Download European Scientists in the 19th and 20th Centuries

European Scientists in the
19th and 20th Centuries
Presented by Sarah W.
Sophomore EHAP
HGHS Chappaqua, NY
How Did European
th
Scientists in the 19 and
20th Centuries Contribute
to World Science?
Scientists Make Their Mark On
The World
Charles Darwin
(February 12, 1809 – April 19, 1882)
Charles Darwin
British Naturalist
Born in Shrewsbury, England
Proposed the theory of natural selection – animals with
favorable traits will survive and reproduce
Developed concept that related species descended from
common ancestors
Proposed concept that life is not static, but evolving
Conducted most of his work in the Galapagos Islands,
studying the beak sizes of different Finch species
Charles Darwin
1831: Graduated from University of
Cambridge with a degree in theology
1831-1836: Sailed aboard the HMS Beagle
1839: Filled notebooks with careful
observations of animal and plant species
H.M.S. Beagle
H.M.S. Beagle
The natural history of these islands is eminently
curious, and well deserves attention. Most of the
organic productions are aboriginal creations, found
nowhere else; there is even a difference between the
inhabitants of the different islands; yet all show a
marked relationship with those of America, though
separated from that continent by an open space of
ocean, between 500 and 600 miles in width…Hence,
both in space and time, we seem to be brought
somewhat near to that great fact—that mystery of
mysteries—the first appearance of new beings on this
earth.
- Charles Darwin from Voyage of the
Beagle
Charles Darwin
First person to challenge the “catastrophe” theory
was English geologist Sir Charles Lyell
Catastrophe theory stated that organisms were
individually created and unchangeable
In Principles of Geology, Lyell declared that the
earth is constantly changing due to affects of
natural forces
Argued that species are specially created
Natural Selection
Darwin incorporated work done by
Thomas Robert Malthus, a British
Economist
An Essay on the Principle of
Population (1798)
Darwin applied Malthus’ theory to
animals and plants
Charles Darwin
1859: Published On the Origin of Species
1871: Published The Descent of Man and
Selection in Relation to Sex
1872: Published The Expression of the
Emotions in Man and Animals
Charles Darwin
I have called this principle, by which
each slight variation, if useful, is preserved,
by the term Natural Selection.
- Charles Darwin from
The Origin of Species
From Darwin’s study of
Galapagos Finches
Charles Darwin
This principle of preservation, or the survival of
the fittest, I have called Natural Selection. It leads
to the improvement of each creature in relation to
its organic and inorganic conditions of life; and
consequently, in most cases, to what must be
regarded as an advance in organization.
Nevertheless, low and simple forms will long
endure if well fitted for their simple conditions of
life.
- Charles Darwin from
The Origin of Species
Natural Selection
Darwin’s theory stated:
Young compete for survival (e.g. food,
shelter)
Young that survive produce a new
generation with more favorable
characteristics
These natural variations are passed on by
heredity.
Each generation will adapt and improve
over time
• Evolution of species
Charles Darwin
Theory of natural selection was later used as
justification for imperialism and the destruction of
weaker races and peoples
Social Darwinism
Marie Curie
(November 7, 1867 – July 4, 1934)
Marie Curie
Polish-born French Chemist
Studied radioactivity and discovered the
radioactive elements radium and
polonium
Radioactivity spontaneous decay
of certain elements into other
elements and energy
Marie Curie
First woman to win the Nobel
Prize.
Won the 1903 Nobel Prize in
physics with her husband,
Pierre Curie, and Antoine
Henri Becquerel.
Won the 1911 Nobel Prize in
chemistry .
First scientist to receive the
Nobel Prize in two different
categories.
The element curium, discovered in 1944, was named in honor
of Marie and Pierre
Marie Curie
1891: Attended the Sorbonne (now part of the
University of Paris) to study physics and
mathematics
1898: Discovered the radioactive elements
radium and polonium with husband, Pierre
Curie
1903: Received her doctorate degree in
physics from the Sorbonne
Marie Curie
1906: Became professor of general physics
and first woman to teach at the Sorbonne
1910 – Isolated pure radium metal with
chemist André Devierne
1914 – University of Paris built Institut du
Radium (now the Institut Curie)
Marie Curie
1914: Equipped ambulances with X-ray
equipment to be used on the front lines of
World War I
1918-1934: Directed the Research
Department at the Radium Institute of the
University of Paris
1934: Died from leukemia as a result of
long-term exposure to radiation
Marie Curie
We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew
that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure
science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be
considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It
must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is
always the chance that a scientific discovery may become like the
radium a benefit for humanity.
- Marie Curie, Lecture at Vassar College, May 14, 1921
Marie and Pierre’s
Nobel Prize
Albert Einstein
(March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955)
Albert Einstein
Born in Ulm, Germany
Proposed theory of relativity,
a physical theory of gravity,
space and time
Most famous for equation
E = mc2
The element einsteinium,
discovered in 1952, was named
in honor of Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Proposed light can be considered as
consisting of particles under certain
conditions
Hypothesized that energy carried by
any light particle, a photon, is
proportional to frequency of radiation
Formula E = hv
Albert Einstein
1905: Published papers on special
relativity, Brownian motion, and the
photoelectric effect
Photoelectric Effect
Formation of charged particles when
light reflects off mass
Brownian Motion
All particles move around randomly
Albert Einstein
Contradicted traditional view that light
energy was a result of a continuous
process
Instead, proposed that energy contained
within a light beam is transferred in
individual units, or quanta
Special Theory of Relativity
1905: “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies”
All measurements of time and space depend
on whether the two events occur
simultaneously
Developed a theory based on two assumptions:
Physical laws are the same under all
conditions
Speed of light never changes
Albert Einstein
1909-1911: Taught physics at the
University of Zürich
1911-1912: Taught physics at Germanspeaking university in Prague
1912-1914: Returned to teach at
University of Zürich
Albert Einstein
1914: Became a professor at the
University of Berlin and director of the
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics
1916: Published a paper on general
relativity, extending his earlier theory
of special relativity
General Theory of Relativity
Interaction of bodies, or gravitational forces, are
explained by the impact of bodies on geometry
of space-time. Likened the interaction to a ball
being dropped on a trampoline.
This theory accounted for previously unexplained
variations in orbital motion of planets and
predicted bending of starlight in the vicinity of a
massive body such as the sun.
Proposed the inter-conversion of mass and
energy through the equation E = mc2
Newton,
forgive me.
Unified Field Theory
Attempted to unify the
understanding of all physical
interactions, including gravity and
time.
Albert Einstein
1919: A solar eclipse confirmed Einstein’s
prediction that starlight bends in the vicinity of a
massive body such as the sun
1921: Won the Nobel Prize in physics for his work
on the photoelectric effect
1933: Began teaching at Princeton University
1939: Pointed out in a letter to President Roosevelt
that there was a possibility that Germans were
working on creating an atomic bomb
Albert Einstein
In a letter to F.D.R.:
In the course of the last four months it has been made
probable—through the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi
and Szilard in America—that it may become possible to set up a
nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium, by which vast
amounts of power and large quantities of new radium-like
elements would be generated. Now it appears almost certain
that this could be achieved in the immediate future…I
understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of
uranium from the Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken
over. That she should have taken such early action might
perhaps be understood on the ground that the son of the
German Under-Secretary of State, von Weizsäcker, is attached to
the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut in Berlin where some of the
American work on uranium is now being repeated.
Francis Harry
Compton Crick
(June 8, 1916 – July 28, 2004)
Francis Harry Compton Crick
British biophysicist
Born in Northampton, England
Co-discovered the double-helix
structure of DNA with James Dewey
Watson
Discovered that every three stairs on
the DNA ladder contain the code for
one amino acid
Shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in
physiology and medicine with James
Watson and Maurice Wilkins
Francis Harry Compton Crick
1937: Graduated from University College,
London, with a B.S. in physics
1947: Began to study biology at the
Strangewats Research Institute of the
University of Cambridge
1949-1977: Worked as a researcher at the
Laboratory of Molecular Biology in
Cambridge, England
Francis Harry Compton Crick
1951-1953: Discovered the structure of DNA
while working with James Watson as a
researcher at the Cavendish Laboratory of the
University of Cambridge
Aided by X-ray images of biological
molecules made by Maurice Wilkins and
Rosalind Franklin
Francis Harry Compton
Crick
Letter to Cambridge
University discussing the
model of the double
helix.
Francis Harry Compton Crick
We wish to put forward a radically different structure for
the salt of deoxyribose nucleic acid. This structure has
two helical chains each coiled round the same axis…Both
chains follow right-handed helices, by owing to the dyad
the sequences of the atoms in the two chains run in
opposite directions…The novel feature of the structure is
the manner in which the two chains are held together by
the purine and pyrimidine bases…They are joined together
in pairs, a single base from one chain being hydrogenbonded to a single base from another chain, so that the two
lie side by side with identical z-co-ordinates.
- Francis Crick and James Watson, “Molecular
Structure of Nucleic Acids,” Nature, 1953
Francis Harry Compton Crick
1953: Completed his Ph.D. on the structure
of hemoglobin
During World War II, Crick worked with
explosive mines for the British Navy
1958: Took the double helix theory one step
further to propose and prove the “central
dogma”
The Central Dogma
From "Central Dogma of Molecular Biology“, Nature, 1970
The End