My Science School

Pierre-Simon Laplace was a French physicist and astronomer of the 19th century. He had a phenomenal natural mathematical faculty, and predicted many things, using only maths.

           These predictions were later confirmed with powerful telescopes. He wrote a book explaining his theory of the origin of the solar system.

           Laplace presented a steady stream of remarkable mathematical papers that spread his fame. Pierre-Simon Laplace is highly regarded for his influential, five-volume treatise which developed a strong mathematical understanding of the motion of the heavenly bodies. This work interpreted the geometric study of classical mechanics, starting up a wider range of problems.

          Laplace’s work, and the results he produced, made him one of the most important and influential scientists that the world has seen. The Laplacian differential operator that is named after him is widely used in mathematics.

           Laplace won many awards for his studies, and he was made a marquis, but he remained modest, saying, “What we know is little. What we know not is immense.”

         His work regarding the theory of probability and statistics is considered pioneering.

Jean Babtiste Lamarck was one of the pioneers in the field of biology.

   In fact, the very name ‘biology’ was coined by this French naturalist. He is best remembered for his theory, the characteristics an organism develops during its lifetime in response to its environment are inherited by, or passed on to, its offspring.

       Lamarck was the first to use the term invertebrate to describe animals without backbones. He began collecting fossils and studying all sorts of simple species.

        As a result of these studies, he was able to revise the classification of lower animals that had been unfinished by the Swedish biologist Linnaeus.

        Lamarck’s study of invertebrates also led to the publication of his major work ‘The Natural History of Invertebrate Animals’ in 1815-22.

William Herschel was a German-born British scientist who became one of the most important astronomers of the 18th century. He built his own telescopes.

           From the garden of his house, William Herschel noted ‘every star in the heavens’ through a telescope that he had constructed himself.

         He also manufactured over 400 telescopes that were in great demand worldwide. His study of the heavens led him to the discovery of a planet that would eventually be called Uranus. William Herschel would also discover Titania and Oberon, which were the moons of Uranus as well as Enceladus and Mimas, the moons of Saturn.

          Herschel maintained that the solar system is moving through space, and found out the direction of that movement. He also suggested that the Milky Way was in the shape of a disc. Herschel is considered to be the founder of modern stellar astronomy.

       William Herschel, a great scientist was a gifted musician too. He played the oboe, violin, harpsichord and organ.

Johann Gauss was a German mathematician who had a remarkable influence in many fields.

        These included the number theory, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, electrostatics, astronomy and optics.

       Gauss systematized the study of number theory and was fundamental in consolidating it as an important discipline. Gauss also discovered Ceres, the largest of the asteroids orbiting the sun. His theory of Celestial movement remains a cornerstone of astronomical computation to this day. Among many other achievements, Gauss is responsible for a procedure used currently In all sciences to minimize the impact of measurement error.

       He kept a diary of his discoveries, listing 146 discoveries, which was lost for over 40 years after his death. Gauss is deservedly ranked as one of his history’s most influential mathematicians.

Justus Liebig is considered to be the founder of organic chemistry. Liebig was one of the first chemists to organize a modern laboratory that became the model for teaching practical chemistry. Liebig developed an instrument for determining the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen content of organic materials. In 1832, he and Friedrich Wohler published their study of the oil of bitter almonds which proved that a single compound can behave like an element in a chemical reaction. This became the foundation of the theory of compound radicals.

        Liebig advanced the idea that chemistry could revolutionize farming and greatly increases yields in a book that he wrote. In this book, he discussed plant nutrition, and chemical transformations in plants and animals.

       Liebig is best remembered for a process for reducing silver salts to metallic silver that became the basis for modern mirror making.

Antoine Lavoisier revolutionized chemistry. It was he who coined the name oxygen for the element released by mercury oxide.

            He found that oxygen made up 20 per cent of air, and was vital for combustion and respiration. He also concluded that when phosphorus or sulfur is burned in air, the products are formed by the reaction of these elements with oxygen.

                  The elements carbon and hydrogen were also named by him. Another milestone was when Lavoisier correctly identified sulfur as an element. A year later, he found that when mercury oxide is heated, its weight decreases. The oxygen it releases has exactly the same weight as the weight lost by the mercury oxide. After carrying out further experiments, Lavoisier announced a new fundamental law of nature- the law of conversation of mass. This law states that the total mass of a chemical reaction’s products is identical to the total mass of the starting materials.

Edward Jenner, a doctor in England, lived during the 18th century. At that time, smallpox was a dreaded disease that killed thousands of people every year. Smallpox is n infectious 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.

     Jenner believed that the pus form blisters caused by cow-pox protected the milkmaids from smallpox. He tested the theory by inoculating a boy called James Phipps, his gardener’s son, with pus from cow-pox blisters. James experienced a fever, but he did not get small pox.

     Jenner repeated the experiment on more than 20 people, proving that those he had inoculated 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.

     Today, smallpox has been completely eradicated from the world, thanks to the smallpox vaccine, and Edward Jenner.

William Harvey was an English physician who lived in the 17th century. He was the first person to correctly describe blood’s circulation in body.

       He showed that arteries and veins form a complete 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 by the contraction of arteries. Harvey’s knowledge came from observations he made of blood flowing through the veins and arteries of living animals that he cut open. This may seem cruel, as there were no anaesthetics in Harvey’s time.

        Nevertheless, it is how we arrived at an understanding of blood and its circulation in the body.

       William Harvey’s work also laid down the foundations of physiology, which is the study of body functions. 

Joseph Black, a British chemist and physicist, is famous for his discovery of carbon dioxide. Black was always a meticulous chemist, keeping careful note of all his results and measurements. It was this which led to his discovery of carbon dioxide.

      Black also took an interest in the science of heat. In the 18th century, there were several competing theories about the nature of heat, and how it related to temperature.

      Black’s investigations not only clarified the distinction between temperature and heat, but also resulted in the theory of latent heat. Black was gifted and effective teacher. His course in chemistry proved so popular that many students, even those with no particular interest in the subject, were eager to attend.

     Alongside his teaching, black carried on an active and demanding medical practice. Joseph Black, widely respected both as a scientist and a physician, is truly one of the titans in the world of science.

Joseph Priestly, an Englishman is noted for his groundbreaking contributions to experimental chemistry, electricity, and the chemistry of gases.

       Before him, scientists thought that the air on earth consisted of carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Priestley brought 10 more gases to this light, such as nitrogen, hydrogen chloride, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide and oxygen.

       He isolated oxygen in its gaseous state, and conducted a series of experiments to distinguish each gas based on its properties. Priestley also made another discovery that has been highly appreciated by surgeons worldwide. He discovered nitrous oxide, which was also known as laughing gas. It was the first surgical an aesthetic to be used.

      Priestley’s best known achievement in the field of biology in 1772 was his work with photosynthesis. Priestley’s other interesting discoveries include the fact that graphite is a good electric conductor, and that gummy tree sap is a good eraser for pencil marks.

      Did you know that you can enjoy your favorite fizzy drink thanks to Joseph Priestley, for he was the one who invented soda water?

The English scientist Henry Cavendish was an experimental chemist and physicist par excellence. Cavendish was the first to recognize hydrogen gas as a distinct substance. He called it inflammable air.

         Cavendish showed that hydrogen is much less dense than air. In 1785, he published a paper showing the earth’s atmosphere consists of four parts nitrogen to one part oxygen.

         In addition, to his achievements in chemistry, Cavendish is also known for the Cavendish experiment. He was the first to measure the force of gravity between masses in a laboratory, and to produce an accurate value for earth’s density.

       Henry Cavendish also experimented with electricity, but much of his work on the subject was only published after his death. He was renowned for the great accuracy and precision of his scientific research.

In the 18th century, the Swedish naturalist and physician Carl Linnaeus introduced the scientific system of classifying plants and animals that is used all over the world to this day.

      Under this system, each living thing is assigned a name consisting of two Latin word is the name of the genus, and the second, the species. The classification of living things is called taxonomy.

     In 1737, Linnaeus published the first edition of his book titled systema naturae or system of nature. Over the years, Linnaeus continued to develop his ideas and add new species so that the book grew in period of about 30years from 12 outsize pages in its first edition, to 2400 pages in its 12th edition.

     This was the first serious attempt ever made to document all of our planet’s species. It was a huge effort, and it won Linnaeus acclaim as the ‘Father of Taxonomy’.

Edmond Halley was an English scientist who became very interested in a comet that he saw in 1682. After being told that a similar comet had appeared in 1531 and 1607, he suspected that it was the same comet that he had seen.

        By using the laws of gravity discovered by his friend Sir Isaac Newton, Halley realized that he could predict when it would return. Halley worked out that he comet would appear in our skies every 75 to 76 years.

        He was correct in his prediction, but sadly when the comet did reappear, he was no more, and he could 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, Halley also made significant discoveries in the fields of geography, mathematics, meteorology, and physics. Halley was very close to Newton.

Sir Isaac Newton, an Englishman who lived in the 17th century, is scientific legend. He came up with numerous theories and contributed ideas to many different fields including physics, mathematics, and philosophy.

      In 1687, Newton published his book philosophiae Natural is principia mathematica. In it, he describes universal gravitation, and the three laws of motion. It is widely regarded to be one of the most important books in the history of science. It is well known that his work on formulating a theory of gravitation was inspired by watching an apple fall from a tree!

        During his lifetime, Newton developed a new type of mathematics 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 colors.

       Newton was a deep thinker with an insatiable curiosity to know everything about everything he saw. His contributions are so numerous, that e changed forever the way in which we look at the world.

Tycho Brahe was a famous Danish astronomer who played a vital role in the development of various astronomical instruments.

    He devised his own instrument even before the invention of the telescope, to observe the heavens. These instruments allowed Brahe to determine the movements of heavenly objects more precisely.

     Brahe made significant contributions in the study of the moon and the planet Mars, which would later prove extremely useful to other astronomers. Instruments built by Brahe proved to be very helpful in accurate determinations of latitude and longitude.

       Brahe built his first observatory at Herrevead Abbey in 1572, and another one named ‘Uraniborg’ in 1576. He also built a third one called ‘Stjerneborg’ IN 1581