World Technology Award

The World Technology Awards are presented annually by the World Technology Network (The WTN) at its World Technology Summit to individuals and corporations achieving significant, lasting progress in categories pertaining to science, technology, the arts, and design. The first World Technology Summit and Awards took place on November 12, 1999, at the National Museum of Science and Industry in London, England. Currently, the World Technology Summit is held at the Time-Life Building, and the World Technology Awards are presented at the United Nations headquarters in New York City The Awards are given in association with Time, NASDAQ, Fortune, AAAS, Science, NYAS, and The Technology Review.
 

History

The WTN was founded by its current chairman, James P. Clark.^[1] The first set of 20 awards was presented in 2000. The 2001 World Technology Summit was held in London at Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine and the National Museum of Science & Industry. The 2002 World Technology Summit was held in New York City, in part at United Nations headquarters. The 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 World Technology Summit & Awards took place in San Francisco, with the Summits at leading hotels and the Awards ceremony at San Francisco City Hall.^[2][3]
In 2002, the WTN added a Corporate (designated by "Corp", below) award to 10 of the categories. These categories are listed separately. In 2001, the WTN added three categories: Education, Entertainment, and Social Entrepreneurship. In 2002, WTN discontinued three categories: Commerce, Transportation and Start-up Companies.
The X Prize Foundation and WTN announced the WTN X Prize in October 2004.^[4]

Biotechnology

• 2000 : John Sulston, Director, Sanger Centre
• 2001 : Dr. Craig Venter, President & CEO, Celera Genomics, Inc.
• 2002 : Dr. Ruedi Aebersold, Professor, Institute for Systems Biology
  • Corp : Genecor International
• 2003 : Dr. Leroy Hood, Institute for Systems Biology
  • Corp : International Rice Genome Sequencing Project
• 2004 : Prof. Ehud Shapiro, Department of Computer Science, Weizmann Institute
  • Corp : Advanced Cell Technology
• 2005 : Nadrian Seeman, New York University
  • Corp : Amyris Biotechnologies
• 2006 : Paul Rothemund
  • Corp : Genentech
• 2009 : Christina Smolke and Maung Nyan Win, Stanford University
  • Corp : T2 Biosystems
• 2011 : James J. Collins, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Boston University
  • Corp : Celgene Corporation

Commerce

• 2000 : Steven Snyder, Brad Miller & John Riedl, Cofounders, Net Perceptions
• 2001 : Linus Torvalds, Programmer, Transmeta Corp.
• 2002 : Discontinued

Communication Technology

• 2000 : Tim Berners-Lee, Director, World Wide Web Consortium
• 2001 : Robert Metcalfe, Vice-President Technology, International Data Group, Inc.
• 2002 : Linus Torvalds, Creator, Linux
  • Corp : NTT DoCoMo, Inc.
• 2003 : Prof. Kilnam Chon, KAIST
  • Corp : Quallcomm, Inc.
• 2004 : David P. Reed, Adjunct Professor, Media Arts and Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, & HP Fellow, HP Laboratories
  • Corp : Skype
• 2005 : Bill St. Arnaud, CANARIE, Inc.
  • Corp : Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
• 2006 : Craig Newmark
  • Corp : FON
• 2009 : Jianping Wu and Xing Li, China Education and Research Network (CERNET)
  • Corp : YouTube
• 2011 : Gabriel Chalet, Researcher, Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent
  • Corp : Skype

Design

• 2000 : Jonathan Ive, Vice-President of Industrial Design, Apple Computer
• 2001 : Stefano Marzano, CEO, Philips Design
• 2002 : Jonathan Ive, Vice-President of Industrial Design, Apple Computer
• 2003 : Issey Miyake & Dai Fujiwara, Miyake Design Studio
• 2004 : Paola Antonelli, Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art
• 2005 : Ross Lovegrove, Lovegrove Design Studio
• 2006 : Bill Moggridge
• 2009 : Ron Nabarro, Senior-Touch ltd.
• 2011 : Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Designer/Artist/Writer

Education

• 2001 : Dr. Venkataraman Balaji, Principal Scientist, ICRISAT
• 2002 : Dr. Pedro Hepp, Professor, Universidad de La Frontera
• 2003 : Dr. Robert F. Tinker, The Concord Consortium
• 2004 : Cristian Cox, Minister of Education, Government of Chile
• 2006 : James Slotta
• 2009 : Dr. Richard G. Baraniuk, Rice University
• 2011 : Dr. Mitchel Resnick, LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research and Head of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group, MIT Media Lab

Energy

• 2000 : Dr. Geoffrey Ballard, Founder, Ballard Power Systems
• 2001 : Dr. Paul MacCready, Chairperson, AeroVironment, Inc.
• 2002 : Dr. Ashok Gadgil, Senior Staff Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • Corp : Toyota
• 2003 : Prof. Zhiqiang Yin, Tsinghua University
  • Corp : Environ, Energy Technologies Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• 2004 : Martin Green, Research Director, Centre for Advanced Silicon Photovoltaics and Photonics, University of New South Wales
  • Corp : AeroVironment, Inc.
• 2005 : Subhendu Guha, United Solar Ovonic
  • Corp : XsunX, Inc.
• 2006 : Stuart Wenham
  • Corp : CSG Solar
• 2009 : Zhengrong Shi, Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd.
  • Corp : Planar Energy Devices
• 2011 : Xin Zhao, Materials Scientist, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Laboratory) & Rod Ruoff/Meryl Stoller, Ruoff Research Group, University of Texas at Austin
  • Corp : Aquion Energy

Entertainment

• 2001 : Shawn Fanning, Founder, Napster, Inc.
• 2002 : Michael Robertson, CEO, Lindows.com
• 2003 : Derek Sivers, CD Baby
• 2004 : Richard Marks, Manager, Special Projects Group, US R&D, Sony Computer Entertainment
• 2006 : Chad Hurley and Steve Chen
• 2009 : Eric Chan, ECCO Design Inc
• 2011 : Kati London, Director of Product, Zynga

Start-up Companies

• 2000 : Christopher Evans (businessman), Chairperson, Merlin Ventures
• 2001 : Shawn Fanning, Founder, Napster, Inc.
• 2002 : Discontinued

Environment

• 2000 : Amory Lovins, Co-founder, Director of Research, Rocky Mountain Institute
• 2001 : Dr. Geoffrey Ballard, Founder, Ballard Power Systems, Inc.
• 2002 : Francis E. K. Britton, M.D., EcoPlan International
  • Corp : All Species Foundation
• 2003 : Prof. R. Malcolm Brown, University of Texas at Austin
  • Corp : Hypercar, Inc.
• 2004 : Ken Livingstone, Mayor, London
  • Corp : AgraQuest
• 2005 : Priyadarshini Karve, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute
  • Corp : City of Seoul, Republic of Korea (Office of the Mayor)
• 2006 : Inez Fung
  • Corp : Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• 2009 : Greg Allgood, Procter & Gamble
  • Corp : Honda Motor Company
• 2011 : Ann Hand, CEO, Project Frog
  • Corp : Airdye Solutions

Ethics

• 2000 : Daniel Callahan, Cofounder, Hastings Center
• 2001 : Dr. Sharon Beder, Department of Science and Technology Studies, University of Wollongong
• 2002 : Prof. Ren Zong Qiu, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
• 2003 : Peter Singer, Princeton University
• 2004 : Kristin Shrader-Frechette, O'Neill Family Professor of Philosophy/Concurrent Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame
• 2006 : Carl Mitcham
• 2009 : Jeroen van den Hoven, Delft University of Technology
• 2011 : Paul Root Wolpe, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Bioethics, Director, Center for Ethics, Emory University

Finance

• 2000 : Masayoshi Son, Chairperson, Softbank
• 2001 : Thomas Weisel, Founder and Chairperson, Thomas Weisel Partners
• 2002 : William Hambrecht, Founder, Chairperson & CEO, WR Hambrecht + Co
  • Corp : Battery Ventures
• 2003 : Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank
  • Corp : Intel Capital
• 2004 : Steve Jurvetson, Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
  • Corp : General Atlantic Partners
• 2005 : Richard Kramlich, New Enterprise Associates
  • Corp : Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
• 2006 : Erik Straser
  • Corp : Silicon Valley Bank
• 2009 : Ram Shriram, Sherpalo
  • Corp : Intel Capital
• 2011 : Esther Dyson, CEO, EDventure Holdings
  • Corp : Band of Angels

Health & Medicine

• 2000 : Roy Bakay, Professor, Emory School of Medicine & Philip Kennedy, CEO, Founder and Chief Scientist, Neural Signals, Inc.
• 2001 : Prof. Robert Johnston, Assoc. Prof. Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 2002 : Dr. James Thompson, Professor, University of Wisconsin–Madison
  • Corp : Advanced Tissue Sciences
• 2003 : Prof. Jean-Laurent Casanova, Necker Medical School and INSERM U550
  • Corp : Weizmann Institute of Science
• 2004 : Alan Chow & Vincent Chow, Cofounders, Optobionics Corporation
  • Corp : Intuitive Surgical
• 2005 : Andreas Lendlein and Robert Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Corp : National Institute for Biological Standards and Control/UK Stem Cell Bank
• 2006 : Hunter Peckham
  • Corp : BodyMedia, Inc
• 2009 : Prof. Chris Toumazou, Director & Chief Scientist of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College London
  • Corp : Mayo Clinic
• 2011 : Anthony Atala, Director, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
  • Corp : Second Sight Medical Products

Information Technology - Hardware

• 2000 : Jeff Hawkins & Donna Dubinsky, Co-creators, Palm Computer
• 2001 : Gordon Moore, Chairman Emeritus, Intel Corp.
• 2002 : Prof. Shuji Nakamura, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Corp : Research In Motion, Ltd.
• 2003 : Ted Clark, Hewlett-Packard
  • Corp : Apple Computer
• 2004 : Charles Black & Kathryn Guarini, Physical Sciences Department/Silicon Technology Department, T. J. Watson Research Center, IBM
  • Corp : Apple Computer
• 2005 : Holly Gates, E Ink Corporation
  • Corp : University of Tsukuba / Cyberdyne Inc.
• 2006 : Calvin Quate, Gerd Carl Binnig and Christoph Gerber
  • Corp : Palm
• 2009 : David Flynn, Fusion-io
  • Corp : AMAZON
• 2011 : Steve Teig, President & CTO, Tabula, Inc.
  • Corp : Apple

Information Technology - Software

• 2000 : Paul Gauthier, Chief Technology Officer, Inktomi
• 2001 : Prof. Olivier Faugeras, Research Director, ROBOTVIS Group Sophia-Antipolis Research Unit, INRIA
• 2002 : Ray Ozzie, Chairman & CEO, Groove Networks
  • Corp : Apple Computer
• 2003 : Larry Page & Sergey Brin, Google
  • Corp : Sony Corporation
• 2004 : Daphne Koller, Associate Professor, Robotics Laboratory, Computer Science Department, Stanford University
  • Corp : Apple Computer
• 2005 : David Haussler, Howard Hughes Medical Institute/University of California, Santa Cruz
  • Corp : Amazon.com
• 2006 : Sebastian Thrun
  • Corp : Google
• 2009 : Dawn Jutla, Professor, Sobey School of Business, Halifax, Canada
  • Corp : Facebook
• 2011 : Otavio Good, Founder & CEO, Quest Visual, Inc.
  • Corp : Amazon.com, Inc.

Law

• 2000 : Nobuhiro Nakayama, Professor of Law, University of Tokyo
• 2001 : Prof. Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law, Stanford University
• 2002 : Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director, EPIC
• 2003 : Prof. James Boyle, School of Law, Duke University
• 2004 : Pamela Samuelson, Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley
• 2006 : Jerry Kang
• 2009 : Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School
• 2011 : Arti K. Rai, Elvin R. Latty Professor of Law, Duke University

Marketing Communications

• 2000 : Steve Case, Chairperson/CEO, America Online
• 2001 : Mark Viken Sr., Vice-President, Information Technology Products Division, Sony Electronics, Inc.
• 2002 : Zhang Ruimin, Founder & CEO, Haier
• 2003 : Larry Page & Sergey Brin, Google
• 2004 : Cindy McCaffrey, Vice-President, Corporate Marketing, Google
• 2006 : Saul Klein^{[disambiguation needed]}
• 2009 : Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
• 2011 : Aedhmar Hynes, CEO, Text 100 Public Relations

Materials

• 2000 : Frederick Seitz, President Emeritus, Rockefeller University
• 2001 : Prof. George M. Whitesides, Professor of Bioorganic/Physical Organic Chemistry & Materials Science, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University
• 2002 : Dr. Angela Belcher, University of Texas at Austin & Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Corp : IBM Corporation
• 2003 : Prof. Charles Lieber, Harvard University
  • Corp : Dow Chemical Company
• 2004 : Prof. Charles Lieber, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University
  • Corp : Nanosys
• 2005 : Daniel Rugar, John Mamin, Raffi Budakian and Benjamin Chui, IBM
  • Corp : Molecular Imprints
• 2006 : Michael Graetzel
  • Corp : IBM
• 2009 : Paul Chaikin, New York University
  • Corp : Northwestern University
• 2011 : Andrew Barron, Welch Chair of Chemistry, Professor of Materials Science, Rice University
  • Corp : 3M

Media & Journalism

• 2000 : Adam Clayton Powell III, Vice-President of Technology and Programs, The Freedom Forum
• 2001 : John Markoff, Technology Correspondent, The New York Times
• 2002 : Walter Mossberg, Personal Technology Columnist, The Wall Street Journal
• 2003 : Dr. Krishna Bharat, Google, Inc.
• 2004 : Dan Gillmor, Business and Technology Columnist, San Jose Mercury News
• 2006 : Chris Kyriakakis
• 2009 : Michael Rogers, The New York Times
• 2011 : Athar Osama, Publisher/Editor/Columnist, Muslim-Science.com

Policy

• 2000 : M. S. Swaminathan, Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operation, India
• 2001 : Prof. Christopher Freeman, Professor Emeritus, SPRU, University of Sussex
• 2002 : Dr. Karl Pister, Chancellor Emeritus, University of California
• 2003 : Prof. Clement Dzidonu, International Institute for Information Technology
• 2004 : Bruce Alberts, President, National Academy of Sciences
• 2006 : Al Gore
• 2009 : Paul Kagame, President, Republic of Rwanda
• 2011 : Alex Dehgan, Science and Technology Adviser to the Administrator, US Agency for International Development (US AID)

Social Entrepreneurship

• 2001 : Agus Gunarto, Managing Program/NGO Worker, Yayasan Rona Alam
• 2002 : Bunker Roy, Director, The Barefoot College
• 2003 : Rodrigo Baggio, Committee for Democracy in Information Technology
• 2004 : Fabio Luis de Oliveira Rosa, Executive Director, Institute for the Development of Natural Energy and Sustainability
• 2006 : Victoria Hale
• 2009 : Timothy Prestero, Design That Matters
• 2011 : Howard Weinstein, Social Entrepreneur, Solar Ear

Space

• 2000 : David Thompson, Founder, Orbital Sciences
• 2001 : Prof. Martin Sweeting, Director, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey
• 2002 : Prof. Roger-Maurice Bonnet, Directeur General Adjoint for Science, CNES
  • Corp : XM Satellite Radio
• 2003 : Dr. Peter Diamandis, X Prize Foundation
  • Corp : X Prize Foundation
• 2004 : Burt Rutan, Founder, Scaled Composites
  • Corp : Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
• 2005 : Steven W. Squyres, Cornell University & NASA
  • Corp : "Cassini-Huygens Mission" (NASA / ESA / ASI)
• 2006 : Eric C. Anderson
  • Corp : SpaceX
• 2009 : Elon Musk, SpaceX
  • Corp : Phoenix Mars Lander Team
• 2011 : Gwynne Shotwell, President, SpaceX
  • Corp : SpaceX

Transportation

• 2000 : Elizabeth Ampt, Developer, Travel Blending
• 2001 : Gov. Jaime Lerner, Governor of Paraná, Brazil
• 2002 : Discontinued

Hans von Ohain Biography Inventor Jet Engine

Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain (born December 14, 1911 in Dessau, † 13 March 1998 in Melbourne, Florida) is next to Frank Whittle the father of the jet engine, known popularly as jet engine. Hans Pabst von Ohain Ph.D. 1935, University of Göttingen in physics and aerodynamics.

At an early age, Hans Pabst von Ohain dealt with the vision of a jet engine and tinkered in his garage as a first model. In 1936, he has already filed a patent on it. Finally, he managed to convince the entrepreneur Ernst Heinkel about his idea, and find in him a supporter of the project. From 1938 Hans Pabst von Ohain developed with his team in the Ernst Heinkel Aircraft Works, a liquid fuel jet engine, known as the Heinkel HeS 3b, while in parallel it was a well-tailored aircraft designed and built – the Heinkel He 178th After several delays occurred on 27 August 1939, finally the first flight of the He 178 in Rostock-Marie married with test pilot Captain Eric Warsitz at the controls. It was the world’s first flight of an aircraft strahl-/düsengetriebenen.

1947 Hans Pabst von Ohain was – as part of Operation Overcast – by the Americans, as do many other German military engineers with relevant technical inventions in the United States. He first worked for the U.S. Air Force and has helped them develop their own jets. In 1956, Pabst von Ohain director of the Air Force Aeronautical Research Laboratory, 1975, he was promoted to chief designer of the Aero Propulsion Laboratory.

Is the 'Wang particle' the new Higgs boson?

The hunt might soon be on for another fundamental building block of nature. But what will it be called?

•  

A young supernova taken by Nasa's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Photograph: AP

The hand of fate is shaky when it comes to naming the building blocks of nature. Some physicists are immortalised by their discoveries, others not. There is, alas, no Professor Quark. But the Higgs boson is so sexy they named it twice – after Peter Higgs and Satyendra Nath Bose, though not, as it happens, after God.
Now we hear reports of the Wang particle – a particle that may explain supernovas, the most energetic explosions in the universe.
Massive stars collapse under their own gravity once their nuclear fuel is spent. The implosion compresses the star's iron core into neutrons. Charles Wang at Aberdeen University, and others, said the core might ring like a bell and emit ripples in spacetime that spread out like sound waves and power supernova explosions. These new waves come with an associated particle. In November, scientists will look for evidence of the entity at Cern's Isolde experiment. The biggest thing since the Higgs? Who knows.
So is the hunt for the Wang now on? Robert Bingham at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire works on the theory with Wang. "I've never thought of calling it that. He hasn't either. We'd tend to call it the scalar gravitational particle."

Physicist

Isaac Newton was a revolutionary figure in the development of modern physics as an exact science.

A physicist is a scientist who does research in physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made (particle physics) to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole (cosmology).

Etymology

The term "Physicist" was coined by English philosopher, priest, and historian of science William Whewell in 1840, to denote a cultivator of physics.^[1]

Education

Albert Einstein developed the theory of general relativity.

Most material a student encounters in the undergraduate physics curriculum is based on discoveries and insights of a century or more in the past. Alhazen's intromission theory of light was formulated in the 11th century; Newton's laws of motion and Newton's law of universal gravitation were formulated in the 17th century; Maxwell's equations, 19th century; and quantum mechanics, early 20th century. The undergraduate physics curriculum generally includes the following range of courses: chemistry, classical physics, kinematics, astronomy and astrophysics, physics laboratory, electricity and magnetism, thermodynamics, optics, modern physics, quantum physics, nuclear physics, particle physics, and solid state physics. Undergraduate physics students must also take extensive mathematics courses (calculus, differential equations, advanced calculus), and computer science and programming. Undergraduate physics students often perform research with faculty members.
Many positions, especially in research, require a doctoral degree. At the Master's level and higher, students tend to specialize in a particular field. Fields of specialization include experimental and theoretical astrophysics, atomic physics, molecular physics, biophysics, chemical physics, medical physics, condensed matter physics, cosmology, geophysics, material science, nuclear physics, optics, particle physics, and plasma physics. Post-doctoral experience may be required for certain positions.

Employment

The three major employers of career physicists are academic institutions, government laboratories, and private industries, with the largest employer being the last.^[2] Many trained physicists, however, apply their skills to other activities, in particular to engineering, computing, and finance, often quite successfully. Some physicists take up additional careers where their knowledge of physics can be combined with further training in other disciplines, such as patent law in industry or private practice. In the United States, a majority of those in the private sections having a physics degree actually work outside the fields of physics, astronomy and engineering altogether.^[3]
Nobel laureate Sir Joseph Rotblat has suggested that physicists going into employment in scientific research should honour a Hippocratic Oath for Scientists.

Honors and awards

The highest honor awarded to physicists is the Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded since 1901 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Science World (Vancouver)

Science World at Telus World of Science
Location in Vancouver
Established	1977
Location	Vancouver, British Columbia
Coordinates	49.273251°N 123.103767°W
Type	Science museum
Visitor figures	650,000 annually
Website	http://www.scienceworld.ca/

Science World at Telus World of Science, Vancouver is a science centre run by a not-for-profit organization in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is located at the end of False Creek, and features many permanent interactive exhibits and displays, as well as areas with varying topics throughout the years.
The building's former name, Science World, is still the name of the organization. The building's name change to the Telus World of Science became official on July 20, 2005 following a $9-million donation to the museum from Telus.^[1] The official name of the science centre was subsequently changed to "Telus World of Science", although it is still routinely referred to as "Science World" by the public. Prior to the building behing handed over to Science World by the City, it was the as Expo Centre during Expo 86. When Science World is operating out of the dome, it is referred to as Science World at TELUS World of Science, and when it is out in the community it is simply Science World.

Science World outside of TELUS World of Science

Science World also runs programs at Aberdeen Centre in Richmond, BC, and around the province, including locations as remote as Haida Gwaii and Ladysmith.^{[citation needed]}

History

In 1977, Barbara Brink ran mobile hands-on exhibits known as the Extended I around the Lower Mainland. Later, the temporary Arts, Sciences & Technology Centre opened in downtown Vancouver on January 15, 1982 attracting over 600,000 visitors. Another 400,000 benefited from the centre’s outreach programs, which were delivered around the province.
When Vancouver was awarded to host the transportation-themed 1986 World's Fair (Expo 86), a Buckminster Fuller inspired geodesic dome was designed to serve as the fair's Expo Centre with construction beginning in 1984 and being completed by early 1985. After Expo closed its gates in October of that year, an intensive lobbying campaign was launched to secure the landmark building, relocate the "Arts, Sciences and Technology Centre" into the post-expo dome, and convert the Expo Centre into Science World. With much government backing, the dome was obtained from the province and a massive fund-raising campaign ensued. Donations from the federal, provincial and municipal governments, the GVRD, the private sector, foundations, and individuals contributed $19.1 million to build an addition to the Expo Centre, redesign the interior and fabricate exhibits. In 1988, in a four month preview, over 310,000 visitors came to see the new building. A year later, The 400 seat OMNIMAX theatre in the upper section of the dome was opened, extending upon the 3D IMAX theatre which was built in 1986 for the Expo "Transitions" film series.^[2]
The centre entered its first title sponsorship agreement with Alcan Inc. in 1996, renaming its OMNIMAX Theatre the Alcan OMNIMAX Theatre. Alcan has since decided to sponsor the organization in different ways and the theatre has returned to its original name, the OMNIMAX Theatre. In January 2005, the building was officially renamed "Telusphere" as part of an agreement where Telus gave a $9-million donation in return for the "naming rights" of the building. This new name proved universally unpopular. In the summer of 2005, Telus and Science World officially changed the name of the building to the Telus World of Science. This maintained consistency with other "Telus World of Science" centres in Calgary and Edmonton that were named in the meantime. This name change has not affected the nearby SkyTrain station and the general public still refers to it as Science World.
During the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Science World was transformed into the Russky Dom (also known as Sochi.ru World)^[3], which profiled plans for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. From February 12 to 28, 2010, the general public was allowed into the Russky Dom from noon until 5 p.m. In the evenings, parties were held in the Russky Dom for accredited guests.
Science World underwent renovation after the 2010 Winter Olympics. The indoor renovations are complete as of mid-2012 and the adjacent Ken Spencer Science Park is scheduled to be finished construction in late 2012.^[4]

The Earth, Sun, and Moon

The Earth, Sun, and Moon

The Earth
Earth, which is our base from which we look into space, is constantly moving. Understanding this movement is one of the most useful and important things in astronomy.
The earth orbits the sun in an elliptical orbit and the moon orbits the earth with the same kind of orbit. Looking down from the north pole, the earth spins in a counterclockwise direction on an imaginary line called its axis once every day. This accounts for the fact that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The earth’s axis is tilted with respect to the plane of its orbit at an angle of about 23.4 degrees. If we position ourselves high above the north pole, we would see that the earth orbits the sun in a counterclockwise motion, coming to the same position among the stars every 365.26 earth days. We would also see that the moon also orbits the earth in a counterclockwise motion. This is illustrated in the following example.

Figure 1: The directions of the orbits of the earth and moon.

The average distance from the earth to the sun, the semimajor axis of its orbit, is 149,597,890 km. This distance was not known until recently and it is called the astronomical unit or AU. The distances of the other planets to the sun are usually measured in astronomical units.
Because of the tilt of the earth, not every place on earth gets light every day. Also, some places have extremely short days.
As the earth revolves around the sun, the place where light shines the brightest changes. This motion gives us the different seasons. For instance, the poles receive less light than does the equator because of the angle that the land around the poles receive the sun’s light. When the north pole is tilted toward the sun, the northern hemisphere is presented to the sun at a greater angle than the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere gets warmer. When this happens, the northern hemisphere gets summer while the southern hemisphere gets winter. When the south pole is tilted toward the sun, the two seasons reverse hemispheres. This is illustrated in the following image.

Figure 2: The positions of earth at the different seasons. Counterclockwise from lower left: summer, fall, winter, spring (northern hemisphere).

The earth’s orbit is called the ecliptic. The plane which contains the ecliptic is the reference plane for the positions of most solar system bodies. Viewed from earth, the ecliptic is the apparent motion of the sun among the stars.
The earth’s equator is a circle going around the earth which is on a plane that is perpendicular to the earth’s axis. The equator and the plane on which it lies are illustrated in the following image.

Figure 3: The equatorial plane.

The Equinoxes
This equatorial plane is one of the most important in astronomy because it intersects the plane of the ecliptic and gives us a reference point in space by which we can measure the positions of stars. This plane also divides the earth into halves, the northern half being the northern hemisphere, the other half being the southern hemisphere. The intersection of these planes is a line, which for convenience we will call the line of equinoxes. The real definition of equinox is the point on the celestial sphere which intersects this line, but since the celestial sphere is an imaginary sphere with any size, the equinoxes are really lines. Also, for some purposes and illustrations, it is more convenient to think of the equinoxes as a line extending into space. For other purposes, it is convinient to think of the equinoxes as directions. The two planes are illustrated below.

Figure 4: The vernal equinox from two perspectives.

One half of this line is called the vernal equinox; the other half is called the autumnal equinox. At two points in the earth’s orbit this line intersects the sun. These two places mark the start of two of the four seasons, autumn or spring. The autumnal equinox starts autumn around September 23. From earth, this marks the time when the sun looks as if it is crossing the plane of the equator on its way south. The vernal equinox starts spring around March 21. This marks the time when the sun looks as if it is crossing the plane of the equator on its way north. The earth carries the plane of the equator along with it. When the sun looks as if it is on its way north or south, the earth is actually carrying the equatorial plane along so that it crosses the sun.
Perpendicular to this line of equinoxes is a line which contains the solstices. The solstices are points on the ecliptic which start the other two seasons, summer and winter, when they cross the sun. The summer solstice is one half of this line, the winter solstice is the other half of this line. The half of this line that is north of the celestial equator is the summer solstice, the half that is south of the celestial equator is the winter solstice. Currently, the winter solstice starts winter for the northern hemisphere at about the time the earth is closest to the sun. This line is illustrated in the following example.

Figure 5: The summer and winter solstices.

Because of centrifugal force involved when an object spins, the earth is not a perfect sphere, but is somewhat flattened at the poles and bulges out at the equator. The distance from any point on the equator to the center of the earth is longer than the distance from either pole to the center of the earth. This is illustrated in the following image which is exaggerated for clarity. The form caused by this equatorial bulge is called a geoid.

Figure 6: A geoid.

The Moon
The moon is the earth’s only natural satellite. Its average distance from the earth is 384,403 km. Its revolution period around the earth is the same length and direction as its rotation period, which results in the moon always keeping one side turned toward the earth and the other side turned away from the earth. This type of motion is called synchronous rotation. The side turned away from the earth is called the moon’s dark side, even though it is lit half of the time. The moon’s sidereal period of revolution is about 27.32 days long. This means that a line drawn through the center of the earth and the moon would point to the same star every 27.32 days. Due to slight variations in the orbital velocity of the moon, over a 30 year period, 59% of the moon’s surface is made visible. This is known as libration.
The moon’s orbit is not in the plane of the ecliptic and because of the elliptical nature of the moon’s orbit, it is not always the same distance from the earth. At the two intersections of the moon’s orbit and the plane of the ecliptic are two nodes. These nodes regress along the plane of the ecliptic, making one complete rotation every 18.61 years. See Orbits.
The Effect of the Moon
The moon has a noticeable effect on the earth in the form of tides, but it also affects the motion and orbit of the earth. The moon does not orbit the center of the earth, rather, they both revolve around the center of their masses called the barycenter. This is illustrated in the following animation.

Figure 7: The earth and moon revolving around the barycenter. Notice how the earth moves slightly.

The sun acts on the earth and its moon as one entity with its center at the barycenter. Since the earth revolves around the barycenter, which in turn orbits the sun, the earth follows a wobbly path around the sun. This is illustrated in the following example. To complicate things further, the barycenter is not always in the same place due to the elliptical nature of the moon’s orbit.

Figure 8: The wobble of the earth's orbit. *Image illustrative only; number of intersections is greater.

The sun attracts the moon in such a way that it perturbs its orbit every 31.807 days, this phenomenon is called evection. The moon also changes the position of the earth’s equinoxes. The sun and moon each attract the earth’s equatorial bulge, trying to bring it into alignment with themselves. This torque is counteracted by the rotation of the earth. The combination of these two forces is a slow rotation of the earth’s axis, which in turn results in a slow westward rotation of the equinoxes. Looking down from the north pole, the equinoxes would appear to be rotating in a clockwise motion. The equinoxes and poles complete a rotation every 25,800 years. The equinoxes move at a rate of about 50.27 arc seconds per year. This phenomenon in known as the precession of the equinoxes and is illustrated in the following image.

Figure 9: The precession of the equinoxes. The blue disk is the equatorial plane. The white line is the equinoxes. The green plane is the plane of the ecliptic.

The north pole is currently pointing to a spot near the star Polaris. Because the vernal equinox is the starting point for most star charts, the charts must be made for a certain period. The star charts must be updated periodically to account for this movement of the reference point.
Because of the seasonal changes in the ice, snow, atmospheric distribution, and perhaps because of movements in the material within the earth, the geographic poles constantly change position in relation to the earth’s surface. This phenomenon is known as the Chandler wobble. Scientists have resolved the change into two almost circular components, the first with a radius of about 6 meters and a period of 12 months, the second with a radius of 3-15 meters and a period of about 14 months.
The sun and moon, because of their varying distances and directions in relation to the earth, constantly vary their gravitational attractions on the earth. This makes the poles wander irregularly by about + or - 9 arc seconds from its average, or mean, position. This phenomenon is known as nutation and has a period of about 18.6 years. The primary component of this is from the moon and is known as lunar nutation.
The sun and moon also constantly change the earth’s rate of spin.
Star charts use the mean equinox instead of the true equinox for their zero points. The mean equinox is the position of the equinox corrected for the slight but noticeable changes caused by nutation and the Chandler wobble. The mean equinox is still affected by precession, however, and does change position, but does it at a constant, predictable rate. Scientists requiring up-to-date precision information about the position of the earth can use the International Earth Rotation Service or IERS. This information can be found at the IERS web site at http://maia.usno.navy.mil/
The Sun
Because of the elliptical nature of the earth’s orbit and constant changes in the earth’s rate of spin because of the previously mentioned phenomena, the sun, as seen from earth, is moving at a non-uniform rate. This makes it difficult to use the real position of the sun as a reference for time keeping. For these purposes, a point which moves at a constant rate around the earth is used instead of the real position of the sun. This point is called the mean sun and is the basis for mean solar time.

France - Science and technology

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French inventors played a pivotal role in the development of photography and the internal combustion engine; to French ingenuity the world also owes the first mechanical adding machine (1642), parachute (1783), electric generator (1832), refrigerator (1858), and neon lamp (1910). French industry has pioneered in the development of high-speed transportation systems—notably the supersonic Concorde and the TGV high-speed train—and French subway companies have built or provided equipment for mass-transit systems in Montreal, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, and other cities.
France is a leading exporter of nuclear technology and has developed the first commercial vitrification plant for the disposal of radioactive wastes by integrating them in special glass and then encasing the glass in stainless steel containers for burial. In 1965, France was the third nation, after the former USSR and the United States, to launch its own space satellite. The French no longer launch their own satellites, however, preferring instead to contribute to the European Space Agency.
The Acádémie des Sciences, founded by Louis XIV in 1666, consists of eight sections: mathematics, physics, mechanics, astronomy, chemistry, cellular and molecular biology, animal and plant biology, and human biology and medical sciences. The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), founded in 1939, controls more than 1,370 laboratories and research centers. In 1996, the CNRS employed 19,391 researchers and engineers and 7,263 technicians and administrative staff. In addition, there are well over 100 other scientific and technological academies, learned societies, and research institutes. In 1995, France's total research and development expenditures amounted to 190 billion francs, or 25% of GDP. In 1987–97, research and development expenditures equaled 2.3% of GNP. In 1998, high-tech exports were valued at $54.2 billion and accounted for 23% of manufactured exports. Research and development personnel in 1987–97 numbered 2,659 scientists and engineers and 2,873 technicians per million people.
France has a large number of universities and colleges that offer courses in basic and applied sciences. The Palais de la Découverte in Paris (founded in 1937) is a scientific center for the popularization of science. It has departments of mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, and earth sciences, and includes a planetarium and cinema. A similar Parisian facility is the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (founded in 1986). The city also has the Musée National des Techniques (founded in 1794) and the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace (founded in 1919). In 1987–97, science and engineering students accounted for 37% of university enrollment.

Flight and the Wright Brothers

Orville and Wilbur Wright are credited with making the first successful manned controlled powered flight on December 17th 1903. However, the Wright brothers did not start the process of making a heavier than air powered flight.
Sir George Cayley is considered the ‘grandfather’ of the plane. Cayley spent most of his adult life studying the principles of aerodynamics and he established the basic configuration of the modern fixed-wing plane. In 1853, he built and flew a full-size glider; it carried his less than willing coachman 200 metres.
Between 1853 and 1903, many others helped to develop Man’s knowledge about powered flight : William Henson, John Stringfellow, Clement Ader, Otto and Gustav Lilienthal and Professor Samuel Langley.
In 1896, the Wright brothers opened a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. However, their real interest lay in flight. In 1899, they contacted the Smithsonian Institute requesting all the information the Institute had on flight. They read all they could about Cayley and the Lilienthal’s. They corresponded with a respected engineer called Octave Chanute.
In 1900, the brothers conducted their first full-scale tests on gliders near Kill Devils Hills on the coastal sand flats near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The area was specifically chosen as the American Weather Bureau told the brothers that the area had steady winds which averaged at no more than 13 mph.
By 1902, the brothers had made a glider that flew 188 metres - a record for the time. They gained valuable knowledge about the control of gliders in flight and the value of different wing shapes.
Their first plane - Flyer No 1 - had a wooden frame covered with cotton cloth. It measured just over 12 metres from wing tip to wing tip. The pilot was in the middle of the lower wing and to his right was a 12-horsepower petrol engine. The movement of the plane was controlled by a cradle attached to the pilot’s hips. When the pilot moved his hips, the cables attached to the wings would move thus moving the plane in flight.
Wilbur was at the controls for what should have been the first flight. However, the plane stalled on take-off. Orville won the toss of a coin to see who would be at the controls for the next test. At 10.35, December 17th, 1903, Orville flew for just 12 seconds. He covered a distance of 37 metres and rose to an altitude of 3 metres. Wilbur ran alongside Flyer No 1. Three more flights were made that day - the longest lasted 59 seconds and covered 260 metres.
What concerned the brothers was that people might see their flight as being essentially a glider flight as wind at Kill Devil Hills did play a major part. Over the next two years, the brothers built two planes that were engine powered and they flew them at Huffman Prairies near their home town of Dayton where there was little wind. From June to October 1905, they made more than 40 flights on Flyer III. One flight lasted 39 minutes and the plane reached speeds of 35 mph.

"Flyer" in action in 1908

The Wright’s were not two brothers who made bicycles and dabbled in the theory of flight as a pastime. They approached their work in a very scientific manner. They built the world’s first aero-engine which had the power-to-weight ratio of a modern family car. They also had to design their own propeller system as no previous one existed. Despite being confronted by scientific scepticism, they also flew their own machines as they wanted to know more about how a machine could fly - and what better way to do this than to be there yourself - i.e. actually in the flight. The whole project that revolutionised the world cost just $1000 - about £14,000 today.

Inventors and Inventions: Scientific Instruments and Industrial Machines

Inventors and Inventions:Scientific Instruments and Industrial Machines

ANEMOMETER The anemometer is a device that measures the speed of the wind (or other airflow, like in a wind tunnel). The first anemometer, a disc placed perpendicular to the wind, was invented in 1450 by the Italian architect Leon Battista Alberti. Robert Hooke, an English physicist, later reinvented the anemometer. In 1846, John Thomas Romney Robinson, an Irish physicist, invented the spinning-cup anemometer. In this device, cups are attached to a vertical shaft; when the cups spin in the wind, it causes a gear to turn.

ARCHIMEDES Archimedes (287-212 BC) was a prolific ancient Greek mathematician. Archimedes invented the water screw, a device for raising water using an encased screw open at both ends. The screw is set an an angle, and as the screw turns, water fills the air pockets and is transported upwards. The Archimedes screw is still in use today. Among his many accomplishments was the first description of the lever (around 260 BC). Levers are one of the basic tools; they were probably used in prehistoric times. Many of our basic tools use levers, including scissors (two class-1 levers), pliers (two class-1 levers), hammer claws (one class-1 lever), nutcrackers (two class-2 levers), and tongs (two class-3 levers). A Class 1 Lever. A Class 2 Lever. A Class 3 Lever. .

ASSEMBLY LINE Primitive assembly line production was first used in 1901 by Ransome Eli Olds (1864-1950), an early car-maker (he manufactured the Oldsmobile, the first commercially successful American car). Henry Ford (1863-1947) used the first conveyor belt-based assembly-line in his car factory in 1913-14 in Ford's Highland Park, Michigan plant. This type of production greatly reduced the amount of time taken to put each car together (93 minutes for a Model T) from its parts, reducing production costs. Assembly lines are now used in most manufacturing processes.

BAEKELAND, L.H. Leo Hendrik Baekeland (November 14, 1863 - February 23, 1944) was a Belgian-born American chemist who invented Velox photographic paper (1893) and Bakelite (1907), an inexpensive, nonflammable, versatile, and very popular plastic. For more information on Baekeland, click here.

BAKELITE Bakelite (also called catalin) is a plastic, a dense synthetic polymer (a phenolic resin) that was used to make jewelry, game pieces, engine parts, radio boxes, switches, and many, many other objects. Bakelite was the first industrial thermoset plastic (a material that does not change its shape after being mixed and heated). Bakelite plastic is made from carbolic acid (phenol) and formaldehyde, which are mixed, heated, and then either molded or extruded into the desired shape. Bakelite was patented in 1907 by the Belgian-born American chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland (November 14, 1863 - February 23, 1944). The Nobel Prize winning German chemist Adolf von Baeyer had experimented with this material in 1872, but did not complete its development or see its potential. Baekeland operated the General Bakelite Company from 1911 to 1939 (in Perth Amboy, N.J., USA), and produced up to about 200,000 tons of Bakelite annually. Bakelite replaced the very flammable celluloid plastic that had been so popular. The bracelet above is made of "butterscotch" bakelite.

BAROMETER A barometer is a device that measures air (barometric) pressure. It measures the weight of the column of air that extends from the instrument to the top of the atmosphere. There are two types of barometers commonly used today, mercury and aneroid (meaning "fluidless"). Earlier water barometers (also known as "storm glasses") date from the 17th century. The mercury barometer was invented by the Italian physicist Evangelista Torricelli (1608 - 1647), a pupil of Galileo, in 1643. Torricelli inverted a glass tube filled with mercury into another container of mercury; the mercury in the tube "weighs" the air in the atmosphere above the tube. The aneroid barometer (using a spring balance instead of a liquid) was invented by the French scientist Lucien Vidie in 1843.

BATTERY A battery is a device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy. Each battery has two electrodes, an anode (the positive end) and a cathode (the negative end). An electrical circuit runs between these two electrodes, going through a chemical called an electrolyte (which can be either liquid or solid). This unit consisting of two electrodes is called a cell (often called a voltaic cell or pile). Batteries are used to power many devices and make the spark that starts a gasoline engine. Alessandro Volta was an Italian physicist invented the first chemical battery in 1800. Storage batteries are lead-based batteries that can be recharged. In 1859, the French physicist Gaston Plante (1834-1889) invented a battery made from two lead plates joined by a wire and immersed in a sulfuric acid electrolyte; this was the first storage battery. The dry cell is a an improved voltaic cell with a cylindrical zinc shell (the zinc acts as both the cathode and the container) that is lined with an ammonium chloride (the electrolyte) saturated material (and not a liquid). The dry cell battery was developed in the 1870s-1870s by Georges Leclanche of France, who used an electrolyte in the form of a paste. Edison batteries (also called alkaline batteries) are an improved type of storage battery developed by Thomas Edison. These batteries have an alkaline electrolyte, and not an acid. For more information on the battery, click here.

BUNSEN BURNER The laboratory Bunsen burner was invented by Robert Wilhelm Bunsen in 1855. Bunsen (1811-1899) was a German chemist and teacher. He invented the Bunsen burner for his research in isolating chemical substances - it has a high-intensity, non-luminous flame that does not interfere with the colored flame emitted by chemicals being tested. For more information on Bunsen, click here.

CASSEGRAIN TELESCOPE A Cassegrain telescope is a wide-angle reflecting telescope with a concave mirror that receives light and focuses an image. A second mirror reflects the light through a gap in the primary mirror, allowing the eyepiece or camera to be mounted at the back end of the tube. The Cassegrain reflecting telescope was developed in 1672 by the French sculptor Sieur Guillaume Cassegrain. A correcting plate (a lens) was added in 1930 by the Estonian astronomer and lens-maker Bernard Schmidt (1879-1935), creating the Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope which minimized the spherical aberration of the Cassegrain telescope.

CELLOPHANE Cellophane is a thin, transparent, waterproof, protective film that is used in many types of packaging. It was invented in 1908 by Jacques Edwin Brandenberger, a Swiss chemist. He had originally intended cellophane to be bonded onto fabric to make a waterproof textile, but the new cloth was brittle and not useful. Cellophane proved very useful all alone as a packaging material. Chemists at the Dupont company (who later bought the rights to cellophane) made cellophane waterproof in 1927.

CELSIUS, ANDERS Anders Celsius (1701-1744) was a Swedish professor of astronomy who devised the Celsius thermometer. He also ventured to the far north of Sweden with an expedition in order to measure the length of a degree along a meridian, close to the pole, later comparing it with similar measurements made in the Southern Hemisphere. This confirmed that that the shape of the earth is an ellipsoid which is flattened at the poles. He also cataloged 300 stars. With his assistant Olof Hiorter, Celsius discovered the magnetic basis for auroras.

COMPOUND MICROSCOPE Zacharias Janssen was a Dutch lens-maker who invented the first compound microscope in 1595 (a compound microscope is one which has more than one lens). His microscope consisted of two tudes that slid within one another, and had a lens at each end. The microscope was focused by sliding the tubes. The lens in the eyepiece was bi-convex (bulging outwards on both sides), and the lens of the far end (the objective lens) was plano-convex (flat on one side and bulging outwards on the other side). This advanced microscope had a 3 to 9 times power of magnification. Zacharias Janssen's father Hans may have helped him build the microscope.

DA VINCI, LEONARDO Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian inventor, artist, architect, and scientist. Da Vinci had an interest in engineering and made detailed sketches of the airplane, the helicopter (and other flying machines), the parachute, the submarine, the armored car, the ballista (a giant crossbow), rapid-fire guns, the centrifugal pump (designed to drain wet areas, like marshes), ball bearings, the worm gear (a set of gears in which many teeth make contact at once, reducing the strain on the teeth, allowing more pressure to be put on the mechanism), and many other incredible ideas that were centuries ahead of da Vinci's time. For some da Vinci art coloring pages, click here For more information on da Vinci, click here.

DAVY, HUMPHRY Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) was an English scientist who invented the first electric light in 1800. He experimented with electricity and invented an electric battery. When he connected wires from his battery to two pieces of carbon, electricity arced between the carbon pieces, producing an intense, hot, and short-lived light. This is called an electric arc. Davy also invented a miner's safety helmet and a process to desalinate sea water. Davy discovered the elements boron, sodium, aluminum (whose name he later changed to aluminium), and potassium.

EDISON, THOMAS ALVA Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) was an American inventor (also known as the Wizard of Menlo Park) whose many inventions revolutionized the world. His work includes improving the incandescent electric light bulb and inventing the phonograph, the phonograph record, the carbon telephone transmitter, and the motion-picture projector. Edison's first job was as a telegraph operator, and in the course of his duties, he redesigned the stock-ticker machine. The Edison Universal Stock Printer gave him the capital ($40,000) to set up a laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, to invent full-time (with many employees). Edison experimented with thousands of different light bulb filaments to find just the right materials to glow well, be long-lasting, and be inexpensive. In 1879, Edison discovered that a carbon filament in an oxygen-free bulb glowed but did not burn up for quite a while. This incandescent bulb revolutionized the world. For more information on Edison, click here.

ELION, GERTRUDE Gertrude Belle Elion (January 23, 1918 - February 21, 1999) was a Nobel Prize winning biochemist who invented many life-saving drugs, including 6-mercaptopurine (Purinethol) and 6-thioguanine (which fight leukemia), Imuran, Zovirax, and many others. Elion worked at Burroughs-Wellcome (now called Glaxo Wellcome) for decades (beginning in 1944) with George Hitchings and Sir James Black, with whom she shared the Nobel Prize. She is named on 45 patents for drugs and her work has saved the lives of thousands of people.

ENIAC ENIAC stands for "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer." It was one of the first all-purpose, all-electronic digital computers. This room-sized computer was built by the physicist John William Mauchly (Aug. 30, 1907 - Jan. 8, 1980) and the electrical engineer John Presper Eckert, Jr. (April 9, 1919 - June 3, 1995) at the University of Pennsylvania. They completed the machine in November, 1945. For more information on ENIAC, click here.

FARNSWORTH, PHILO T. Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906-1971) was an American inventor. Farnsworth invented many major major components of the television, including power, focusing systems, synchronizing the signal, contrast, controls, and scanning. He also invented the radar systems, cold cathode ray tube, the first baby incubator and the first electronic microscope. Farnsworth held over 300 patents.

FOUCAULT, JEAN Jean Bernard Léon Foucault (1819-1868) was a French physicist who invented the gyroscope (1852) and the Foucault pendulum (1851). A gyroscope is essentially a spinning wheel set in a movable frame. When the wheel spins, it retains its spatial orientation, and it resists external forces applied to it. Gyroscopes are used in navigation instruments (for ships, planes, and rockets). Foucault was the first person to demonstrate how a pendulum could track the rotation of the Earth (the Foucault pendulum) in 1851. He also showed that light travels more slowly in water than in air (1850) and improved the mirrors of reflecting telescopes (1858).

FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706-April 17, 1790) was an American statesman, writer, printer, and inventor. Franklin experimented extensively with electricity. In 1752, his experiments with a kite in a thunderstorm (never do this, many people have died trying it!) led to the development of the lightning rod. Franklin started the first circulating library in the colonies in 1731. He also invented bifocal glasses and the Franklin stove. The idea of daylight savings time was first proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1784. For more information on Franklin, click here.

GALILEI, GALILEO Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was an Italian mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. Galileo found that the speed at which bodies fall does not depend on their weight and did extensive experimentation with pendulums. In 1593 Galileo invented the thermometer. In 1609, Galileo was the first person to use a telescope to observe the skies (after hearing about Hans Lippershey's newly-invented telescope). Galileo discovered the rings of Saturn (1610), was the first person to see the four major moons of Jupiter (1610), observed the phases of Venus, studied sunspots, and discovered many other important phenomena. For more information on Galileo, click here.

GEIGER COUNTER The Geiger counter (sometimes called the Geiger-Muller counter) is a device that detects ionizing radioactivity (including gamma rays and X-rays) - it counts the radioactive particle that pass through the device. The German nuclear physicist Hans Wilhelm Geiger (Sept. 30, 1882- Sept. 24, 1945) developed the device from 1908-12. At that time, Geiger was an assistant to the British physicist Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937). [Geiger's work helped Rutherford discover that radioactive elements can transform into other elements and that atoms have a nucleus]. In 1928, the Geiger counter was improved by the German physicist E. Walther Muller.

GREGORY, JAMES James Gregory (1638-1675), a Scottish mathematician, invented the first reflecting telescope in 1663. He published a description of the reflecting telescope in "Optica Promota," which was published in 1663. He never actually made the telescope, which was to have used a parabolic and an ellipsoidal mirror.

GODDARD, ROBERT Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882-August 10, 1945) was an American physicist and inventor who is known as the father of modern rocketry. In 1907, Goddard proved that a rocket's thrust can propel it in a vacuum. In 1914, Goddard received two U.S. patents: for liquid-fueled rockets and for two- to three-stage rockets that use solid fuel. In 1919, Goddard wrote a scientific article, "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes," describing a high-altitude rocket; it was published in a Smithsonian report. Goddard's many inventions were the basis upon which modern rocketry is based. After many years of failed attempts and public ridicule, Goddard's first successful rocket was launched on March 16, 1926 from a relative's farm in Auburn, Massachusetts. It was a liquid-fueled 10-ft. rocket that he called Nell. The flight lasted 2 1/2 seconds; the rocket flew a distance of 184 feet and achieved an altitude of 41 feet. Goddard soon moved to Roswell, New Mexico, where he developed more sophisticated multi-stage rockets, rockets with fins (vanes) to steer them (1932), a gyro control device to control the rocket (1932), and supersonic rockets (1935). In 1937, Goddard launched the first rocket with a pivotable motor on gimbals using his gyro control device. Altogether, Robert Goddard had 214 patents. For more information on Goddard, click here.

GYROSCOPE A gyroscope is essentially a spinning wheel set in a movable frame. When the wheel spins, it retains its spatial orientation, and it resists external forces applied to it. Gyroscopes are used in navigation instruments (for ships, planes, and rockets). Jean Bernard Léon Foucault (1819-1868), a French physicist, invented the gyroscope in 1852.

HERON The steam engine was invented by Heron, an ancient Greek geometer and engineer from Alexandria. Heron lived during the first century AD and is sometimes called Hero. Heron made the steam engine as a toy, and called his device "aeolipile," which means "wind ball" in Greek. The steam was supplied by a sealed pot filled with water and placed over a fire. Two tubes came up from the pot, letting the steam flow into a spherical ball of metal. The metallic sphere had two curved outlet tubes, which vented steam. As the steam went through the series of tubes, the metal sphere rotated. The aeolipile is the first known device to transform steam power into rotary motion. The Greeks never used this remarkable device for anything but a novelty. A steam engine designed for work wasn't built until 1698 (built by the British inventor, Thomas Savery). Watt later improved the steam engine.

HUYGENS, CHRISTIAN Christian Huygens (1629-1695) was a Dutch physicist and astronomer who developed new methods for grinding and polishing glass telescope lenses (about 1654). With his new, powerful telescopes, he identified Saturn's rings and discovered Titan, the largest moon of Saturn in 1655. Huygens also invented the pendulum clock in 1656 (eliminating springs), wrote the first work on the calculus of probability (De Ratiociniis in Ludo Aleae, 1655), and proposed the wave theory of light (Traité de la lumiere, 1678).

HYDE, IDA HENRIETTA Ida Henrietta Hyde (1857-1945) was an American physiologist who invented the microelectrode in the 1930's. The microelectrode is a small device that electrically (or chemically) stimulates a living cell and records the electrical activity within that cell. Hyde was the first woman to graduate from the University of Heidelberg, to do research at the Harvard Medical School and to be elected to the American Physiological Society.

INTERCHANGEABLE PARTS Clock makers used the idea of interchangeable parts since the early 1700's. In 1790, the French gunsmith Honoré Blanc demonstrated his muskets entirely made from interchangeable parts; the French government didn't like the process (since with this process, anyone could manufacture items, and the government lost control), so it was stopped. The idea of interchangeable parts was introduced to American gun manufacturing by Eli Whitney (1765-1825) in 1798. The concept of interchangeable manufacturing parts helped modernize the musket industry (and mass production in general). Whitney made templates for each separate part of the musket (an early gun). The workers then used the template when chiseling the part. Whitney was an American inventor and engineer who also invented the cotton gin.

JANSKY, KARL Karl Gothe Jansky (1905-1949) was an American radio engineer who pioneered and developed radio astronomy. In 1932, he detected the first radio waves from a cosmic source - in the central region of the Milky Way Galaxy.

JANSSEN, ZACHARIAS Zacharias Janssen was a Dutch lens-maker who invented the first compound microscope in 1595 (a compound microscope is one which has more than one lens). His microscope consisted of two tudes that slid within one another, and had a lens at each end. The microscope was focused by sliding the tubes. The lens in the eyepiece was bi-convex (bulging outwards on both sides), and the lens of the far end (the objective lens) was plano-convex (flat on one side and bulging outwards on the other side). This advanced microscope had a 3 to 9 times power of magnification. Zacharias Janssen's father Hans may have helped him build the microscope.

KARLE, ISABELLA L. Isabella Helen Lugoski Karle (1921- ) is a American physical chemist who invented new methods of X-ray Crystallography. She used electron diffraction and then x-ray diffraction to study the structure of molecules. Karle developed a three-dimensional modeling process, enabling her to identify and show the structures of hundreds of complex and important molecules (including alkaloids, ionophores, steroids, toxins, and peptides [amino acid compounds]). Because of Karle's process, the number of published molecular analyses has jumped from about 150 to over 10,000 per year. Karle received the National Medal of Science in 1995. Karle is a senior scientist and head of the Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) x-ray diffraction section in the Laboratory for the Structure of Matter. Karle's husband, Jerome Karle, is a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry.

KELVIN Lord Kelvin (William Thomson, 1824 - 1907) designed the Kelvin scale, in which 0 K is defined as absolute zero and the size of one degree is the same as the size of one degree Celsius. Water freezes at 273.16 K; water boils at 373.16 K. For more information on Kelvin, click here.

LATIMER, LEWIS H. Lewis Howard Latimer (1848-1928) was an African-American inventor who was a member of Edison's research team, which was called "Edison's Pioneers." Latimer improved the newly-invented incandescent light bulb by inventing a carbon filament (which he patented in 1881). For more information on Lewis Howard Latimer, click here.

LEVERS Levers are one of the basic tools; they were probably used in prehistoric times. Levers were first described about 260 BC by the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes (287-212 BC). Many of our basic tools use levers, including scissors (two class-1 levers), pliers (two class-1 levers), hammer claws (one class-1 lever), nutcrackers (two class-2 levers), and tongs (two class-3 levers). A Class 1 Lever. A Class 2 Lever. A Class 3 Lever. .

LIGHT BULB The first incandescent electric light was made in 1800 by Humphry Davy, an English scientist. He experimented with electricity and invented an electric battery. When he connected wires to his battery and a piece of carbon, the carbon glowed, producing light. This is called an electric arc. Much later, in 1860, the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) was determined to devise a practical, long-lasting electric light. He found that a carbon paper filament worked well, but burned up quickly. In 1878, he demonstrated his new electric lamps in Newcastle, England. The inventor Thomas Alva Edison (in the USA) experimented with thousands of different filaments to find just the right materials to glow well and be long-lasting. In 1879, Edison discovered that a carbon filament in an oxygen-free bulb glowed but did not burn up for 40 hours. Edison eventually produced a bulb that could glow for over 1500 hours. The incandescent bulb revolutionized the world. For more information, click here.

LIPPERSHEY, HANS Hans Lippershey (1570?-1619) was a German-born Dutch lens maker who demonstrated the first refracting telescope in 1608, made from two lenses; he applied for a patent for this optical refracting telescope (using 2 lenses) in 1608, intending it for use as a military device.

McCOY, ELIJAH Elijah McCoy (1843 or 1844-1929) was a mechanical engineer and inventor. McCoy's high-quality industrial inventions (especially his steam engine lubricator) were the basis for the expression "the real McCoy," meaning the real, authentic, or high-quality thing. For more information on Elijah McCoy, click here. For a cloze activity on McCoy, click here.

METER (and the METRIC SYSTEM) The metric system was invented in France. In 1790, the French National Assembly directed the Academy of Sciences of Paris to standardize the units of measurement. A committeee from the Academy used a decimal system and defined the meter to be one 10-millionths of the distance from the equator to the Earth's Pole (that is, the Earth's circumference would be equal to 40 million meters). The committee consisted of the mathematicians Jean Charles de Borda (1733-1799), Joseph-Louis Comte de Lagrange (1736-1813), Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827), Gaspard Monge (1746 -1818), and Marie Jean Antoine Nicholas Caritat, the Marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794) The word meter comes from the Greek word metron, which means measure. The centimeter was defined as one-hundredth of a meter; the kilometer was defined as 1000 meters. The metric system was passed by law in France on August 1, 1793. In 1960, the definition of the meter changed to 1,650,763.73 wavelengths of of the orange-red radiation of krypton 86. In 1983, the meter was redefined as 1/299,792,458 of the distance that light travels in one second in a vacuum. For the metric unit of mass, the gram was defined as the mass of one cubic centimeter of pure water at a given temperature. In common usage and in commerce, grams are used as a unit of weight.

MICROELECTRODE Ida Henrietta Hyde (1857-1945) was an American physiologist who invented the microelectrode in the 1930's. The microelectrode is a small device that electrically (or chemically) stimulates a living cell and records the electrical activity within that cell. Hyde was the first woman to graduate from the University of Heidelberg, to do research at the Harvard Medical School and to be elected to the American Physiological Society.

MICROSCOPE The microscope may have been invented by eyeglass makers in Middelburg, The Netherlands, invented sometime between 1590 and 1610. Hans and his son Zacharias Janssen are mentioned in the letters of William Boreel ( the Dutch envoy to the Court of France) as having invented a 20X magnification microscope. Robert Hooke used an early microscope to observe slices of cork (bark from the oak tree) using a 30X power compound microscope. He published his observations in "Microgphia" in 1665. In 1673, Antony van Leeuwenhoek discovered bacteria, free-living and parasitic microscopic protists, sperm cells, blood cells, etc., using a 300X power single lens microscope. Click here for a microscope printout to label. Click here for a microscope definition worksheet to print.

NOBEL, ALFRED Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833-1896) was a Swedish inventor and industrialist. Nobel invented many powerful and relatively safe explosives and explosive devices, including the "Nobel patent detonator" (it detonated nitroglycerin using a strong electrical shock instead of heat, 1863), dynamite (1867), blasting gelatin (guncotton plus nitroglycerin, 1875), and almost smokeless blasting powder (1887). Nobel also made inventions in the fields of electrochemistry, optics, biology, and physiology. Nobel left much of his fortune to award prizes (the Nobel prizes) each year to people who made advancements in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology/Medicine, Literature, and Peace.

PASTEUR, LOUIS Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) was a French chemist and inventor. Pasteur studied the process of fermentation, and postulated that fermentation was produced by microscopic organisms (other than yeast), which Pasteur called germs. He hypothesized that these germs might be responsible for some diseases. Pasteur disproved the notion of "spontaneous generation " which stated that organisms could spring from nothing; Pasteur showed that organisms came form other, pre-existing organisms. Applying his theories to foods and drinks, Pasteur invented a heating process (now called pasteurization) which sterilizes food, killing micro-organisms that contaminate it.

RADIO TELESCOPE A radio telescope is a metal dish that gathers radio waves from space. Radio astronomy involves exploring space by examining radio waves from outer space. Radio astronomy was pioneered by Karl G. Jansky, who in 1932 first detected radio waves from a cosmic source - in the central region of the Milky Way Galaxy. Gote Reber (a ham radio operator) made the first true radio telescope (using a 32-foot diameter parabolic dish to focus the radio waves) after reading of Jansky's discoveries. One example of a radio telescope is the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico.

REFLECTING TELESCOPE A reflecting (or Newtonian) telescope uses two mirrors to magnify what is viewed. The reflecting telescope was first described by James Gregory in 1663.

REFRACTING TELESCOPE A refracting telescope uses two lenses to magnify what is viewed; the large primary lens does most of the magnification. The first refracting telescope was invented by Hans Lippershey in 1608.

ROENTGEN, WILHELM VON X-rays were discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Konrad von Roentgen (1845-1923). Roentgen was a German physicist who described this new form of radiation that allowed him to photograph objects that were hidden behind opaque shields. He even photographed part of his own skeleton. X-rays were soon used as an important diagnostic tool in medicine. Roentgen called these waves "X-radiation" because so little was known about them.

SCHMIDT-CASSEGRAIN TELESCOPE A Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT) is a wide-angle reflecting telescope with a correcting lens that minimizes spherical aberration and a concave mirror that receives light and focuses an image. A second mirror reflects the light through a gap in the primary mirror, allowing the eyepiece or camera to be mounted at the back end of the tube. The Cassegrain telescope (named for the French sculptor Sieur Guillaume Cassegrain) was developed in 1672; the correcting plate (a lens) was added in 1930 by the Estonian astronomer and lens-maker Bernard Schmidt (1879-1935).

STEAM ENGINE The steam engine was invented by Heron, an ancient Greek geometer and engineer from Alexandria. Heron lived during the first century AD and is sometimes called Hero. Heron made the steam engine as a toy, and called his device "aeolipile," which means "wind ball" in Greek. The steam was supplied by a sealed pot filled with water and placed over a fire. Two tubes came up from the pot, letting the steam flow into a spherical ball of metal. The metallic sphere had two curved outlet tubes, which vented steam. As the steam went through the series of tubes, the metal sphere rotated. The aeolipile is the first known device to transform steam power into rotary motion. The Greeks never used this remarkable device for anything but a novelty. A steam engine designed for work wasn't built until 1698 (built by the British inventor, Thomas Savery). Watt later improved the steam engine.

SWAN, JOSEPH WILSON The first practical electric light bulb was made in 1878 simultaneously (and independently) by Joseph Wilson Swan and Thomas Alva Edison. Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) was an English physicist who was determined to devise a practical, long-lasting electric light. After many years of experimentation, he found that a carbon paper filament worked well, but burned up quickly. In 1878, he demonstrated his new electric lamps in Newcastle, England.

TELESCOPE A telescope is a device that lets us view distant objects. Early telescopes (and most today) used glass lenses and/or mirrors to detect visible light. Some modern telescopes gather images from different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to gamma rays. Most telescopes are located on Earth, but others are in space. For a more information on telescopes, click here.

TESLA, NIKOLA Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) was a Serbian-American inventor who developed the radio, fluorescent lights, the Tesla coil (an air-core transformer that generates a huge voltage from high-frequency alternating current), remote-control devices, and many other inventions; Tesla held 111 patents. Tesla developed and promoted the uses of alternating current (as opposed to direct current, which was promoted fiercely by Thomas Edison and General Electric). Tesla briefly worked with Thomas Edison. The unit of magnetic induction is named for Tesla; a tesla (abbreviated T) is equal to one weber per square meter. For a page on Tesla, click here.

Galileo Galilei THERMOMETER The Thermometer was invented by Galileo Galilei in 1593. His thermometer consisted of water in a glass bulb; the water moved up and down the bulb as the temperature changed. The sealed thermometer was invented in 1641 by the Grand Duke Ferdinand II. He used a glass tube containing alcohol, which freezes well below the freezing point of water (alcohol freezes at -175°F=-115°C). He sealed the tube to exclude the influence of air pressure. Mercury was later substituted for the alcohol, and then Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736), a German physicist, used mercury plus a chemical solution that kept the mercury from sticking to the tube of the thermometer (in 1714). Fahrenheit also expanded the thermometer's scale (in 1724); on his scale, the temperature of boiling water is 212°F and the freezing point of water is 32°F. Anders Celsius Anders Celsius, a Swedish astronomer, invented the Celsius (or Centigrade) scale in 1742, putting the freezing point of water at 0° and the boiling point at 100°. Lord Kelvin Lord Kelvin (William Thomson, 1824 - 1907) designed the Kelvin scale in which 0 K is defined as absolute zero and the size of one unit is the same as the size of one degree Celsius. Water freezes at 273.16 ;K; water boils at 373.16 K.

TORRICELLI, EVANGELISTA Evangelista Torricelli (1608 - 1647) was an Italian physicist who invented the mercury barometer (in 1643) and made improvements to the microscope. Torricelli was a pupil of Galileo. Torricelli inverted a glass tube filled with mercury into another container of mercury; the mercury in the tube "weighs" the air in the atmosphere above the container. A barometer is a device that measures air (barometric) pressure. It measures the weight of the column of air that extends from the instrument to the top of the atmosphere. There are two types of barometers commonly used today, mercury and aneroid (meaning "fluidless").

VIDIE, LUCIEN Lucien Vidie was a French scientist who invented the aneroid barometer in 1843. A barometer is a device that measures air (barometric) pressure. It measures the weight of the column of air that extends from the instrument to the top of the atmosphere. There are two types of barometers commonly used today, mercury and aneroid (meaning "fluidless"). The aneroid barometer uses a spring balance instead of a liquid; it is easy to transport and easy to construct.

VON ROENTGEN, WILHELM X-rays were discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Konrad von Roentgen (1845-1923). Roentgen was a German physicist who described this new form of radiation that allowed him to photograph objects that were hidden behind opaque shields. He even photographed part of his own skeleton. X-rays were soon used as an important diagnostic tool in medicine. Roentgen called these waves "X-radiation" because so little was known about them.

WATT, JAMES James Watt (1736-1819) was a Scottish inventor and engineer. In 1765, Watt revolutionized the steam engine, redesigning it so that it was much more efficient and four times as powerful as the old Newcomen steam engines. Watt's engines did not waste steam (heat), and had a separate condenser. Watt partnered with the businessman and factory owner Matthew Boulton in 1772, helping to promote Watt's ideas commercially. Watt also invented a method for converting the up-and-down piston movement into rotary motion (the "sun-and-planet" gear), allowing a greater number of applications for the engine. Watt produced this rotary-motion steam engine in 1781; it was used for many applications, including draining mines, powering looms in textile factories, powering bellows, paper mills, etc. It helped power the Industrial Revolution. Watt coined the term "horsepower," which he used to convey the power of his engines; Watt calculated how many horses it would take to do the work of each engine. One horsepower equals 33,000 foot-pounds of work per minute; it is the power required to lift a total of 33,000 pounds one foot in one minute. Parliament granted Watt a patent on his steam engine in 1755, making Watt a very wealthy man. In 1882 (long after Watt's death), the British Association named the unit of electrical power the "watt."

WU, CHIEN-SHIUNG Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu (Shanghai, China, May 31, 1912 - New York, USA, February 16, 1997) was a nuclear physicist who studied beta-decay (a weak interaction in which one of the neutrons in the nucleus of an atom decays into a proton and an electron; the proton enters the nucleus, forming an isotope, and the electron is emitted as a beta-particle). In 1956, Madam Wu did experiments showing that parity is not conserved in weak interactions (demonstrating parity violation in the nuclear beta decay in cobalt 60). Her experiments supported T. D. Lee and C. N. Yang's revolutionary idea that parity was not conserved in weak interactions (parity conservation had been a basic assumption in physics). Madam Wu worked on the Manhattan Project (a secret US project during World War 2 to develop an atomic bomb in order to defeat Hitler), developing a process for separating the uranium isotopes U235 and U238 by gaseous diffusion. She also helped develop more sensitive Geiger counters (devices that detect radiation). Madam Wu also studied the molecular changes in hemoglobin associated with sickle-cell anemia.

X-RAY X-rays were discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Konrad von Roentgen (1845-1923). Roentgen was a German physicist who described this new form of radiation that allowed him to photograph objects that were hidden behind opaque shields. He even photographed part of his own skeleton. X-rays were soon used as an important diagnostic tool in medicine. Roentgen called these waves "X-radiation" because so little was known about them.

YALE JR., LINUS
Linus Yale Jr. (1821-1868) was an American mechanical engineer and manufacturer who developed the cylinder pin-tumbler lock (and other key and combination locks). Yale's father, Linus Yale, had invented an earlier pin-tumbler lock in 1848; the son's lock used a smaller, flat key with serrated edges (like the ones we still use today). There is no connection between Linus Yale and Yale University.