Gravity

Galileo Galilei overturns nearly 2,000 years of Aristotelian belief that heavier
bodies fall faster than lighter ones by proving that all bodies fall at the same
rate with his Law of Falling Bodies in 160! "ore than 60 years later #ir $ssa%
&ewton %on%ludes in his '(niversal Gravitation' theory that all ob)e%ts in the
universe, from apples to planets, e*ert gravitational attra%tion on ea%h other!
+hen in 16,- he %hanges our understanding of the universe by formulating
three laws to des%ribe the movement of ob)e%ts! 1. An ob)e%t in motion
remains in motion unless an e*ternal for%e is applied to it! 2. +he relationship
between an ob)e%t/s mass 0m., its a%%eleration 0a. and the applied for%e 0F. is
F 1 ma! 2. For every a%tion there is an e3ual and opposite rea%tion!
4elativity
4elativity has revealed the bi5arre world of bla%6 holes and told us that the
universe had a beginning! 7ith his #pe%ial 4elativity theory in 1809 Albert
:instein that e*plained the relationship between speed, time and distan%e!
:instein;s theory stated that nothing in the universe %an travel faster than
the speed of light!$t overthrew basi% assumptions about time and spa%e by
des%ribing how %lo%6s ti%6 slower and distan%es appear to stret%h as ob)e%ts
approa%h the speed of light! +hat same year : 1 m%<2 or energy is e3ual to
mass times the speed of light s3uared! =is famous formula proves that mass
and energy are di>erent manifestations of the same thing, and that a very
small amount of mass %an be %onverted into a very large amount of energy!
?ne profound impli%ation of his dis%overy is that no ob)e%t with mass %an
ever go faster than the speed of light! $t is #pe%ial 4elativity that s%ientists
had @:4& appear to have disproved!
'@operni%um #ystem'
4:LA+:A A4+$@L:#
#peed of light /bro6en/ at @:4& 22 #ep 2011
#peed of light may have been bro6en B CDA 22 #ep 2011
#peed of light bro6en E an e*pert/s view 22 #ep 2011
Albert :insteinF a short biography 22 #ep 2011
#%ien%eF Cuantum theory and relativity e*plained 20 &ov 200-
Best 6nown for his treatise '?n the 4evolution of the @elestial #pheres', +he
Golish astronomer &i%olaus @operni%us asserted that the earth and other
planets revolved around the sun E %ontrary to the medieval belief that the
earth was the %entre of the universe! =e presented his theory in 1922 to a
sele%t audien%e in the Hati%an Gardens! +he theory was viewed with suspi%ion
by the @hur%h, and his treatise was not published until 192, the year of his
death! :ventually the theory be%ame the %ornerstone for a future generation
of s%ientists in%luding Iepler and Galileo, but one of its ardent advo%ates,
$talian %leri% Giordano Bruno, was burned at the sta6e as a hereti% in 1600!
Galileo dis%overies proved the @operni%an #ystem!
Cuantum theory
+he theory has made the modern world possible, giving us lasers and
%omputers and iGod nanos, not to mention e*plaining how the sun shines and
why the ground is solid! Aanish physi%ist &iels Bohr, %onsidered one of the
most important Jgures in modern physi%s and the 'father' of 3uantum
me%hani%s, won the &obel Gri5e in Ghysi%s in 1822 for his resear%h on the
stru%ture of an atom! Although he help develop the atomi% bomb, he
deplored its use for war and instead promoted atomi% power for pea%eful
purposes!
:volution
@harles Aarwin wrote ?n the ?rigin of #pe%ies by "eans of &atural #ele%tion,
in whi%h he %hallenges %ontemporary beliefs about the %reation of life on
:arth! =is seminal wor6, whi%h popularised the theory, was published in 1,98
and drew Jer%e %riti%ism from the @hur%h of :ngland for the way it %hallenged
the notion of divine %reation! Aarwin had served as an unpaid naturalist on
the ="# Beagle, whi%h set out on a JveEyear s%ientiJ% e*pedition to the
Ga%iJ% %oast of #outh Ameri%a in early 1,22! +he data he %olle%ted on the
e*pedition, espe%ially spe%imens from the Galapagos $slands, was the
inspiration for his theories on evolution by the me%hanism of natural
sele%tion! =is wor6 has been at the %entre of %ontroversy ever sin%e it was
published! Aarwin/s +he Aes%ent of "an, published in 1,-1, aroused even
greater debate as it suggested that humans des%ended from apes! Although
Aarwin is the most familiar name asso%iated with evolution, he was only
persuaded to publish his wor6 when another young s%ientist, Alfred 4ussel
7alla%e, %ame forward having independently %ome up with a similar
e*planation for how evolution o%%ur!
Aisease and ba%teria
Before Louis Gasteur, the Fren%h %hemist and and biologist, began
e*perimenting with ba%teria in the 1,60s, its %ause was un6nown! =e not
only dis%overed that disease %ame from mi%roorganisms, but he also reali5ed
that ba%teria %ould be 6illed by heat and disinfe%tant! +his idea %aused
do%tors to wash their hands and sterili5e their instruments, whi%h has saved
millions of lives! =e was able to demonstrate that organisms su%h as ba%teria
were responsible for souring wine and beer 0he later e*tended his studies to
prove that mil6 was the same., and that the ba%teria %ould be removed by
boiling and then %ooling the li3uid! +his pro%ess is now %alled pasteurisation!
Gasteur then undertoo6 e*periments to Jnd where these ba%teria %ame from,
and was able to prove that they were introdu%ed from the environment! +his
was disputed by s%ientists who believed they %ould spontaneously generate!
Geni%illian
+he era of antibioti%s began in 182, when Ale*ander Fleming spotted how
peni%illin produ%ed by green mold 6illed ba%teria! +he improbable %hain of
events that led him to the dis%overy in 182, is the stu> of whi%h s%ientiJ%
myths are made! +he young #%ottish resear%h s%ientist, who had a proJtable
side pra%ti%e treating the syphilis infe%tions of prominent London artists, was
pursuing his pet theory that his own nasal mu%us had antiba%terial e>e%ts!
=e left a %ulture plate smeared with #taphylo%o%%us ba%teria on his lab ben%h
while he went on a twoEwee6 holiday! (pon his return he spotted a %lear halo
surrounding the yellowEgreen growth of a mold that had a%%identally
%ontaminated the plate! (n6nown to him, a spore of a rare variant %alled
Geni%illium notatum had drifted in from a my%ology lab one Koor below! =e
de%ided not to store his %ulture in a warm in%ubator and during a %old pat%h
of weather, gave the mold a %han%e to grow! Later, as the temperature rose,
the #taphylo%o%%us ba%teria started growing in a similar fashion to a pie%e of
lawn that eventually %overed the entire plate e*%ept for the area surrounding
the moldy %ontaminant! #eeing that halo is %onsidered to be Fleming/s
':ure6a' moment and he later %orre%tly dedu%ed that the mold must have
released a substan%e that inhibited the growth of the ba%teria! $t was a
dis%overy that would %hange the %ourse of history! +he a%tive ingredient in
that mold, whi%h Fleming named peni%illin, turned out to be an infe%tionE
Jghting agent of enormous poten%y!