 |
Niels Bohr (1885-1962) received
his doctorate in physics from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) in 1911. He then
studied under British physicist Ernest Rutherford. In 1913 Bohr published a theory
about the structure of the atom that improved the Rutherford model, proposing that
electrons travel only in certain successively larger orbits, and that the outer orbits
determine the atom's chemical properties. Bohr also described the way atoms emit radiation
when an electron jumps from an outer orbit to an inner one. He won the Nobel Prize in
physics in 1922 for his theory.
|
Niels Bohr kept a horse shoe over his
desk. One day a student asked if he really believed that a horse shoe brought luck.
Bohr replied, "I understand that it brings you luck if you believe in it or
not." |
|
 |
|
 |
Louis-Victor duc de Broglie (1892-1987).
Prince de Broglie studied history at the Sorbonne in Paris, in preparation for a career in
the French diplomatic service. At the age of 18 he began to study physics, and after a lot of considerations decided to change his
career. During research for his doctoral thesis he put forward his theory of
electron waves. It was published in 1923. For his work, he received
the Nobel Prize in physics in 1929.
|
"As in my conversations with my
brother we always arrived at the conclusion that in the case of x-rays one had both waves
and corpuscles, thus suddenly [ ...] I got the idea that one had to extend this duality to
material particles, especially to electrons. And I realized that [...] in quantum
phenomena one obtains quantum numbers, which are rarely found in mechanics but occur very
frequently in wave phenomena and in all problems dealing with wave motion." |
|
|
|
 |
Paul Dirac (1902-1984) was
educated at the Bristol University. He graduated with first-class honors in
electrical engineering in 1921, and in mathematics, in 1923. He developed his
matrix formulation of quantum mechanics at Cambridge in mid-1920s. In 1932 he was
appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, the post once held by Sir Isaac
Newton and today by Stephen Hawking. In 1933 he obtain the Nobel Prize in physics
(with Schrödinger) for
his work (he was so shy, that he even considered for a while not to accept it). Dirac also
combined the theories of quantum mechanics and special relativity, explained the
mysterious magnetic and "spin" properties of the electron, and predicted the
existence of a positron.
|
During a lecture, Dirac derives several
equations of quantum mechanics. A courageous student raises his finger and says timidly:
"Professor Dirac, I do not understand the second equation." Dirac continues
writing without any reaction. The student supposes Dirac has not heard him and raises his
finger again, and says, louder this time: "Professor Dirac, I do not understand the
second equation." No reaction. Somebody in the first row decides to intervene
and says: "Professor Dirac, that man is asking a question." "Oh,"
Dirac replies, "I thought he was making a statement." |
|
|
|
 |
Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958) was born in
Vienna, educated in Munich, initially did his research at Götingen, Hamburg and Copenhagen universities. He proposed a quantum number for electron spin in 1924, and
his formulation of the "Exclusion Principle" was made in 1928. For this
work he received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1945. He obtained American citizenship in
1946 (he was a visiting professor in Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton), and Swiss
citizenship in 1949 (he was a professor at ETH).
Pauli is asked by his colleague who is a
journal editor to review a scientific manuscript submitted to the journal by another
famous scientist. After a quick reading Pauli runs back into the editor office and
pronounces his verdict: "This isn't right. This isn't even
wrong!" |
|
|
|
 |
Linus Pauling (1901-1994) was born in
Portland (Oregon). He received his doctorate in 1925 from the California Institute
of Technology and remained on its teaching staff until 1963. He was a chemistry professor
at Stanford University from 1969 to 1973. He won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1954 for
his research on the nature of the chemical bond (electronegativity,
hybridization and resonance were some of his ideas) and its use in
understanding the structure of complex substances such as protein and
antibodies. He campaigned vigorously
against nuclear weapons and was awarded the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize. He was also known for
his belief that large doses of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) could extend a person's life by
decades and ward off colds, cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Pauling got interested in chemistry at 13,
doing chemical reaction with his friend Lloyd Jefress (who became a leading psychologist
later).
" When I was fifteen [...] Lloyd Jefress and I were visiting my grandmother in
Oswego, Oregon, and she said to me, "What are you going to be when you grown up,
Linie?" And I said, "I am going to be a chemical engineer." Lloyd Jefress
said, "No he isn't, he is going to be a professor." But I went on and got my
bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at Oregon Agricultural College because I didn't
know that there were such people as professional chemists. " |
|
|
|
 |
Ervin Schrödinger (1887-1961).
This Austrian was a highly gifted man with a broad education in chemistry, botany,
Italian painting, and, of course, physics. He abhorred memorization of data and learning
from books. His great discovery, Schrödinger's wave equation, was made in
1926. For his work he shared (with Dirac) the
Nobel Prize in physics in 1933.
|
Throughout his scientific career and also
in his personal life, Schrödinger never tried to achieve a specific goal, nor did he
follow any extensive project. He always found it difficult to work with others, even with
his own students. He always carried his belongings in a backpack (very uncommon in
those times) and walked everywhere, rather than use city transportation. |
|
|
|
|
 |
Johannes van der Waals
(1837-1923). Dutch physicist started his career as an elementary school
teacher. After a revision of the law requiring knowledge of Latin and Greek for
graduation, he received (in 1873) Ph.D. degree for the thesis with the now famous
"correction" for the ideal gas law that takes into consideration the actual
volume of the molecules and their interactions (know today as van der Waals forces). In
1910 he received the Nobel Prize in physics for his work. |
|
|
 |
Frank (Rocky) Clifford Whitmore (1887-1947) received his
doctorate in chemistry from Harvard in 1914. He taught at Williams College, Rice
Institute, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, and since 1929 at Penn State
where he was a dean of School of Chemistry and Physics, while he himself directed 118 Ph.D. students (of the 215 total in the chemistry department at that time). He
was the
first to develop the concept of a carbocation (in 1932) and provided the first explanation
of carbocation rearrangements. He contributed to the war effort, working on
super-explosives, synthesis of anti-malarials and production of penicillin.
|
During the WW I while at Rice, Whitmore
tried to help the word effort by making poison gases from arsenic and mercury compounds.
There was no hood available to remove the fumes, so Whitmore and his assistant "used
the Texas breezes to blow things away." After making a test bomb, they carefully
gauged the wind and thrown the bomb against the parapet so the wind would blow it
away. On one occasion the wind just changed. After they recovered, they were
"impressed with a peculiar odor", that was later recognized as that of deadly
gas lewisite. |
|
|
|
