Early Egypt recorded the names of the architects who built the great pyramids. The first great architect, Imhotep, who lived almost 5,000 years ago, is also the first scientist known by name today.
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| Statuette of Imhotep in the Louvre. By Unknown - Hu Totya, Wikipedia |
Thales of Miletus (c. 624 - c. 546 BC) was a Greek philosopher and mathematician who is considered as one of the first scientists in history. He departed from supernatural explanations and instead sought rational causes for natural phenomena through observation and reasoning.
Thales proposed an elemental theory, asserting that water served as the fundamental substance from which all matter derived. According to his viewpoint, various forms of matter were essentially manifestations of water. This concept marked a significant departure from the prevailing mythological explanations of the time.
In addition to his philosophical ideas, Thales engaged in experimental investigations. He conducted experiments involving magnets and amber, discovering their ability to attract iron and light objects, respectively, when subjected to rubbing. These findings contributed to the understanding of magnetic and electrostatic phenomena.
During the Islamic Golden Age, scientists were paid the equivalent of what pro athletes are paid today.
The English philosopher and Franciscan friar Roger Bacon, was an early advocate of experimental science; he believed that science and mathematics could serve the Christian faith. In 1268 Roger Bacon published Opus Magnus, his compendium of all branches of knowledge.
Sir Francis Bacon argued for the possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon inductive reasoning and careful observation of events in nature. He was the first ever scientist to be knighted.
Before the 17th century began, science and scientists were not truly recognized. At first, people like Sir Isaac Newton were called natural philosophers, because there was no concept of the word "scientist" at the time.
Sir Isaac Newton was the first scientist to be buried in Westminster Abbey.
Caroline Herschel, the younger sister of astronomer William Herschel, was the first female scientist to ever be paid for her work—King George III paid her £50 a year for her discoveries.
The founder of the Smithsonian, James Smithson, was a British scientist who died on June 27, 1829. He willed his fortune to his nephew and in the event his nephew died with no heirs, to the US government to found an "Establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men," having never visited the US.
English philosopher and historian of science William Whewell coined the term "scientist" in 1833, and it first appeared in print in Whewell's anonymous 1834 review of Scottish polymath Mary Somerville's On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences published in the Quarterly Review. He used the word "scientist" because the usual term "man of science" didn’t apply and Somerville wasn’t just a physicist, geologist, or chemist - she was all three. The word was generally adopted after 1840.
Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen, the German chemist behind the Bunsen burner, was born in 1811. The scientist refused to take a patent out on the invention because he did not feel he should make a profit from science, in the pursuit of which he lost an eye in a laboratory blast.
The Big Bang theory was formulated in 1927 by Georges Lemaitre, a Belgian Catholic priest and likely one of the greatest scientists you’ve never heard of, Lemaître was also the first to present the idea of an expanding universe, derived from General Relativity and later known as Hubble's law.
Sir James Chadwick, CH, FRS (October 20, 1891 – July 24, 1974) was an English physicist who was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the neutron in 1932. Chadwick intended studying mathematics, but he was interviewed by a physicist who assumed Chadwick wanted to study physics. He was too shy to contradict him, so ended up enrolling as a physics major.
The scientist who analyzed the plutonium for the first atomic bomb was called Mr Doom.
During the Siege of Leningrad in World War II, nine Soviet scientists died of starvation while protecting the world's largest seed bank, refusing to eat what they saw as their country's future.
In 1952 Albert Einstein was offered the Presidency of the State of Israel. He declined, saying that as a scientist trained to deal with objective facts, he lacked the aptitude and experience to deal with people.
Leonard Nimoy met many fans who became scientists because of Spock's example, and talked to the Star Trek actor as if he were a fellow researcher. Nimoy always nodded and told them, "Well, it certainly looks like you’re headed in the right direction."
90% of all the scientists that have ever existed are alive today.
The English philosopher and Franciscan friar Roger Bacon, was an early advocate of experimental science; he believed that science and mathematics could serve the Christian faith. In 1268 Roger Bacon published Opus Magnus, his compendium of all branches of knowledge.
Sir Francis Bacon argued for the possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon inductive reasoning and careful observation of events in nature. He was the first ever scientist to be knighted.
Before the 17th century began, science and scientists were not truly recognized. At first, people like Sir Isaac Newton were called natural philosophers, because there was no concept of the word "scientist" at the time.
Sir Isaac Newton was the first scientist to be buried in Westminster Abbey.
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| Newton in a 1702 portrait by Godfrey Kneller |
Caroline Herschel, the younger sister of astronomer William Herschel, was the first female scientist to ever be paid for her work—King George III paid her £50 a year for her discoveries.
The founder of the Smithsonian, James Smithson, was a British scientist who died on June 27, 1829. He willed his fortune to his nephew and in the event his nephew died with no heirs, to the US government to found an "Establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men," having never visited the US.
English philosopher and historian of science William Whewell coined the term "scientist" in 1833, and it first appeared in print in Whewell's anonymous 1834 review of Scottish polymath Mary Somerville's On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences published in the Quarterly Review. He used the word "scientist" because the usual term "man of science" didn’t apply and Somerville wasn’t just a physicist, geologist, or chemist - she was all three. The word was generally adopted after 1840.
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| William Whewell, c. 1860s |
Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen, the German chemist behind the Bunsen burner, was born in 1811. The scientist refused to take a patent out on the invention because he did not feel he should make a profit from science, in the pursuit of which he lost an eye in a laboratory blast.
The Big Bang theory was formulated in 1927 by Georges Lemaitre, a Belgian Catholic priest and likely one of the greatest scientists you’ve never heard of, Lemaître was also the first to present the idea of an expanding universe, derived from General Relativity and later known as Hubble's law.
Sir James Chadwick, CH, FRS (October 20, 1891 – July 24, 1974) was an English physicist who was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the neutron in 1932. Chadwick intended studying mathematics, but he was interviewed by a physicist who assumed Chadwick wanted to study physics. He was too shy to contradict him, so ended up enrolling as a physics major.
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| James Chadwick |
The scientist who analyzed the plutonium for the first atomic bomb was called Mr Doom.
During the Siege of Leningrad in World War II, nine Soviet scientists died of starvation while protecting the world's largest seed bank, refusing to eat what they saw as their country's future.
In 1952 Albert Einstein was offered the Presidency of the State of Israel. He declined, saying that as a scientist trained to deal with objective facts, he lacked the aptitude and experience to deal with people.
Leonard Nimoy met many fans who became scientists because of Spock's example, and talked to the Star Trek actor as if he were a fellow researcher. Nimoy always nodded and told them, "Well, it certainly looks like you’re headed in the right direction."
90% of all the scientists that have ever existed are alive today.
Scientists alive today outnumber all the scientists who ever lived up to 1980.
Sources Isaac Asimov's Book Of Facts, 1342 QI Facts To Leave You Flabbergasted (Quite Interesting)
Sources Isaac Asimov's Book Of Facts, 1342 QI Facts To Leave You Flabbergasted (Quite Interesting)
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