Mid Terms

The most substantial contribution Fleming made to the medical world is the invention of penicillin. This was the invention of the first bacteria killer: antibiotic. He accidentally made this discovery when experimenting with the commonly known staph infection and went on to test it on fever and pneumonia among others. This revolutionized all medicine and transformed the field.

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Alan Turing (1912-1954)

Alan Mathison Turing was born June 23, 1912 and died on June 7, 1954. From an early age, his mentors and parents realized his intelligence level was above norm. He was enrolled in St. Micheals grade school. The school teachers wrote to Turing's parents that his natural acumen for science and math were great, but to excel at primary school, he had to be as accomplished in the humanities as well. Eventually he went to the famous Sherborne School, where he once rode 60 miles on a bike during a strike because he really wanted to go to school. From 1931 to 1934, he went to King's College and graduated with first class honors in Mathematics. His dissertation proved the central limit theorem, and on this basis, he was elected to be a fellow at Kings College. One of Turing's first great accomplishments was to create the bombe method to help decript the German enigma. Turing's most famous contribution was creating the Turing machine which is an early model of the computer. He designed ACE, a method to store computer programs. Computer Science owes its development to Turing as he popularized the ideas of algorithms and computation.

Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)

Alessandro Volta was an Italian inventor and physicist who was born in Como in modern day Italy. He was raised in a fairly strict and semi-aristocratic Catholic family, and he was educated in the small local schools associated with the church. Volta was very interested in the study of electricity, which was still very much in its infancy. Eventually, he began teaching physics at the Royal School in Como and then the University of Pavia. He is most known for his invention of an early version of the battery. It consisted of an electrochemical cell with a zinc and copper electrodes. This voltaic pile utilized the alternating zinc and copper electrode discs and wires to show the flow of electricity through the system. He is also well known for having a scientific unit named after him (the Volt). He is also remembered for popularizing an improved electrophorus earlier in his career that produced an electrostatic charge.

Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)

Alexander Graham Bell's education occurred at home until high school when he went to Edinburgh Royal High School, followed by Edinburgh University, and University College in London. He was raised by his mother who homeschooled him and his father along with his two brothers who died of tuberculosis at a relatively young age. Bell had many influences in his early life including his hometown of Edinburgh, Scotland which was a town full of culture and tradition. He was also influenced by his grandfather Alexander Bell who was a teacher of elocution. His last influence was his deaf mother who played the piano and taught Bell many important lessons they would help him be such a great inventor later in life. He was well known for his ability to solve problems even though he wasn't the best student and also known for his infinite curiosity, he sought to understand everything. His first invention came at age 12 and dealt with speeding up the process of husking the wheat grain. Somebody with so little experience in the area was able to make a significant improvement was a sign of the greatness that was soon to follow.Important Contributions Alexander Graham Bell's most important contribution was the invention of the telephone which he referred to as electronic speech. He also invented the first microphone and is therefore known for his impact on speech and communication during his time and beyond. He holds 18 patents in his name only and another 12 in group collaborations.

Archimedes of Syracuse (Est. 287 B.C. - 212 B.C.)

Archimedes of Syracuse was born around 287 B.C. in the Greek city state of Syracuse, located in modern day Siciliy. His father was Phidias, a mathematician and astronomer, while his mother's identity is unknown. (The Archimedes Palimpsest). Archimedes conducted his studies in Syracuse as a child, and later moved to Alexandria in Egypt for higher levels of education. He is suspected to have studied under one of the great mathematicians of the ancient world, Euclid. The contributions of Archimedes to mathematics and engineering are staggering, and he was one of Syracuse's greatest assets when he returned after completing his studies in Alexandria. One of his most famous contributions was the discovery of the principles of buoyancy. The most well known of Archimedes' discoveries was his discovery that the volume of an object, and thus its density, can be determined by the amount of water it displaces. Archimedes invented many machines such as the Archimedes screw used to draw water from water sources, compound pulley systems, and war machines for Syracuse during the Punic Wars. These war machines included cranes that could lift and capsize Roman triremes, wooden and iron spears that were used to puncture the hulls of ships, and according to legend the infamous Archimedes "death ray" mirrors which could supposedly focus sunlight to set Roman ships ablaze. Even with all of Archimedes inventions Syracuse eventually fell in 212 B.C., and Archimedes was killed, supposedly while pondering another mathematical inquiry.

Henry Ford (July 30, 1863-April 7, 1947)

Automobile manufacturer, Henry Ford was born in Michigan on July 30, 1863 on his family farm. As a young boy, Henry was fascinated with the mechanics of machines. He took apart the watch his father gave him when he was only 15, and soon was approached by neighbors with watch problems. At the age of 16, Henry was bored with farm work and became an apprentice at the Michigan Car company which manufactured railroad cars. Although later Henry returned home, he demonstrated his desire to work individually and serviced steam machines used by farmers. After marrying Clara Bryant, Henry moved to Detroit where he worked as an engineer for the Edison Electric Illuminating Company. Henry quickly rose to high positions in the company and later established the Ford Motor Company. Although Ford's company made almost 100% profit, Ford was most known for his vision to manufacture inexpensive automobiles. Later, Ford's assembly line laid the foundation for the mass production of goods and was crucial in WWII. In addition to Ford's assembly line production, the model T allowed for mass automobility and altered the social interaction of society for the better. Ford's interest in machines and his desire build affordable automobiles forever changed American industry.

Barbara McClintock (1902-1992)

Barbara McClintock was born in 1902 in Connecticut where she was educated. She finished her secondary education in New York and later attended Cornell University's School of Agriculture, where she delved fiercely into her study of genetics through botany. She received degrees in botany through the Ph.D level because women were not allowed to major in genetics at the time. Following her degrees, she remained at Cornell for a time as a professor of botany and later moved on the the University of Missouri. She was the first person to demonstrate crossing-over, discovered transpositionwhich won her the Nobel Prizeand demonstrated the functions of the telomere and centromere in meiosis. Among those and many other defining genetic advancements, McClintock is known as a founder in the genetics movement and provided a basic knowledge of what we know today and paved the way for the research on genetic diseases which we focus our genetic studies on today.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 1706 to Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger. Franklin's father intended for him to be in the clergy, but did not have the money needed to educate him so Franklin and his older brother, James started the New England Courant, one of the first newspapers to be written and printed in the colonies. Because Franklin attended some grammar school, he valued reading and writing. Franklin wrote secretly for the New England Courant, and had articles published under the name Silence Dogood. In the 1720s, Franklin opened his own printing business and in 1729 he bought the Pennsylvania Gazette, where he published the first political cartoon. Franklin retired from printing in 1749 to focus on scientific experiments. Franklin conducted many experiments to investigate electricity in the 1750s. His observations, including those involving lightning led to his invention of the lightning rod, which prevented fire by channeling the electricity resulting from a lightning strike into the ground. Franklin also coined several terms that are still in use today during his studies (e.g. battery, charge, conductor, positively charged, and negatively charged). Franklin also invented bifocals in 1784 because he was tired of switching back and forth between his distance and reading glasses. While visiting Paris, Franklin also conceived the idea for Daylight Savings Time, in an effort to conserve candles by using more of the natural sunlight.

Wernher von Braun (March 23, 1912 - June 16, 1977)

Born in Germany, von Braun attended boarding school at Ettersburg Castle and later Hermann-Lietz-Internat. In 1930 von Braun continued his education at the Technische Hochschule Berlin (Berlin Institute of Technology) where he earned a degree in aeronautical engineering. Von Braun then earned his PHD in physics at the Friedrich Wilhelms Universitä. Most of von Braun's career was spent doing military research, first for the Germans and after 1945, the Americans. His work in Germany led to the development of the V-2 missile system in use during the second world war. Once in America, he eventually served as the director of the Marshall Space Flight Center, where he developed the Saturn rocket the led America to putting a man on the moon in 1969.

Michael Faraday (1791-1867)

Born in London to a rather poor family, Faraday did not receive much formal education. At the age of 14 he gained a bookbinder apprenticeship, during which he read many scientific books to educate himself about scientific subjects. Faraday attended several lectures given by the chemist Humphry Davy, who after receiving correspondence from Faraday decided to appoint him to the Royal Institution of Great Britain. He first studied electromagnetic rotation, which set the foundation for the first electric motor. While at the Institution, he also was widely recognized as an excellent lecturer on science. In 1831, he discovered electromagnetic induction, which provided a mechanism for fully developing the technology of electricity. In addition, Faraday also made many discoveries in electrochemistry. He first introduced several of the core terms in electricity, including 'electrode,' 'cathode,' and 'ion.' Throughout his life, Faraday was considered humble, as well as more interested in his work then receiving recognition.

Elon Musk (1971-present)

Born in Pretoria, South Africa during the apartheid-era, Elon Musk was captivated by the depths of knowledge of the world from an early age. From book-munching to teaching himself programming, Musk expanded his spectrums to the fullest. At the age of 12, he sold a program he made himself for 500 dollars. At the age of 17, he attended Queen's College, but decided to leave for a double degree of business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. Three years later, he extended his thirst for knowledge in a Ph.D. program at Stanford University. But, this tenure at this prestigious university was short lived due to the enticing, luring dot com explosion of opportunities, financially and technologically. Internet anonymity amongst emerging commerce websites allowed an explosion of fraud and mistrust of the developing Internet. Regarding the lacking of secure methods of transferring sensitive financial information through the Internet, Musk devised a program, Paypal to secure the integrity of internet commerce for the masses. With the prices of gasoline around the world at record highs, a new form of the automobile was needed to break the hold on gasoline-addicted vehicles. Thus, Musk envisioned and created the Tesla electric car to help alleviate the pollution issues in the world, especially in his home state of California. With deep cuts into the NASA program and no plans for sending people past our planet, Musk developed a company called SpaceX to send people to other planets, the first commercial rocket to send people past our Earth. His most recent ambition is a transportation infrastructure proposal the Hyperloop, formulated in one late night in his free time he states, a speedy form of light rail system that promises a trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 35 minutes along the I-5 median of the highway. Also, his proposal includes solar powering panels along the light rail, from another company of his ,Solar City, that would have excess power to transfer into charging stations for electric cars, such as his Tesla automobile.

Charles Babbage (1791-1871)

Charles Babbage was born in London, England on December 26, 1791, as one of four children. From very early on, Babbage taught himself numerous aspects of contemporary mathematics, and, upon arriving at Trinity College, Cambridge, found the mathematical instruction available severely lacking. He helped create the Analytical Society in an attempt to remedy this problem. After Cambridge, Babbage was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and also went on to help found the Astronomical Society.While Babbage was a prolific inventor, pioneering ideas in natural disaster prevention and sources of alternative energy, he is best remembered for inventing the first mechanical computer. Babbage's "Difference Machine" was created in order to calculate mathematical tables - mechanizing the process alleviated its fallibility by eliminating risk of human error (as previously, the calculations were done by hand). After the Difference Machine was created, Babbage conceived the idea of a device that could be set to perform any number and kind of tasks, i.e. the idea of a programmable computer. Many aspects of modern computers are borne from Babbage's designs.

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)

Da Vinci was born in the small town of Vinci in Italy to a wealthy father and a peasant woman. In his early life, he received an informal education in Latin, mathematics, and geometry. At the age of fourteen , Leonardo began to showcase his artistic talent as he trained and worked with the very well known Florence painter, Verrochio. By the age of 20, he became a master in the guild of artists and doctors of medicine. Throughout his life, he was the epitome of the "Renaissance Man" for his expertise as an artist, architect, and inventor. Leonardo devoted much of his like to math and engineering, and like all great engineers his curiosity led him to design mechanical structures for war, manufacturing, and transportation. As a multi-talented engineer, his work included bridge design, sketching simple engines and gears, and exploring the human form with some of the most detailed anatomy drawings to date. Along with being an artist, Leonardo truly was a Renaissance engineer as he showcased skill in civil, mechanical, and the early stages of biomedical.

Nikola Tesla (July 10, 1856 - January 7, 1943)

Education: Nikola Tesla's father was a Serbian Orthodox priest and his mother was a homemaker who invented household items. Telsa studied mechanical and electrical engineering at the University of Prague and the Polytechnic Institute at Graz, Austria.Most important contributions: Tesla was an ingenious inventor who patented over 700 things in his lifetime. Tesla is most well-known for developing the AC (alternating-current) electric system which rivaled Edison's DC system at the time and is in use today. He is also known for inventing the Tesla coil and attempting to create "World-System" of wireless transmissions that would give free wireless electricity to everyone, but funding for it ended before he could finish.

John Enders (1897-1985)

Enders was born in West Hartford, Connecticut. His father was CEO of a major bank, so he was able to go to Yale for his undergrad. He worked as a real-estate agent until heading off to Harvard to try becoming a teacher. After some hard thinking, he finally settled on biomedical science and the study of disease and decided to pursue a PhD. He set up a lab in 1946 and led the team that was able to create a vaccination for polio and a skin test for measles. His work has greatly advanced our understanding of infectious diseases and immunization techniques. After winning the Nobel Prize he created a vaccine for measles, and spent many years furthering immunization technology.swagswag

Enrico Fermi (1901-1954)

Enrico Fermi was born in Rome at the beginning of the 20th century to a railway administrator and an elementary school teacher. He spent time with his older brother, Guilio, playing with mechanical and motorized toys. When Guilio died during an operation, Enrico found solace in a mathematics and physics book written in 1840. Enrico befriended another student who enjoyed physics, Enrico Persico, and together they pursued scientific projects. After graduating high school in 1918, Fermi went on to the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. (On the entrance exam, instead of writing an essay, he solved a partial differential equation for a vibrating rod using Fourier analysis.) He received his doctor's degre in 1922 at the age of 21, and in 1923, was given a scholarship to study with Max Born in Germany. In 1927, Fermi was elected Professor of Theoretical Pysics at the University of Rome. He held this position until he emigrated to America in 1938 because of the Facist regime of Mussolini. In America, Fermi served as the Professor Physics at Columbia University from 1939-1942. He directed experiments which led the the first controlled nuclear reaction in 1942. This inevitably led Fermi to the Manhattan Project, although after working on the project he became opposed to the use of nuclear weapons and the development of the hydrogen bomb. A paper he co-authored against the hydrogen bomb claims "it is clear that such a weapon cannot be justified on any ethical ground." Fermi's most important contributions to physics include Fermi-Dirac statistics, which falls under the category quantum statistics, and involves particles in Pauli exclusion principle-obeying systems. The Nobel Prize of 1938 went to Fermi for research he had done regarding artificial radiation produced by neutrons and reactions involving slow neutrons.

Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937)

Ernest Rutherford was born in New Zealand to a farm family from Scotland. He was the fourth child of twelve. Much of his early life was consumed by school and by household chores. His parents stressed the importance of education on their children. Rutherford won a scholarship to Nelson College, and then won one of ten to the University New Zealand. After earning his BA, MA, and BSc, he invented a new form of radio receiver. He was then granted a scholarship to perform research at Cambridge, during which time he improved his radio receiver design to detect radio waves from half a mile. There, he worked with J. J. Thompson to discover the electron. In 1898, he was offered a teaching post at McGill University, which he accepted. While at McGill, he researched radioactivity, and coined the terms alpha and beta particles and also discovered half lives. However, his most famous experiment was the gold foil experiment in 1909, which was ironically after he had received the Nobel Prize for his previous experiments. In this experiment, Rutherford aimed a beam of positively charged alpha particles at a sheet of gold foil. It was previously believed that an electron's positive charge was evenly distributed over its entire mass. If this was true, the alpha particles should have passed through the foil with only a few minor deflections. What happened was most of the particles passed straight through, while a few of them were majorly deflected. This indicated that the positive charge of an atom was concentrated in a very small area of the atom.

Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)

Fleming grew up in Scotland and was the third of four children. His father was in the second of two marriages when having Alex. Fleming lost his father at the young age of seven. After going to a number of local schools in Scotland, he made his way to London where he went to the Royal Polytechnic Institute. After his time there, he followed his older brother into work as a physician. Having worked as a private for the army, he sought to find better ways to cure wounded soldiers. He submitted a medical journal in which he explained why antiseptics killed more soldiers than it cured wounds in world war a

Alexander Fleming-biologist

Fleming was born August 6, 1881 on a farm in Ayrshire, Scotland. He was one of four children and his parents were Hugh Fleming and Grace Morton. Fleming attended London Moor School and then Darvel School for his education. After that he moved to London and attended the Royal Polytechnic Institute. After some persuasion from his brother, Fleming enrolled at St. Mary's Hospital in London where he became a qualified surgeon. Fleming is most famous for his work in discovering penicillin which later became a widely used antibiotic drug. He forgot about a petri dish with staphylococci cultures in it and later found it contaminated with a fungus. He noticed the fungus destroyed the colonies of staphylococci immediately surrounding it. Even thought it was an accident, Fleming discovered the antibacterial qualities of penicillin. Fleming was not able to isolate the bacteria fighting part of the fungus and make it into a useable treatment, however he was essential to the creation of the antibacterial drug penicillin.

Buckminster Fuller ( 1895 - July 1, 1983)

Fuller was born in Milton, Massachusetts on July 12,1895 to Richard Fuller and Caroline Andrews. He spent a lot of time on the coast of Maine. He struggled with geometry and often built his own tools from things that he found in the woods. He attended Milton Academy and later went on to study at Harvard University. He had been expelled twice, once for spending all his money partying and second for his lack of interest and responsibility. His most important contribution was the idea of the geodesic dome and the design he used to create it. These had been created earlier but Fuller's design was much more stable and structurally sound. He made the structures out of triangles using aluminum craft tubing and once complete it could support its own weight easily and even had his students suspend from the structure to prove its strength. Syed Kazmi- 9/23/13

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

Galileo was born in 1564 to Vincenzo Galilei (a famous lutenist and music theorist) and Giulia Ammannati in Pisa, Italy and was the first of six children. Galileo, being a devout Roman Catholic, considered joining the priesthood but, at his father's request, enrolled in the University of Pisa to pursue a medical degree; however, after attending a geometry class, he convinced his father to let him study mathematics instead. In 1589, almost eight years after deciding to stop pursing a medical degree, he was made the chair of mathematics at the University of Pisa. Galileo's is most famous for his improvement of the telescope, his prototype being made in 1609, that could magnify objects over twenty times, in contrast to the telescopes of the time that could only magnify objects about three times. With this telescope, he was able to look at the moon and discovered four satellites of Jupiter, in addition to discovering sunspots. He also proved the heliocentric theory that stated the solar system revolved about the sun. For his work proving the heliocentric theory, he was charged with heresy by the Catholic Church and was forced to publicly renounce his work.

George Westinghouse (1846-1914)

George Westinghouse was born on October 6, 1846 in Central Bridge, New York. After serving in various Union forces during the American Civil War, Westinghouse returned home to New York to resume his inventive lifestyle. Westinghouse received very little formal education, attending college for only three months. From an early age, Westinghouse began to improve a multitude of devices that surrounded him. He worked on steam engines as a teen and by 1868, had invented the steel railroad frog used in switches. Westinghouse's contributions to railroading continued when he invented the air brake, which used compressed air to automatically applies brakes to an entire train. This invention greatly improved the safety of railroad operation. As electric power began to make inroads under Edison's DC system, Westinghouse pioneered the development of AC power. Westinghouse's adoption of the AC system led to conflict with Edison, and it was soon clear that Westinghouse had chosen the right side in the AC-DC war. Multiple major contracts were awarded to Westinghouse to install AC power and AC power plants, including the original Niagara Falls plant. These innovations led Westinghouse to become one of the captains of American industry until his death on March 12, 1914.

Burt Rutan: June 17, 1943 - Present

He was born in Estacada, Oregon. As a kid, his passion was to design and build model aircraft. This led him to pursue a degree in aeronautical engineering from the California Polytechnic State University and he ended up graduating third in his class. Rutan is responsible for SpaceShipOne which was the first private rocket plane to put a person in space. This won him the Ansari X-prize in 2004. He also designed the Voyager, which was the first airplane to make it around the world without needing refueling. Rutan is recognized for his originality when designing strong, light and energy-efficient aircraft.

Joseph John (JJ) Thomson (1856-1940)

JJ Thomson was born in Manchester, England. At the wish of his parents, Thompson originally studied engineering through an apprenticeship in order to be a locomotive engineer; however, a lack of financial resources and the death of Thomson's father made this a difficult ambition to pursue. Instead, in 1870, at the age of 14, Thomson was enrolled at Owens College and was then recommended to Trinity College in 1876 to study mathematical physics. Thomson later became a Lecturer in 1883 and Master in 1918 for Trinity College. He was then names to the Cavendish Professorship of Experimental Physics at Cambridge where was one of his students was Ernest Rutherford. Thompson's most notable work was his research with cathode-ray tubes. In his experiments, Thompson noted that electrically charged plates deflected rays aimed towards plates and as a result, was able to conclude the presence of "bodies much smaller than atoms" that had a very large charge-to-mass ratio. Ultimately, his work in the field of physics and atomic theory led to a Nobel Prize in physics in 1906 and knighthood in 1908.

James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)

James Clerk Maxwell was born in Edinburgh on June 13, 1831. He was an inquisitive boy and from an early age showed great potential. His parents played an important role in his education. His father had first tried to hire a tutor, but it did not work out, so at the age of ten, he was enrolled in the Edinburgh Academy, a very prestigious school. Maxwell showed great interest in mathematics and geometry and wrote his first serious paper at the age of 14 about curves. He also won awards in English and poetry. He went to the University of Edinburgh for his undergraduate studies and later went to Cambridge. He accomplished much during this time and was one of the top students there. He was a college professor by the age of 25 and worked in Marischal College. He married the principal's daughter. Even though he was already well-known, he was laid off from the college. He later worked on King's College London. It was there where he met Michael Faraday and developed his theory of electromagnetism. He resigned later on, but was still working on papers. He died of abdominal cancer on November 5, 1879.Maxwell is most famous for his work in electromagnetism. He found equations that related electricity and magnetism, which is the basis for many technology we use today. He also showed that Saturn's rings were composed of many small particles, formulated the kinetic theory of gas, created the foundation for color photography,and postulated the light was an electromagnetic wave.

Johannes Gutenberg (1345-1468)

Johannes Gutenberg lived from 1395 to 1468. He was born in Mainz, Germany, and he worked as both a blacksmith and a goldsmith. Not much is known about his childhood, other than that he was born to an upper-class merchant named Friele Gensfleisch zur Laden. Nothing at all is known about his education as a young man. He developed the world's first printing press, and had started using it commercially by 1450. His invention is arguably the most powerful tool for spreading knowledge in all of human history, although it is quickly being superseded by the internet. The printing press made the spread of knowledge increasingly possible, fueling human progress for hundreds of years after its invention.

John Logie Baird (1888-1946)

John Logie Baird was born on August 14, 1888 in Helensburgh, Scotland. He studied at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College and at the University of Glasgow. His studies were interrupted by World War l, but due to his poor health he was rejected by the army. He never returned to school but instead became superintendent engineer of the Clyde Valley Electric Power Company. He is most notably known for creating the first television. In 1924, he managed to project an image across a screen but it took him two more years before he was able to present it to others. In 1928, his company, the Baird Television Development Company, did the first transatlantic television transmission between London and New York. The same year he also presented color and stereoscopic television. He died on June 14, 1946 in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex.

Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937)

Marconi was born on April 25, 1874 in Bologna, Italy. The son of a wealthy Italian father and Irish mother, he was sent to private school and attended Livorno Technical Institute where he studied physics. In 1894 at his father's estate, he began to try and make a device to send messages through radio waves. After creating a relatively successful model in 1896, Marconi took his device to England where he was given a patent for wireless telegraphy. He began to expand the distance these wireless transmissions could be accomplished. One of his major accomplishments was transmitting a message across the Atlantic, which many thought was impossible due to the curvature of the Earth. He also found shortwave wireless communication that were concentrated and reflected in a certain direction could be transmitted longer distances. This marked the beginning of modern day long-distance radio communication. His most notable recognition came in 1909 when he was awarded the Noble Prize for Physics for his work with wireless telegraphy. He died on July 20, 1937 in Rome.

Marie Curie (1867-1934)

Marie Curie was born in Poland November 7, 1867. She received some scientific training from her father as a child and in 1891 she moved to Paris and obtained Licentiateships in Physics and the Mathematical Sciences. She became Head of the Physics Laboratory of Sorbonne, got a Doctorate of Science degree, was the first woman to become Professor of General Physics in the Faculty of Sciences, and she was appointed Director of the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute of the University of Paris. Marie and her husband developed methods to separate radium in order to study its properties. Marie specifically focused on the therapeutic properties of radium, and the uses it could have in alleviating pain. Marie and her husband were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 and in 1911 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)

Neil Alden Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio on August 5, 1930. As a young boy Neil was interested in planes, and earned his solo pilot's license before even having a driver's license. He was also an Eagle Scout and earned several high Scouting awards. In 1947 at age 17 Neil began to study aerospace engineering at Purdue University. His education was paid for by being a member of the Halloway Plan where he went to school for 2 years, served in the Navy for 3, and then returned to school for the final two years. During his three years as a naval aviator he flew the F9F-2B Panther and logged 121 flight hours over 78 different missions in the Korean War. Neil returned to Purdue to earn his Bachelor's in aerospace engineering, and later went on to earn a Master's in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California.After college Armstrong worked as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base where he piloted experimental aircraft. Over his career he flew over 200 different types of aircraft with a total of 2,400 flying hours. Armstrong was then selected and trained as an astronaut and participated in the Gemini program. Armstrong, along with all the other veterans of the Gemini program, would become the first astronauts to land on the moon as part of the Apollo program. Armstrong was nearly killed in an Apollo 11 training exercise, however he bravely piloted the first manned craft to the moon.Neil Armstrong's greatest accomplishment is not for any personal feat of his, but that he inspired and continues to inspire generations of engineers. A momentous occasion like being the first human to ever set foot on the moon can easily be overshadowed by the ability to inspire hope and change in others. Neil Armstrong is a true hero and his legacy will always live on in our hearts, minds, and creations.

Alfred Nobel(1833-1896)

Nobel learned the basics of engineering from his father, who manufactured explosive mining and machinery tools and later military equipment during the Crimean war; through private tutoring, he was a competent chemist by the age of 16. Alfred also spent a year studying and four more working under John Ericsson. Alfred Nobel's first major invention, the blasting cap, was a safe way to detonate the highly unstable explosive nitroglycerin. The cap contained mercury fulminate and could be detonated using a small shock or moderate heat. Nobel later discovered that mixing nitroglycerin with a porous siliceous earth, kieselguhr, resulted in a much more stable and safe explosive; he named it dynamite. Dynamite made the work of blasting tunnels, mining, cutting canals and building railroads much safer and efficient. Despite his explosive's heavy use later in war, Nobel had hoped that its great destructive power would put an end to war. By the time of his death, he had acquired an immense fortune from the successes of his business empire. In his will, he left the bulk of his assets to a set of future awards, the Nobel Prizes. It is thought that after newspapers confused his brother's death with his own and one labeled him "the merchant of death" in reference to his deadly invention, he created the awards hoping to avoid this label when he actually died.

Donald Thomas (Tom) Scholz (1947- Present (age 66))

On March 10th, 1947 out of the small town of Toledo Ohio, Donald Thomas (Tom) Scholz the innovative musical mastermind was born. At an early age it was apparent that Tom was destined to be an engineer. He loved to fiddle with everything from go-carts to model airplanes and was constantly constructing or contemplating concepts. His life as an engineer peeked after receiving his Bachelors and Master's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970. At the age of 21 Tom expanded his musical background and learned to play the guitar. His position as the senior product design engineer at Polaroid Corporation and his appreciation for music led to the Boston's album released in 1976 to be the biggest debut by any artist of that time period. "The same ability to synthesize science and music that made Boston's records so unique-sounding also helped Scholz create products that helped feed the niche being carved by Tascam's Port studio." With over two dozen design patented, Tom is most famous for the Rockman Guitar Amplifier and the Power Soak. He transformed the recording business; he took what previously required large amount of space and money and transformed it to a simple and affordable box. His legacy as an Mechanical Engineer still remains till this day as original Rockman are now collectors' items.

Richard Feynman (1918-1988)

Richard Feynman was born in New York City in 1928. At an early age he was taught by his father to think critically and be inquisitive. Feynman displayed a propensity for engineering in grade school by maintaining a laboratory and fixing his neighbor's radios. By midway through high school he had taught himself high-level maths and was recognized by his professors as having a superior ability to manipulate numbers. Feynman attended MIT for his undergraduate degree and Princeton for his graduate degree and doctorate, where he wrote his thesis on quantum mechanics. After receiving his Ph.D., Feynman moved to Los Alamos to help with the development of the atomic bomb. The completion of the project saw Feynman receiving a professorship at Cornell, but he later accepted an offer from Cal Tech due to its milder climate. At Cal Tech he developed two formulations of quantum electrodynamics: one using the path integral formulation and one using aptly named Feynman diagrams. His work in QED led to a Nobel Prize, which was jointly awarded to two other physicists. However, the simplicity of Feynman's formulations over the other physicists' meant he was able to deliver a series of non-mathematical lectures on QED that the general public was able to understand. Feynman's guiding principle was that if he couldn't explain a topic in a freshman lecture, he didn't understand the topic.

Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967)

Robert Oppenheimer was born in New York City on April 22,1904 to a wealthy Jewish textile importer and a painter from Germany. Oppenheimer even from an early age was extremely intelligent. He was able to complete both the third and fourth grades in one year, and skipped almost half of the eighth grade. Chemistry them became a great interest of Oppenheimer and when he entered Harvard at age 18 he thought he would pursue it; however he suffered an attack of colitis and was forced to recover, taking time away from his studies. He graduated summa cum laude in three years with a degree in chemistry with a great interest in experimental physics. One of Oppenheimer's largest contributions was his work both as a scientist and as an administrator at Los Alamos, New Mexico with the Manhattan Project in 1945, and because of this work he has become know as the "father of the atomic bomb" Other notable achievements include discovering and naming type of nuclear fusion, work on the theory of positrons and electrons, and an approximation for molecular wave functions.

Schuyler Skaats Wheeler (1860-1923)

Schuyler Skaats Wheeler was born on May 17, 1860 in New York, New York and died on April 20, 1923. He studied at Columbia College but left college at the age of 21 to become assistant electrician of the Jablochkoff Electric Light Company. Wheeler then in 1882 joined Thomas Edison's engineering staff that was in charge of the underground system. There, Wheeler installed and operated other stations for the next two to three years and supervised an Edison plant in Newburgh, New York. Despite being in a company created by Edison, Wheeler left and joined up with Charles G. Curties and Francis B. Crocker in 1888 and the firm of Crocker & Wheeler was born, in which later formed as the Crocker-Wheeler Motor Company of New York. Wheeler was president of the company from 1888 until his death in 1923.Before Wheeler died in 1923, he invented many electrical and mechanical devices. These devices include the electric elevator, electric fire engine, series multiple motor control, and paralleling devices. But what he was most known for was his invention of the electric fan in 1886 in which he received the John Scott Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1904.

Stephanie Kwolek (1923)

Stephanie Kwolek was born in 1923 in New Kensington, Pennsylvania. Her father, a naturalist with whom she shared her love for exploration, died when she was ten years old. As a result, her mother had to work. Kwolek became interesting in chemistry and medicine. She earned her bachelor's degree at Carnegie-Mellon University, and went to work as a chemist in Buffalo, New York at the DuPont textile fibers laboratory. At Dupont Company, Kwolek specialized in the polymer condensation, working to create long molecular chains at low temperatures. Through her work, Kwolek invented Kelvar, a synthetic, high-strength synthetic fiber that is five times as strong as steel. Kelvar has found application in bullet-proof vests, skis, helmets, airplanes, and hundreds of other products. Due to her creation of Kelvar, Kwolek was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and awarded the Perkin Medal. After her retirement, Kwolek became a part-time consultant for Dupont and a mentor to garner scientific interest in young women.

Orville Wright (1867-1912) Wilbur Wright (1871-1948)

The Wright Brothers are two of the most important inventors of American history. Wilbur and Orville challenged gravity and proved to the rest of the world that air travel was possible. They pioneered the aviation world and are responsible for all of the benefits and advantages seen in air travel today. Wilbur was born in Millville, Indiana on April 16, 1867 and died on May 30, 1912. Orville was born in Dayton, Ohio on August 19, 1871 and died on January 30, 1948. The two brothers had five other siblings and grew up together in a small neighborhood house in Dayton, Ohio. The Wright Brothers both attended high school, however neither actually received a high school diploma. Instead, the brothers ran a printing press business together in 1889, where interestingly enough they operated printing presses of their own design. After the printing business the Wright Brothers opened a bicycle shop, actually selling they're own brand of bikes. This bike business was what initially sparked the brothers' interest in aviation. From this point on the two brothers grew and expanded on their knowledge of their newfound passion. Funded by their bike business, Orville and Wilbur experimented with various types and designs of gliders until they were able to make their first powered flight on December 17, 1903. There were many important contributions the two brothers had to the early world of flight. One of the most prominent contributions was that they made one of the first working propellers out of glued spruce. They also took big steps in designing longer, more narrow wings which improved lift and decreased drag. The two brothers, with help from their shop mechanic, were also able to create a lighter engine made from aluminum which would have much less effect on the drag of the aircraft. The Wright Brothers were true pioneers and inventors and their work helped spark a whole new industry of travel, war, and transportation.

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)

The eccentric and astronomical genius, Tycho Brahe lived from 1546-1601. Brahe was born at his family's ancestral seat of Knutstorp Castle and came from an important political family. His uncle stole Brahe in his early youth to become a scholar, and Brahe's parents did not attempt to retrieve him back. At 12 years of age, he began studies at the University of Copenhagen. Brahe studied Latin, law, but became most interested in astronomy. In a mathematical dispute, Brahe lost most of his nose in a duel and simply put a gold plate over it. He was quite wealthy, held large social gatherings in his castle, and had a drunk moose that fell down stairs and died. He is famous for his accurate and comprehensive planetary and astronomical observations. Brahe's planetary model was discredited; however, his observations made an important contribution to the scientific revolution. He proved "new stars" (now known as supernovae) were not tailless comets, and as an empiricist, set new standards for more precise and objective measurements and refined and built the most accurate instruments of his time. Johannes Kepler was able to use Tycho Brahe's astronomical data after Brahe died to develop his three laws of planetary motion.

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio. He was the youngest of seven children in his family. When he was a young boy in school, his mind often wandered away from the classroom. As a result, his teacher described him as a confused and distracted boy. After only three months in an official classroom, Thomas Edison became home schooled by his mother.He read a lot of books, including School of Natural Philosophy by R.G. Parker. He worked many small jobs, one including being a telegrapher. This job sparked his desire for chemical experiments, and it led to his firing after he spilled some battery acid on his boss' desk when he tried to take it apart. Edison started experimenting a lot with telegraphic devices when he moved to Newark, New Jersey.One of his first inventions was the phonograph, and that garnered a lot of reputation for him. He also invented a quadruplex telegraph, which was a major improvement of that particular device. Edison's major invention was the first practical electrical light bulb. He did not invent the first light bulb, but Edison's model was the first one that could be sold at a reasonable price. In addition to all of his inventions, Edison experimented frequently with media.

George Cayley (27 December 1773 - 15 December 1857)

Upbringing and Education: Sir George Cayley, the 6th Baronet of Brompton, was born George Cayley in Scarborough Yorkshire on the 27th of December, 1773. Cayley was raised in a wealthy estate and was a very inquisitive, intelligent child. Due to his wealth and his mother's encouragement, he was able to further his various interests, ranging from study of nature, engineering, and flight. He was homeschooled until age 15, when he started attending a tutoring school, after leaving a boarding school in York after suffering from serious illness. He attended Hackney Collage while in London to finish off his education. His father died when he was 19 so he inherited the estate and returned home to work on his inventions. Most Important Contributions: Cayley designed a working, piloted glider that he designed and built. He developed an airfoil used to identify thrust, lift, drag, and gravity, the four main forces on an aircraft. He is largely considered the father of aeronautical engineering for his contributions to aeronautics.

Yuan-Cheng Fung (September 15, 1919 - Present (age 94))

Yuan-Cheng Fung was born in the Jiangsu Province in China in 1919. He attended the National Central University to obtain his Bachelor's (1941) and Master's (1943). Fung earned his PhD from the California institute of Technology in 1948 and currently teachers and does research at the University of California, San Diego. Fung is well known and highly thought of for being a founding figure in bio-engineering, tissue engineering, and the founder of modern biomechanics. He has written many books including Foundation of Solid Mechanics, a series of biomechanics books, and he is one of the principle founders of the Journal of Biomechanics. Other than being an author he is known for his famous "Fung's Law" which describes strain on soft tissue with an exponential equation. Lastly, Fung has done a lot for the general area of bio-engineering, one example of this is that in 1972 he established the Biomechanics Symposium which later transformed in the annual Summer Bioengineering Conference. Fung has done a lot individually and for the general field of bioengineering which makes him one of our famous engineers in history.