My Science School

Neils Bohr was a Danish physicist, philosopher and promoter of scientific research. Bohr began research on what would become known as the Bohr model of the atom in 1911. His work was published in 1913. Bohr expanded Rutherford’s work o nuclear structure and also the quantum theory work proposed by Max Planck. He adapted them into what became widely known as the Bohr model.

    Bohr was one of the first to finalize a model that demonstrated electrons orbiting the nucleus of an atom, and also the first to theorize that an electron could move from a higher orbit to a lower one, and that in the process energy was emitted.

   Bohr explained that each element on the periodic table had chemical properties that were determined by the number and behavior of their electrons. This great scientist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.

Alexander Fleming, a Scottish biologist, pharmacologist and botanist, made history with the discovery of penicillin, the world’s first antibiotic substance, in 1928.

    Fleming was studying deadly bacteria when he made his awesome discovery, quite by accident. He had unintentionally left open the cover of the bacteria culture plate with which he was working when he was working when he went away on a holiday. When he returned, he noticed that a mould had formed on the exposed culture.

      What interested him was the fact that in the area surrounding the mould, the bacteria had disappeared. He kept a strain of the mould alive, and began testing it on laboratory animals. With further experimentation, Fleming established that this mould, that he named penicillin, could destroy many types of bacteria, such as the ones responsible for scarlet fever, meningitis, and diphtheria.

    Fleming published his research on penicillin, and two other scientists, Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain, discovered how to isolate the penicillin and increase its potential. These findings were used to mass produce penicillin in order to treat wounded soldiers during World War II, thus saving millions of lives.

Guglielmo Marconi, a famous Italian physicist, invented the wireless telegraph. He is hailed as the ‘father of radio’.

  He began conducting his experiments with radio waves with the aim of utilizing them to produce a useful system of ‘wireless telegraphy’. Radio waves are streams of energy that carry electric signals through the air. Marconi created a telegraph that could send electric signals, using send electric signals, using radio waves.

   The signals travelled through the air, instead of through wires. In 1897, he formed a wireless telegraph business in England. In 1901, Marconi sent radio signals across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. As a result of his success Marconi was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909, along with Karl Ferdinand Braun, ‘in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy’.

Ernest Rutherford is considered to be the father of nuclear physics because his research has played a key role in the current understanding of the nuclear level structure of atoms.

     Rutherford worked on radioactivity, coining the terms ‘alpha’ and ‘beta’ to describe the two different the two different types of radiation emitted by uranium and thorium.

     He also observed that radioactive material took the same amount of time for half of it to decay. This became known as its ‘half life’. Rutherford and his students successfully conducted the first experiment in splitting an atom, and also discovered the 104, rutherfordium, is named after him. Interestingly, even thought his research was in the field of nuclear physics, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1908.

      The Rutherford model of the atom was simplified in a well known symbol, showing electrons circling around the world as a symbol for atoms and atomic energy in general.

Thomas Hunt Morgan was an eminent American zoologist and geneticist. In 1909, he had begun his study of Drosophila melanogaster, or the fruit fly.

He chose this particular insect for his study of genetics since it was cheap, and took up little room in his cramped laboratory.

       As a result of this research Morgan was able to determine the precise behavior and location of the genus responsible for mutations in these files.

     He theorized that genes are linearly arranged in the chromosomes. Morgan received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for his discoveries on the role that the chromosome plays in heredity. Morgan’s work has played a key role in establishing the field of genetics.

Ronald Ross was an Indian born British doctor who is famous for his work concerning malaria. He was able to successfully demonstrate how the malaria bacteria resided in the mosquitoes’ gastrointestinal tract.

     He worked in the Indian medical service for 25 years, and his research started while he was at the presidency General hospital.

    From time to time, he went around a nearby village to collect mosquitoes with the help of the Indian scientist Kishori Mohan Bandyopadhyay. Ross made the important discovery that malaria could be controlled by preventing mosquitoes from breeding.

    Mosquitoes lay their eggs in stagnant water. By not allowing stagnant water to collect, both their breeding and the spread of malaria are controlled. Ross also established an organization to fight malaria specifically in Sri Lanka.

    Ronald Ross received the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine in 1902, for his work on the transmission of malaria.

    While Ross is remembered for his malaria work, this remarkable man was also a mathematician, epidemiologist, sanitarian, editor, novelist, dramatist, poet, and an amateur musician, composer and artist!

Heinrich Hertz, a brilliant German scientist, conducted experiments that proved the behavior of the electromagnetic waves predicted by James Maxwell.

    He also built an apparatus to measure the velocity of the electromagnetic waves. In addition, Hertz proved Maxwell’s theory that light and heat are electromagnetic radiations.

   Hertz discovered the photoelectric effect which states that a charged object loses its charge faster when exposed to ultraviolet light. The unit of frequency measured in cycles per second as named ‘hertz’ in his honour.

    Hertz’s proof of the existence of airborne electromagnetic waves led to further experimentation with this new form of electromagnetic radiation, which was called ‘Hertzian waves’.

      Around 1910, this was replaced with the term ‘radio waves’. Hertz’ discovery eventually led to the invention of the wireless telegraph, and the radio.