Scientists who changed the World

Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher. He was the great disciple of Plato. Further, he was the teacher of Alexander, the Great. He was the first to create a comprehensive system of philosophy, encompassing epics, aesthetics, politics, metaphysics, logic and science. He was born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidice in Northern Greece in 384 B.C. His father was a physician in the court of Philip II of Maiden. Getting inspiration from his father, he studied Biology first. Later, at the age of 17, he started learning in Plato's Academy in Athens. He helped his teacher Plato in his researches.

He took the profession of a teacher at Plato's Academy for a long twenty years. He got the chance of teaching Alexander. He did it at the request of king Philip of Macedon. When returning to Athens he started his own school of philosophy called the Lyceum Academy. He was a great thinker. He made original contributions in poetics. His "Poetics" is the earliest existing work of dramatic theory. After the Bible, this book is the next which appeared in more editions. It serves as a dramaturgical code, from Italian renaissance through the late eighteenth century.

He made his contributions in Zoology, Botany, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Economics, etc. In his biological writings, he shared the knowledge of over 500 animal species. In his thoughts of Physics, he divided the universe into terrestrial region and the celestial region. To him all bodies on the terrestrial region were of earth, fire and water whereas those in the celestial region were made of a fifth substance called quintessence. Similarly, in the "Topics" he provided his philosophical thoughts of human 'ends' and 'means'. To him, "means" are valuable because their 'ends' are useful. In the "Politics" he viewed labour as a commodity. He, the most important thinker who has ever lived, died in 322 BC. Some say that it was some type of stomach disease that took him to death. Some others claimed that he died of natural causes.

Omar Khayyam

Omar Khayyam is a persian mathematician, poet and astronomer. He is renowned in Iran as a scientist. He documented the most accurate year length ever calculated 'Khayyam' in Persian means 'maker of tents'. It was believed that he might have lived by tent making.

He was born on 18 May, 1048 in Persia into a family of tent makers. His full name was Abu'l Fath Omar ibn Ibrahim al-Khyayyam. During his life time he was very famous as a mathematician. He laid out a few principles of Algebra - "On proofs for problems concerning Algebra". He wrote a treatise on extracting the nth root of natural numbers. Further he devised a calendar when he was in service of Sultan Malik Shab. He built an observatory at Istahan. He was an astrologer also in his court. He wrote the poem, "The Rubaiyat" and many other collections of verse. Rubaiyats are short poems of four lines. "Awake ! for morning in the Bowl of Night. / Has flung the stone that puts me starts to flight / And lo ! the Hunter of the East has caught / The Sulthan's Turret in a Noose of Light". This is the beginning of the Rabaiyat. It has been translated into many languages in the world. Edward Fitz Gerald translated it into English. G. Sankara Kurup produced its translation into Malayalam in 1932, in the title, "Vilasalahari". The poem was of high divine and spiritual in content. He said that if he had wine in one hand a lover to love he could write poems using the pen. The Rubaiyat asked us to enjoy our life full.

He wrote many philosophical books also. "On Existence", "The Necessity of Contradiction in the World, Determinism and Subsistence", "Abridgement Concerning Natural Phenomena", were some of them, He was also an astrologer and physician. He died in December 4, 1131. At that time he was 83. He was buried in a tomb, where there is an orchard where blossom would fall twice.

Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer, mathematician and physicist. He was born in Pisa in Italy in 1564. His father was Vincenzo Galilei, a musican. He was called the Founder of Modern Experimental Science. He was a professor in Mathematics in Pisa University and later in Paduva University. He was a central figure in the transition from natural philosophy to modern science and in the transformation of the scientific renaissance into scientific revolution. He substantiated the theory of Nicolaus Copernicus which states that "the Sun is the centre of the universe". He had probably held the belief for decades but which had not been central to his studies, But his conversation to Copernicanism would be a turning point in the scientific revolution. He discovered the law of pendulum. He invented the "Water Balance" (hydrostatic). It was used to find the specific gravity of objects by weighing them in water. He is believed to have discovered the "Law of Gravity". He invented a compass in 1597, called the "Sector". Draftsmen still use it. He made telescope of all kinds. This invention helped astronomy and contributed much to the Copernican heliocentric system. His notable works are “The Operations of Geometrical and Military Compass" (1606) and “Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences”.

He died on 8 January, 1642, in Arcetri, Italy. At that time he was 77 years of old and was totally blind.

Sir Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton was an English natural philosopher. He was regarded as the most original and influential theorist in the history of science. He was born prematurely in Woolsthorpe on 4th January 1643. He was a posthumous son. When he was three years of age, his mother remarried and left Woolsthorpe. He was grown under the care of his grandmother. But the second husband of his mother died, and she returned to Woolsthorpe. Even though he was taken from school to fulfill his birthright as a farmer, later he could get the opportunity to study in the Trinity College, Cambridge and got his degree in 1665. He made a series of original contributions to science. In Mathematics he conceived his "method of fluxions", laying the foundations for his theory of light and colour. He won significant insight into the problem of planetary motion, insights that eventually led to the book "Principia" (1687). In addition, he transformed the structure of physical science with his three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. His first law of motion states that an object will remain at rest or will continue to move uniformly in a straight line at constant speed unless acted upon a force. His second law states that the rate of change of an object is directly proportional to the force applied. His third law states that for every action there would be an equal and an opposite reaction. Similarly, his universal law of gravitation states that each object in the cosmos magnetizes further particles with a force that is directly proportional to the multiplication of their masses and it is inversely proportional to the square of distance amid them. Also during his career, he had done research in the topics, theology and history with equal passion that he given on alchemy and science. He wholly engrossed in his scientific studies. He even forgot to take food. He lost sleep and his forgetfulness caused a great deal on nervous excitability. In 1727, he died at Westminister Abbey.

Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Alva Edison is one of the famous inventors of all time. He was a successful entrepreneur and business man. He could acquire more than one thousand patents. He was born on February 1847, in Milan (America). His parents were Sam and Nancy. He was known as 'Al ' in his childhood. He was a poor student at school. One day his teacher called him "addled". And after this incident, His mother then made arrangements to teach him at home. Actually his mother made of him as he showed curiosity for mechanical things and for chemical experiments. He was a newspaper boy on the Grand Trunk Rail road to Detroit, first. He set up a laboratory for chemistry experiments and printing press. At the age of twelve he started losing his ability of hearing. This disability encouraged him concentrating on his experiments and research. His inventions exerted a tremendous influence in modern life. He invented the incandescent light bulb, the photograph, motion picture camera, and improved the telegraph and telephone, storage battery, etc. He did not fail in getting married to Mary Stilwell and starting a family. He invented gramophone, carbon transmitter which helped bringing the bell telephone into use. He nicknamed his two sons "Dot" and "Dash" referring to telegraphic terms. Later a third child was born. A year after the death of his wife he married another girl, Mina Miller, with whom he lived until his death.

In recognition of a lifetime of achievement, the United States Congress voted him a special Medal of Honor. When World War I was being fought the government appointed him Head of the Naval Consulting Board. He started taking naval research, in particular working on submarine detection. After 1920, his health started to decline and became worse suffering from many ailments. The great scientist died in 1931.

Jagadeesh Chandra Bose

Jagadeesh Chandra Bose was regarded as India's one of the greatest modern scientists. He was a pioneer in the field of physical, electro physiological and plant-physiological research in India. He was born in Mymensingh (now in Bangladesh) on November 1858. After the early education in a village school, he went to St. Xavier's College at Calcutta to learn English, where he met with Fr. Eugene Lafont S.J who inspired him and he studied Physical Science. Later he joined Christ's College, Cambridge to study Natural Science. He started his profession as Assistant Professor of Physics in the Presidency College. But he wanted to become a scientist rather than remaining a science teacher. So he researched along with his profession. He so went to England and demonstrated his apparatus for the study of the properties of electric waves, at the meeting of the British Association of Advancement of Science, Liverpool.

He later made an investigation of prism attenuator. In 1897, he delivered at the Royal Institution the famed "Friday Evening Discourse" on "The Electromagnetic Radiation and the Polarization of the Electric Ray". More than five hundred people including many scientists were there to hear him. Even after his retirement from service, he continued his researches. He went on his plant physiological investigation and invented recorders of high magnification and great precision in a small laboratory set up in his own house. Later in 1920, Bose - Institute was established in Kolkata. He served as a life time director till his death. He died in November 1937 at Giridih in Bihar.

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, famous as missile man of India, was the eleventh president of India. He was also a defence scientist in India. He said, "A developed India by 2020 is not only a dream. It need not even be a mere vision in the minds of many Indians. It is a mission that we all can take up and succeed". He is better known as the Father of Missiles.

He was born in Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu in a middle class small family, on 15 October 1931. He was lucky to study under several motivating teachers. After his school studies, he completed his B.Sc Degree, then accomplished Engineering and specialized Aero Engineering at Madras Institute of Technology. He play a major role as Project Director to develop India's first indigenous satellite launch vehicle (SLV 3). It effectively inserted the Rohini Satellite in the earth orbit on July 1980. The missiles like Agni, Prithvi, Akash, Trishul and Nag have raised India to the level of missile power of international reckoning. He is the architect of the country integrated missile development programme. He won India's three highest civilian honours the Padma Bhushan, the Padma Vibhushan and the Bharata Rathna in 1981, 1990 and 1997 respectively. Some of his notable works are Wings of Fire, Ignited Minds, India 2020 a Vision of the Millennium' and so on. He inspired to "dream, dream, dream and dream. Turn the dream into thoughts and thoughts will transform into action". He also exhorted us "to think and act like a nation of billion." Further, "Dream float on an impatient wind; a wind that wants to create a new order; an order of strength and thundering a fire", he said. All Indians are indebted to him and proud of him.

Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking was a world-renowned English theoretical Physicist, cosmologist and author. He was known for his famous theory on the black hole and relativity and quantum mechanics. He attempted to explain the origins of the universe.

He was born on 8th January 1942 in the Oxford city of England. The day is exactly 300 years after the demise of Galileo, who was considered as the father of modern science. Frank and Isobel were his parents. He was planned to go to West minister, a famous public school in London. But he fell ill and was forced to go to Saint Alban's School a local school. As a student he showed prodigious talent and wanted to become a scientist. On leaving school, he went to Oxford University and studied Physics. He thought "My goal is simple. It is an absolute understanding of universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all." After that he researches on the subject of cosmology at Cambridge University. There he gained PhD with the title "Properties of Expanding Universe" in 1965. He contributed to the fields of cosmology, general relativity and quantum gravity, especially in the context of black holes. He worked on singularity theorems and predicted that black holes emit radiation. He published several works of popular science. His notable works were A Brief History of Time (later published in 1988), The Universe in a Nutshell, The Grand Design, Brief Answers to the Big Questions and so on.

He had been suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) since from the age 21. It paralyzed him gradually over the decades and left him on a wheel chair. Actually respiratory failure and deterioration of swallowing muscles are the consequences of this disease. But he survived this long. He died at age 76, in March 13, 2018 in Cambridge. On his memorial stone, it was written, "Here lies what was mortal of Stephan Hawking 1942-2018".