Great Scientists

Galilieo Galilei was a groundbreaking Italianastronomer, physicist, mathematician, philosopher and inventor. He opened the eyes of the world to a new way of thinking about how the solar system works. For many years, scientists had believed that the solar system revolved around the Earth, and that the Earth was the centre of the Universe. Galileo was the first scientist to prove that this wasn't correct. He stated that in fact, the solar system revolved around the Sun. He also invented an improved telescope so that he could gaze far into space. He was the first to see Jupiter's moons, and the first to realise that our Moon was covered with craters. Besides inventing the improved telescopes, he also invented the compass and a thermometer. Galileo has played a major role in the scientific revolution of the 17th century.

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 Herrevad Abbey in 1572, and another one named 'Uraniborg' in 1576. He also built a third one called 'Stjerneborg' in 1581.

Robert Boyle was a famous Anglo lrish 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 mixtures 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

Johannes Kepler was a leading astronomer of the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution is the term used to describe the emergence of modern science that took place throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Before the Scientific Revolution, astronomy was closely tied to astrology, which is the belief that the movement of the stars and planets can be interpreted to predict the future. As the Scientific Revolution progressed, astrology increasingly came to be replaced by astronomy as a modern, legitimate science. Johannes Kepler is best known for his discovery that the orbits in which the Earth and the other planets of the solar system travel around the Sun are elliptical, or oval, in shape. He was also the first to explain correctly how human beings see, and demonstrated what happens to light when it enters a telescope.  In ddition, he designed an instrument that serves as the basis of the modern refractive telescope. Since he was such a prominent figure in the field of astronomy

James Clerk Maxwell, a Scottish physicist and mathematician, was a remarkable scientist. He brought together a large number of equations, experiments, and observations related to electricity and magnetism. and showed them to be different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell produced a set of equations that explain the properties of magnetic and electric fields, and help show that light is an electromagnetic wave. He also described the nature of Saturn's rings as numerous small particles, rather than a solid or fluid ring. Maxwell's contributions in the fields of kinetic theory and thermodynamics are many. He is even believed to have created the first true colour photograph. His contributions played an important role in the advances made in 20th century physics. 

Sir Issac Newton, an Englishman who lived in the 17th century, is a 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 Philosophise Naturalist 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 colours. Newton was a deep thinker with an insatiable curiosity to know everything about everything he saw. His contributions are so numerous, that he changed forever the way in which

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 words. The first 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 a period of about 30 years from 12 outsize pages in its first edition, to 2400 pages in its twelfth 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 .

Antonie van Leeuwen-hoek was a 17th century Dutch scientist. He is best known for discovering protozoa, and creating more than 500 simple microscopes. Van Leeuwenhoek was the first scientist to closely observe cells under a microscope. One of his most groundbreaking discover100 Great Sies was also one of his first. His observations, in 1674, of scummy pond water, led to the first visual descriptions and illustrations of such common organisms as the algae spirogyra. This contributed towards the foundation of several branches of biology. He made one of the first recorded observations of bacteria when he studied the plaque from his teeth. He noticed what he called animalcules' in the saliva sample. These animalcules were actually bacteria. He gave cells their name because he thought they resembled the shape of a monk's quarters. Although Van Leeuwen-hoek never received any formal scientific training, he is considered to be the father of microbiology for his contributions to that f

Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch philosopher and mathematician, was one of the leading scientists in the 17h century. He started by trying to disprove theories that had been established by Ancient Greeks in geometry. He was interested in telescopes and astronomy, anc 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 behaviour of light. His reputation as a scientist and a scholar became known worldwide

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 realised that he could predict when it would return. Halley worked out that the 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. 

Hippocrates, a Greek physician, lived in the 5th century BC, and founded the Hippocratic School of Medicine. He revolutionised Greek medicine, for he believed in, and developed the practice of the clinical method of observation. This was the careful noting of all the symptoms of a disease, and of the changes in a patient's condition during the illness Hippocrates believed that the body must be treated as a whole.He made medicine a discipline distinct from other fields, and his biggest contribution was that he rejected superstition and the belief that supernatural, or divine forces.were the cause of illness. In short, it was Hippocrates who transformed medicine into a science. He wrote on a variety of medical topics including diagnosis, epidemics, obstetrics, paediatrics, nutrition and surgery. To this day, newly qualified doctors take an oath called the hippocratic oath that lays down the basic rules of conduct that doctors must follow.

Euclid, who was born in Alexandria in Egypt, lived more than 300 years before Christ. He is renowned to this day for his book Elements'. For centuries, this book was one of the main texts for teaching geometry. Elements' is divided into thirteen books, which cover plain geometry, arithmetic and number theory, irrational numbers, and solid geometry. His books begin with basic defi nitions, and then go on to prove different mathematical theories.  So, it is only natural that Euclid is called the father of geometry. He stressed the importance of logic and reason in teaching and under- standing maths. Though some of his books are lost, at least five of them are still in existence, and are proof of his remarkable gift for mathematics.

Blaise Pascal was a 17th century French philosopher and scientist who made important contributions to maths, science, and philosophy. While he was still a teenager, Pascal became one of only two people who had developed and con structed a working mechanical calculator. As a mathematician, Pascal developed two separate fields of maths - projective geometry, and probability theory. This probability theory was born out of Pascal's study of gambling problems, and had an important impact on the deveiopment of modern day economics. In projective geometry, he developed what became known as Pascal's triangle, in which the sums of successive numbers built on themselves to form the numerical row beneath. Pascal's scientific theories were important to understanding the properties and volume of solids using cycloids. Pascal was also an expert in various languages, and a well-versed religious philosopher.

Galen was a Greek who became the Ancient Roman Empire's greatest physician. He had great expertise in anatomy, surgery, pharmacology and therapeutic methods. Galen had an absolute belief in the power of experiment and observation. He did not believe in merely following what books told him was true. He needed to verify the truth for himself His anatomical reports, based mainly on dissection of monkeys, remained uncontested until 1543, when printed descriptions and illustrations of human dissections were published. Galen, the great scientist, consolidated the work of previous Greek medical researchers, adding the results of his own research, to create an incredibly long-lasting medical doctrine. This medical doctrine dominated the Western world for 1500 years.

Born in the tenth century AD, Alhazen was an Arab who was known as the first true scientist. He developed the scientific method of experimentation, and was the first person to formulate hypothesis and conduct verifiable experiments. A scientist, philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, Alhazen wrote over a hundred books, more than half of which have been preserved. One of his most influential writings was in the field of optics. In this book Alhazen gave experimental proof of the nature of light, the structure of the eye and the basic principles of reflection via mirror. He stated that contrary to popular belief, the eye does not send out rays to the object it sees. Rather it is the light reflected via the object that the eye beholds. This was a completely new and revolutionary concept. The book comprises sevenvoles, and was translated into Latin.

Aristotle was one of the most respected Greek thinkers. He was the star pupil of Plato, a famous Greek philosopher. He was also the teacher of Alexander the Great! Aristotle wrote on many subjects including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theatre, music, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, and government. He believed that the Universe was eternal, that there was neither a beginning nor an end. Aristotle accepted that things can change, but, fundamentally believed that the overall conditions would always remain the same. He studied zoology very closely, and through careful observation, he was able to arrive at his conclusions. His careful study of animals enabled him to classify them into different groups and species. Aristotle's influence on western culture and science has been enormous. his writings show him to be a man of tremendous intellect, Homer who thought deeply about the world.

Roger Bacon was an English philosopher and Franciscan monk who pronoted experimental science and was deeply interested in the study of nature. He studied mathematics, astronomy, optics, alchemy and languages. His studies on the nature of light, and on rainbows, are especially noteworthy, and he seems to have planned and interpreted these experiments carefully. He seriously studied the problem of flying in a machine with flapping wings. He was also the first person in the West to give exact directions for making gunpowder. Roger Bacon's work was talked about everywhere, and eventually won him a place in popular literature as a kind of wonder worker. He was also called Docotor Mirabilis- "mirabilis' in Latin means 'wonderful teacher.'