Physics Timeline

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Sources (MLA Format) “Confucius.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 27 Apr. 2017, www.biography.com/scholar/confucius#:~:text=Confucius%2C%20also%20known%20as%20Kong,interaction%20and%20setting%20educational%20standards. Idealism, www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialsciences/ppecorino/intro_text/Chapter%204%20Metaphysics/Idealism.htm. “Main Page.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, www.wikipedia.org/. Stevens, Michael Vsauce, director. The Banach–Tarski Paradox. YouTube, YouTube, 31 July 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=s86-Z-CbaHA.

Physics Timeline

Charles Darwin

Contributions to Science: He is the founder of Darwinism, which is the theory that all life evolved through natural selection and mutation (small inherited variations which will have a larger impact over time). "Survival of the fittest" is a common phrase mostly used out of context, but Darwin meant it as the ability of one organism to compete, reproduce and survive. Initially it was controversial since religion does not support the idea of evolution, more that we were just created rather than descend from other mammals, reptiles and single-cell organisms. He also studied and research geology and used that knowledge to further support the idea of evolution with Pangaea and fossils.

Life: Darwin grew up in a fairly wealthy family and was the 5th child of 6. His family was very kind, his grandparents being abolitionists and his father a doctor, and Darwin decided to apprentice as a doctor with his father to help treat the poor. Eventually, he went to a proper medical school but got bored by the biology courses and actually preferred physical activities over study. Eventually his inspiration was reignited through entomology and became a pupil of John Stevens Henslow, a famous botanist. After a lot of travel and exploration he gathered a plethora of evidence to prove the idea of evolution.

Date of Birth: February 12, 1809 AD

Isaac Newton

Contributions to Science: Known as one of the greatest mathematicians, 3 of Newtons largest discoveries and/or achievements are the theory of universal gravitation (gravity), the nature of white light, and calculus. Gravity is the term used to describe the force that pulls things towards the centre of a mass, most notably large masses such as planets will have a larger pull keeping things on or around them. The nature of white light is that a white beam of light complete mixture of all of the wavelengths of the visible spectrum, and can be divided into a rainbow. Calculus is "the mathematical study of continuous change". Newton established a lot of fundamentals and will probably forever be recognized as one of the smartest people on Earth.

Life: Newton, who is technically a Jr., didn't have the best upbringing, where his mother remarried (after her husband died) and left him in the care of his grandmother, so he grew disdain towards his mother and step-father. School was not much better in the social aspect, since Newton was bullied, and his mother actually wanted him to become a farmer and leave school. He pushed through it and shone with a knack for math. If he had not had determination the progress of mankind would have most likely been halted for some time, so we can thank Newton for complicated math. He was also quite religious and never married.

Date of Birth: January 4, 1643 AD

Aristotle

Contributions to Science: Aristotle has contributed a lot to many different fields of science: kinesis, epistemology, metaphysics, optics, astronomy, geology, biology, psychology and many more. The contribution I would like to mainly talk about is which came first, the chicken or the egg? I love exploring the concept of infinity and supposedly unending paradoxes. One could not exist without the other so how could one exist in the first place? Well, with what we know now about biology it is most likely that a certain species of bird had one or more eggs with a mutation which turned them into "chickens", but you can still trace each species down further and further without ever truly having an answer, since what defines a chicken. He also presented the concept of four causes, there will always be four factors as to why something is the way it is, which are material cause, formal cause, efficient cause and final cause. Setting up basic "laws" about things is a chance few people ever get to explore or establish so with him being the first to explore and share these concepts of what could define a chair or the meaning of your life, he established himself as someone very important in history.

Life: Once again since he was alive so long ago there are not many confirmed sources containing details about Aristotle's early life, but he had many people who helped him become the man he was. His father was a physician so from a young age he learned about biological and medicinal information. He also had Plato as a mentor, and later ended up having almost opposite ideals to him (rather than everything having an ideal form, he wished to study and actually understand the real world). He had a good education and from what I understand he had a normal life for that time period.

Date of Birth: 384 BCE

Gregor Mendel

Contributions to Science: Mendel established a large amount of the rules and core of heredity. He used pea plants as an experiment, and used 7 distinct characteristics which were supposedly hereditary; plant height, pod shape and color, seed shape and color, and flower position and color. After observing multiple generations of these sets of pea plants, he a distinction between genes, so there are now dominant traits and recessive traits. Dominant genes will show over recessive genes, but that doesn't mean the recessive genes have necessarily been bred out, so in a future generation there's a possibility of a plant having two recessive genes and showing that trait.

Life: Known as the father of modern genetics, Mendel had a huge impact on biology and more specifically heredity. He grew up on a farm with his family, and mostly worked as a gardener and beekeeper, but still went to school to pursue an academic career. He studied practical and theoretical philosophy and physics, but had to leave school due to illness as well as a lack of means to pay for education. Therefore, he became a monk (to have free education) and was bestowed the name Gregor in place of his birth name, Johann. Johann Karl Nestler (different person) was a significant figure in Mendel's life in the sense that he taught him heredity. However, Mendel ended up stopping his scientific research since he had now gained too much responsibility as a monk (actually becoming an abbot), and his work was widely ignored or forgotten until the 1900s where he gained the recognition he deserves. Perhaps he wasn't viewed as academically smart since he had done poorly on some important exams, but who knows what else could have been discovered by Mendel if he had the funds and access to materials.

Date of Birth: July 20, 1822 AD

Dmitri Mendeleev

Contributions to Science: The periodic table of elements! Supposedly coming to him in a dream, the PToE is a chart containing all of the elements known to mankind. Initially only being able to place a few elements (as well as not knowing all of the elements), Mendeleev's table beautifully showed how elements work and all of the patterns and rules they follow. Without naming them all, the patterns state each element must have a certain amount of protons to be defined as that element, and that atomic weight and amount of electrons/neutron/protons will increase as you move from left to right, and reactivity increases from top to bottom (except the noble gases which do not react). The PToE is an amazing tool which gives so much information about each element in such a little amount of space and definitely helped advance chemistry since if they were missing an element, they would know its features according to the patterns of the elements around it.

Life: Mendeleev was raised as a Christian by his mother and father, who was the principal of a gymnasium, so Mendeleev had exposure to both religion and sciences. He had 16 other siblings, and after his father lost his job due to becoming blind and his mother's place of work burning down, Mendeleev's family decided to move (for financial reasons). Despite the bad circumstances he still managed to get a good education and a master in science. He eventually published a textbook titled Organic Chemistry, and received an award for it. Eventually he became a professor and taught chemistry to others.

Date of Birth: February 8, 1834 AD

Reginald Punnett

Contributions to Science: Famously known for Punnett squares, they act as a visual representation of Mendel's concept of heredity. To talk more in depth about heredity, it's not always as simple as dominant and recessive genes, since there 3 types of dominance: codominant genes, dominant genes and incomplete dominance. There are also other factors which may impact the physicality of an organism such as chromosomes, alleles and sex-linked genes. By standing on the shoulders of Mendel, both of these men were credited in establishing a lot of base concepts in heredity. While his impact is not nearly as prominent as Mendel's, he still earned the recognition he has since he helped further develop this field or biology.

Life: Bedridden as a child, Punnett developed an interest in literature and history. Eventually he went on to study and get a degree in zoology, but during this time was also when Mendel's work was beginning to become revived. He and William Bateson collaborated for years, and most of Punnett's work can be summarized from his book "Heredity in Poultry" (since he used chickens to study genes, as well as peas).

Date of Birth: June 20, 1875 AD

Albert Einstein

Contributions to Science: His work has basically impacted literally all of modern physics. The most iconic and widespread equation he wrote is E=mc^2 (energy = mass x the speed of light). It's hard to create a summary of what he had achieved in his lifetime since his work revolutionized our understanding of space, time, gravity, and the universe. He worked in relativity and light which is not something everyone wants to learn about, but his impact was so large almost everybody knows his name and significance. He was also wise and philosophical, since physics and philosophy go hand in hand. He encourages people to do the best they can since he was no smarter than anyone else, he just put in that extra effort. "Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible." - Einstein

Life: Einstein was exceptionally intelligent, excelling in math and physics since he was a child. He surpassed any expectations of understanding that students should have at his age, and taught himself a lot of math and physics. He was unbelievably smart so it's no surprise he founded the basic elements, principles, laws, etc. of modern physics. Otherwise his family life was pretty normal for that time period, but it's hard to iterate just how insanely smart this man was!

Date of Birth: March 14, 1879 AD

Alan Turing

Contributions to Science: He was a "mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist", but his most significant work was creating the Turing machine, or modernly known as the computer. Without Turing, the course of WWII is uncertain, but we do know that he saved millions of lives. It's hard to explain the complexity behind the idea of the computer so I will use a direct description, "A Turing machine is a mathematical model of computation that defines an abstract machine that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. Despite the model's simplicity, given any computer algorithm, a Turing machine capable of simulating that algorithm's logic can be constructed." It's a shame when incredible people cannot fully explore their minds and ideas due to societal or financial obstacles, since I believe Turing could have contributed a lot more to mathematics and physics. "The Imitation Game" is a historical film about the life of Turing and I recommend watching it if you are interested in his life.

Life: Turing was born and raised in England during WWII. During his school years, he was bright, and he had a best friend named Christopher Collan Morcom who unfortunately passed away due to bovine tuberculosis. Morcom was such a significant person in Turing's life that his death impacted him greatly, and influenced him to work harder on his studies. The reason his death was so painful was due to Morcom being his "first love" during a time where being homosexual was illegal, so not having other friends he lost so much from one person. He continued school and excelled in math, and was interested in cryptology and cryptography since a young age. Not to go on too long but eventually his intelligence was recognized and he was hired by the government to aid in decoding secret Nazi messages, and introduced the idea of a machine which could decode the messages for them since they could not do it by hand in time. It cost a lot of money but the end product was a giant computer. For a long time, his and his coworkers work needed to be hidden according to what was a government NDA, and Turing didn't live to see the appreciation he deserves. Turing committed suicide after being arrested for homosexuality, and while nothing is certain about his death it is theorized he was extremely depressed and anxious about the police.

Date of Birth: June 23, 1912 AD

Plato

Contributions to Science: Plato founded idealism, which is "the metaphysical view that associates reality to ideas in the mind rather than to material objects." Essentially it means believing in your own thoughts and ideas of perfection. It makes reality relative to each person, much like the speed of an object being relative to the observer. You strive to make your reality fit to your ideals. It may not always be realistic, but it means reality is somewhat founded by ourselves and our own ideas as well as natural laws and science. Plato believed the elements were only earth, water, fire and air, that our spherical earth was at the centre of the universe, and that there are three streams of light through which we see; one from our eyes, one from what is being seen, and one from the light source. Obviously these aren't all perfectly true, but have been much more elaborated on by future philosophers and scientists. Elemental reactions which occur between matter have much more elements at play, the universe could be ever-expanding so we are at the centre as well as not at the centre, and the concepts of light with physics and bodily functions with biology the way we perceive things with our eyes became much more clear.

Life: Exact details regarding Plato's life are mostly muddy and uncertain, however there are still documents and recounts that clear the waters a bit. To begin, his actual name is unknown, as Plato was his nickname (technically Platon). Since a young age he was always described as bright with enthusiasm for learning, so it's no surprise he continued down that path in his life and became a famous philosopher. Plato had also taken inspiration from the teachings of Socrates and Pythagoras.

Date of Birth: 428 BCE or 427 BCE

Confucius

Contributions to Science: Confucianism can be generally summarized by respect, righteousness and morality, and that by nature people are good. It also delves into spirituality, or more specifically how there are two selves; inner self (the true self) and non-self/physical self (the false self). Confucianism creates a kind of link between the two extremes of science and nature, discovering the world or discovering yourself. Unrelated to Confucius directly but what I still thought was interesting is that it can be related to physics with the banach-tarski paradox. It's a mathematical paradox in which 1=2 or 1+1=1. Without getting too much into it, I mostly wanted to explore the concept of countable and uncountable infinity. One self is actually two selves, where the two selves make one self.

Life: Little is known as fact about Confucius, but there is a general consensus as to what was most likely. He was raised in China by his mother, Yan Zhengzai. He went to a commoner's school and worked many jobs throughout his early life, such as barnyard animal caretaker, as well as multiple jobs for the government. He got married at the age of 19 to a woman named Qiguan and in the near future had 2 children. His working in the government eventually developed into politics, and Confucius became a political figure. He believed that a leader needs self-discipline in order to remain humble and treat citizens with compassion. In his time, he was never widely recognized, however in modern times he is known as one of the greatest philosophers.

Date of Birth: September 28, 551 BCE