Impactful Scientists Archives - Page 3 of 6 - Missing the Forest for the Tree: A Worldview Grounded in Science

James Hutton

Posted on January 14, 2019January 23, 2024 by Dan

James Hutton (1726 – 1797) is widely considered the “Father of Modern Geology” as the originator of the theory of uniformitarianism – the idea that the physical features of the Earth have evolved slowly over time and the same natural processes are still at work today. He was a meticulous observer who noticed and extrapolated the effects that volcanoes, erosion and other slow moving processes would have on the planet.

Hutton was born in Scotland and attended the University of Edinburgh at age fourteen and completed courses at various universities throughout Europe. After his schooling Hutton worked on a farm that he had inherited. This work provided him with first-hand experience in observing the landscape while cultivating his interest in the features of the Earth’s surface.

His ideas on geology began to form in the 1760s, however he was never in a rush to publish his work. In fact it took him nearly 25 years before his Theory of the Earth was read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. This work laid the foundations for modern geology and seeded the idea of uniformitarianism. Hutton inferred from his observations that the enormous pressure and heat of the inner Earth could provide the energy to fuse and chemically change sediments into new rocks. These rocks were eventually lifted out of the Earth through natural processes to form mountains. Over time erosion reduced the rocks to sediments which were buried layer under layer and returned to the inner Earth. This process is cyclical, and has occurred many times over. Hutton’s ideas were unpopular initially, in part because they were in contract with the teachings of the Christianity.

Over time his ideas were further developed and promoted by Charles Lyell, who in turn strongly influenced Charles Darwin’s Theory Evolution by Natural Selection. Hutton himself stated the basic principle of evolution by natural selection in 1794 which lacked the overwhelming evidence that Darwin had accumulated to prove it.

Pierre-Simon Laplace

Posted on January 9, 2019January 9, 2019 by Dan

Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749 – 1827) was the greatest mathematicians of his day and one of the most influential scientists of all time. He is sometimes referred to as the Newton of France.

Laplace was born in Normandy, France to a family of modest means and at the age of sixteen was sent to the University of Caen to study theology. At the University he met two professors of mathematics who spurred his interest in mathematics. His advanced mathematical abilities were quickly recognized and by the time he was 20 he was working with the famous French mathematician and philosopher, Jean D’Alembert.

Laplace was influential to science in a variety of areas. His early work in mathematics began on differential equations and his later work helped to advance the fields of statistics and probability. In-between, published work on celestial mechanics showing the stability of the solar system. He brilliantly used mathematics and the laws of gravitation to account for the perturbations in the planets orbits and their satellites, showing once and for all that the heavenly bodies move in a deterministic manner. This work also conquered the problems associated with the tides. He was also one of the first to posit the nebula hypothesis of the origin of the solar system. Even more remarkable, his work suggested that there are stars so massive that not even light can escape their gravitational field – what we would now call a black hole.

All of these accomplishments happened after he become a member of the Academy of Sciences in Paris in 1773. There he conducted a majority of his work. He mostly stayed out of politics and managed to leave Paris and avoid the worst of the French Revolution. After Napoleon took power in 1799 Laplace was briefly appointed Minister of the Interior, an appointment which only lasted six months. He mostly continued to stay out of politics and work on mathematics until he died in 1827 in Paris.

William Thomson

Posted on December 30, 2018January 23, 2024 by Dan

William Thomson (1824 – 1907) was a Scottish physicist known for early work in thermodynamics and for establishing the Kelvin temperature scale. In 1892 he was ennobled Baron Kelvin for his work on thermodynamics and is also known as Lord Kelvin – the name from which the Kelvin temperature scale is given in his honor.

William Thomson was born in Belfast and attended Cambridge University where he took an interest in mathematics and physics. After he graduated he found himself working as a professor at the University of Glasgow where he would stay for the next 50 years. His early work was in thermodynamics but he his real genius was in that he was able to synthesis a variety of sub-disciplines in physics such as heat, mechanics, electricity, and magnetism.

Thomson is most known for his work in thermodynamics, in particular for his proposal of an absolute temperature scale which is named Kelvin in his honor. The Kelvin scale uses the same scale as the Celsius but sets the value of 0 at the point at which there is no movement in molecules and hence no heat. This value is approximately -273. Thomson also helped to develop the second law of thermodynamics which states the heat moves from hotter to colder objects, or stated another way that entropy always increases. He surmised that if entropy always increased that there would come a point where no work could be done and there would be total uniformity throughout the universe. This he called the heat death of the universe.

Throughout his life Thomson was active in all area’s of science. He was a friend and colleague to James Clerk Maxwell and some of his idea’s help Maxwell to formulate his electromagnetic theories. He was interested in geology and evolution, but he ultimately sided against Darwin’s Theory on Evolution by Natural Selection on the basis that he thought the Earth was no hospitable to life long enough to allow evolution to run its course. In this he was later proved to be wrong. Lord Kelvin lived a long and successful 83 years of life and is buried at Westminster Abbey.

Benjamin Thompson

Posted on November 27, 2018January 23, 2024 by Dan

Benjamin Thompson (1753 – 1814) was an American born physicist who made many contributions to our understanding of the nature of heat. His work helped lay the foundations to the modern theories of thermodynamics.

Benjamin Thompson was born to a farming family in Massachusetts two decades before the American Revolution began. His life prospects increased when he married a rich widow at age nineteen. Soon the American Revolution began and he sided with the British, serving as a spy. In 1776 he moved to England and continued to work for the British government. He was elected a fellow member of the Royal Society in 1779 for his scientific work on the force of gunpowder. He soon moved on to Bavaria where he worked as a military commander and in 1791 he was made a count, taking the name of Count Rumford. He returned to London in 1798 and a year later helped to found the Royal Institution of Great Britain.

While working in the military he naturally became interested in the effects of heat on the equipment, especially cannons. The leading theory of the day was the caloric theory in that heat was a type of fluid that flowed from one substance to another. While watching the process of boring cannons he noticed that the heat generated in the process was substantial and almost limitless. He correctly concluded that heat was not a fluid and that it was the motion of the borer creating friction with the cannon that generated the heat. His knowledge about heat made him a capable inventor and he made improvements to chimneys, fireplaces, stoves, and furnaces.

Count Rumford, as he came to be called, never returned to the United States and in 1804 he married the widow of the French chemist Antonie Lavoisier. He stayed the rest of his life in Paris continuing his scientific work until he died in 1814.

James Prescott Joule

Posted on November 27, 2018January 23, 2024 by Dan

James Prescott Joule (1818 – 1889) was a British physicist whose most important scientific contribution was to establish an understanding of the relationship of heat to mechanical work. His work set the foundation for the idea of the conservation of energy, later leading to the development of the first law of thermodynamics.

James Joule was born on Christmas eve in England to the father of a successful and wealthy brewer. As a child he was fortunate enough to be tutored by the famous scientist John Dalton and that most likely had a lasting, positive impression him. By adulthood Joule was still managing the brewery business, and his business acumen combined with his scientific curiosity led to some important discoveries. During his free time he experimented with replacing the steam engines in his brewery with electric ones. This led to the discovery of what is now known as Joule’s Law, which establishes the relationship of the flow of a current through a resistance and the heat it generates. His experiments contained precise measurements which he reported in a series of scientific papers.

His work was noticed by Lord Kelvin and the two collaborated on several more experiments leading to the discovery of the Joule-Thomson effect – the change in temperature of a liquid or gas as it experiences a rapid change in pressure. This concept would later be used in refrigeration. The two also collaborated on an absolute temperature scaled now termed the Kelvin scale.

In 1850 Joule was elected as a member to the Royal Society and two years later he received the Royal Medal for his paper On the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat. His work helped make the caloric theory of heat obsolete and laid the groundwork for the modern theories of thermodynamics. The SI unit of energy, the joule, is named in his honor.

Michael Faraday

Posted on November 26, 2018January 23, 2024 by Dan

Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867) was a key figure in 19th century science whose work was critical in advancing our understanding of electricity and magnetism. His groundbreaking work and insights helped pave the path for future breakthroughs in the field of electromagnetism.

Faraday was born in London to a struggling family, but also one of strong spirituality. He began his education inside a church and developed a love for reading. A big break in Faraday’s life came when in 1812 he attended a series of chemical lectures by Sir Humphry Davy. Being a detailed oriented person, Faraday took meticulous notes at that fortuitous lecture and then mailed them to Davy in the form of a 300 page binder. Impressed with work and thanks to an accident to one of his assistants in his laboratory, Davy brought Faraday on as an assistant and opening of the doors of opportunity to science for him. He was able to study chemistry under Davy and quickly mastered the science of the day. He eventually obtained a position at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, became an expert in his own right in chemical analyses, discovering benzene in 1825, but Faraday’s most important contribution to science came in the field of electromagnetism.

In 1831 Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction – that a moving magnetic field produces electric current. This is significant because previously the only known way to produce an electric current was with a battery. But now electric current could also be produced by the movement of a magnet. This relationship was eventually modeled mathematically by James Clerk Maxwell.

Faraday continued to make important discoveries such as diamagnetism and established two laws of electrolysis, as well as give lectures at the Royal Institution until late in life. He died at the age of 75 in 1867 as one of the most respected scientists of his day, an achievement extremely remarkable considering his humble origins.

James Clerk Maxwell

Posted on November 9, 2018January 23, 2024 by Dan

James Clerk Maxwell (1831 – 1879) was a British scientist famous for his mathematical synthesis of the forces of electricity and magnetism into what is now known as the electromagnetic force. He is one of the most important figures in the history of physics.

Maxwell was born in Dumfrieshire, Scotland where he received an early education from his mother until she passed away when Maxwell was eight. A short time later he was enrolled at Edinburgh Academy where he excelled in mathematics. In April of 1847 Maxwell’s uncle took him on a trip to the private laboratory of physicist William Nicol where he was captivated by the experiments and demonstrations he witnessed and was determined thereafter to become a physicist. He entered Cambridge University three years later, earned top honors in mathematics, and after graduating became a professor in King’s College, London.

It was during his time as a professor at King’s College that he began formulating his theory of electromagnetism. Electric fields changing in magnitude create a magnetic field. Additionally magnetic fields changing in magnitude creates an electric field. Thus these fields moving together as a wave can create a continuous chain of creating. Maxwell realized that he could combine both the magnetic and electric fields into a single electromagnetic field through a series of equations, which we now refer to as the Maxwell equations. When Maxwell calculated the speed of these waves he obtained 186,000 miles per second, and so in 1864 he was able to conclude that light consists of electromagnetic waves. Eventually it was realized that light consists of only a small portion of the electromagnetic wave field with longer and shorter wave lengths being possible, eventually leading to discoveries such as radio waves and x-rays.

Maxwell also did other important work in optics. He presented the first color image in photography during a lecture in 1861, the same year he was elected the the Royal Society of London. In 1874 he was appointed director of the Cavendish Laboratory. However he did not hold this position long as he died five years later at the age of 48 due to stomach cancer. Even though his life was cut short his accomplishments and contributions to science were immense.

Benjamin Franklin

Posted on November 9, 2018January 23, 2024 by Dan

Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) achieved much in his life as a scientist, while still having time for success in business as a profitable entrepreneur in printing and writing, an innovative investor, a statesman critical in forming legislation for a new nation, a diplomat allowing a new nation to form, a philanthropist with an eye to be benefit of future generations, and above all – a visionary. Due to his wide range of extraordinary abilities he is one of the most accomplished and remarkable men in American history.

Ben Franklin was born in Boston and at an early age fell in love with reading. At age 12 he began an apprenticeship to his brother James, a printer, where he learned the printing trade. After five years he fled to Philadelphia looking for a new beginning to life and shortly after arrival in the city he quickly relocated to London on a promise from the Pennsylvania Governor that he could get some equipment to start a newspaper. When the promise fell through he returned to Philadelphia and founded The Pennsylvania Gazette. He continued to have success as an author when he published Poor Richard’s Almanack, a publication covering various topics which he continued for 26 years.

By the age of 42 Franklin was wealthy enough to retire from the printing business, where he became a gentlemen and began to engage in the curiosities of the day. This was the beginning of his short, but important time in life as a scientist and inventor. Some of his more famous inventions were the Franklin stove and the bifocal glasses, but his most famous scientific work is in electricity. The kite experiment that Franklin is supposed to have carried out was used to prove the lightning and electricity are the same phenomenon. This led to the invention of the lightning rod placed on buildings used to prevent fires.

As events in the American colonies continued to advance towards revolution Franklin eventually gave up his scientific inquiries and devoted the remainder of his life to being a politician, statesmen, and eventually a peacemaker. He was one of the founding fathers of the United States and played critical roles in shaping its destiny.

Charles Coulomb

Posted on November 2, 2018January 23, 2024 by Dan

Charles -Agustin de Coulomb (1736 – 1806) was born in France and lived at a time of radical social upheaval and governmental change. His most famous discovery was an inverse-square law published in 1785, known today as Coulomb’s Law, that quantifies the force with which stationary electrically charged particles repel or attract each other.

Coulomb received a good education as a child and advanced in mathematics and engineering, providing him the opportunity to join the French army in 1761 as an engineer where he was responsible for a variety of engineering projects ranging from structural fortifications to soil mechanics over a period of two decades. Throughout his military career he began to become interested in research, presenting his first work in applied mechanics to the Academie des Sciences in Paris in 1773. In 1777 he submitted his most famous work on torsion balances winning him a share of the Grand Prix of the Academie des Sciences, an award he also won two years later based on the construction of a fort made entirely out of wood.

In 1785 he published what later became know as Coulomb’s Law. It described the relationship between electrically charged particles as in inverse-square law. He also observed this same relationship between magnetic poles. These discoveries eventually led to the development of the theory of electromagnetism. For this valuable work the SI unit of electric charge was name in his honor in 1908.

Continue reading more about other impactful scientists!

Joseph Black

Posted on October 26, 2018January 23, 2024 by Dan

Joseph Black (1728 – 1729) is considered the father of quantitative chemistry and his research on boiling and freezing liquids revolutionized our understanding of heat. He is best known for his discoveries of carbon dioxide and latent heat.

Born in Bordeaux into a large family of Scottish wine traders, Black was educated at the University of Glasgow where he studied medicine quickly took a liking to chemistry after attending the chemistry lectures of William Cullen. In 1752 Black transferred to the University of Edinburgh to finish his medical studies. His medical thesis turned out to be one of the most important scientific papers in the history of chemistry. It centered what happened when a from of magnesium carbonate was heated. He ended up isolating the gas given off, carbon dioxide, but the real importance in his paper was that it was the first instance where anyone was taking careful, precise measurements in chemistry. This paper and his follow up lectures on it laid the basis laid the foundation for quantitative chemistry.

After obtaining a professorship at Glasgow, Black took up research on the nature of heat. By exploring phenomenon that there is no temperature change in a phase change, such as solid to liquid or a liquid to a gas, he came up with the notion of latent heat. Latent heat is then the thermal energy released or absorbed by a substance during its phase change. Heat water at 100 degrees Fahrenheit and its temperature will continually increase until the boiling point of 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Continue adding heat the the water and its temperature will stay at 212 degrees, while some it evaporates as gas. This is because all the energy added to the boiling water is being absorbed as latent heat of vaporization. When James Watt began working at Glasgow University the two became friends and Black shared his ideas on latent heat, which Watt surely used to improve his steam engines powered the industrial revolution.

Black eventually succeeded William Cullen as Professor of Medicine and Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh where he was a superb lecturer. For thirty years held this position until his failing health forced him to retire.