Category Great Scientist

Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch philosopher and mathematician, was one of the leading scientists in the 17th century. He started by trying to disprove theories that had been established by Ancient Greeks in geometry.

      He was interested in telescopes and astronomy, and spent a lot of time designing methods to improve the mechanical and optic performance of telescopes.

In his book entitled ‘Systema Saturnium’ published in 1659, he noted the discovery of the rings around the planet Saturn, and made observations about the planets, the Moon, and Orion Nebula. His keen interest in the field of astronomy led him to measure time and other matters that relate to mechanical physics.

      One of his most important contributions was that he explained the vital principles of classical physics like centripetal force and gravity in a vacuum in another book of his.

      Huygens also put forward a theory explaining the wave behavior of light. His reputation as a scientist and a scholar became known worldwide, and remains so to this day.

Robert Boyle was a famous Anglo Irish scientist who transformed chemistry in the 17th century. Till then, chemistry was confined to alchemy and mysticism.

       Alchemy was the study of how to change basic substances such as metals into other more valuable substances. Boyle made chemistry a science based on measurement.

       He defined elements, compounds and mixture and he coined the new term ‘chemical analysis,’ a field in which he made several contributions. Robert Boyle is most famous for Boyle’s law. It was the first of the gas laws linking the pressure of a gas to its volume. He established that electrical forces are transmitted through a vacuum, but sound is not.

       Boyle also stated that the movement of particles is responsible for heat. He was the first person to write specific experimental guidance for other scientists, telling them the importance of achieving reliable results. He was indeed a ‘mighty chemist.’

      Robert Boyle is regarded as the first modern chemist, and is referred to as one of the founders of modern chemistry.

Alexander Graham Bell was an influential scientist engineer, and inventor who is considered to be the inventor of the first practical telephone. Bell’s mother and wife were both deaf, and this motivated his research on hearing and speech.

         Bell experimented with sound, working with devices such as ‘harmonic telegraph,’ that is used to send multiple messages over a single wire. While trying to discover the secret to transmitting multiple messages on a single wire, Bell heard the sound of a plucked string along some of the electrical wire. This was caused because one of Bell’s assistants, Thomas A. Watson, was trying to reactivate a transmitter. It made Bell believe he could send the sound of a human voice over the wire.

        After receiving a patent on March 7th, 1876, for transmitting sound along a single wire, he successfully transmitted human speech on March 10.

        Bell’s first words with the working telephone were spoken to his assistant Watson. They were “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.”

        Bell also had a strong interest in other scientific fields, conducting medical research, searching for alternative fuel sources, developing hydrofoil watercraft and much more.

J.J. Thomson, an English physicist, took science to new heights with his 1897 discovery of the electron the subatomic particle.

     When Thomson began his research career, it was thought that atoms were the smallest particles. Nobody had a clear picture of how atoms might look. It was already known that atoms were associated in some way with electric charges.

   In 1897, aged40, Thomson carried out a now famous experiment with a cathode ray tube. His experiment proved the existence of a new fundamental particle that was much smaller than the atom. It was named the electron.

     In discovering the electron, Thomson also moved toward the invention of an immensely important new tool for chemical analysis the mass spectrometer.

      Then, in 1912, Thomson discovered that stable elements could exist as isotopes. Isotopes are different forms of the same element that exist with different atomic masses.

    J.J. Thomson was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1906

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist. He is best known for developing the theories and techniques of psychoanalysis.

       Psychoanalysis is a method of treatment through which an analyst uncovers unconscious conflicts based on the free associations, dreams, and fantasies of the patient.

     All of Freud’s work revolved around the mind how it worked, and how to diagnosis and treat certain maladies of the mind. He analyzed himself as well. He began to pick apart his dreams, and tried to decipher their meaning.

    In doing so, he provided an incredible account of how dreams originate and why. He explored what would become known as Freudian slips, where one has a slip of the tongue and either misreads something, or forgets a name.

    Freud established a theory as to why this happens often to some people. Sigmund Freud’s greatest achievement was in the area of the unconscious mind.

    Although many before him were aware of its existence, he was the one who was finally able to achieve scientific recognition in the area of psychoanalysis.

Max Planck was a German theoretical physicist, who made significant contributions. He changed our understanding of physics when he discovered that hot objects do not radiate a smooth, continues range of energies as was earlier believed.

      Instead, he found that the energies radiated by hot objects have distinct values. His discovery was the beginning of the Quantum theory an entirely new type of physics that revolutionized our understanding of atomic and subatomic processes. In fact, we can say that the quantum theory grew from the ideas of Max Planck.

    A quantum is the smallest possible amount of energy. Planck’s constant a fixed number is used to calculate the energy of quanta. The theory has been developed to explain the behavior of particles and the energy they emit. Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1918.