Galileo Galilei
In 1633, Galileo, at age 68, left
his home in Florence, Italy, to face the Inquisition in Rome. By 22 Jun 1633, he buckled under the threats and
interrogation by the Inquisition, and renounced his belief that the Earth
revolved around the Sun.
Synthetic growth hormones.
In 1971, Berkeley
chemists announced the first synthetic production of growth hormones.
Genes photographed.
In 1949, the first photograph
of genes was taken at the University of Southern California by Dr. Daniel Chapin Pease and
Dr. Richard Freligh Baker.
Cracking process.
In 1913, William M. Burton
patented a process to "crack" petroleum, converting oil to produce gasoline.
Cloning.
In 1998, American researchers announced they have cloned calves that may
produce medicinal milk. Dr James Robl at the University of Massachusetts
and Dr Steven Stice of Advanced Cell Technology were the first to clone
cows from fetal cells in which human genes were spliced into cattle DNA.
Creating two identical, genetically engineered calves is a step towards
the mass production of human drugs in animals. Their goal was to turn cows
into drug factories, mass producing milk that contains human proteins
important for treating human diseases. The scientists used a variation on
the techniques previously used in Edinburgh, Scotland, to create the cloned
sheep Dolly. Cows would be better producers of the proteins than sheep
because they make more milk.
X-rays.
In 1896, X-rays were first used in a
clinical setting, both in
America and in Gemany.
Foucault's pendulum result.
In 1851, the rotation
of the Earth was proved experimentally by Leon Foucault. After weeks of work,
he recorded in his journal that he made this discovery at 2:00 am working with
a pendulum in the cellar of the house he shared with his mother. Using a steel
wire 2-m long with a 5-kg brass bob, he had made a pendulum suspended in a way
that freely permitted it, he found that its plane of oscillation slowly rotated
relative to the ground. This led to using much longer versions of his pendulum.
He found that the angular velocity of the rotation equalled sin where
is the angular velocity of the Earth rotating on its axis, and
is the latitude of the site of the pendulum. He demonstrated his discovery
on 31 Mar 1851 for Napoleon.
Stephen W. Hawking
Born 8 Jan 1942. English theoretical physicist who is one of the world's
leaders in his field. His principal areas of research are theoretical cosmology
and quantum gravity. Hawking is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at
Cambridge University (formerly held by Sir Isaac Newton). Afflicted with Lou
Gehrig's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; ALS), Hawking is confined to
a wheelchair and is unable to speak without the aid of a computer voice
synthesizer. However, despite his challenges, he has utilized his
intelligence, knowledge and abilities to make remarkable contributions to
the field of cosmology (the study of the universe as a whole). Hawking wrote
the book A Brief History of Time.
Artturi Ilmari Virtanen
Born 15 Jan 1895; died 11 Nov 1973.
Finnish biochemist whose investigations directed toward improving the
production and storage of protein-rich green fodder, vitally important to
regions characterized by long, severe winters, brought him the Nobel Prize
for Chemistry in 1945. The AIV method, named for his initials, was storing
green fodder in an acid medium to prevent spoilage and retain nutritious
nitrogenous material. He found that a mixture of hydrochloric and sulfuric
acid was adequate as long as its strength was kept within certain precise
limits (a pH of about four). In 1929, he found that cows fed such silage gave
milk indistinguishable in taste from that of cows fed on normal fodder, while
as rich in vitamins A and C.