My Science School

Sir C. V. Raman is best known for his work in the field of light scattering. Raman was intrigued by the blue colour of glaciers and the Mediterranean Sea and wanted to unravel the mystery as to why water, a colourless liquid, appeared blue to the eyes.

    Thus, he began a series of experiments on the scattering of light which ultimately led to what came to be known as the ‘Raman Effect’. Raman also discovered that when light interacts with a molecule, the light can donate a small amount of energy to te molecule. As a result of this, the light changes its colour and the molecule vibrates.

   The change of colour can act as a ‘fingerprint’ for the molecule. Today, Raman spectroscopy, which relies on these ‘fingerprints,’ is used in laboratories all over the world to identify molecules and to detect disease such as cancer.

     Sir C. V. Raman received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930. He was the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for Physics, and is considered to be a scientist par excellence.

Srinivasa Ramanujan was, without doubt, a mathematical genius. Without any formal training in the subject, he made significant contributions to the theory of numbers, investigation 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 11 he had more mathematical knowledge than two college students who were lodgers at his home. He completely mastered advanced trigonometry by the age of 13, and discovered sophisticated theorems 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 numbers to as many decimal places as they asked for.

   Ramanujan went to Cambridge in April 1914, thanks to the help of Prof. G. H. Hardy. Two years later, he was awarded the equivalent of a PhD. for his work. The notebooks he had brought from India were filled with thousands of identities, equations and theorems which he had discovered for himself.

   In 1918 Ramanujan became the first Indian Mathematician to be elected a Fellow of the British Royal Society.

Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose is one of the most famous among Indian scientists. He was a physicist, biologist, biophysicist, botanist and archaeologist, as well as a writer of science fiction.

  Bose proved by experimentation that both animals and plants share much in common. He demonstrated that plants are also sensitive to heat, cold, light, noise and various other external stimuli.

   Bose built a very sophisticated instrument called Crescograph which could record and observe the minute responses of plants to external stimulants. He authored two illustrious books and extensively researched the behavior of radio waves.

       Bose devised another instrument called ‘Coherer’. In 1917, he founded the Bose Institute, and dedicated it to the promotion of scientific studies in India.

Aryabhata was a great mathematician and astronomer in Ancient India. He wrote many mathematical and astronomical treatises. His chief work was the ‘Ayrabhatiya’ which was a compilation of mathematics and astronomy.

   Ayrabhatiya covers several branches of mathematics such as algebra, arithmetic, plane and spherical trigonometry. Included in it are theories on continued fractions, sum of power series, sine tables, and quadratic equations.

  Aryabhata also did a considerable amount of work in astronomy. He knew that the Earth is rotating on an axis around it. He discovered the position of nine planets and stated that these also revolved around the sun.

    Aryabhata stated that the correct 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 honored in many ways. The first Indian satellite was named ‘Aryabhata’. A lunar crater and Indian research centre also bear his name.

Sushruta, who lived in the 7th century BC, was an ancient Indian surgeon who was famous for his pioneering operations and techniques. His book the’ Sushruta Samhita’, is an advanced collection of the surgical, as well as information on other specialties, geriatrics, diseases of the ear, nose, throat and eye, toxicology, aphrodisiacs and psychiatry.

   Examples of some of Sushruta’s groundbreaking operations include rhinoplasty which involves 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 practice surgical techniques by operating on objects like watermelons and reeds.

    Sushruta took surgery in ancient India to admirable heights and because of his numerous contributions to the science and art surgery in India; he is regarded as the ‘father of surgery’ and ‘father of plastic surgery’.

Stephen Hawking, theoretical physicist and cosmologist, is remarkable in many ways. Despite challenging physical impairments, he has contributed hugely to he world of science.

   Hawking suffers from a type of motor neuron disease that has left him almost completely Paralyzed. 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 swallowed up all energy. However, he determined there was room for this phenomenon, through the merging of quantum theory, general relativity and thermodynamics, distilling it all into one path breaking formula in 1974.

      Hawking wanted to write a book about the mysteries of the universe that would connect with the public. This task seemed impossible after he lost the abilities to write and speak. But Hawking did not give up, and his vision was finally realized when finally realized when his ‘A Brief History of Time’ became a best-seller. 

James Watson, an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the structure of DNA in 1953. He gained worldwide fame and prominence as the joint author of the scientific papers between 1953 and 1954 which he co-wrote with fellow 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 process of genetic  replication. One of the most celebrated science writers, Watson published his textbook ‘Molecular Biology of the Gene’ in 1965 and his best-selling autobiographical book ‘The Double Helix,’ in 1968.

    Watson helped to establish and direct the Human Genome Project at the National Institute of Health, where he oversaw the mapping of the genes in human chromosomes. His own genome was sequenced in 2007, making him the second person to have this done.

Richard Feynman was an American Scientist who is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential theoretical physicists in history.

  Feynman revolutionized the field of quantum mechanics and formulated te theory of quantum electrodynamics.

  Feynman is responsible for the introduction of fundamental computational techniques and notations into physics. The Feynman diagrams have dramatically changed the way in which basic physical processes are conceptualized and calculated. He also studied the physics of super cooled liquids. In order to increase the understanding of physics among the general public,

   Feynman wrote two important books- ‘The Character of Physical Law’ and “Q.E.D: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter’. He was awarded the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics for successfully resolving problems related to the theory of quantum electrodynamics.

Francis Crick, an English molecular biologist, will always be remembered as one of those responsible for unveiling the mystery of the DNA molecular structure. In the early 1950s, scientists had learned a lot about genetics, but they still didn’t understand the structure of the DNA molecular and they needed to understand the structure of DNA, in order to fully understand genetics.

   In 1951, Crick went to Cambridge 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 double helix structure of the DNA molecule. They shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1962.

   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 milestone in science.

Albert Sabin was a Polish-born physician and virologist- a virologist  is a scientist who studies viruses. After qualifying as a doctor I 1931, Sabin immediately began research on the nature and cause of polio, a viral infection that can result in death ore paralysis.

     Sabin proved that polio viruses not only grew in nerve tissue, as was generally assumed, but that they lived in the small intestines. This discovery indicated that polio might be prevented by a vaccine taken through the mouth.

   Albert Sabin will always be remembered as the scientist who developed the live poliovirus vaccine 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 vaccines for encephalitis or swelling of the brain, sand-fly fever, and dengue fever- viral diseases transmitted by mosquitoes.

Enrico Fermi, an Italian physicist is remembered as the architect of the nuclear as the architect of the nuclear age.

    Fermi discovered that uranium neutrons could be used to split other uranium atoms off a chain reaction that would release enormous amounts of energy.

   In 1938, Fermi received the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on induced radioactivity by neutron bombardment and the discovery of transuranic elements.

  His experiments led to the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in Chicago, on December 2nd, 1942. Subsequently, during World War II, Fermi became one of the principal leaders on the Manhattan Project, which focused on the development of the atomic bomb.

  Fermi was also deeply interested in high-energy physics, and led investigations into the origin of cosmic rays, and theories on the fantastic energies present in cosmic ray particles. Element 100, fermium, is named in his honour.

Linus Pauling, an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator is extraordinary for his many achievements.

    Pauling was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954 for his scientific work. In 1962, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his peace activism. This makes him the only person to be awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes.

       In science, Pauling was a founder of quantum chemistry, molecular biology, and molecular genetics. To him we owe several indispensable scientific concepts.

   By the early 1930s, Pauling was able to show that quantum chemistry could do more than produce results that agreed with experiments. He used it to correctly predict the properties of molecules and their structures. In 1957, he was instrumental in gathering a petition to ban nuclear weapons testing. It was signed by over 11,000 scientists from 50 countries. Later, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union agreed to a partial nuclear test to a partial nuclear test ban, mainly as a result of the petition. Pauling received the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

James Chadwick was an English physicist whose research with radioactivity pointed to the presence of a particle with no electrical charge in the nucleus of atoms. In those days, most researchers believed there were electrons within the nucleus as well as outside it.

    Chadwick and some others, believed in the possibility that particles with no charge could be in the nucleus. This was the neutron and its discovery by Chadwick dramatically changed the course of science.

   It made it possible to artificially create elements heavier than uranium. Chadwick received Nobel Prize in Physics in 1935 for this discovery.

   James Chadwick led the British team in the Manhattan Project, in which the UK and Canada supported the United State’s World War II effort to build the world’s first nuclear bomb. 

Hermann Joseph Muller is best known as the founder of the field of radiation genetics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1946.

   Muller is best remembered for his demonstration that mutations and hereditary changes can be caused by X-rays striking the genes and chromosomes of living cells.

   His studies of the processes and frequencies of mutations enabled Muller to form a picture of the arrangements and recombination of genes. This later led to his experimental induction of genetic mutations through the use of X-rays in 1926. This highly original discovery established his international reputation as a geneticist and eventually won him the Nobel Prize.

   Muller frequently warned the public of the long-term dangers of radioactive fallout from nuclear war and nuclear testing. He thus played an important role in raising public awareness in this area.

Edwin Hubble, an American astronomer, made a huge impact on astronomy, and science in general, by demonstrating that other galaxies, besides our own Milky Way, existed. Less than a century ago, many scientists believed there was just one galaxy, the Milky Way.

    On December 30th, 1924, Edwin Hubble announced he had evidence that the Milky Way galaxy was just one of the many galaxies in Universe.

   Discovering that our galaxy wasn’t alone was just the beginning for Hubble. He continued measuring distances and velocities in deep space.

 His findings, published in 1929, led to the widely accepted notion that the Universe is expanding. The well known Hubble Space Telescope is named after Edwin Hubble.

    The Hubble Space Telescope has provided valuable research data and images since it was carried into orbit in 1990, leading to many breakthroughs in the field of astrophysics.

   Despite his accomplishments, Hubble never won the Noble Prize in physics, since at that time; astronomers were not eligible for the award.

   However, Edwin Hubble has received other accolades, however. Both an asteroid and a Moon crater bear his name.