Robert Koch was a German physician who is widely credited as one of the founders of bacteriology and microbiology. He investigated the anthrax disease cycle in 1876, and studied the bacteria that cause tuberculosis in 1882, and cholera in 1883. He also formulated Koch’s postulates. Koch won the 1905 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. […]
The British natural philosopher, architect and polymath, Robert Hooke is perhaps the most neglected natural philosophers of all times despite the significant role he played in the scientific revolution. His prominent contributions include: the iris diaphragm in a camera, the universal joint used in a motor vehicle, the balance wheel in a watch, the origination
Robert Goddard (In full: Robert Hutchings Goddard) was an eminent American physicist and inventor. Widely regarded as the founder of modern rocketry, Goddard created the first liquid-fuelled rocket. He published “A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes” in 1919, a classic treatise that remains the most influential work in 20th century rocket science. Born in Worcester,
Robert Bunsen (In full: Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen) was an eminent German chemist. Bunsen, along with his fellow scientist, Gustav Kirchhoff, is credited with the breakthrough discovery (1859) that each element emits a light of characteristic wavelength. The event caused a revolution in the field of spectrum analysis, and later led to the discovery of
Robert Boyle was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, scientist and theological writer. As one of the early pioneers of modern experimental scientific method, Boyle’s contributions ranged over a number of subjects, including chemistry, physics, medicine, hydrostatics, natural history and earth sciences. Born in Ireland on 25 January, 1627 to a wealthy and influential family, Robert Boyle’s
Robert August Bosch was a German inventor, engineer and industrialist who founded Robert Bosch GmbH, one of the world’s leading engineering firms, in 1886. Robert Bosch is also noted for inventing the spark plug and the electrical magneto for automobiles. Born on September 23, 1861, near Ulm in Württemberg, south-western Germany, Robert Bosch attended the
“Above all, don’t fear difficult moments. The best comes from them.”—Rita Levi-MontalciniToday women have occupied a greater name in the field of science, proving that they are capable of equating men in their abilities to conduct scientific research. They have taken significant positions in the scientific field as compared to the more traditional roles: mother,
Richard Phillips Feynman was a prominent American scientist, widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential theoretical physicists in history. Feynman revolutionized the field of quantum mechanics and formulated the theory of quantum electrodynamics. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1965. Born in 1918 in Brooklyn, Richard Feynman’s parents were
René Descartes was a highly influential French philosopher, scientist and mathematician, who is widely considered to be one of the celebrated geniuses of the 17th century. His legendary experiment of presenting a geometrical point using a pair of ordered numbers (now called coordinate geometry) almost kick-started modern mathematics. The famous scepticism of Descartes, that distrusted
“Through all these new, imaginative and creative approaches to the problem of sharing our earth with other creatures there runs a constant theme, the awareness that we are dealing with life, with living populations and all their pressures and counter pressures, their surges and recessions. Only by taking account of such life-forces and by cautiously
Pythagoras, a very famous philosopher from Greek and also a religious teacher, was born in c. 575 B.C on the Samos Island. He was the leader of the school of thought that believed that souls could be transmigrated and also developed it as a universal principle. His father was Mnesarchus. He ran to the South
Prafulla Chandra Ray, one of the first Indian chemical researchers, studied at the prestigious Edinburgh University. After graduating from university, he took a position as a Chemistry Professor at the Presidency College in 1889. Berthelot who was a very famous chemist, helped and encouraged him with his admirable research in Ayurveda. In 1902, his research
Pierre-Simon Laplace was a prominent French mathematical physicist and astronomer of the 19th century, who made crucial contributions in the arena of planetary motion by applying Sir Isaac Newton’s theory of gravitation to the entire solar system. His work regarding the theory of probability and statistics is considered pioneering and has influenced a whole new
Pierre Curie was a French physical chemist who discovered radium and polonium, while studying radioactivity with his wife, Marie Curie. Widely considered to be one of the founders of modern physics, he pioneered the fields of crystallography, magnetism and piezoelectricity. Curie shared the 1903 the Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife for their work
Paul Ehrlich was a German scientist whose influence extended across diverse fields, including immunology, hematology and chemotherapy. Ehrlich discovered the first practical treatment for syphilis, for which he shared the 1908 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Russian biologist Élie Metchnikoff. Born in 1854 into an affluent Jewish family, Paul Ehrlich developed interest in