compounds such as chlorine and benzene. Fermi, Fermi (1901-54): While at Rome University, in 1938, Fermi won the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons." (Click on letter to go to index.)
-GGalen (c130-201):
Galen was a Greek physician. He was a careful dissector of animals. He was a voluminous writer and gathered up all the medical knowledge of his times. It is to Galen that we give credit of being, a physician who was to first give a diagnosis by the taking of a person's pulse. Galileo (1564-1642). Galileo -- astronomer, mathematician and physicist -- dwelt, not on the useless question, why do things happen? but, how do things happen? Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832). Though a philosopher, Goethe was a scientist carrying out work in biology and in optics. Goethe looked at things in a different manner, different than those thinkers up to his time; "he always attempted to see the individual phenomenon as part of an organic, developing whole ..." Gould, Stephen Jay: Of course, one should read Prof. Gould's works, as follows: Ever Since Darwin (1973), The Panda's Thumb (1980), Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes (1983), The Flamingo's Smile (1985), Wonderful Life, and An Urchin in the Storm (1987). Gould's publisher is Norton of New York. As will come as no surprise, Gould's discipline is biology. (Click on letter to go to index.)
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blank fact book and distinguished it from his theory book. Nothing would go down in his fact book unless tested and would readily remove it if it did not bear out on a re-test. Hawking, Stephen W.: Of course, one should read Prof. Hawking's work, A Brief History of Time (Bantam). Haeckel, Ernest (1834-1919): Haeckel is known as "Germany's Darwin." He studied medicine but ended up as a zoologist at the University of Jena, where he spent his life's career. "Unlike the always cautious Darwin, who did not speculate on the origin of life or the nature of reality, Haeckel never hesitated boldly to consider the philosophical implications and theological consequences of taking the fact of organic evolution seriously." Like Thomas Huxley "Haeckel saw only quantitative, not qualitative, differences between the living great apes and the rational human animal." Haeckel made a major literary contribution, when, in 1899, he brought out his book, The Riddle of the Universe; "In a scathing attack on religious dogma, Haeckel examines, from a monistic standpoint, the place of mankind within the dynamic, eternal, and infinite universe." My copy is a recent print which was translated by Joseph McCabe with intro by H. James Birx (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus, 1992). Haldane, J. B. S. (1892-1964): A British biologist, in 1927, Haldane collaborated with J. S. Huxley in the work Animal Biology. Haldane was asked once whether, considering his life long study of this earth's life forms, if he was able to conclude what the nature of the Creator might be; it is reported (Stephen Jay Gould) that he replied, "An inordinate fondness for beetles." Herschel, Sir William (1738-1822): Born in Hanover, Herschel started out as an oboist in the Hanoverian Guards band; and, as such, made a visit to England. Of course, a fellow Hanoverian, George II (1683-1760) was on the throne of England and Hanoverians were generally welcomed in England. Taking a position as an organist and music teacher at Bath -- the center in England of all that was socially correct -- Herschel was to make England his home. He developed an interest in astronomy. He made, 1773-74, a reflecting telescope; and, then, proceeded to discover the planet Uranus. In 1782, Herschel was appointed as George III's private astronomer. Herschel "greatly added to our knowledge of the solar system, of the milky way, and of the nebulae' he discovered, besides Uranus and two of its satellites, two satellites of Saturn, the rotation of Saturn's ring, the period of rotation of Saturn, and the motions of the binary stars; and made a famous catalogue of double stars, etc." (Chambers.) Herschel, Sir John Frederick William (1792-1871): This Herschel was to extend the astronomical work of his father. He was educated at Eaton and St. John's, Cambridge. He was to discover numerous nebulae and was one of the first to use photography in his research. Hertz, Gustav Ludwig: (1887-1975): While at Halle University, in 1925, Hertz won the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom." Hipparchus (160-125 B.C.): A Greek astronomer who carried out his observations at Rhodes. "He discovered the precession of the equinoxes and the eccentricity of the sun's path, determined the length of the solar year, estimated the distances of the sun and moon from the earth, drew up a catalogue of 1080 stars, fixed the geographical position of places by latitude and longitude, and invented trigonometry." (Chambers.) Hippocrates (c460-377B.C.): Hippocrates, a Greek, is the most celebrated physician of antiquity. He believed that "the four fluids or humours of the body (blood,
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phlegm, yellow bile and black bile) are the primary seats of disease." But, it is the ethics of Hippocrates to which, for many years, the medical doctor subscribed by the taking of the Hippocrates Oath. Hooke, Robert (1635-1703): Coming from the Isle of Wight, Hooke went to Oxford (Christ Church). He was to be a student of Robert Boyle's. In 1662, he became curator of experiments to the Royal Society and, in 1677, its secretary. In 1665 he published Micrographia a book on botany, chemistry, etc. Hooke anticipated the steam engine by describing that bodies of material can be extended or compressed, depending on their elasticity: Hooke's Law. It seems he realized that man might be able to see beyond the edges if only he had better tools; he therefore set out to invent them. To Hooke is contributed, in a material way, the invention of the quadrant, Gregorian telescope and microscope. It therefore should not come as a surprise that many discoveries are contributed to Robert Hooke. Huxley, Sir Julian (1887-1975): Humanist, atheist and science popularizer, Julian Huxley, a Professor of Zoology, was the brother of Aldous Huxley and grandson of Thomas H. Huxley. Among his works by and about him: Essays of a Biologist (1923) (Pelican, 1939) Ants (1930) (New York, Cape & Ballou, 1932), Evolution: The Modern Synthesis (London: Allen & Unwin, 1942), New Bottles for New Wine (London: Chatto & Windus, 1957), Evolution in Action (Signet, 1964), Evolutionary Humanism (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus, 1992), Memories I (1970) & Memories II (1973) (New York: Harper & Row). Huxley, Thomas H. (1825-1895): English biologist and teacher, Huxley was a defender of Darwin ("Darwin's Bulldog"). "There are those who hold the name of Professor Huxley as synonymous with irreverence and atheism. Plato's [work] was so held, and Galileo's and Descartes', and Newton's, and Faraday's. There can be no greater mistake. No man has greater reverence for the Bible than Huxley. No one had more acquaintance with the text of scripture. He believes there is definite government of the universe; that pleasures and pains are distributed in accordance with law; and that the certain proportion of evil woven up in the life even of worms will help the man who thinks to bear his own share with courage." (Tyndall's Fragments, advertisement.) Huygens, Christiaan (1629-93): The Dutch physicist who was to make, in 1657, on the suggestion of Galileo, the pendulum clock. In 1655, he discovered the ring and fourth satellite of Saturn. Huygens had a particular interest in the nature of light and was to propound a theory that it was undulating, thus striking upon, "wave theory." (Click on letter to go to index.)
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Neptunians and Vulcanists. The larger school, the Neptunians were of the view that granite had crystallized from a universal ocean that covered the earth in its original chaotic state; on the other hand the Vulcanists were convinced that granite was of volcanic origin. This became a very bitter conflict between the rival sects. How to resolve it? Not by vicious attacks on one and other. What a new generation of earth historians determined was that, instead of engaging in fruitless argument over 'fanciful' theories, geology could have no proper business but to go out and find facts - specimens, for example, and fossils and geological formations. Such an approach, as was carried out by Lyell, resulted in a new view, an "uniformitarian view," according to which the geographical record is an accumulation of ordinary and observable natural processes acting over a very long time. (Click on letter to go to index.)
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Oppenheimer was born in New York and studied at Harvard and at universities, both in England (Cambridge) and on the continent. Becoming a university professor in California, he studied "electron-positron pairs, cosmic ray theory and worked on deuteron reactions." During the war years he was chosen to head up the American effort to bring into being an earth bound thermonuclear explosion, which of course, with the assistance of a number of brilliant scientists in the area, such as Edward Teller, was to come about; and which, contributed to the bringing about the end of world war. In 1945, Oppenheimer, wondering and bothered by his work, resigned from the Los Alamos Laboratory. He was to argue, in respect to atomic energy, there should be joint control (United States and Russia). He fell out of favor, and, in 1953, "he was suspended from secret nuclear research by a security board review board." (Click on letter to go to index.)
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minister (dissenting) was much concerned with the human condition and what if any steps that might be taken to relieve suffering, and, was to express his views in his writings: he wrote a reply to Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution. Ptolemy (90-168): See under Copernicus. (Click on letter to go to index.)
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the Florentine Academy. We will always know him for the invention of the "Torricellian tube." It was on account of Torricelli's experiments that we were to come to better under stand the nature of atmospheric pressure, for example, it was Torricelli who first determined that water will not rise above 33 feet in a suction pump. So, too, it is to Torricelli that we owe the first statement of the principles of hydro mechanics. His efforts also led to considerable improvements to both the telescope and microscope. First and foremost, however, Torricelli was a mathematician and he is credited with "several mathematical discoveries." Tyndall, John (1820-93): Tyndall is tagged as an English physicist, lecturer and writer. He collaborated with T. H. Huxley in certain of his scientific studies. A classic, is Tyndall's book, Fragments of Science. I am fortunate, in addition, to have, in my library, Tyndall's Six Lectures on Light (London: Longmans, Green; 1885). (Click on letter to go to index.)
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him down for their graduate programs). In 1950, Watson joined Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge, England; there to meet and work with such people as Francis Crick, and others, who were trying to determine the makeup of DNA (Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid). Thus it was, that Crick and Watson made their big discovery, viz. that DNA was a winding helix in which pairs of bases held the strands together. This model of the DNA double helix formed the basis of important research in the areas of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics. In 1962, Watson and Crick, together with Maurice Wilkins, were awarded the Nobel Prize. In 1976, Watson was to become the full-time director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (Long Island, New York), which to some, came as a surprize, as he had, by then, established the image of the "Nutty Professor." At the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Watson made important contributions to the understanding of genetic code. In 1988, Watson's achievement and success led to his appointment as the Head of the Human Genome Project at the National Institute of Health, a project which turned out to be the most determined and most generously funded effort in biology. Whler, Friesrich (1800-82): Whler, born near Frankfurt and educated at Heidelberg, was to become a professor at Gttingten in 1836. Whler's work led to him isolating aluminium. "His synthesis of urea from ammonium cyanate in 1828 revolutionized organic chemistry." (Click on letter to go to index.)
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