Without them our lives would be completely different.
The history of mankind is the history of the scientific discoveries that made the world a more technologically advanced and perfect, improves the quality of life, helping to understand the world around us. In this review of 15 scientific discoveries that had a key focus on the development of civilization and which people still use today.
1. Penicillin
As you know, Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin (the first antibiotic) in 1928. If this hadn’t happened, people probably still would have died from such things as stomach ulcer, dental abscess, tonsillitis, and scarlet fever, staph infection, leptospirosis etc.
2. Mechanical watch
It should be noted that there are still a lot of controversy regarding what can be considered the first mechanical clock. However, as a rule, their inventor is a Chinese monk and mathematician I-Hsing (723 ad). This innovative discovery has allowed people to measure time.
3. Screw pump
One of the most important ancient Greek scientists, Archimedes is believed to have developed one of the first water pump that pushes water up the tube. It completely transformed the irrigation.
4. The force of gravity
It is a well known story – the famous English mathematician and physicist Isaac Newton discovered gravity after he head in 1664 the Apple fell. His discovery explains why things fall to the ground and why the planets revolve around the Sun.
5. Pasteurization
Discovered by French scientist Louis Pasteur in the 1860-ies pasteurization is a heat treatment process that destroys pathogenic microorganisms in certain foods and drinks such as wine, beer and milk. This discovery had a huge impact on the health of the population.
6. Steam engine
It is well known that modern civilization has grown up through the industrial revolution, the main cause of which was the steam engine. In fact, this engine is not invented overnight, but rather it gradually developed for about one hundred years the 3 British inventors: Thomas Severin, Thomas Newcomen and (most famously) James Watto.
7. Electricity
Fateful discovering electricity belongs to the British scientist Michael Faraday. He also discovered the basic principles of electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis. During his experiments Faraday also built the first generator, which produces electricity.
8. DNA
Many people believe that American biologist James Watson and English physicist Francis Crick discovered DNA in the 1950-ies, but in fact, deoxyribonucleic acid was first identified in the late 1860-ies by the Swiss chemist Friedrich Miescher. Then, in the decades following the opening Misera, other scientists conducted a lot of research that helped to understand how organisms pass on their genes and how they control the cells.
9. Anesthesia
Rude forms of anesthesia, such as opium, Mandragora and alcohol, was used in the year 70 of our era. But only in 1847, the American surgeon Henry Bigelow determined that ether and chloroform may be anesthetics, thereby making painful surgery much more bearable.
10. The theory of relativity
Two interrelated theories of albert Einstein – the special theory of relativity and General theory of relativity was published in 1905. They have transformed theoretical physics and astronomy in the twentieth century, replacing the 200-year-old theory of mechanics created by Newton. This theory became the basis for much of modern science.
11. X-rays
German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discovered x-rays in 1895 when he was studying the phenomena accompanying the passage of electric current through a gas of extremely low pressure. For this pioneering discovery of Roentgen was awarded the first ever Nobel prize in physics in 1901.
12. Periodic table
In 1869, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, examining the atomic weights of the elements, he noticed that the chemical elements can be formed into groups with similar properties. In the end, he managed to create the first periodic table that became one of the most important discoveries in the field of chemistry.
13. Infrared radiation
Infrared radiation was revealed by the British astronomer William Herschel in 1800 when he studied the heating effect of different colours of light using a prism and thermometers. In modern days infrared light is used in many fields, including tracking systems, heating, meteorology, astronomy, etc.
14. Nuclear magnetic resonance
Today it is used as a very accurate and effective diagnostic tool in medicine. And the first nuclear magnetic resonance was first described and measured by the American physicist I. Rabi in 1938. For this discovery he was awarded the Nobel prize in physics in 1944.
15. Paper
Although the predecessors of modern paper, such as papyrus and amate existed in the Mediterranean and pre-Columbian America, respectively, these materials were not of this paper. For the first time the process of making paper was recorded in China during the Eastern Han (25-220 ad).
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