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SCIENCE FACTS

1. There are 62,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body ± laid end to end they would

circle the earth 2.5 times

2. At over 2000 kilometers long, The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on

Earth

3. The risk of being struck by a falling meteorite for a human is one occurrence every 9,300

 years

4. A thimbleful of a neutron star would weight over 100 million tons

5. A typical hurricane produces the energy equivalent of 8,000 one megaton bombs

 

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FAMOUS SCIENTISTS

1. Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833-1896)

Chemist, industrial, creator of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prizes,

this Swedish inventor was born in Stockholm, in October 21st 1833, anddied in San Remo, Italy, in December 10th 1896.

In 1842, his family moved to St. Petersburg, where his father producedsubmarine mines and torpedoes for the Russian army. Nobel made several

work journeys through Europe and, from 1850 to 1852, visited the UnitedStates. When Immanuel Nobel, his father, returned to Sweden, in 1859, Alfred began to work 

close to his research explosive laboratory in Stockholm. Made several experiences that led to the production of nitroglycerine. In September 3rd 1864, an explosion destroyed the factory, killing

his younger brother.

The explosions continued, leading Nobel to try finding a less dangerous substance that could beeasier to manipulate and transport. In 1863, he invented the detonator. In 1864, in Stockholm,

founded the Nitroglycerine Company, the first of that kind all over the world, and in 1865established the factory in Krummel, Germany. He invented dynamite in 1866.

To these explosive inventions one can add the fumeless gunpowder (known as lallistite, 1888). In

other industry fields the production the synthetic rubber, leather and the artificial silk should bereferred. Nobel registered a total of 355 patents.

After his death, he left his personal fortune to the fund created to award the Nobel Prizes.

2. Niels Bohr (1885-1962)

Danish phys icist, Bohr was born in Copenhagen, in 1885, and diedalso in this city in 1962. Bohr graduated in his birth city, in 1911, andworked with J. J. Thomson and E. Rutherford in England. In 1913, by

applying the atomic model of Rutherford, was able to understand someof the spectral series of hydrogen and the structure of the periodic

system of elements. He announced the correspondence principle and, in1928, the complementary principle. Bohr studied the liquid drop

nuclear model, and before the discovery ofplutonium, foresighted its

fission property, similar to that of U-235. Bohr received the Nobel Prize of Physics in 1922. 

 

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3. Fritz Haber (1868-1934) 

German chemist, winner of the Nobel Prize of Chemistry in 1918, for the synthesis of ammonia

from its elements. Fritz Haber was born in Bresla,in December 9th 1868, and died in Basle,

Switzerland, in January 29th, 1934.Haber studiedin Berlin, Heidelberg, Charlottenburg and

Karlsruhe. Taught Chemistry in the HighTechnique School of Karlsruhe until 1911, when

he went to Berlin, as professor of Chemical-Physics at the University of Berlin and later asdirector of the Chemical-Physics Institute Kaiser Wilhelm.

The research work made by Haber (1905-1911) on the equilibrium between nitrogen, hydrogen and ammonia established the exact temperature and pressure, as well

as the catalyst, that optimized the ammonia formation. Ammonia produced through this methodcould be transformed in nitric acid by oxidation, using the Ostwald process. This acid was then

used in producing explosives and fertilizers.

Carl Bosh developed the industrial stages for the Haber process. The perfection of the Haber-Bosh process encouraged Germany to enter in World War I. During the war, Haber led the

chemical war and headed the first attack with chlorine gas in Ypres (1915). Hitler's regimeordered his exile due to his Jewish origins.

Haber also worked on the thermodynamics of gaseous reactions, the electrochemistry (especiallythe electrolytic reduction of nitrobenzene), the composition of flames and explosions of gas, etc.