Great Minds
Credit: AppleNews of the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs on Oct. 5, 2011, has been received with sadness, admiration and gratefulness for a man considered a "creative genius" who "changed the world" in many ways. In addition to Jobs, plenty of great minds have challenged paradigms, opened windows into worlds we didn't even know existed, and produced innovations that have persisted through time. Here's a look at the world's titanic thinkers, from Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein to Stephen Hawking.
Albert Einstein
1879-1955: Being labeled a "slow learner" in grade school didn't stop Einstein from making some of the greatest-ever achievements in science. He proposed the general theory of relativity, helped develop quantum theory, and received a Nobel Prize in physics for his description of the photoelectric effect. [Nobel Prize in Physics: 1901-Present]
Alexander Graham Bell
Credit: Library and Archives Canada, Public Domain1847-1922: Determined to find a way for his deaf mother to hear, Alexander Graham Bell was one of the most prolific inventors of his time. Although best known for inventing the telephone, in 2002 it was determined that Antonio Meucci invented it several years prior. Bell is, however, credited with the metal detector, photophone and hydrofoil.
Marie Curie
Credit: Public Domain1867-1934: A pioneer in radiology, Curie won Nobel Prizes in chemistry and physics and had a unit of radioactivity, the curie, named for her and her husband Pierre's work. She isolated two radioactive elements, polonium and radium, to study their properties and potential uses. Although she was particularly interested in their therapeutic potential, she eventually died from long-term radiation exposure.
Thomas Edison
Credit: National Portrait Gallery, Public Domain1847-1931: Generally considered the most productive inventor of all time, Edison holds nearly 1,100 patents. He improved the typewriter and helped develop motion pictures and many of his inventions, such as the incandescent light bulb, phonograph, and tattoo guns are still used today.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Credit: null1756-1791: This musical prodigy was composing by age 5 and wrote his first symphony by age 10. As an adult, Mozart's music was extraordinarily complex, drawing influence from many different styles, and considered radical at the time. He composed more than 600 pieces, including concertos, operas and symphonies, in his short life and is considered the most significant European classical composer. [Mozart's Death Was Written in the Key of (Vitamin) D]
Wernher von Braun
1912-1977: Generally regarded as the father of the U.S. space program, von Braun powered astronauts and satellites into space on giant rockets. But his more significant contribution may have been his vision for the future. His dreams of space stations and airplane-styled spacecraft paved the way for today's space age. [Satellites Gallery: Science from Above]Shown above in a 1958 photo from left to right: William H. Pickering, former director of JPL, James A. van Allen, of the State University of Iowa, and Wernher von Braun, leader of the Army's Redstone Arsenal team.
Benjamin Franklin
Credit: GPTMC1706-1790: Hailed by historians as the "First American," Benjamin Franklin shaped the American Revolution and was an intellectual leader of the "Enlightenment" Noted for his ingenuity and diversity of interests, he invented bifocals, the Franklin stove, the lightning rod, the glass harmonica, swimfins and is famous for his experiments with electricity. [Trove of Unknown Ben Franklin Letters Found]
Mohandas Gandhi
Credit: Public Domain1869-1948: Gandhi freed India from British rule through nonviolent protest, fasting while others fought. His nonviolent philosophy continues to influence national and international resistance movements to this day. [10 Historically Significant Political Protests]
Leonardo da Vinci
Credit: © Alice Slee | Dreamstime.com1452-1519: The archetypical "Renaissance Man," da Vinci was a gifted anatomist, architect, astronomer, engineer, inventor, painter, and sculptor. Perhaps best known for painting the "Mona Lisa," da Vinci's surviving notebooks detail flying machines, human anatomy, and the first robot in recorded history. [Da Vinci's 10 Best Ideas]
Stephen Hawking
Credit: Buzz Aldrin and Stephen Hawking1942-Present: Born on the 300th anniversary of Galileo's death, Stephen Hawking provided mathematical proof, assuming the general theory of relativity is correct, for the Big Bang theory that explains the origin of the universe. This implied that time would end with black holes, which lead to the unification of General Relativity and Quantum Theory. Shown above in a photo with astronaut Buzz Aldrin. [8 Shocking Things We Learned From Stephen Hawking's Book]
Galileo Galilei
Credit: Cristiano Banti (1824–1904)1564-1642: Referred to as the "father of modern astronomy, physics and science," Galileo didn't invent the telescope, but was the first to use it well. By making improvements to existing technology, he discovered Jupiter's four largest moons, which helped him verify a sun-centered model for the solar system (which defied the Church's belief that Earth was at the center of it all). He was also the first to spot Saturn's rings. (Photo: An 1857 painting titled "Galileo facing the Roman Inquisition" shows the astronomer standing trial before the Roman Catholic Church inquisitors.)
Barbara McClintock
Credit: American Philosophical Society, Public Domain1902-1992: Back when genetics was still considered an agricultural science, McClintock was studying chromosomes, their genetic content and means of expression. As a founder of the cytogenetic field, she developed the technique for visualizing chromosomes and genetic recombination and received a Nobel Prize for discovering transposons, also called jumping genes, which affect gene expression.
Avram Noam Chomsky
Credit: Duncan Rawlinson, Creative Commons License1928-Present: Best known as the "most cited living scholar" and a controversial left-wing political activist, Chomsky pioneered the theory of transformational grammar which revolutionized the field of theoretical linguistics. He also challenged longstanding behaviorist views of psychology, igniting the cognitive revolution.
Nikola Tesla
Credit: Napoleon Sarony, Public Domain1856-1943: Nikola Tesla ushered in the age of electrical power and is regarded as one of the greatest scientists in the history of technology. He developed the induction motor, the fluorescent lightbulb and created alternating current, which he proved safe by passing it through his body. Other experiments were less successful, such as attempting to fly off his roof clutching an umbrella.
Henrietta Swan Leavitt
Credit: Public Domain1868-1921: As one of the "woman computers" working at Harvard College Observatory, Leavitt cataloged more than 1,500 variable stars in the Magellanic Clouds. She noticed that the brighter stars took longer to vary, and used this observation to develop a method to measure the distance to any object in the universe.
Johannes Kepler
Credit: Public Domain1571-1630: A talented mathematician, astrologer, and astronomer, Kepler was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century. He established Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion, determined Christ's birth year, described refraction in the human eye and improved the telescope.
Post a Comment