Run to the Lab! World Changing Experiments. Quiz

Answer: All of these

Newton was born in 1642 in Lincolnshire, England and after schooling attended Cambridge University where he soon became a professor of mathematics in 1669. He published two major works, the three volume 'Principia' ('Philosophić Naturalis Principia Mathematica') which described his three laws of motion, gravity and much more, in a mathematical framework, and 'Opticks' which described his early experiments with light and color. In addition to his scientific efforts, he was a Member of Parliament and Master of the Royal Mint. He was elected president of the Royal Society from 1703 until his death in 1727. He was also knighted by Queen Anne in 1705.

His laws of motion still form the basis of the classical mechanics taught in physics today. It was only the development of quantum mechanics and relativity theory over two hundred years later which showed that Newton's laws were not universally applicable. In general, Newton's laws only 'fail' for objects near the speed of light, in regions of extreme gravity or with subatomic particles - all of which were outside the experience and available experimental methods available during Newton's lifetime.

Answer: Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday (1791-1867) was a British chemist and physicist who is widely regarded as one of the best experimentalists of all time. Not only did he develop electric motor technology, he demonstrated that magnetic fields could bend light and made huge advances in electrochemistry including the concepts of electrodes and oxidation states.

He was the first Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. In addition to his formal academic work, he also contributed to the understanding of the causes of devastating coal mine explosions, and his maritime activities including lighthouse construction and preventing ship corrosion. On ethical grounds, he refused to advise the British Government on the production of chemical weapons for use in the Crimean War (1853-1856).

Answer: Charles Darwin

Part of the inspiration for his work 'On the Origin of Species' came from Reverend Thomas Malthus' study on exponential population growth and limited resources. Darwin saw that when resources were highly limited, then those individuals with the best coping mechanisms would survive.

This would then eventually lead to new species. Alfred Wallace was also researching evolution at the same time focusing on animals and birds in south-east Asia. Charles Lyell and John Hooker combined Wallace's essay and Darwin's unpublished writings and presented these to the Linnean Society in London in July 1858. Contrary to popular belief, Darwin did not coin the term 'survival of the fittest' - that was written by Herbert Spencer after reading Darwin's work.

Although Wallace did not receive the public recognition from Darwin, he is honored by 'Wallace's Line' which divides very different ecoregions in Asia (falling between Bali and Lombok).

Answer: Albert Einstein

Unquestionably, Einstein is most famous for his Relativity Theories relating time, space, matter and energy. Einstein also made very large contributions to understanding random motions of particles in solution (Brownian motion) and particle settling, resolving apparent contradictions between Maxwell's equations on electricity and magnetism and the laws of mechanics, cosmology and quantum mechanics.

At his memorial service, Robert Oppenheimer, the leader of the Manhattan Project made these comments about Einstein the man: 'He was almost wholly without sophistication and wholly without worldliness.

There was always with him a wonderful purity at once childlike and profoundly stubborn.'

Answer: Germ theory of disease

Pasteur (1822-1895) showed an early talent for art, before undertaking a Bachelor of Arts degree followed by a Bachelor of Science degree. He progressed rapidly through the academic ranks and became Professor of Chemistry at the University of Strasbourg, where he also met his wife. Only two of his five children survived to adulthood, the other three succumbing to typhoid Fever, which initiated Pasteur's lifelong passion in disease prevention.

His microbiological research demonstrated how micro-organisms were involved in fermentation and that bacteria grew in predictable fashion in nutrient broths.

He showed how bacteria caused the spoilage of milk and wine. He didn't propose the germ theory but conducted critical experiments that showed the theory to be correct and convinced most of Europe.

In addition, he developed vaccines for rabies and anthrax. His work in chemistry was also important where he developed ideas on how asymmetric molecules can affect the polarity of light. His most famous quote, translated into English, is 'In the field of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind.'

Answer: First antibiotic (penicillin)

Fleming's investigations into staphylococci bacteria commenced the year before (1927) and he had already noted that the enzyme, lysozyme, from egg white had antibacterial activities, following the 1909 work of Laschtschenko. After the serendipitous finding of that dead culture in September 1928, Fleming cultured the fungus with the aid of his assistant Merlin Price, and named it penicillin (from the Penicillium fungus). He then found that penicillin was extremely effective against the gram-positive bacteria that caused pneumonia, meningitis, scarlet fever and diphtheria but ineffective against typhoid fever (his 'target' disease) as this is caused by gram-negative bacteria. Despite his great success, Fleming found it very difficult to culture pure Penicillium mould. It was then Howard Florey and Ernst Chain at Oxford in 1940 who refined mass production techniques which saved countless lives during World War II and afterwards and led to the massive expansion of the pharmaceutical industry.

Fleming later recalled his vital discovery: 'When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionise all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer ... But I suppose that was exactly what I did'.

Answer: Systematic naming of living organisms

The modern binomial nomenclature, invented by Linnaeus, is used to name all living organisms according to their genus and species. It has several major benefits over the earlier, less ordered naming methodologies: it is economical (two word descriptors rather than long phrases), its widespread use throughout the scientific community, and each organism has a unique and stable name (although revisions to individual names are constantly being made, especially with insects and microorganisms). Linnaeus published his three volume 'Species Plantarum', the starting point of modern nomenclature, in 1753.

The acclaim given to Linnaeus by his contemporaries and later followers was remarkable with German writer Goethe stating 'With the exception of Shakespeare and Spinoza, I know no one among the no longer living who has influenced me more strongly.'

Answer: Continental Drift

It wasn't until nearly 50 years later that scientists began to accept Wegener's ideas that continents move, as oceanographic data supported his original contention. Wegener's thinking on continental drift started when he noticed that the shape of the east coast of South America matched the shape of the west coast of Africa, like a giant jig-saw puzzle. (Have a look at an atlas, they still match of course!) He returned to this idea when he discovered the similarity of fossils found in Africa and Brazil.

Despite presenting this evidence, his peers stuck with the original theory of a 'land bridge' which allowed animals to move between the continents before it collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean. Wegener could not explain the driving force for continental drift (or 'continental displacement' as he originally termed the phenomenon). Nevertheless, well after his death in 1930, his ideas formed the basis of the current paradigm of Plate Tectonics.

Answer: Periodic Table of Elements

In 1789 Antoine Lavoisier published a list of the 33 known elements and divided them into categories including gases, metals and non-metals. Over the next 80 years, several chemists organized the growing list of known elements according to various physical properties.

In 1869 and 1870, Mendeleev and German chemist Julius Meyer both published tables based on increased atomic weight with new rows reflecting similar characteristics within columns. Mendeleev's format was subsequently considered superior as he predicted the occurrence of elements yet to be found and made some subtle adjustments due to chemical similarities.

As atomic theory improved over the following 50 years, it became apparent that Mendeleev's arrangement corresponded with modern notions of atomic number.

He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1906 (and again in 1907) but to prove that science can be afflicted by the same petty jealousies suffered by the rest of humankind, his nomination was blocked by a few men including Swedish Nobel Prize winner, Svante Arrhenius, who was apparently annoyed that Mendeleev had been critical of his dissociation theory.

Answer: Human Genome

The Human Genome Project, established by the US Dept of Energy and the US National Institutes of Health in 1990, aimed to characterize ('map') the 20-25,000 genes making up the genome. The research consortium involved scientists from many countries including the US, United Kingdom, China, India, Japan, France and Germany.

Although the genes have been mapped (including the sequences of bases) the next, even larger task is to identify the function of each of these genes. This exciting work is not without controversy as issues including patenting of specific genes and using gene technology to identify future disease risk - with the attendant problems of health insurance - need resolution.