Faraday
A British physicist, chemist, and a famous self-taught scientist.
Born on September 22, 1791 in Newington, Surrey, into a poor blacksmith family. Due to family poverty, he only attended elementary school for a few years and became an apprentice in a bookstore when he was 13 years old. Working in a bookstore gave him the opportunity to read many scientific books. In addition to delivering newspapers and binding, he taught himself chemistry and electricity, and conducted simple experiments to verify the contents of the book. In his spare time, he participated in the study activities of the Municipal Philosophy Society and listened to lectures on natural philosophy, thus receiving basic education in natural science. Because of his love for scientific research and his dedication, he was appreciated by the British chemist David, who recommended him to the Royal Institution as a laboratory assistant in March 1813. This was a turning point in Farah's life, and from then on he embarked on the path of dedicating himself to scientific research. In October of the same year, David went to the European continent for scientific investigation and lectures, and Faraday accompanied him as his secretary and assistant. It lasted for one and a half years, and he passed through France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries, and got acquainted with famous scholars such as Ampere and Guy-Lussac. Along the way, Faraday assisted David in many chemical experiments, which greatly enriched his scientific knowledge, increased his experimental talents, and laid the foundation for his subsequent independent scientific research. In May 1815, he returned to the Royal Institution to conduct chemical research under the guidance of David. He was elected a member of the Royal Society in January 1824, director of the laboratory of the Royal Institution in February 1825, and professor of chemistry at the Royal Institution from 1833 to 1862. In 1846 he was awarded the Rumford Medal and the Royal Medal. Died on August 25, 1867.
Edison
The world-famous American electrician and inventor is known as the "King of Inventions in the World." In addition to his inventions and contributions to the phonograph, electric light, telephone, telegraph, and movies, he also had many famous creations and insights in the fields of mining, construction, and chemical industry. Edison made about 2,000 inventions during his lifetime and made great contributions to human civilization and progress.
Edison was also a great entrepreneur. In 1879, Edison founded the "Edison Electric Lighting Company". In 1880, incandescent lamps were put on the market. In 1890, Edison had organized its various businesses into Edison General Electric Company. In 1891, Edison patented his thin-filament, high-vacuum incandescent light bulb. In 1892, Tom Houston Company and Edison Electric and Lighting Company merged to form General Electric Company. The beginning of General Electric's century-long dominance in the electrical field.
Maxwell
Maxwell was a great British physicist and mathematician in the 19th century. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland on November 13, 1831, Maxwell was smart since he was a child. His father was a knowledgeable lawyer, so Maxwell received a good education from an early age. At the age of 10, he entered Edinburgh Middle School. At the age of 14, he published a paper on the problem of quadratic curve construction in the Journal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which showed his outstanding talent. In 1847, he entered the University of Edinburgh to study mathematics and physics. In 1850, he transferred to the Department of Mathematics of Trinity College, Cambridge University. In 1854, he won the Smith Scholarship with second place and stayed at the school for two years after graduation. In 1856, he became professor of natural philosophy at Marishal, Aberdeen, Scotland. In 1860, he went to King's College London as professor of natural philosophy and astronomy. In 1861 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of London. In the spring of 1865, he resigned from his teaching position and returned to his hometown to systematically summarize his research results on electromagnetism. He completed the classic masterpiece "On Electricity and Magnetism" on electromagnetic field theory, which was published in 1873. In 1871, he was hired as a professor at the newly established Cambridge University in Cambridge. Vendish Professor of Experimental Physics, responsible for the preparation of the famous Cavendish Laboratory, and served as the first director of the laboratory after its completion in 1874 until his death in Cambridge on November 5, 1879.
Bi Sheng
Bi Sheng (?-1051) is an ancient Chinese inventor. A commoner in the Northern Song Dynasty, a native of Zhihe Township, Qishui County, Qishui County, Huainan Road (now Wuguidun Village, Caopandi Town, Yingshan County, Hubei Province). He started out as a printing shop worker, specializing in manual printing. In his printing practice, he was well aware of the difficulties of block printing and carefully summed up the experience of his predecessors. Based on the invention of block printing in the Tang Dynasty, during the Qingli period of Renzong of the Song Dynasty (1041-1048), Bi Sheng, a commoner, created movable type printing. .
This is another great contribution China has made to the development of world civilization.
First place: Leonardo da Vinci (Italy)
The most famous invention: calculator
Mentioned Leonardo da Vinci and When it comes to his inventions, you'd better ask the question: "What didn't he invent?" Because he invented so many things. Leonardo da Vinci's work diary contains design drawings for many things, but the most noteworthy one is the design of the calculator. Just imagine what science would be like without simple, complex mathematical operations.
Leonardo Da Vinci can be called the founder of the Renaissance. He could paint (such as the masterpiece "Mona Lisa"), sculpt, and invent. His diary, which still fascinates the world, depicts everything from the human body to helicopters and tanks.
Coolest fact: Leonardo da Vinci’s diary is more than 13,000 pages long and is still influencing scientific research today. In 2005, a British surgeon used the method designed by Leonardo da Vinci to perform heart repair surgery. This incident itself is surprising. If you know that Leonardo da Vinci did not even have the slightest idea of ??the working mechanism of the human circulatory system. , that was simply astonishing.
Second place: Nikola Tesla (USA)
The most famous invention: radio
Although Nikola Tesla was He was not recognized for this, but the U.S. Supreme Court eventually affirmed his patent application, confirming that he, not Marconi, invented radio.
Tesla may have been born to be unconventional. Although he invented a method of power transmission called "alternating current" that is still in use today, the focus of his research was actually on the theoretical applications of electricity (unfortunately, many of his research results still remain on the drawing board). It was Tesla, who always made his own experimental equipment (such as the famous Tesla coil used to gather electrical energy), who proposed a range of ideas ranging from X-rays to seismometers.
Coolest fact: Tesla was still working on a deadly ray towards the end of his life. His point of view sounded a bit like a science fiction story, and the FBI really couldn't see anything interesting. As a result, President Hoover had to order Tesla's scientific research materials to be taken away and declared "top secret."
Third place: Alessandro Volta (Italy)
The most famous invention: the battery
Although Volta did not discover electricity, he did Came up with a great idea for portable electricity. You must know that the "volt battery" is the forerunner of modern batteries.
Volt has been working on electrical things throughout his career. In his early days, he invented the electrification disk (i.e., a single-charge single-plate capacitor). A year later, he devoted himself to experiments in gas ignition power generation in closed chambers. In the process, he discovered biogas (methane), a gas commonly used in households today. However, what really made it famous was the "voltaic battery", which was actually a pile of zinc and copper sheets arranged alternately, plus a cloth soaked in salt water between the two metal sheets to enhance conductivity. But it was this crude battery that showed the world how to harness metal-chemistry combinations to generate electricity.
Coolest fact: In 1810, Napoleon awarded Volta the title of Count in recognition of the great Italian inventor. But the honor did not stop there. In 1881, his name was used as the unit of voltage "volt".
Fourth place: Alexander Bell (UK)
The most famous invention: the telephone
"Can you hear me?"
“Yes!”
We can hear each other speak, thanks to Alexander Bell’s invention of the telephone.
There are so many telephone providers now, but it was Alexander Bell who created the world's first (and most powerful) telephone company - the Bell Telephone Company. Bell was not just a single wizard. His research ideas involved air conditioning (he actually built a primitive air conditioning system in his own house), hydrofoils and the concept of information magnetic storage (a concept that had never been seen before during his lifetime). innovative inventions - computers), etc.
Coolest Fact: Alexander Bell was also the inventor of the world's first metal detector, a device he assembled to find a bullet inside President James Garfield. It turned out that the detector was working, but it could not locate the bullet because President Garfield was lying on a metal bed during the examination.
Fifth place: Isaac Newton (UK)
The most famous invention: calculus
If you have finally finished higher education after a lot of effort Mathematics course, then you may not be an ardent admirer of Sir Isaac Newton, because the problems you encounter are basically his fault for inventing calculus.
If you study physics now, whether it is about gravity (the story of an apple falling from a tree, whether true or false, is indeed a powerful example), or light and optical principles, you have to Start with the work of Sir Isaac Newton. Newton was the first to propose that "light is composed of particles", which led him to develop the reflecting telescope (now named after him). In addition, Newton also made contributions to the research on the principles of sound and heat.
Coolest Fact: It’s easy to think of scientists as a bunch of uninvolved laboratory rats, but Newton was an exception: He served as a judge to the King of England for nearly two years, performing executions The buying and selling of counterfeit money counterfeiters. Towards the end of his legal career, he still had 10 criminals awaiting execution.
Sixth place: Howard Hughes (USA)
The most famous invention: improved aircraft design
Howard Hughes did not invent the aircraft. As the "Father of Trans World Airlines (TWA)", he mainly wrote books about airlines. TWA may be history now, but the air travel industry is thriving thanks to Howard Hughes.
He once proposed a series of innovative designs for passenger aircraft. For example, he redesigned the "H-1" so that the retractable landing gear, connecting rods and connectors are retracted inside the fuselage, thereby reducing air resistance during flight. This innovative improvement influenced a series of fighter designs during World War II.
To say Howard Hughes was a weirdo is to disparage him. He came from a family of famous inventors. The oil well drill bit invented by his father, Hughes Sr., allowed oil production equipment to extract resources that were previously inaccessible to people. Howard Hughes remained low-key and reclusive in his later years, but when he was young and prosperous, he was a big figure who conquered the aviation industry and Hollywood. Whether he was developing amphibious aircraft or trying to date Hollywood stars Katharine Hepburn or Bette Davis, he always went his own way.
Coolest fact: In 1972, Hughes was hired by the CIA to cover a CIA operation. The purpose of this operation, codenamed "Project Jennifer", was to salvage a Soviet submarine that sank in Hawaiian waters. The effect of this operation was limited. In 1975, a robber stole some of Hughes' secret information and exposed his connection to the CIA.
Seventh place: Benjamin Franklin (USA)
The most famous invention: bifocal glasses
We all know that reading is fundamental, but seeing is Reading prerequisites. Thanks to Benjamin Franklin's invention of bifocal glasses, even people with less than 20/20 vision can browse the website's pages. While writing "The Chronicle of Poor Richard," helping the United States win recognition from France (a move that reversed the tide of the American Revolution), and courting women everywhere, Franklin still made quite important contributions to science. . Many of us may remember social studies classes depicting him flying a kite in a storm. This experiment taught Franklin a lot about electricity and also brought us the lightning rod.
Coolest fact: Inventors and “studs” (men who love to woo women) don’t tend to be linked to the same person, but Benjamin Franklin was an exception. He was one of the most courteous men of his generation, and his popularity with French women certainly helped the American cause.
Eighth place: James Watt (UK)
The most famous invention: improved steam engine
Today we will not regard steam as the main energy source , but back in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, steam was in the limelight. James Watt spent a lot of time improving the steam engine that drove the world forward.
Although Watt did not invent the steam engine, he made it work for people. In fact, it was Watt's innovative improvements that caused a major shift in the world from agriculture to industry. In addition to his contributions to power and machinery, Watt also invented the rotating machine and a device called the "flying ball" that automatically adjusted the speed of the machine.
Coolest fact: The unit of power, the watt, is named after him, and he has long been recognized as the world's greatest engineer.
Ninth place: Johannes Gutenberg (Germany)
The most famous invention: modern printing
Johannes Gutenberg All the little things were put together to make a movable type printing press. His idea seems a little less than grand until you realize the fact that his printing press could usher in an information revolution.
None of us knows who wrote the Bible, but we do know the name of its publisher: Gutenberg. Yes, the Chinese had used movable type printing for hundreds of years before, but Gutenberg was the first to print and publish the characters in books, not silk books. This innovation gave rise to the "Age of Enlightenment" by making knowledge accessible to a wider range of people. Gutenberg was one of the best as an inventor, but unlucky as a businessman. His printing changed the world, but it did not make him rich, and in a lawsuit against his own investors, he even lost the right to invent the technology.
Coolest Fact: Debt-ridden, Gutenberg spent his later years working for the Archbishop of Mainz, who provided him with room and board to help him kick his drinking habit Bad habits.
Tenth place: Thomas Edison (USA)
The most famous invention: light bulb
There is no invention that represents innovation more than the light bulb. In fact, Edison's invention had such a profound impact on the world that it was nicknamed the symbol of all great ideas.
When people think of Edison, they easily focus on the light bulb (an invention and design that he actually improved and made feasible). In fact, his real intention was to energize the light bulb to make it shine. In 1882, Edison created the world's first electric transmission company, delivering electricity to 59 consumers in Manhattan. With the support of JP Morgan and the Vanderbilt family consortium, Edison also used his knowledge to provide the world with an early version of the stock machine.
Coolest Fact: In his later years, Edison became obsessed with a popular fad diet of drinking just one pint of milk every three hours. Fortunately, Edison did not apply his knowledge to the field of human life science.