Space Rumors

Birth&Family: Copernicus, Nicholas,(1473–1543), Polish astronomer, born on February 19 in Torun city of Poland in Europe. His fathers name was Copernide and his mothers name was Barbara. Nicholas was the youngest among 2sons and 2daughters. Torun was a big and prosperous trade center at the time of birth of this great scientist, astrologer, mathematician and Philosopher . His father was a scholarly magistrate of the city. Besides, he was a rich, cultured, distinguished social worker and a well wisher of society.

When Nicholas was 10years old, his father died. The children were then put under the care of their uncle Lucas. His uncle was a priest and educationist. He was a respected figure in society. It was but natural for the children to be brought in the culture and religious environment .Young Nicholas had made up mind to become a preacher and accordingly focused his energies in the direction.

Education:At the age of 18, Copernicus joined the Krakow university in the Poland’s capital Krakow . It was a well known institute at that time with some of the best teachers in the land .A highly reputed institute. It attracted intelligent students from as far as Germany, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland who came here to study. Latin was prominent and important medium of instruction . He then started taking deep interest in astronomy, geometry(mathematics) and geography besides other important areas of study then.

It was a time when Columbus was successful in discovering the new continent of America. At that time, sea voyages were on the rise and with bigger ships and increasing sea travel, more emphasis was laid on astronomy. The need for accurate almanacs was felt, for festivals were celebrated according to the dictates of the church. Such was the state of society during that period.

Copernicus education took a different turn. In 1496, after leaving Krakow University, he joined Bologna school of law in Italy. From here he moved to the famous Padua University where he studied medicine during 1501-1505. There after, he took his doctor of Canon Law degree from Ferara University and he arrived and his uncles place in Poland. Discussions and deliberations with his uncle who was a priest led to the conclusion that his doctorate would be useful in taking up religious work. It was believed then that medicine and astrology were closely related. Once again Nicholas went to Padua University and joined the school of medicine.

Predecessors:The famous astronomer and mathematician scientist Ptolemy (90AD-168AD) was born in Alexandria, Egypt. In 150Ad, Ptolemy had made some important observations regarding the motion of celestial bodies. Though he did not entirely understand many peculiarities of these heavenly bodies, he believed in what he saw and accepted the prevailing belief that the earth is stationary and the entire universe revolves around it. Therefore, he believed in the seeming truth that Sun rises in the East and sets in the West.

Four centuries after Ptolemy, had come to the conclusion that the Sun was the center of the universe, but puritans did not heed to his conclusions and he was criticized. Ptolemy was influenced by popular belief. Accepting the Geocentric theory of the universe, Ptolemy based his calculations on it in his volume “the Great Treatise of Astronomy”, better known as “Almegaste”. Hence certain flaws appear in his calculations.

In Greek, “Planet” means “something that wanders on its own”. It had become an acceptable fact with philosophers, religious, propagating the belief that the earth was stationary and the sun and other planets revolved around the earth. Ptolemy, tried to explain the planetary motions and their positions, of which only some were true. Regarding the wrong calculations he had made, he justified them by calling them wandering celestial bodies. Poland’s famous scientist Copernicus was able to understand the complex planetary motions of these celestial bodies, but for this he had assumed that the sun was at the center of the universe.

Major Works: During his learning years, Copernicus got a job as a junior priest in a church. Thus he received knowledge of science, religion and philosophy. Besides, he had studied law, which gave him a deep insight in to the laws governing the church. Add to this his knowledge of Greek and Latin, and he was a well versed scholar at the age of 33. He returned to Poland to serve his ailing uncle. Here his leisure hours were spent in independent study.

This gave him a new insight into the universe and a scientific approach also. Initially, he accepted the ancient Greek and Arab calculations as they were. He had no appropriate instruments, but his was a thinking mind that worked wonders. On the basis of mathematics and philosophy he visualized the universe as a divine arrangement and made some observations. But all these remained in his note books.

Successors: In 1539, a 25-year old German student named George Rheticus came to him and studied the notes and calculations of Copernicus for 2 years. He came to a conclusion that Copernicus observations were note worthy and needed to be published. Taking in to account of the motions of planets Copernicus classified them. He had clearly stated that the sun is at the center of the universe and all planets including the earth revolve around it. He had developed a theory based on it.

His Writings: Taking all his theories in to account along with his theories, he wrote a treatise. But fearing a religious backlash due to Ptolemy’s widespread influence at that time, he did not get it published. In 1543, with Copernicus falling ill, George Rheticus and his other friends took his permission to get his treatise printed and took it to Germany. The book was named as “De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" (The revolution of the heavenly spheres). The total credit goes to Rheticus.

Death: When the printed book reached Copernicus, he was on his death bed. He was in no condition to pass judgment or appreciate it. His heart has gone weak and his brain almost dead. He died soon after seeing the first print of the book in 1543.

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Birth& Family: The world Famous, greatest scientist of the 20th century and the pioneer of the theory of relativity, Albert Hermann Einstein was born on March 14, 1879at Ulm in southern part of Germany in a middle class Jewish family. With in a year of his birth the family migrated to Munich. His father set up an electro-chemical plant and engineering works here. It was then that uncle Jacob stimulated a fascination for mathematics and uncle Caesar Koch stimulated a consuming curiosity about science in Einstein.

Child Hood: Though he led an ordinary life, the child Albert in child hood, was unlike other children. He learnt to speak much later than the average period it takes for a normal child to speak. This worried his parent. He would rather lie down and day dream than play with other children of his age. He disliked physical strain. He even did not like playing any game. But due to his mothers interest in music, he had an ear for good music. He also learned to play violin at the age of 6, which remained through out his life.

Education: Albert’s parents were religious, not fanatics. They admitted him to a nearby catholic school. At 10, he went to secondary school known as Gymnasium where students were given pre-university training. They also taught some Jewish scripture. Thus he received knowledge of both Jewish and catholic faiths in his schools and knew the vices and virtues of both the faiths as well. However he did not like the education system and the compulsory physical training class.

When Albert was 15years old, his father faced financial problems and shifted their family to Milan, Italy. But Albert stayed back in Munich and continued his studies in Gymnasium and completed his diploma. After completion he shifted to Italy and joined in Mathematical physics in Swiss Federal Polytechnic School, Zürich, in Switzerland. Due to his passion in Mathematics he impressed his teachers & principal, & participated in different discussions. Einstein was a brilliant student. He carried the best of opinions and recommendations from his teachers and professors, but failed to get a teaching job. This was a big disappointment for him and joined in Swiss Patent Office at Bernie & in leisure time he continued his study of mathematical physics through self education & research.

His Achievements: During his tenure at the Berne patent office, he proposed the world famous “Theory of Relativity” in 1905. The theory later helped to build a nuclear bomb. At that time Newton & his laws of motions were very famous to the scientific world. These laws gave answers to many questions in Physics. Einstein’s theory of relativity revolutionized physics, according to physics, it was an accepted fact that matter can neither be produced nor destroyed. Einstein discovered that matter can be converted in to energy and vice versa. His findings summed up in an equation E=mc2, where E=energy, m=mass of the matter and c= speed of the light where c= 3*10. (Power of 8) m/s. This is the most famous equation in physics. This equation made it clear that a little quantity of matter is capable of producing massive energy if it is processed in a particular way. Einstein used Planck’s quantum theory to explain the photo electric effect (proposed by Max Planck in 1900).

Along the quantum theory the scientists were attracted to the theory of relativity as well. The great Indian scientist Satyendra Nath Bose, who was one of the student of Sir Ashutosh Mukerjee, with Einstein’s permission translated the researched papers on the theory of relativity from German to English, and got them published from the university. In 1924 when Bose was visiting Europe for his further research, he personally met Einstein and thanked him for granting permission to translate his work. Einstein too expressed his pleasure for excellent translation by Bose. According to Theory of relativity, the rays of light should bend while passing near a massive star. This was verified by Eddingtonin 1919 during a total solar eclipse. He worked as an assistant professor in Zurich university and got approved by many scientists for his writings. He even got many invitations from many institutions from different countries.

In the fall of 1939, in a personal letter to the then American President Roosevelt, he wrote warning that soon German scientists would be able to turn Uranium in to a massive source if energy with a capacity to destroy the world. One such bomb would be enough to destroy a big city or port. He requested the president to sanction a project to counter the German bomb. As per his prediction, exactly 6 years later, on August 6th 1945, America dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima in Japan. About 60,000 people died instantly, 100000 people were seriously injured & about 2, 00,000 people lost their homes. Another such bomb was dropped 3 days later in Nagasaki in Japan. Japan surrendered immediately and the World War 2 was ended.

Einstein was awarded the Nobel price for physics in 1921 for his research on photo electric effect. After putting forward his general theory of relativity & publishing papers in cosmology, he spent many years trying to develop a unified theory combining gravity and electromagnetism. He did not succeed and no one else has succeeded so far. Einstein was a fore most opponent of the deadly weapons of mass destruction like the atom bomb. He felt guilty, for his invention had caused large destruction in Japan. He even corresponded with Gandhiji, the apostle of non-violence, on this issue.

Death: This messenger of peace and a great scientist bade farewell to the world on April 18, 1955 at Princeton. He regretted and was pained by the misuse of atomic energy till his last breath.

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Childhood: Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman, Indian scientist and the first winner of the Nobel Prize for science in Asia, was born on November 7th 1888, in Thruvanaikkaval village, Tiruchchirappalli district in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. His father is Chandra shekhara Iyer graduated with Physics and become lecturer. Since childhood he was slightly built but excelled in studies. From a young age he won many prizes and scholarships.

Education: At the age of 11, he passed matriculation examination with first rank; two years later he cleared the university inter examination with a first class, 1st paving the way for the scholarship. He completed his graduation from Presidency College at Chennai, with principal subjects as English & Physics. In 1904, Raman stood first in BA examination, in Presidency College.

After completing his BA he was to be sent to England for further studies, but due to his weak constitution, he cannot with stand the harsh climate of England, which was told by a civil surgeon in Chennai. Thus, he decided to study MA Physics from the same college. Due to the liberal professor in Physics, Raman has carried out many experiments with out any guidance. He carried out research in the diffraction of light. He gave his research papers to the Physics Professor, but due to the busy schedule, he was unable to reed it till 3months. So, Raman finally sent his research papers to London’s Philosophical Magazine, and was published in 1906. It was his unique achievement. In 1907, he bagged all medals and prizes, along with MA Physics.

Raman’s life: Since his ill health did not permit him to go to abroad, he decided to join the Government service. He appeared for the financial civil services examination and stood first. Raman was married to Loksundari. At that time Calcutta was the financial capital of India and Raman was appointed as the Deputy Accountant General there. One day while going to office, he came across a board bearing the name Indian association for cultivation of science. He visited the place and got all the information, came to know that late Dr Mahindra Lal Sircar has set up this organization to popularize Science among the masses.

Fortunately Raman got permission to carry out experiments. Before and after his working hours Raman use to stay there and continue his research. Thus his interest in research revived and begins to bloom thereafter. Here he had to do all the work for himself. Ashubabu the only servant of the organization would help him all the times. 3decades after the organization Raman’s 1st paper was published in ‘Proceedings of Royal Society’, London. Mean while on the basis of his research papers, he was awarded the Wood burn Research Medal. This was the 1st honor he received outside the country. This way the ‘Indian Association for Cultivation of Science’ too received recognition from abroad. The Chemistry and Biology departments also got activated. Raman also started the quarterly Magazine for the organization.

IN 1916, England’s Science Magazine ‘Nature’ praised this institute and Raman’s research work in a detailed article. Raman had totally dedicated himself to the Science and research work here. Mean while he was called to teach Physics in Kolkata University. He left his job of Rs.1,100 of Government and joined Rs 600 in the University. . In 1917, Raman resigned from finance department and joined as professor of Physics in Kolkata University. Now Raman’s timings changed from morning to evening at the association and at afternoon he worked for the improvement of Physics department and research at the University. In 1919, with the death of Amrut Lal Sircar, the honorary secretary of the association, Raman was elected as the new secretary. In 1921, Kolkata University honored him with an honorary doctorate and from then he was called as Dr.C.V.Raman.

Raman was selected to represent Kolkata University at the University congress held at Oxford in England. Here he got an opportunity to meet so many scientists like Sir Ernest Rutherford, Sir J J Thomson and exchange their ideas. Here he also got a facility to conduct some experiments. During the Mediterranean Sea voyage, the blue color baffled him and it led to the discovery known as “Raman effect”. Ramanathan is the first student to get a PhD degree under Raman, and is the person who witnessed a phenomenon called ‘Feeble Fluorescence’. In 1924, he was elected fellow of the Royal society of London, the same year he undertook the second foreign trip to Europe, America, and Canada. At the California Institute of Technology he lectured for 4 months as a guest faculty. There his work become more systematic and his approach to work had also improved. His research focused on the scattering of light, and also came to understand ‘feeble fluorescence’. In February 1928, he announced the discovery of the historic Raman Effect.

Raman Effect: When light falls on any object the incident light is partly absorbed, reflected or passed through the object. It also scatters light at times. Due to this new discovery, there was a surge of curiosity at the Indian association laboratory in Kolkata. Visitors from India and abroad came to congratulate Raman for his discovery, for which he was awarded the Noble prize for Physics in 1930. The British Government in the country honored him with the title “Sir”. It was the highest honors given to the scientist, not only in India but also in Asia. He now came to be known as Sir. C.V.Raman, and was at the peak of his career.

Achievements: In 1932 Raman left Kolkata and joined in Indian Institute of Science as director, Bangalore. In 1938, he resigned from this post and continued to work as Physics professor. Today IIs is one of the leading institutes for higher learning and research. During his life time, Raman conducted research on scattering of light , sound, color, the Physics of minerals, diamonds, crystal, besides research on color of flowers, vision etc. Of his 465 publications, three were published from Chennai, 177 from Kolkata, and the remaining from Bangalore. In 1988, the Indian Institute of Science brought out all the writings of Raman, subject wise in 6 volumes.

Demise: On November 21, 1970, he passed away at his dwelling at the Raman Research Institute, in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The plants and trees that Raman himself had grown were now silent, probably in a state of shock. His last rites were performed there.

Notable awards:
Knight Bachelor (1929)
Nobel Prize in Physics (1930)
Bharat Ratna
Lenin Peace Prize

List of Scientists

The main objective of this post is to know each and every scientist, who worked on space.

1. C.V Raman
2. Newton Isaac
3. Albert Einstein
4. Copernicus Nicholas
5. Galileo
6. Hubble, Edwin Powell
7. Kepler Johannes
8. Ptolemy

There was no reason why it started, and there was no way for it to stop. It was a self-initiating activity, destined to continue on forever. These regularly-occurring explosions should be occurring in our own time. When you go out tonight you ought to be able to see exploding stars in the sky. Each time these stars exploded outward, they gathered back together and exploded again. We are told that our own sun had its third explosion about 5 billion years ago. But, quite well aware that stars are not now regularly exploding in the sky, thetheorists came up with the idea that about a million years ago the explosions mysteriously stopped! Why did they set that terminal date at "a million years ago"? Because—at the time that the Big Bang theory was devised—the most distant stars were thought to be a million light years away, and since they are not now seen to be exploding—it was decided that they must have stopped exploding just before the time that their starlight was sent to us from that those farthest distances from Earth. It took a science fiction writer to bring all these new ideas to the attention of the scientists. Because it is a concept about how the entire universe began, the Big Bang Is called a "cosmology."

REARRANGING TIME—Half a century ago, it was theorized that the universe might be two billion years old. But in order to make room for this new "Big Bang" theory of the origin of matter, the age of the universe was pushed back to between 10 to 20 billion years old, with the Big Bang occurring most probably 15 billion years ago. This strange theory of fog coming out of nothing and then pressing itself into stars may sound like foolishness, but we are here discussing the only main theory of the origin of matter accepted by evolutionary scientists in this, the last half of our enlightened twentieth century. Since this is a major part of the overall evolutionary theory taught in colleges and universities all over the land, we do well to learn a few of the scientific reasons why it is totally impossible!

Big Bang theory was totally rejected at first. But those who supported it had predicted that the ignition of the Big Bang would have left behind a sort of 'hot flash' of radiation. If a big black wood stove produces heat that you can feel, then in a similar manner, the Big Bang should produce its own kind of heat that would echo throughout the universe.
In 1965, without looking for it, two physicists at Bell Labs in New Jersey found it.At first, ArnoPenzias and Robert Wilson were bothered because, while trying to refine the world's most sensitive radio antenna, they couldn't eliminate a bothersome source of noise. They picked up this noise every where they pointed the antenna.
At first they thought it was bird droppings.The antenna was so sensitive it could pick up the heat of bird droppings (which certainly are warm when they're brand new) but even after cleaning it off, they still picked up this noise.
This noise had actually been predicted in detail by other astronomers, and after a year of checking and re-checking the data, they arrived at a conclusion:This crazy Big Bang theory really was correct.
Penzias and his partner, Robert Wilson, won the Nobel Prize for their discovery of this radiation.The Big Bang theory is now one of the most thoroughly validated theories in all of science.