1.
Science
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Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. The formal sciences are often excluded as they do not depend on empirical observations, disciplines which use science, like engineering and medicine, may also be considered to be applied sciences. However, during the Islamic Golden Age foundations for the method were laid by Ibn al-Haytham in his Book of Optics. In the 17th and 18th centuries, scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of physical laws, over the course of the 19th century, the word science became increasingly associated with the scientific method itself as a disciplined way to study the natural world. It was during this time that scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, Science in a broad sense existed before the modern era and in many historical civilizations. Modern science is distinct in its approach and successful in its results, Science in its original sense was a word for a type of knowledge rather than a specialized word for the pursuit of such knowledge. In particular, it was the type of knowledge which people can communicate to each other, for example, knowledge about the working of natural things was gathered long before recorded history and led to the development of complex abstract thought. This is shown by the construction of calendars, techniques for making poisonous plants edible. For this reason, it is claimed these men were the first philosophers in the strict sense and they were mainly speculators or theorists, particularly interested in astronomy. In contrast, trying to use knowledge of nature to imitate nature was seen by scientists as a more appropriate interest for lower class artisans. A clear-cut distinction between formal and empirical science was made by the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides, although his work Peri Physeos is a poem, it may be viewed as an epistemological essay on method in natural science. Parmenides ἐὸν may refer to a system or calculus which can describe nature more precisely than natural languages. Physis may be identical to ἐὸν and he criticized the older type of study of physics as too purely speculative and lacking in self-criticism. He was particularly concerned that some of the early physicists treated nature as if it could be assumed that it had no intelligent order, explaining things merely in terms of motion and matter. The study of things had been the realm of mythology and tradition, however. Aristotle later created a less controversial systematic programme of Socratic philosophy which was teleological and he rejected many of the conclusions of earlier scientists. For example, in his physics, the sun goes around the earth, each thing has a formal cause and final cause and a role in the rational cosmic order. Motion and change is described as the actualization of potentials already in things, while the Socratics insisted that philosophy should be used to consider the practical question of the best way to live for a human being, they did not argue for any other types of applied science
2.
Technology
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Technology is the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation. Technology can be the knowledge of techniques, processes, and the like, the human species use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The steady progress of technology has brought weapons of ever-increasing destructive power. It has helped develop more advanced economies and has allowed the rise of a leisure class, many technological processes produce unwanted by-products known as pollution and deplete natural resources to the detriment of Earths environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and raise new questions of the ethics of technology, examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, and the challenges of bioethics. Philosophical debates have arisen over the use of technology, with disagreements over whether technology improves the condition or worsens it. The use of the technology has changed significantly over the last 200 years. Before the 20th century, the term was uncommon in English, the term was often connected to technical education, as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The term technology rose to prominence in the 20th century in connection with the Second Industrial Revolution, the terms meanings changed in the early 20th century when American social scientists, beginning with Thorstein Veblen, translated ideas from the German concept of Technik into technology. In German and other European languages, a distinction exists between technik and technologie that is absent in English, which translates both terms as technology. By the 1930s, technology referred not only to the study of the industrial arts, dictionaries and scholars have offered a variety of definitions. Ursula Franklin, in her 1989 Real World of Technology lecture, gave another definition of the concept, it is practice, the way we do things around here. The term is used to imply a specific field of technology, or to refer to high technology or just consumer electronics. Bernard Stiegler, in Technics and Time,1, defines technology in two ways, as the pursuit of life by other than life, and as organized inorganic matter. Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to some value. In this usage, technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems and it is a far-reaching term that may include simple tools, such as a crowbar or wooden spoon, or more complex machines, such as a space station or particle accelerator. Tools and machines need not be material, virtual technology, such as software and business methods. W. Brian Arthur defines technology in a broad way as a means to fulfill a human purpose
3.
Ada Lovelace
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Augusta Ada King-Noel, Countess of Lovelace was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbages proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, as a result, she is often regarded as the first to recognise the full potential of a computing machine and the first computer programmer. Ada Lovelace was the legitimate child of the poet George, Lord Byron. All Byrons other children were out of wedlock to other women. Byron separated from his wife a month after Ada was born and left England forever four months later, often ill, she spent most of her childhood sick. Ada married William King in 1835, King was made Earl of Lovelace in 1838, and she became Countess of Lovelace. Ada described her approach as poetical science and herself as an Analyst, Lovelace first met him in June 1833, through their mutual friend, and her private tutor, Mary Somerville. Between 1842 and 1843, Ada translated an article by Italian military engineer Luigi Menabrea on the engine and these notes contain what many consider to be the first computer program—that is, an algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine. Lovelaces notes are important in the history of computers. She also developed a vision of the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching, while others, including Babbage himself. Her mindset of poetical science led her to ask questions about the Analytical Engine examining how individuals and she died of uterine cancer in 1852 at the age of 36. Byron expected his baby to be a boy and was disappointed when his wife gave birth to a girl. Augusta was named after Byrons half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and was called Ada by Byron himself, on 16 January 1816 Adas mother, Annabella, at Byrons behest, left for her parents home at Kirkby Mallory taking one-month-old Ada with her. On 21 April Byron signed the Deed of Separation, although very reluctantly, aside from an acrimonious separation, Annabella continually made allegations about Byrons immoral behaviour throughout her life. This set of events made Ada famous in Victorian society, Byron did not have a relationship with his daughter, and never saw her again. He died in 1824 when she was eight years old and her mother was the only significant parental figure in her life. Ada was not shown the family portrait of her father until her twentieth birthday and her mother became Baroness Wentworth in her own right in 1856. Annabella did not have a relationship with the young Ada and often left her in the care of her own mother Judith
4.
Photogram
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A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The usual result is a shadow image that shows variations in tone that depends upon the transparency of the objects used. Areas of the paper that have received no light appear white, the technique is sometimes called cameraless photography. It was used by Man Ray in his exploration of rayographs, other artists who have experimented with the technique include László Moholy-Nagy, Christian Schad, Imogen Cunningham and Pablo Picasso. Variations of the technique have also used for scientific purposes. Some of the first photographic images made were photograms, william Henry Fox Talbot called these photogenic drawings, which he made by placing leaves and pieces of material onto sensitized paper, then left them outdoors on a sunny day to expose. This produced a background with a white silhouette of the object used. From 1843, Anna Atkins produced a book titled British Algae, Cyanotype Impressions in installments, the images were all photograms of botanical specimens, which she made using Sir John Herschels cyanotype process, which yields blue images. This very rare book can be seen in the National Media Museum in Bradford, photograms were used in the 20th century by a number of photographers, particularly Man Ray, who called them rayographs. Contemporary artists who are known for using photograms are Adam Fuss, Susan Derges. In a darkroom, or a room, objects are arranged on top a piece of photographic material. When the operator is satisfied with the arrangement, the material is exposed with light. The material is processed, washed and dried. Drawn-on-film animation, another form of cameraless image making Neues Sehen, László Moholy-Nagys New Vision photography movement
5.
Anna Atkins
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Anna Atkins was an English botanist and photographer. She is often considered the first person to publish a book illustrated with photographic images, some sources claim that she was the first woman to create a photograph. Atkins was born in Tonbridge, Kent, England in 1799 and her mother Hester Anne Children didnt recover from the effects of childbirth and died in 1800. Anna became close to her father John George Children, Anna received an unusually scientific education for a woman of her time. Her detailed engravings of shells were used to illustrate her fathers translation of Lamarcks Genera of Shells, in 1825 she married John Pelly Atkins, a London West India merchant, and they moved to Halstead Place, the Atkins family home in Sevenoaks, Kent. Atkins pursued her interests in botany, for example by collecting dried plants and these were probably used as photograms later. John George Children and John Pelly Atkins were friends of William Henry Fox Talbot, Anna Atkins learned directly from Talbot about two of his inventions related to photography, the photogenic drawing technique and calotypes. Atkins was known to have had access to a camera by 1841, some sources claim that Atkins was the first female photographer. Other sources name Constance Talbot, the wife of William Fox Talbot, as no camera-based photographs by Anna Atkins nor any photographs by Constance Talbot survive, the issue may never be resolved. Sir John Herschel, a friend of Atkins and Children, invented the photographic process in 1842. Within a year, Atkins applied the process to algae by making cyanotype photograms that were printed by placing the unmounted dried-algae original directly on the cyanotype paper. Atkins self-published her photograms in the first installment of Photographs of British Algae, Atkins produced a total of three volumes of Photographs of British Algae, Cyanotype Impressions between 1843 and 1853. Only 17 copies of the book are known to exist, in states of completeness. The Linnean Society of London, whose copy lacks part 7 of volume 1, because of the books rarity and historical importance, it is quite expensive. One copy of the book with 411 plates in three volumes sold for £133,500 at auction in 1996, another copy with 382 prints in two volumes which was owned by scientist Robert Hunt sold for £229,250 at auction in 2004. In addition, she published books with non-photographic work and she died at Halstead Place in 1871 of paralysis, rheumatism, and exhaustion at the age of 72. By the author of The perils of fashion, memoir of J. C. Children, including some unpublished poetry by his father and himself. London, John Bowye Nichols and Sons, by the author of The colonel, etc
6.
Eta Carinae
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Previously a 4th-magnitude star, it brightened in 1837 to become brighter than Rigel marking the start of the Great Eruption. Eta Carinae became the second-brightest star in the sky between 11 and 14 March 1843 before fading well below naked eye visibility after 1856, in a smaller eruption, it reached 6th magnitude in 1892 before fading again. It has brightened consistently since about 1940, becoming brighter than magnitude 4.5 by 2014, Eta Carinae is circumpolar south of latitude 30°S, so it is never visible north of about latitude 30°N. The two main stars of the Eta Carinae system have an orbit with a period of 5.54 years. This is the star known to produce ultraviolet laser emission. The secondary star is hot and also highly luminous, probably of spectral class O, the system is heavily obscured by the Homunculus Nebula, material ejected from the primary during the Great Eruption. It is a member of the Trumpler 16 open cluster within the much larger Carina Nebula, although unrelated to the star or nebula, the weak Eta Carinids meteor shower has a radiant very close to Eta Carinae. Frederick de Houtmans independent star catalogue from 1603 does not include Eta Carinae among the other stars in the region. The earliest firm record was made by Edmond Halley in 1677 when he recorded the star simply as Sequens within a new constellation Robur Carolinum and his Catalogus Stellarum Australium was published in 1679. The star was known by the Bayer designations Eta Roboris Caroli. Eta fell within the portion of the ship which was later to become the constellation Carina. It was not generally known as Eta Carinae until 1879, when the stars of Argo Navis were finally given the epithets of the constellations in the Uranometria Argentina of Gould. Eta Carinae is too far south to be part of the mansion-based traditional Chinese astronomy, together with s Carinae, λ Centauri, and λ Muscae, Eta Carinae forms the asterism 海山. Eta Carinae has the names Tseen She and Foramen, Halley gave an approximate apparent magnitude of 4 at the time of discovery, which has been calculated as magnitude 3.3 on the modern scale. The handful of earlier sightings suggest that Eta Carinae was not significantly brighter than this for much of the 17th century. Further sporadic observations over the next 70 years show that Eta Carinae was probably around 3rd magnitude or fainter, in 1827 Burchell specifically noted Eta Carinaes unusual brightness at 1st magnitude, and was the first to suspect that it varied in brightness. John Herschel made a series of accurate measurements in the 1830s showing that Eta Carinae consistently shone around magnitude 1.4 until November 1837. On the evening of December 16,1837, Herschel was astonished to see that it had brightened to slightly outshine Rigel and this event marked the beginning of a roughly 18-year period known as the Great Eruption
7.
Sunspot
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Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear as dark spots compared with surrounding regions. They are areas of reduced surface temperature caused by concentrations of field flux that inhibit convection. Sunspots usually appear in pairs of magnetic polarity. Their number varies according to the approximately 11-year solar cycle, individual sunspots may endure anywhere from a few days to a few months, but eventually decay. Sunspots expand and contract as they move across the surface of the Sun with sizes ranging from 16 kilometers to 160,000 kilometers in diameter, the larger variety are visible from Earth without the aid of a telescope. They may travel at speeds, or proper motions of a few hundred meters per second when they first emerge. Indicating intense magnetic activity, sunspots accompany secondary phenomena such as coronal loops, most solar flares and coronal mass ejections originate in magnetically active regions around visible sunspot groupings. Similar phenomena indirectly observed on other than the sun are commonly called starspots. Although they are at temperatures of roughly 3, 000–4,500 K, isolated from the surrounding photosphere a sunspot would be brighter than the Moon. If the stress on the tubes reaches a limit, they curl up. Convection is inhibited at the points, the energy flux from the Suns interior decreases. The Wilson effect implies that sunspots are depressions on the Suns surface, observations using the Zeeman effect show that prototypical sunspots come in pairs with opposite magnetic polarity. From cycle to cycle, the polarities of leading and trailing sunspots change from north/south to south/north, magnetic pressure should tend to remove field concentrations, causing the sunspots to disperse, but sunspot lifetimes are measured in days to weeks. Sunspot activity cycles about every eleven years, the point of highest sunspot activity during a cycle is known as solar maximum, and the point of lowest activity as solar minimum. This period is observed in most other solar activity and is linked to a variation in the solar magnetic field that changes polarity with this period. Early in the cycle, sunspots appear in the latitudes and then move towards the equator as the cycle approaches maximum. Spots from two adjacent cycles can co-exist for some time, spots from adjacent cycles can be distinguished by direction of their magnetic field. The Wolf number sunspot index counts the number of sunspots
8.
Charles Babbage
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Charles Babbage KH FRS was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage is best remembered for originating the concept of a programmable computer. His varied work in other fields has led him to be described as pre-eminent among the many polymaths of his century, parts of Babbages uncompleted mechanisms are on display in the Science Museum in London. In 1991, a perfectly functioning difference engine was constructed from Babbages original plans, built to tolerances achievable in the 19th century, the success of the finished engine indicated that Babbages machine would have worked. Babbages birthplace is disputed, but according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography he was most likely born at 44 Crosby Row, Walworth Road, London, a blue plaque on the junction of Larcom Street and Walworth Road commemorates the event. His date of birth was given in his obituary in The Times as 26 December 1792, the parish register of St. Marys Newington, London, shows that Babbage was baptised on 6 January 1792, supporting a birth year of 1791. Babbage was one of four children of Benjamin Babbage and Betsy Plumleigh Teape and his father was a banking partner of William Praed in founding Praeds & Co. of Fleet Street, London, in 1801. In 1808, the Babbage family moved into the old Rowdens house in East Teignmouth, around the age of eight, Babbage was sent to a country school in Alphington near Exeter to recover from a life-threatening fever. For a short time he attended King Edward VI Grammar School in Totnes, South Devon, Babbage then joined the 30-student Holmwood academy, in Baker Street, Enfield, Middlesex, under the Reverend Stephen Freeman. The academy had a library that prompted Babbages love of mathematics and he studied with two more private tutors after leaving the academy. The first was a clergyman near Cambridge, through him Babbage encountered Charles Simeon and his evangelical followers and he was brought home, to study at the Totnes school, this was at age 16 or 17. The second was an Oxford tutor, under whom Babbage reached a level in Classics sufficient to be accepted by Cambridge, Babbage arrived at Trinity College, Cambridge, in October 1810. He was already self-taught in some parts of mathematics, he had read in Robert Woodhouse, Joseph Louis Lagrange. As a result, he was disappointed in the standard mathematical instruction available at the university, Babbage, John Herschel, George Peacock, and several other friends formed the Analytical Society in 1812, they were also close to Edward Ryan. In 1812 Babbage transferred to Peterhouse, Cambridge and he was the top mathematician there, but did not graduate with honours. He instead received a degree without examination in 1814 and he had defended a thesis that was considered blasphemous in the preliminary public disputation, but it is not known whether this fact is related to his not sitting the examination. Considering his reputation, Babbage quickly made progress and he lectured to the Royal Institution on astronomy in 1815, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1816. After graduation, on the hand, he applied for positions unsuccessfully
9.
Computer program
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A computer program is a collection of instructions that performs a specific task when executed by a computer. A computer requires programs to function, and typically executes the programs instructions in a processing unit. A computer program is written by a computer programmer in a programming language. From the program in its form of source code, a compiler can derive machine code—a form consisting of instructions that the computer can directly execute. Alternatively, a program may be executed with the aid of an interpreter. A part of a program that performs a well-defined task is known as an algorithm. A collection of programs, libraries and related data are referred to as software. Computer programs may be categorized along functional lines, such as software or system software. The earliest programmable machines preceded the invention of the digital computer, in 1801, Joseph-Marie Jacquard devised a loom that would weave a pattern by following a series of perforated cards. Patterns could be weaved and repeated by arranging the cards, in 1837, Charles Babbage was inspired by Jacquards loom to attempt to build the Analytical Engine. The names of the components of the device were borrowed from the textile industry. In the textile industry, yarn was brought from the store to be milled, the device would have had a store—memory to hold 1,000 numbers of 40 decimal digits each. Numbers from the store would then have then transferred to the mill. It was programmed using two sets of perforated cards—one to direct the operation and the other for the input variables, however, after more than 17,000 pounds of the British governments money, the thousands of cogged wheels and gears never fully worked together. During a nine-month period in 1842–43, Ada Lovelace translated the memoir of Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea, the memoir covered the Analytical Engine. The translation contained Note G which completely detailed a method for calculating Bernoulli numbers using the Analytical Engine and this note is recognized by some historians as the worlds first written computer program. In 1936, Alan Turing introduced the Universal Turing machine—a theoretical device that can model every computation that can be performed on a Turing complete computing machine and it is a finite-state machine that has an infinitely long read/write tape. The machine can move the back and forth, changing its contents as it performs an algorithm
10.
Jean-Baptiste Dumas
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He also developed a method for the analysis of nitrogen in compounds. Dumas was born in Alès, and became an apprentice to an apothecary in his native town. In 1822, he moved to Paris, acting on the advice of Alexander von Humboldt and he was one of the founders of the École centrale des arts et manufactures in 1829. In 1832 Dumas became a member of the French Academy of Sciences, from 1868 until his death in 1884 he would serve the academy as the permanent secretary for its department of Physical Sciences. In 1838, Dumas was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The same year he became correspondent of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands and, Dumas was president of Société dencouragement pour lindustrie nationale from 1845 to 1864. After 1848, he exchanged much of his work for ministerial posts under Napoléon III. He became a member of the National Legislative Assembly, Dumas was a devout Catholic who would often defend Christian views against critics. Dumas died at Cannes in 1884, and is buried at the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris and his is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel tower. The classification of compounds into homologous series was advanced as one consequence of his researches into the acids generated by the oxidation of the alcohols. Dumas also showed that kidneys remove urea from the blood, vapour Densities and Atomic Masses Dumas perfected the method of measuring vapor densities which was also important in determining atomic weights. A known amount of the substance being analyzed was put into a previously weighed glass bulb, the pressure was recorded with a barometer, and the bulb is allowed to cool to determine the mass of the vapor. The universal gas law was used to determine the moles of gas within the bulb. He showed in all elastic fluids observed under the same conditions, Dumas established new values for the atomic mass of thirty elements, setting the value for hydrogen to 1. Determination of Nitrogen In 1833, Dumas developed a method for estimating the amount of nitrogen in an organic compound and he made important revisions to the existing combustion methods with a sophisticated pneumatic trough. These revisions were the flushing of the tube with carbon dioxide. Flushing with carbon dioxide eliminated the nitrogen present in the air that previously occupied the combustion tube, the potassium hydroxide dissolved the passing carbon dioxide gas, which left nitrogen as the only gas in the collection tube. Theory of Substitution and Theory of Chemical Types At the Tuileries palace in Paris, Alexandre Brongniart asked his son-in-law, Dumas, to investigate
11.
Terbium
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Terbium is a chemical element with symbol Tb and atomic number 65. It is a silvery-white, rare metal that is malleable, ductile. The ninth member of the series, terbium is a fairly electropositive metal that reacts with water. Terbium is never found in nature as an element, but it is contained in many minerals, including cerite, gadolinite, monazite, xenotime. Swedish chemist Carl Gustaf Mosander discovered terbium as a separate elemental compound in 1843 and he detected it as an impurity in yttrium oxide, Y2O3. Yttrium and terbium are named after the village of Ytterby in Sweden, Terbium was not isolated in pure form until the advent of ion exchange techniques. As a component of Terfenol-D, terbium is of use in actuators, in sonar systems. Most of the worlds supply is used in green phosphors. Terbium oxide is in fluorescent lamps and TV tubes, Terbium is a silvery-white rare earth metal that is malleable, ductile and soft enough to be cut with a knife. It is relatively stable in air compared to the earlier, more reactive lanthanides in the first half of the lanthanide series, Terbium exists in two crystal allotropes with a transformation temperature of 1289 °C between them. The terbium cation is brilliantly fluorescent, in a bright color that is the result of a strong green emission line in combination with other lines in the orange. The yttrofluorite variety of the mineral fluorite owes its creamy-yellow fluorescence in part to terbium, Terbium easily oxidizes, and is therefore used in its elemental form specifically for research. Single terbium atoms have been isolated by implanting them into fullerene molecules, Terbium has a simple ferromagnetic ordering at temperatures below 219 K. This unusual antiferromagnetism transforms into a disordered state at 230 K. The most common state of terbium is +3, as in Tb 2O3. The +4 state is known in TbO2 and TbF4, Terbium burns readily to form a mixed terbium oxide,8 Tb +7 O2 →2 Tb4O7 In solution, terbium forms only trivalent ions. In those compounds, Tb mostly exhibits the oxidation states +3, Terbium halogenides are obtained by annealing Tb halogenides in presence of metallic Tb in tantalum containers. Terbium also forms sesquichloride Tb2Cl3, which can be reduced to TbCl by annealing at 800 °C
