SCOTTISH CELEBRITIES

PHYLOSOPHY

Thinking

school of thought

David Hume (1711- 1776)

The year is 1739 AD. Europe is entirely domi-nated by rationalism, a view which appeals toreason as the only source of knowledge or tojustify it. Well, not entirely... Some islands of indomitable

British still holds out against the invadors. The resilient ones were known as empirists.

A Scottish 27-year-old philosopher published A Treatise of Human Nature. His name was David Hume. Here you can see this plumpy, healthy man in his mature years. Unfortunately, no one was interested in such a book.

After visiting France, meeting a bunch of philosophes, and working in Edinburgh as a librarian, Hume brought out many books about history, politics, morals or religion which gave him a great popularity as the most important philosopher ever to write in English, and the culmination of British Enlightenment .

Following the principles of empirism [the only origin and limit of human knowledge are the sense data] to its last consequences, Hume arrived at a skepticism and atheism,and his major philosophical works remain widely and deeply influential.

We shall never forget the famous last words of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748):

“When we run over libraries, persuaded of these principles, what havoc must we make? If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.”

If you’re going to visit Edinburgh, please don’t forget to have a look at old David’sstatue in front of St. Giles Cathedral or,if you are in a good mood, take a walk byhis tomb in the Old Calton burying Ground,in which you’ll be able to read his epitaph.

If you’ve got enough free time , there’s also the David Hume Institute here:

TECHNOLOGY

engineering

scientific knowledge

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell (March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.

Many other inventions marked Bell's later life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils and aeronautics. In 1888, Alexander Graham Bell became one of the founding members of the

National Geographic Society.

Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work.

His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876.

In retrospect, Bell considered his most famous invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.

Life Science

SCIENCE

Microbiology

ALEXANDER FLEMING

Sir Alexander Fleming was born in 1881 in Scotland. When he finished school, he went to work in a shipping office. Five years later, he inherited enough money to leave his job and study for a career. Fleming’s brother convinced him to study medicine at St Mary’s Hospital in London.

During the First World War (1914-1918), Fleming worked in the battlefield hospitals in France. Fleming noticed that many soldiers died after doctors used antiseptic medicine on their wounds. These medicines did not kill the bacteria inside the soldiers’ wounds, so Fleming began to look for a different solution.

In 1928, Fleming discovered penicillin. Penicillin occurs naturally in mould and fungi. It destroys staphylococci bacteria, a bacteria causing sore throats and other infections.

It took years for people to understand how to manufacture penicillin in large amounts. But in 1942, doctors began to use penicillin to cure infections. Today, scientifics use penicillin to make modern antibiotics.

In 2000, the discovery of penicillin the most important discovery of the millennium – since 1942, penicillin has saved over 200 million lives!

Talent

Performing

CINEMA

SEAN CONNERY was born into a working class family in August of 1930. The oldest of two boys, he spent much of his youth working at menial jobs, just to get by. He left school at an early age and went to work fulltime.

At sixteen, he enlisted in the Royal Navy. After three years of Naval service, He returned to Edinburgh and seemed to settle into a life of hard work: bricklayer, lifeguard, and coffin polisher. Sean spent much of his free time bodybuilding. His hobby culminated in a bid for the 1950 Mr. Universe title where he placed third.

From his early acting days until his first superstar role, Sean's stardom was certainly not an over-night success story. From his first work in modeling, bit theatrical parts, and chorus appearances, it was almost eight years before he was cast opposite Lana Turner in Another Time, Another Place (1958). It would be another four years before he first uttered those unforgettable words, "Bond, James Bond."

Connery skyrocketed to international fame as the suave, confident Secret Agent 007 in six of Ian Fleming's Bond movies over the next decade: Dr. No (1962), Goldfinger (1964), From Russia, With Love (1964), Thunderball (1965), and You Only Live Twice (1967), and Diamonds are Forever (1971).

He then broadened his career with an Agatha Christie whodunit, Murder on the Orient Express (1974), John Huston's adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's adventure, The Man Who Would Be King (1975), the medieval romance, Robin and Marian (1976), and Peter Hyams' sci-fi film, Outland (1981). He resurfaced as a much wiser and more mature Bond in the 1983 adventure, Never Say Never Again.

Many critics and fans alike have said that the quality of his acting has only improved with age. Certainly his personal appeal has. In 1989, at almost 60 years of age he was voted People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive."

The 90's brought such great films as The Hunt for Red October (1990, as a Russian sub commander); and 1993's Rising Sun; Dragonheart (1996); and the successful contemporary action dramas Just Cause (1995); and The Rock (1996). In 1999, Connery starred in and produced a love story-thriller, costarring Catherine Zeta-Jones. The year 2000 brought what many have said to be one of his best films, Finding Forrester. Sean's latest movie "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" was released in 2003.

Competition

Strength

SPORT

¿who am I?

I started playing tennis very early, around the age I started playing tennis very early, around the age of three. I definitely remember having a mini-of three. I definitely remember having a mini-racquet when I was two: a bright green thing with racquet when I was two: a bright green thing with multi-coloured strings. multi-coloured strings. Probably still a decent Probably still a decent racquet for someone like Treacleracquet for someone like Treacle

Here's me and Jamie in the back garden at home, looking pretty good.

I'm about six in that photo I I'm about six in that photo I think...think...

ANDY MURRAY

• Birthdate:15-May-87

• Birthplace:Dunblane, Scotland

• Residence:London, UK

• Height:6’3” (190cm)

• Weight:84kg

• Plays:Right-handed

Creature

Mammal

SCIENCE

DOLLY THE SHEEP

Dolly the sheep became a scientific sensation when her birth was announced in 1997. Was a female domestic sheep remarkable in being the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell, using the process of nuclear transfer.

What is it about Dolly that is so special? How was she created?

A newly fertilised egg contains 'stem' cells, which are capable of becoming any of the hundreds of different types of cell in the body - skin, muscle, brain cells etc.

The challenge faced by Dolly's creators was to take a fully programmed adult cell and return it to this state - de-program it.

At the Roslin Institute, scientists replaced the nucleus of the egg cell with the nucleus from the parent cell - in Dolly's case, an udder cell. Somehow, the egg cell reprogrammed the donated DNA contained within its new nucleus, and Dolly was the result.

THE FUTURE

Little about the process that created Dolly was actually new. Technically, Dolly was not even the first clone, but she was the most famous.

Potential uses for cloning whole animals may include farming, producing proteins for medical and nutritional use, or the cloning of genetically modified pigs to be organ donors for humans. Additionally, "therapeutic" cloning which involves cloning embryos in order to collect cells could lead to treatments for many human degenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

Beast

Creature

LEGEND

NESSIE: THE LOCH NESS MONSTER

• Welcome to the Legend of Nessie: The Loch Ness Monster.

• A very ancient Scottish celebrity.

• If you visit us, you will find that we are at your service.We want you to enjoy the wonders and mystery of Nessie.

• She´s waiting for you!

THE LOCH NESS“It´s pleasing to think in mysteries like this in the 21st

century.”• Nessie is an alleged

plesiosaur – like living in Loch Ness, a long deep lake near Inverness, Scotland.

• The lake is deeper than North Sea and is very long and very narrow and has never been know to freeze.

Enjoy Edinburgh!