sir chandrasekhara venkata raman,

Sir Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman, an Indian Physicist, was the first to 

describe and explain in the review nature, in 1928, the experimental 

observation of the phenomenon in liquids. On 28th February 1928, 

through his experiments on the scattering of light, he discovered the 

Raman Effect. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 

1930.

Born: November 7, 1888, Thiruvanaikaval Died: November 21, 1970, Bangalore, India

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Marie Skłodowska-Curie,

The famous chemist and physicist, Marie Curie was the first person in the history to be awarded with the two Nobel Prizes in diverse fields of science (chemistry and physics). She is notable for her theory of radioactivity, techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two new elements, polonium and radium. Her work has received great appreciation from many scientists all over the world.

            

Early Life

Marie Curie was born in Warsaw on November 7, 1867. She was the fifth and the youngest daughter of a secondary-school teacher. Her early years were very difficult with her mother and her sister passing away. She received her early education from some local school and her father taught her mathematics and physics, subjects that Marie was to pursue. She lived in Warsaw until she was twenty-four years old and later moved to Paris to receive higher education at the Sorbonne. There she obtained Licenciateships in Physics and the Mathematical Sciences.

In 1894, she met Pierre Curie, instructor in the School of Physics and Chemistry. Marie had begun her scientific career in Paris with an examination of the magnetic properties of various steels; it was their common interest in magnetism that brought Marie and Pierre together. The following year they got married.

 

Achievements

In 1896 when Henry Becquerel made his discovery of radio activity, the Curie’s became inspired to look into uranium rays as a possible field of research for a thesis. In 1898 their brilliant researches led to the discovey of polonium, named after the country of Marie’s birth, and radium. In 1903, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honoured both Pierre Curie and Marie Curie with the Nobel Prize in Physics, for their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Becquerel.

Following the unfortunate death of her husband in 1906, she took his place as Professor of General Physics in the Faculty of Sciences. She was the first woman who had held this position. She was also employed as Director at the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute of the University of Paris, founded in 1914.

After her husband’s death she continued with her efforts of developing methods for obtaining pure radium from radioactive residues in sufficient quantities. By 1910, she successfully isolated the pure radium metal.

In 1911, Curie was awarded with yet another Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry in recognition of her work in radioactivity.

All her life Marie promoted the use of radium and also set a great example of its use during World War I for healing the injuries of those who suffered. Her passion for science is reflected in all her efforts towards its advancement. She was also a member of the Conseil du Physique Solvay from 1911 until her death. Moreover since 1922 she had been a member of the Committee of Intellectual Co-operation of the League of Nations. In 1932 she also laid the foundation of Radium Institute (now the Maria Sk?odowska–Curie Institute of Oncology) in Warsaw. Her work is recorded in various papers in scientific journals.

  

Death

The great scientist Marie Curie died on July 4, 1934 at the Sancellemoz Sanatorium in Passy, in Haute-Savoie from aplastic anemia.

Her name will always be written in golden letters for her tremendous contribution to the field of science.

The Wright Brothers,

The Wright Brothers - First Flight, 1903

On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright piloted the first powered airplane 20 feet above a wind-swept beach in North Carolina. The flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. Three more flights were made that day with 

Wilbur flies a glider in earlier tests Kitty Hawk, Oct. 10, 1902.

Orville's brother Wilbur piloting the record flight lasting 59 seconds over a distance of 852 feet.

The brothers began their experimentation in flight in 1896 at their bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. They selected the beach at Kitty Hawk as their proving ground because of the constant wind that added lift to their craft. In 1902 they came to the beach with their glider and made more than 700 successful flights.

Having perfected glided flight, the next step was to move to powered flight. No automobile manufacturer could supply an engine both light enough and powerful enough for their needs. So they designed and built their own. All of their hard work, experimentation and innovation came together that December day as they took to the sky and forever changed the course of history. The brothers notified several newspapers prior to their historic flight, but only one - the local journal - made mention of the event.

"I found the control of the front rudder quite difficult"

The conditions on the morning of December 17 were perfect for flight - high, consistent winds blowing from the north. At about 10:30 that morning, Orville Wright lay down on the plane's wing surface and brought its engine to life in preparation of launching it and himself into history. His diary tells the story:


"When we got up, a wind of between 20 and 25 miles was blowing from the north.

We got the machine out early and put out the signal for the men at the station. Before we were quite ready, John T. Daniels, W. S. Dough, A. D. Etheridge, W. C. Brinkley of Manteo, and Johnny Moore of Nags Head arrived.

After running the engine and propellers a few minutes to get them in working order, I got on the machine at 10:35 for the first trial. The wind, according to our anemometers at this time, was blowing a little over 20 miles (corrected) 27 miles according to the Government anemometer at Kitty Hawk. On slipping the rope the machine started off increasing in speed to probably 7 or 8 miles. The machine lifted from the truck just as it was entering on the fourth rail. Mr. Daniels took a picture just as it left the tracks.

I found the control of the front rudder quite difficult on account of its being balanced too near the center and thus had a tendency to turn itself when started so that the rudder was turned too far on one side and then too far on the other. As a result the machine would rise suddenly to about 10 ft. and then as suddenly, on turning the rudder, dart for the ground. A sudden dart when out about 100 feet from the end of the tracks ended the flight. Time about 12 seconds (not known exactly as watch was not promptly stopped). The lever for throwing off the engine was broken, and the skid under the rudder cracked. After repairs, at 20 min. after 11 o'clock Will made the second trial.

The course was about like mine, up and down but a little longer over the ground though about the same in time. Dist. not measured but about 175 ft. Wind speed not quite so strong.

Wilbur looks on as Orville pilots
the first powered flight


With the aid of the station men present, we picked the machine up and carried it back to the starting ways. At about 20 minutes till 12 o'clock I made the third trial. When out about the same distance as Will's, I met with a strong gust from the left which raised the left wing and sidled the machine off to the right in a lively manner. I immediately turned the rudder to bring the machine down and then worked the end control. Much to our surprise, on reaching the ground the left wing struck first, showing the lateral control of this machine much more effective than on any of our former ones. At the time of its sidling it had raised to a height of probably 12 to 14 feet.

At just 12 o'clock Will started on the fourth and last trip. The machine started off with its ups and downs as it had before, but by the time he had gone over three or four hundred feet he had it under much better control, and was traveling on a fairly even course. It proceeded in this manner till it reached a small hummock out about 800 feet from the starting ways, when it began its pitching again and suddenly darted into the ground.

The front rudder frame was badly broken up, but the main frame suffered none at all. The distance over the ground was 852 feet in 59 seconds. The engine turns was 1071, but this included several seconds while on the starting ways and probably about a half second after landing. The jar of landing had set the watch on machine back so that we have no exact record for the 1071 turns. Will took a picture of my third flight just before the gust struck the machine.

The machine left the ways successfully at every trial, and the tail was never caught by the truck as we had feared.

Add caption

After removing the front rudder, we carried the machine back to camp. We set the machine down a few feet west of the building, and while standing about discussing the last flight, a sudden gust of wind struck the machine and started to turn it over. All rushed to stop it. Will who was near one end ran to the front, but too late to do any good. Mr. Daniels and myself seized spars at the rear, but to no purpose. The machine gradually turned over on us. Mr. Daniels, having had no experience in handling a machine of this kind, hung on to it from the inside, and as a result was knocked down and turned over and over with it as it went. His escape was miraculous, as he was in with the engine and chains. The engine legs were all broken off, the chain guides badly bent, a number of uprights, and nearly all the rear ends of the ribs were broken. One spar only was broken.

After dinner we went to Kitty Hawk to send off telegram to M.W. While there we called on Capt. and Mrs. Hobbs, Dr. Cogswell and the station men."

References:
Orville Wright's diary appears in: McFarland, Marvin, The Papers of Wilbur & Orville Wright (2001); Crouch, Tom D., The Bishop's Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright (1989); Wright, Orville, How We Invented the Airplane (1953).

John Logie Baird,

Braid was a Scottish Engineer and inventor of the world’s first 

practical, publicly demonstrated television system, and 

also the world’s first fully electronic colour television tube. 

Braid’s early successes demonstrating working television 

broadcasts and his colour and cinema television work earned 

him a prominent place in televisions invention.

Born: August 13, 1888, Helensburgh, United Kingdom Died: June 14, 1946, Bexhill-on-Sea, United Kingdom

Guglielmo Marconi,

Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long

distance radio transmission and for his development of 

Marconi’s law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is credited 

as the inventor of Radio, and he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in 

physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun “in recognition of their 

contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy” 

Born: April 25, 1874, Bologna, Italy Died: July 20, 1937, Rome, Italy

Samuel Morse,

Samuel Morse was an American painter and inventor who is best 

remembered today for his invention of single- wire telegraph 

system and the co-inventor of the Morse Code – method of 

translating textual information as a series of on and off tones. His 

discovery changed the way the messages are sent and received in 

the entire world, and even today Morse Code is still in use in various 

areas of radio communications.

Born: April 27, 1791, Boston, Massachusetts, United States Died: April 2, 1872, New York City, New York, United States

Konrad Zuse,

Konrad Zuse built Z1, world's first program-controlled 

computer. Despite certain mechanical engineering problems it 

had all the basic ingredients of modern machines, using the 

binary system and today's standard separation of storage and 

control. Zuse completes Z3, world's first fully 

functional programmable computer in 1941.

Born: June 22, 1910, Berlin, Germany Died: December 18, 1995, Hünfeld, Germany

Edwin Herbert Land,

The co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation was the first who 

came up with low-cost filters for polarizing light (useful 

system of in-camera instant photography). His most popular 

invention, Polaroid instant camera, was officially launched 

in late 1948 and allowed users to take and develop a picture in 

just under 60 seconds.

Born: May 7, 1909, Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States Died: March 1, 1991, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Frederick Banting,

Initially Banting was dedicated to politics but later decided to 

shift to medicine. In 1916 he completed his MD and during the 

World War I worked as a doctor. He was very interested in 

diabetes and continuously worked on a cure for it. Banting 

searched for cure for diabetes together with Dr. Charles Best. 

In 1923 the researcher was awarded with the Nobel Prize for 

discovering insulin.

Born: November 14, 1891, Alliston, Canada Died: February 21, 1941, Dominion of Newfoundland

Fritz Pfleumer,

The German-Austrian engineer is the inventor of the 

magnetic tape used for recording sound. Pfleumer decided 

to grant the right of use to the AEG, a German 

manufacturer of electrical equipment. The event took place 

on December 1, 1932. Based on Pfleumer's magnetic tape, 

the German firm created the world's first practical tape 

recorder dubbed Magnetophon K1.

Born: March 20, 1881, Salzburg, Austria Died: August 29, 1945, Radebeul, Germany

Sir Alexander Fleming,

During the World War I Fleming worked as an army medical 

doctor. He is the inventor of penicillin that prevented a lot of 

soldiers from being infected. The discovery of penicillin 

managed to significantly boost the evolution of medicine 

industry.

Born: August 6, 1881, Lochfield Died: March 11, 1955, London, United Kingdom

Albert Einstein,

One of the greatest scientists of the 20th century is the creator 

of numerous inventions and theories that transformed a lot of 

concepts linked to space and time, with the most important 

discovery being the theory of relativity. Other discoveries of 

Einstein include the photoelectric effect and the Einstein 

calculator.

Born: March 14, 1879, Ulm, Germany Died: April 18, 1955, Princeton, New Jersey, United States

Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel,

Being a mechanical engineer, Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel 

managed to discover the diesel engine.

The German inventor was also a well-known thermal engineer, a 

polyglot, an expert in arts, and a social theorist.

Born: March 18, 1858, Paris, France Died: September 29, 1913, English Channel

Alexander Graham Bell,

During the experiments he carried out with the telegraph, 

Bell came up with the idea of the telephone.

The inventor of one of the most popular devices today 

thought that the telephone was intruding, that is why he did 

not have one in his workplace.

Born: March 3, 1847, Edinburgh, United Kingdom Died: August 2, 1922, Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia, Canada

Emile Berliner,

The German-born Jewish American scientist became known for

his disc record gramophone (in the United States known as 

phonograph or record player). Used for recording and 

reproducing sounds on a gramophone record, vinyl record, the 

device (with certain modifications made once in a while) was 

popular until 1980s.

Born: May 20, 1851, Hanover, Germany Died: August 3, 1929, Washington, D.C., United States

Thomas Edison,

He has made a large number of inventions, but the most well-known one is the electric bulb. Among other discoveries of 

Thomas Edison there are telegraph devices, phonograph, 

carbon transmitter, direct current generator, universal electric 

motor, and more.

Born: February 11, 1847, Milan, Ohio, United States Died: October 18, 1931, West Orange, New Jersey, United States

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen,

The famous German physicist Röntgen is the one who 

discovered the X-rays (also known as Röntgen rays).

This invention allowed the German scientist to win the first 

Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.

Born: March 27, 1845, Remscheid, Germany Died: February 10, 1923, Munich, Germany

Charles Babbage,

Charles Babbage was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor 

and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable 

computer. Considered as “Father of Computers”, Babbage is credited 

with inventing the first mechanical computer that eventually led to 

more complex designs.

Bron: December 26, 1791, London, United Kingdom Died: October 18, 1871, Marylebone, United kingdom

Ferdinand Verbiest,

Verbiest was an astronomer and a mathematician. He was the
one to invent the world's first automobile. The inventor came
up with the idea to create an automobile while visiting China as
a missionary. His automobile was powered by steam, but could
not carry humans.

Bron: October 9, 1623, Pittem, Belgium Died: January 28, 1688, Beijing, China

Evangelista Torricelli,

The famous Italian physicist and mathematician is the inventor of
the barometer (scientific tool used in the field of meteorology to
estimate atmospheric pressure), built in 1643. It would be
interesting to note that a number of Italian Navy submarines
were named after the inventor.

Born: October 15, 1608, Faenza, Italy Died: October 25, 1647, Florence, Italy

Gas Giants, Atmospheres and Weather: Windy Worlds

Got air? Many of the planets in our solar system have significant atmospheres, but none are breathable to us except our own Earth's. But the weather systems on other planets can help us to better understand our own world.

Venus' atmosphere is much thicker than our own, and Mars' is much thinner; both are poisonous to us, as they are primarily composed of carbon dioxide with no free oxygen. The outer planets' atmospheres are worse -- deadly combinations of gases with unimaginable wind and temperature extremes.

These windy worlds do have some commonalities with our home planet. Like Earth, they have jet streams that can direct the flow of clouds and circulate the atmosphere.

Missions have observed lightning on Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. All of the planets with significant atmospheres have storms. Venus is blanketed by dense clouds, and Mars periodically has global dust storms. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a high-pressure storm much bigger than our own Earth that has been raging for at least 400 years. The missions studying these planets and in orbit around our Earth are improving our understanding of our atmosphere, our ozone layer and storms, and give clues about how planetary atmospheres formed in the first place.

Jupiter has numerous bands with incredible wind belts moving in different directions. This composite image shows a belt that had previously vanished in Jupiter's atmosphere is now reappearing.

(Image Credit: NASA/JPL/UH/NIR)