ALBERT EINSTEIN

Albert Einstein was one of the most brilliant scientists and thinkers of

the 20th century.

WHERE DID EINSTEIN GROW UP?

Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany, on March 14, 1879. He

grew up in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. Einstein taught himself

geometry when he was 12 years old. School bored him because it required

endless memorizing and reciting. He often skipped classes to study on his

own or to play his violin. Yet he graduated from college in 1900 and earned

a Ph.D. degree in 1905. From 1902 to 1907, Einstein worked as a clerk in

the patent office in Zürich, Switzerland. His job left him plenty of time to

think.

WHAT DID EINSTEIN THINK ABOUT?

Einstein thought about the rules that govern the way the world works.

For example, he explained why small particles in liquids wiggle around, a

movement called Brownian motion. He said that the particles were being

bumped into by tiny bits of matter called atoms that are too small to see.

He also thought about light and electricity. Einstein knew that light

shining on metal sometimes causes electricity to flow. He explained this

result, called the photoelectric effect, by saying that light is made of tiny

bundles of energy called photons. Photons hitting the metal knock particles

called electrons away. Since electricity is simply moving electrons, he had

solved the mystery of the photoelectric effect. In 1921, Einstein won the

most famous prize in science, the Nobel Prize, for this work.

Another thing Einstein thought about was time. He said that time does

not always flow at the same rate. He proposed that motion affects time. He

called this idea the special theory of relativity.

 Einstein then came up with his general theory of relativity. This

theory has a new explanation for gravity. Einstein said that gravity comes

from curves or dents in the fabric of space. Objects make dents in space the

way a bowling ball makes a dent in a mattress. The Moon falls into the dent

made by Earth and rolls around the Earth. Scientists later proved that the

dent a star makes in space-time bends light as the light passes by.

Einstein changed physics by showing that new ideas could come just

from thinking. Before Einstein, most new ideas in physics had come from

experiments in the laboratory.

EINSTEIN AND ATOMIC ENERGY

Einstein also said that matter and energy are the same thing. He

expressed this relation in a famous equation: E=mc2. This equation says that

energy (E) equals mass (m) times the speed of light squared (c2). Energy can

therefore be changed into matter, and matter into energy. The ability to turn

matter into energy led to the development of the atomic bomb and nuclear

power.
FAME AND LATER YEARS

Einstein’s theories made him famous, even though few people

understood them. He became a university professor and director of a physics

institute in Berlin, Germany. After the Nazis rose to power in Germany,

Einstein left. In 1933, he came to the United States, where he lived the rest

of his life. Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey, on April 18, 1955.

Einstein’s last great idea was that every force in nature is part of one

master force. Physicists are still working on this idea, which they call the

theory of everything.
LEONARDO da VINCI

Leonardo da Vinci was not only one of the greatest painters of all

time, but also an architect, sculptor, engineer, and scientist. He worked

during the late 1400s and early 1500s mostly in Italy. Da Vinci imagined

inventions, like a flying machine, that were not made until hundreds of

years later.

GOOD AT EVERYTHING

Leonardo was born in 1452 in the small town of Vinci, near Florence,

Italy. He had little schooling and was largely self-taught.

Leonardo seemed to be good at everything he tried. He was

handsome, a good speaker, and a fine musician. He trained as a painter with

Andrea del Verrocchio, a leading artist in Florence. Leonardo later worked

for dukes and kings.

HIS MOST FAMOUS PAINTINGS

Leonardo produced a relatively small number of paintings, and he left

some of them unfinished. But he had original ideas that influenced Italian

artists long after his death. Leonardo believed painting was a science. He

applied scientific thinking in his art so that his paintings looked more like

the real world. One of his most important painting techniques was sfumato, a

blending of one area of color into another so there are no sharp outlines.

Leonardo used sfumato in one of his most famous paintings, the

Mona Lisa. When you look at this portrait, notice how colors shade into

each other on her face and hands. See how Leonardo has blurred the edges

of her mouth to give her the hint of a smile. This mysterious smile has

fascinated people for centuries. It looks as if Mona Lisa’s expression might

change at any moment because of the way Leonardo has softened the edges

of the mouth, eyes, and cheeks. She seems almost alive.

Many people consider a mural by Leonardo known as The Last

Supper to be his masterpiece. Christ, seated in the middle of The Last

Supper, has just announced that one of his 12 apostles will betray him.

Leonardo places the figures in this painting in a way that increases the drama

of the announcement. Christ is the calm center.

His body, which is set slightly apart from the others, forms a stable

triangle. The apostles are arranged in four groups, some leaning toward

Christ and some leaning away. Their gestures and the expressions on their

faces reveal their reactions to Christ’s words.

HIS DRAWINGS AND NOTEBOOKS

Drawing was Leonardo’s favorite tool. He said that drawing was a

better way of communicating ideas than words were. He drew catapults and

war machines. He drew the muscles and skeletons of human beings and

other animals. He drew clouds, swirling water, and storms. He designed

churches that were never built.

Leonardo’s drawings and theories are contained in numerous

notebooks. His ideas were far in advance of what other people were thinking

at the time. But the notebooks were not published during his lifetime. Had

his notebooks been published, they might have revolutionized scientific

thinking in the 1500s. Leonardo’s deep love of research was the key to both

his artistic and scientific endeavors. Leonardo died in 1519.

Louis Pasteur

French scientist Louis Pasteur discovered that tiny organisms,

which he called germs, cause many diseases. He also showed that heating

certain liquids, like milk, kills harmful germs in the liquid. This method

was named pasteurization, after its creator.

No one knew what caused infections when Louis Pasteur was a boy in

the early 1800s. No one knew that germs spread disease. There were no

antibiotics or other drugs. Many people died from infections.

Pasteur discovered that bacteria cause many diseases. He showed that

bacteria get into living things and then multiply. He proved that diseases

could be cured by stopping the spread of bacteria. This important discovery

is called the germ theory of disease. It led to antibiotics and other medicines

that kill bacteria. Pasteur’s discovery has saved the lives of many people.
HOW PASTEUR HELPED INDUSTRY

Louis Pasteur was born in France in 1822. He studied physics and

chemistry in Paris. As a professor of chemistry, he worked on problems that

affected French industry. The wine-making industry in France was in trouble

during the mid-1800s because much of the wine was spoiling. Pasteur

discovered that germs were getting into the wine and turning it sour. He

found that heat killed these germs and prevented the wine from spoiling.

Pasteur later applied his discovery to milk. His way of heating foods to kill

bacteria is now called pasteurization.

Pasteur also helped the French silk industry. In the mid-1800s, a

disease was killing off silkworms before they could spin silk threads. Pasteur

showed that the disease was in the silkworm eggs and that getting rid of any

infected eggs could keep the disease from spreading. Pasteur became a

national hero in France for saving the wine and silk industries.

HOW PASTEUR PREVENTED DISEASE

Pasteur then discovered how to make vaccines to protect people and

animals against disease. He observed that animals infected with a disease

sometimes became immune to the disease—that is, protected from getting

the disease again. Pasteur found that he could weaken germs in his

laboratory. When he put weakened germs into the bodies of animals, the

animals became immune to the disease caused by the germs. Pasteur made a

vaccine to protect sheep against a disease called anthrax.

One of Pasteur’s most important discoveries was a vaccine against

rabies. People can get this deadly disease if they are bitten by an animal

infected with rabies. In 1885, a mother begged Pasteur to treat her young son

who had been badly bitten by a dog with rabies. The vaccine worked, and

the boy lived. Pasteur then became an even greater national hero. In 1888,

the Pasteur Institute in Paris was founded in his honor. Pasteur became its

director. He worked there until he died in 1895.

MARIE CURIE

Marie Curie was a famous scientist who studied radioactivity. In

1903, she became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, sharing the prize in

physics. She won a second Nobel Prize in 1911 in chemistry.

At a time when women scientists were rare, Marie Curie probed the

mysteries of radioactivity and X rays. In 1903, she and her husband won the

Nobel Prize in physics, one of the most important awards in science. In

1911, Marie Curie won a second Nobel Prize, this time in chemistry. She is

one of very few people in history to win two Nobel prizes.

MARIE CURIE’S EARLY LIFE

Marie Curie was born as Maria Sklodowska in Poland in 1867.

Though Maria excelled in school, no university in Poland at that time

allowed female students.

In 1891, Maria traveled to Paris, France. She called herself Marie, the

French form of Maria. She attended the Sorbonne, a famous college in Paris.

Marie studied physics and mathematics and graduated at the top of her class!

She also met a French chemist named Pierre Curie. They married in 1895.

WHAT DID THE CURIES RESEARCH?

Marie and Pierre were pioneers in studying radioactivity.

Radioactivity is a process in which certain elements, such as uranium, break

down into other elements. In the process, they give off energy in the form of

radiation. Marie and Pierre built on the work of Wilhelm Roentgen, who

discovered X rays, and Antoine Henri Becquerel, who discovered

radioactivity in the element uranium. X rays are a type of radiation.

The Curies discovered that a mineral called pitchblende was

radioactive. Pitchblende contains uranium. But pitchblende gives off more

radiation than uranium alone could. The Curies guessed that there must be

other radioactive elements in the pitchblende.

The Curies separated huge amounts of pitchblende into its chemical

parts—the elements it is made of. In July 1898, they reported the discovery

of a new element called polonium. In December, they announced the

discovery of another new element, radium.

MARIE CURIE GOES ON ALONE

In 1906, a horse-drawn carriage hit and killed Pierre. Marie stepped

into his teaching post at the Sorbonne. She was the first woman to teach at

the university. She poured her energy into research and raising her

daughters. One daughter, Irene, followed her parents into scientific research.

In 1914, the Sorbonne built a new laboratory to research radioactive

materials. Today the laboratory is named after Marie Curie.

Marie Curie earned little money from her famous research. Her Nobel

Prize money paid for more research. She did not patent—reserve for her own

gain—her discoveries. She left them free for other scientists to use.
SERVICE IN WORLD WAR I

When war broke out in Europe in 1914, Marie Curie helped equip

ambulances with X-ray machines. The International Red Cross named her its

head of Radiological Service. She taught doctors how to use X rays to help

wounded soldiers. X rays help doctors see inside the body so they can figure

out what’s wrong with people.

CURIE’S RESEARCH AND HER HEALTH

Radiation in large doses poisons the body. Curie was exposed to

radiation for years. At that time, no one knew that radiation was dangerous.

Curie’s work gave her leukemia, a form of cancer. Marie Curie died on July

4, 1934. Today, an important result of Marie Curie’s research is the use of

radiation to slow or destroy cancers.

ARISTOTLE

Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle is known as one of history’s

greatest thinkers.

What is the universe made of? Why do accidents happen? How do

animals grow? Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle tried to find answers to

big questions like these. Today, he is remembered as one of the greatest

philosophers who ever lived.

WALKING AND TALKING

Aristotle was born in 384 BC in ancient Macedonia (now northern

Greece). His father was a doctor. When Aristotle was 17, he went to Athens,
the biggest and richest city in ancient Greece. He stayed there for most of his

life, studying and teaching. He set up his own school, where students

discussed new ideas while strolling in the gardens.

From 345 to 335 BC, Aristotle lived in Macedonia. He worked as tutor

to Prince Alexander, who later became known as Alexander the Great. In

335 BC, Aristotle returned to Athens. In 323 BC, Alexander died, and his

friends became unpopular. Aristotle was forced to leave his school in

Athens. He died the next year, in 322 BC.

INVESTIGATIONS

Aristotle studied many subjects. But he was most interested in

science, especially biology (the study of all living things), zoology (the

study of animals), and astronomy (the study of the universe). He tried to find

out how humans think, and how they experience the world around them. He

also tried to describe invisible things, such as the mind and the soul. He

invented a new science, called causality. It explained why things happen.

WHAT WAS SO SPECIAL ABOUT ARISTOTLE?

In all his investigations, Aristotle pioneered a new way of studying.

He looked for clues in what he saw and for proof. He didn’t use guesswork
or accept whatever people already believed. His method of questioning

changed the way scholars worked for many centuries.

Aristotle wrote many books, and he kept notes to help teach his

students. These might easily have been lost after ancient Greek civilization

collapsed. But Muslim scientists carefully preserved these writings and

passed them on to scholars in Europe and Asia. Aristotle’s ideas spread

around the world