Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Neil deGrasse Tyson



Born in October 5, 1958, Neil deGrasse Tyson continues his career as and astrophysicist
and science communicator to this day. He had grown up in Manhattan of New York City,
and attended Bronx High School of Science where he took up various leadership positions
and emphasized his interest in astronomy. Neil deGrasse Tyson continued to carry his fascination
in science throughout his college career, having attended good universities and majoring in Physics.

Neil deGrasse Tyson also made a remarkable impact on science career development, as he served in the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry in 2001, followed by the "moon, mars, and beyond" commission in 2004. Such involvement in the science community resulted in Neil deGrasse Tyson being awarded the  NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal; very high civilian honor.

Neil deGrasse Tyson May also be recognized as an icon of NOVA ScienceNOW, having served as the host of this educational science program from 2006 to 2011. Being a science communicator, Neil deGrasse Tyson has also made various appearances on other media outlets such as radio and talk shows.


VOLTA



My paper is going to be about the accomplishments of Alessandro Volta. I am going to start by discussing his early childhood and how he became interested in the sciences. I am going to write about how his interest in science at a young age was perceived by his  parents, friends, and society. I will then transition to his education. Whether he went to college or not. If he was mentored by somebody or if he learned everything he knew in solitude.

The main body of my essay is going to be about Volta's experiments. His trials and errors, and the uncanny ways he came about discovering his theories or experiments. One of these uncanny ways I will describe in detail is how he was able to utilize a frog leg as a conductor for electricity which led to the discovery of electrolytes. He also used the frog leg as a way to detect whether electricity was in an object. I will also write about how Volta created the first battery.

To conclude my paper I will write about how Volta’s contribution to science is visible in our everyday lives. Volta’s influence is also magnificent in measuring how many VOLTS are in a battery or how strong an electrical charge is in an object

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Roentgen

Wilhelm Roentgen was born in Germany on March 27, 1845. He was a German physicist who is known for his detecting electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength known as X-rays. He had been a professor at multiple universities such as, the university of Strasbourg. Roentgen's first work was published in 1870, which was about specific gases. Roentgen also liked to work with quartz, pressure,
electromagnetic influences, and other important topics. Roentgen won the Noble Prize in 1901 for his
discovery of X-rays. Roentgen died on February 10, 1923.

Wilhelm Roentgen is mostly known for his discovery of the X-rays in 1895. He called these "rays" that he found X-rays because he did not know what to call them, therefore calling them unknown rays or X-rays. He discovered X-rays by studying an electric current going through a gas of low pressure. He found that if a discharge tube is enclosed in a black carton to exclude light, a paper plate covered with barium platinocyande placed in the path of these rays would become fluorescent. The first X-ray that he did was with his wife's hand. He placed her hand over the plate showing her bones, therefore the first X-ray ever taken.

Roentgen has been praised for his great work by having many honors. He had won the Nobel Prize in 1901 for his discovering of the X-rays and has also received other medals from various different countries regarding his work. He also has had streets named after him in Germany, and also has received honorary doctorates. Roentgen was known to be a very humble man who was kind to the others around him, even if they disagreed with some of his work. Although he was a people person, he would rather work alone in his Lab. Roentgen died on February 10, 1923, but is still remembered today.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Georg Ohm



Georg Ohm was a German Physicist known for the discovery of Ohm's Law, which is found in his book exploring his full theory of electricity, published in 1827. Ohm was born in 1787 in Erlangen, Germany. His parents did not receive any form of education, yet Ohm's father was able to teach him using the knowledge he gain from teaching himself.  Ohm attended the University of Erlangen, and wrote a textbook of elementary geometry to prove his worth while teaching mathematics in German schools. While he was a teacher, Ohm began his experiments in the school physics laboratory; soon after he learned of the discovery of electromagnetism in 1820.
Statue of Georg Ohm in Munich, Germany
Ohm provided results from his electromagnetic experimentation and proposed laws based on galvanic electricity in two important papers in 1826. Using the results of his experimentation,  Ohm discovered the relationship between the resistance, current, and voltage in an electric current. He published what is known as Ohm’s Law in his most famous book in 1827. Ohm’s law is I=V/R. This equation, simply stated, says that “the amount of steady current through a material is directly proportional to the voltage across the material divided by the electrical resistance of the material” (Source: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blohm.htm). This equation is fundamental for the understanding of electric circuits.  

Newton




       Sir Isaac Newton was born December 25 1642 in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire. His father died when he was just and infant and his mother remarried. She sent Newton away to be raised by his grandmother. Because of his hatred for his stepfather and his separation from his mother, he had an unhappy childhood. He would have emotional breakdowns and he would be very violent and aggressive against friends. In 1653, he was taken out of school to become a farmer, however it didn't work out so he went back to school In 1661, he went to Trinity College in Cambridge where he was interested in Mathematics, Optics, Physics, and Astronomy.

        Newton privately studied major figures of the scientific revolution, "René Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, Pierre Gassendi". He studied Euclid, mastered Descartes Geometrie, and spent his time to math and optics to figure out infinitesimal calculus. Later, he started to think about gravity. In 1667, Newton came back to Cambridge after a two year plague and became a professor or Mathematics. He created the first reflecting telescope and he was accepted into the Royal Society. He conducted experiments with light and figured out that there was colors like in a rainbow, and he established the study of modern optics. In 1704, he published the book The Optics and his studies of optics and light.

      In 1687, Newton published his book, Principia, it became one of the greatest works created by him. It talked about how gravity applies to all objects in all parts of the universe, which also includes his three laws of motion. In 1689, He was elected as one of the members in the parliament of Cambridge University. In 1696, he was appointed warden of the Royal Mint in London. He became president of the Royal Society in 1703, and he was knight in 1705. On March 31 1727, Sir Isaac Newton died and was buried in Westminster Abby.
    

Blaise Pascal











   Inventor, mathematician, physicist and theological writer Blaise Pascal who was born on  June 19, 1623 in Clermont-Ferrand, France. He was the third child and only son to his parents. His father Etienne moved his family to Paris in 1631.
    While there his father decided to educate Pascal a child prodigy himself so he could design his own unorthodox curriculum and make sure that Blaise did not work to hard. Ironically Etienne entirely disregarded mathematics from Pascal's early curriculum. His father was concerned that Blaise would become fascinated with geometry that he would not be able to focus on classical subjects.
    His plan ultimately backfired, the fact that mathematics was s forbidden topic made the subject even more interesting to him. Blaise Pascal was a very influential French mathematician and philosopher who contributed to many areas of mathematics. He worked on conic sections and geometry and in correspondence with Fermat he laid the foundations for the theory of probablity.