Sir Isaac Newton

4 January 1643 - 31 March 1727

Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England

Isaac Newton is best known for his theory about the law of gravity, but his
“Principia Mathematica '' (1686) with its three laws of motion greatly influenced the
Enlightenment in Europe. Born in 1643 in Woolsthorpe, England, Sir Isaac Newton
began developing his theories on light, calculus and celestial mechanics while on
break from Cambridge University.

Years of research culminated with the 1687 publication of “Principia,” a landmark

work that established the universal laws of motion and gravity. Newton’s second
major book, “Opticks,” detailed his experiments to determine the properties of
light. Also a student of Biblical history and alchemy, the famed scientist served as
president of the Royal Society of London and master of England’s Royal Mint until
his death in 1727.

Isaac Newton and the Law of Gravity

In 1684, English astronomer Edmund

Halley paid a visit to the secluded Newton.
Upon learning that Newton had
mathematically worked out the elliptical
paths of celestial bodies, Halley urged him
to organize his notes. The result was the
1687 publication of “Philosophiae Naturalis
Principia Mathematica” (Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy), which
established the three laws of motion and the
law of universal gravity. Newton’s three
laws of motion state that (1) Every object in
a state of uniform motion will remain in
that state of motion unless an external force
acts on it; (2) Force equals mass times
acceleration: F=MA and (3) For every
action there is an equal and opposite
reaction.

Isaac Newton Quote

“What we know is a drop, what we don't

know is an ocean.”
 Albert Einstein
March 14, 1879 - April 18, 1955
Ulm Germany

Albert Einstein, (born March 14, 1879, Ulm, Württemberg, Ger.—died April 18,
1955, Princeton, N.J., U.S.), German-born Swiss-U.S. scientist. Born to a Jewish
family in Germany,He received his doctorate from the University of Zürich in 1905,
the same year he won international fame with the publication of four articles: one
on Brownian motion, which he explained in terms of molecular kinetic energy; one
on the photoelectric effect, in which he demonstrated the particle nature of light;
and two on his special theory of relativity, the second of which included his
formulation of the equivalence of mass and energy (E = mc2). Einstein held several
professorships before becoming director of Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for
Physics in 1913. In 1915 he published his general theory of relativity, which was
confirmed experimentally during a solar eclipse in 1919 with observations of the
deflection of light passing near the Sun. He received a Nobel Prize in 1921 for his
work on the photoelectric effect, his work on relativity still being controversial.

For decades he sought to discover the mathematical relationship between

electromagnetism and gravitation, which he believed would be a first step toward
discovering the common laws governing the behaviour of everything in the universe,
but such a unified field theory eluded him. His theories of relativity and gravitation
represented a profound advance over Newtonian physics and revolutionized
scientific and philosophical inquiry. He resigned his position at the Prussian
Academy when Adolf Hitler came to power and moved to Princeton, N.J., where he
joined the Institute for Advanced Study. Though a longtime pacifist, he was
instrumental in persuading Pres. Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 to initiate the
Manhattan Project for the production of an atomic bomb, a technology his own
theories greatly furthered, though he did not work on the project himself. Einstein
became a U.S. citizen in 1940 but retained his Swiss citizenship. The most eminent
scientist in the world in the postwar
years, he declined an offer to
become the first prime minister of
Israel and became a strong advocate
for nuclear disarmament.
 Aristotle
384 BC - 322 BCE
ancient Greece

Aristotle divided the theoretical sciences into three groups: physics, mathematics,
and theology. Physics as he understood it was equivalent to what would now be
called “natural philosophy,” or the study of nature (physis); in this sense it
encompasses not only the modern field of physics but also biology, chemistry,
geology, psychology, and even meteorology. Metaphysics, however, is notably absent
from Aristotle’s classification; indeed, he never uses the word, which first appears in
the posthumous catalog of his writings as a name for the works listed after the
Physics. He does, however, recognize the branch of philosophy now called
metaphysics: he calls it “first philosophy” and defines it as the discipline that studies
“being as being.”

Aristotle’s contributions to the physical sciences are less impressive than his
researches in the life sciences. In works such as On Generation and Corruption and
On the Heavens, he presented a world-picture that included many features inherited
from his pre-Socratic predecessors. From Empedocles (c. 490–430 BCE) he adopted
the view that the universe is ultimately composed of different combinations of the
four fundamental elements of earth, water, air, and fire. Each element is
characterized by the possession of a unique pair of the four elementary qualities of
heat, cold, wetness, and dryness: earth is cold and dry, water is cold and wet, air is
hot and wet, and fire is hot and dry. Each
element has a natural place in an ordered
cosmos, and each has an innate tendency to
move toward this natural place. Thus, earthy
solids naturally fall, while fire, unless
prevented, rises ever higher.
 Stephen Hawking
January 8, 1942 - March 14, 2018
Oxford England

Stephen Hawking, in full Stephen William Hawking, (born January 8, 1942, Oxford,
Oxfordshire, England—died March 14, 2018, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire), English
theoretical physicist whose theory of exploding black holes drew upon both
relativity theory and quantum mechanics. In the early 1960s Hawking contracted
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable degenerative neuromuscular disease. He
continued to work despite the disease’s progressively disabling effects.

Hawking worked primarily in the field of general relativity and particularly on the
physics of black holes. In 1971 he suggested the formation, following the big bang, of
numerous objects containing as much as one billion tons of mass but occupying only
the space of a proton. These objects, called mini black holes, are unique in that their
immense mass and gravity require that they be ruled by the laws of relativity, while
their minute size requires that the laws of quantum mechanics apply to them also. In
1974 Hawking proposed that, in accordance with the predictions of quantum theory,
black holes emit subatomic particles until they exhaust their energy and finally
explode. Hawking’s work greatly spurred efforts to theoretically delineate the
properties of black holes, objects about which it was previously thought that nothing
could be known. His work was also important because it showed these properties’
relationship to the laws of classical
thermodynamics and quantum mechanics.
 Michael Faraday
British physicist and chemist
September 22, 1791 - August 25, 1867
Newington London England

Michael Faraday, (born Sept. 22, 1791, Newington, Surrey, Eng.—died Aug. 25,
1867, Hampton Court), English physicist and chemist. Son of a blacksmith, he
received only a basic education in a church Sunday school, but he went to work as
an assistant to Humphry Davy, from whom he learned chemistry. He discovered a
number of new organic compounds, including benzene, and was the first to liquefy a
“permanent” gas. His major contributions were in the fields of electricity and
magnetism. He was the first to report induction of an electric current from a
magnetic field. He invented the first electric motor and dynamo, demonstrated the
relation between electricity and chemical bonding, discovered the effect of
magnetism on light, and discovered and named diamagnetism. He also provided the
experimental, and much of the theoretical, foundation on which James Clerk
Maxwell built his electromagnetic field theory. In 1833 he was appointed professor
at the Royal Institution. After 1855 he retired to a house provided by Queen
Victoria, but he declined a knighthood.
 James Clerk Maxwell
Scottish mathematician and physicist
June 13, 1831 - November 5, 1879

James Clerk Maxwell, (born June 13, 1831, Edinburgh, Scot.—died Nov. 5, 1879,
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Eng.), Scottish physicist. He published his first
scientific paper at age 14, entered the University of Edinburgh at 16, and graduated
from Cambridge University. He taught at Aberdeen University, King’s College
London, and Cambridge (from 1871), where he supervised the building of
Cavendish Laboratory. His most revolutionary achievement was his demonstration
that light is an electromagnetic wave, and he originated the concept of
electromagnetic radiation. His field equations (see Maxwell’s equations) paved the
way for Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity. He established the nature of
Saturn’s rings, did important work on color perception, and produced the kinetic
theory of gasses. His ideas formed the basis for quantum mechanics and ultimately
for the modern theory of the structure of atoms and molecules.

In 1865 Maxwell resigned his professorship at King’s College and retired to the
family estate in Glenlair. He continued to visit London every spring and served as
external examiner for the Mathematical Tripos (exams) at Cambridge. In the spring
and early summer of 1867 he toured Italy. But most of his energy during this period
was devoted to writing his famous treatise on electricity and magnetism.

It was Maxwell’s research on

electromagnetism that established him
among the great scientists of history. In
the preface to his Treatise on Electricity
and Magnetism (1873), the best
exposition of his theory.
 Georg Ohm
German physicist
March 16, 1789 - July 6, 1854

Georg Ohm, in full Georg Simon Ohm, (born March 16, 1789, Erlangen, Bavaria
[Germany]—died July 6, 1854, Munich), German physicist who discovered the law,
named after him, which states that the current flow through a conductor is directly
proportional to the potential difference (voltage) and inversely proportional to the
resistance.

Ohm became professor of mathematics at the Jesuits’ College at Cologne in 1817.

The most important aspect of Ohm’s law is summarized in his pamphlet Die
galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitet (1827; The Galvanic Circuit Investigated
Mathematically). While his work greatly influenced the theory and applications of
current electricity, it was so coldly received that Ohm resigned his post at Cologne.
He accepted a position at the Polytechnic School of Nürnberg in 1833. Finally his
work began to be recognized; in 1841 he was awarded the Copley Medal of the
Royal Society of London and was made a foreign member a year later. The ohm, the
physical unit measuring electrical resistance, also was named for him.
 Hans Christian ørsted
Danish physicist and chemist
August 14, 1777 - March 9, 1851

Hans Christian Ørsted, Ørsted also spelled Oersted, (born August 14, 1777,
Rudkøbing, Denmark—died March 9, 1851, Copenhagen), Danish physicist and
chemist who discovered that electric current in a wire can deflect a magnetic
compass needle, a phenomenon the importance of which was rapidly recognized and
which inspired the development of electromagnetic theory.
In 1806 Ørsted became a professor at the University of Copenhagen, where his first
physical researches dealt with electric currents and acoustics. During an evening
lecture in April 1820, Ørsted discovered that a magnetic needle aligns itself
perpendicularly to a current-carrying wire, definite experimental evidence of the
relationship between electricity and magnetism.

Ørsted’s discovery (1820) of piperine, one of the pungent components of pepper, was
an important contribution to chemistry, as was his preparation of metallic
aluminum in 1825. In 1824 he founded a society devoted to the spread of scientific
knowledge among the general public. Since 1908 this society has awarded a Ørsted
Medal for outstanding contributions by Danish physical scientists. In the early 1930s
the name oersted was adopted for the physical unit of magnetic field strength in the
centimeter-gram-second system.
 William Gilbert
English scientist
August 14, 1777 - March 9, 1851

William Gilbert, Gilbert also spelled Gylberde, (born May 24, 1544, Colchester,
Essex, England—died November 30 [December 10, New Style], 1603, London?),
pioneer researcher into magnetism who became the most distinguished man of
science in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Educated as a physician, Gilbert settled in London and began to practice in 1573.
His principal work, De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete
Tellure (1600; On the Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies and on the Great Magnet the
Earth), gives a full account of his research on magnetic bodies and electrical
attractions. After years of experiments, he concluded that a compass needle points
north–south and dips downward because Earth acts as a bar magnet. The first to
use the terms electric attraction, electric force, and magnetic pole, he is often
considered the father of electrical studies.
In 1601 Gilbert was appointed physician to Queen Elizabeth I, and upon her death
in 1603 was appointed physician to King James I. However, later that year Gilbert
died, possibly in a plague epidemic that swept London. He left an unpublished work
that was edited by his brother from two manuscripts and published posthumously in
1651 as De Mundo Nostro Sublunari Philosophia Nova (“A New Philosophy of Our
Sublunary World”). He held modern views on
the structure of the universe, agreeing with
Copernicus that Earth rotates on its axis.
 Galileo
Italian philosopher, astronomer
and mathematician
February 15, 1564 - January 8, 1642

Galileo (Galilei), (born Feb. 15, 1564, Pisa—died Jan. 8, 1642, Arcetri, near
Florence), Italian mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. Son of a musician,
he studied medicine before turning his attention to mathematics. His invention of
the hydrostatic balance (c. 1586) made him famous. In 1589 he published a
treatise on the center of gravity in solids, which won him the post of mathematics
lecturer at the University of Pisa. There he disproved the Aristotelian contention
that bodies of different weights fall at different speeds; he also proposed the law
of uniform acceleration for falling bodies and showed that the path of a thrown
object is a parabola. The first to use a telescope to study the skies, he discovered
(1609–10) that the surface of the Moon is irregular, that the Milky Way is
composed of stars, and that Jupiter has moons (see Galilean satellite). His
findings led to his appointment as philosopher and mathematician to the grand
duke of Tuscany. During a visit to Rome (1611), he spoke persuasively for the
Copernican system, which put him at odds with Aristotelian professors and led
to Copernicanism’s being declared false and erroneous (1616) by the church.
Obtaining permission to write about the Copernican system so long as he
discussed it noncommittally, he wrote his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief
World Systems (1632).