Page 14 - All About History - Issue 11-14

Science

Hall of fame

10 INFLUENTIAL SCIENTISTS

Meet ten scientists who changed the world for the better

MARIE CURIE Alan Turing
BRITISH 1912-1954
POLISH 1867-1934 Without Turing it is doubtful
A physicist, chemist and a rare humanity would have come as far
as we have with computing and
two-time Nobel Prize winner.
artificial intelligence. Considered to
Her work was instrumental in be the father of computing, his Turing
the development of X-rays and machine forms the basis for our
she was head of the radiological current understanding of the machine
we recognise as the computer. Highly
department for the Red Cross.
intelligent and known to be a rather
eccentric figure at the Government
Ernest Rutherford Code and Cypher School at Britain’s
BRITISH 1871-1937 code-breaking centre, Bletchley Park
– where he worked during World War
Rutherford was one of the 20th century’s greatest scientists II – Turing also played a vital role
and is known as the father of nuclear physics. He was one of in designing the bombe; a machine
the creators of modern atomic physics and was awarded the that was capable
Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908 for his studies of atoms and of successfully
radioactivity, which led to him developing his model decoding
of atom’s appearance and discovering one of their German
components, the proton. Without him, all military
subsequent work on atoms and nuclear messages.
power would have been impossible.

James Watson
AMERICAN 1928- Turing has a test
Ernest Rutherford named after him, which
became the first Watson and his colleague Francis Crick, an important measures a machine’s
theoretical molecular biologist, were awarded the 1962 Nobel
person to turn one ability to exhibit
Prize in Medicine for their groundbreaking find; the discovery of intelligent behaviour
element into another the double helix structure Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) one of the
when he made nitrogen most significant discoveries of the 20th century. Finding themselves
into oxygen through a working together at King’s College, London, the duo published their
work in April 1953, which served to explain how DNA fits what
nuclear reaction
we know of its function today – that it’s encoded with the genetic
instructions enabling the development and functioning of all living
organisms and viruses.
NICOLAUS COPERNICUS

POLISH 1473-1543
Think of a time when most people
believed the Earth was stationary in
the middle of the universe and you’ll
find yourself in the time of Nicolaus A precocious
Copernicus. The astronomer was quick student, James
to challenge this theory and reasoned Watson entered the
that – when it came to the motions of University of Chicago at
the planets in our Solar System – the only 15, receiving his
Sun was at the centre. By saying so he degree in Zoology four
angered the powerful Catholic Church years later
and ran the risk of being executed, but
spurred the Copernican Revolution, a
major event in the history of science and
one that questioned our very place in Copernicus presented the
revolutionary idea that the
the universe.
Earth orbited the Sun, not
the other way around
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