They all opened the unknown world
Editor’s note: This article comes from WeChat public account “ made “(ID: xingshu100), text | Tian Xiaona; proofreading | Lily.
2019 is the best year,
We have witnessed the birth of many great inventions.
From customized cancer vaccines, intestinal microcapsules to carbon dioxide capture, artificial intelligence assistants who can speak fluently … they will surely affect every aspect of our lives in the future.
2019 is also the worst year,
We have gone through many great men.
From Bernard B. Fisher, Kelly B. Mullis to Jim Fowler, George J. Laurel, they all have influenced and changed the world in some way.
Their departure is the end of an era.
Here are the celebrities in science and technology who died in 2019:
No. 1 changes the fate of countless women
Bernard B. Fisher
At the age of 101
To this day, many women still talk about breast cancer discoloration.
butIt was in the past that if a woman had breast cancer, she had to remove breasts, pectoralis major, pectoralis minor, and axillary lymph nodes that contained tumors. Surgery would cause severe disfigurement. Even if the patient got lucky, she would be scarred and face the breast Risk of cancer recurrence.
But Fisher changed all that.
The breast-conserving surgery he proposed has greatly improved the quality of life and survival time of breast cancer patients.
It is no exaggeration to say that Fisher changed the fate of countless women.
No. 2 A writer who does not know physics is not a good chemist
Kary B. Mullis
Age 74 years old
Mullis’ life can be summed up in one sentence: writers who do not know physics are not good chemists.
While studying for a degree in biochemistry, he obtained his doctorate by publishing an astrophysics essay entitled “Cosmological Significance of Time Reversal” published in Nature.
Mullis did not continue to do scientific research, but instead turned into a science fiction writer. Unfortunately, no one bought it, and he had to continue to do research “mixed rice to eat.”
One night in 1983, Mulis, who was driving, suddenly had a flash of light. He thought of the method of adding two primers to copy DNA fragments, which was later the method of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
How powerful is PCR?
The New York Times has evaluated that PCR divides biology into two eras: pre-PCR era and post-PCR era.
No. 3 First person in spacewalk
Aleksei Leonov
At the age of 85
In March 1965, Leonov with a rope on his body walked out of the capsule, becoming the first person in human history to walk in space.
This space walk lasted for 12 minutes. During this time, his space suit swelled out of the cabin door due to the vacuum environment. He had to reduce the pressure inside the space suit to return to the cabin smoothly.
This space walk has opened a new chapter in the history of human spaceflight.
No. 4 The pioneer of condensed matter physics
J. Robert Schrieffer (J. Robert Schrieffer)
Age 88 years old
When some metals cool to a certain temperature, they become superconductors with zero resistance.
Shriver, John Bardeen, and Leon Cooper jointly proposed the BSC (Three Initials) theory, which explains the principle behind this phenomenon from a micro perspective.
Schriver won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1972 for his BSC theory.
According to Schrieffer, he was thinking of a mathematical method to describe the ground state of superconducting atoms when he was on the subway in New York, which promoted the introduction of BSC theory.
No. 5 NASA’s conductor
Christopher Kraft
Age 95 years old
Christopher Kraft is the founder of the NASA Mission Control Center.
He has participated in the moon landing projects such as the Mercury Project, the Gemini Project, and the Apollo Manned Space Flight Project. He directed the first spacewalk in the United States and witnessed the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Kraft has compared himself to a band conductor, just like the conductor may not play an instrument, but can lead musicians to play beautiful melody. Although he has never personally ascended into space, he has achieved everything. It was all achieved under his command.
Kraft said, “We have contributed a glimmer of light in American history.”
No. 6 Returning the initiative to give birth to women
George Rosenkranz
At the age of 102
In the beginning, Rosenkrants and colleagues wanted to develop drugs to prevent abortions in women.
In 1951, Rosenkranz and others synthesized norethindrone.
Norethindrone can inhibit ovulation and is the most important component of oral contraceptives.
Some media commented that Rosenkranz and others returned the initiative to give birth to women, making birth a women’s right rather than an obligation, and truly changing the world’s gender pattern.
In addition to research, Rosenkrantz also enjoys playing bridge, has won more than a dozen North American Bridge Championships, and has been selected to the American Bridge League Celebrity Association.
No. 7 A tough life does n’t need explanation
Murray Gell-Mann
Age 89 years old
Gelman is known as a “man with 5 brains”. He received a school scholarship at the age of 8 and attended Yale at the age of 15.
He once said that physics was the worst course he learned in school, but he just learnedPoor physics led him to propose a quark model, which in turn won the Nobel Prize in physics.
His friends are all gangsters: working under the same roof with Einstein, and sympathizing with Yang Zhenning, he was dissatisfied with part of Feynman’s autobiography (“Don’t make a noise, Mr Feynman”). Feynman changed until he was satisfied.
In addition, Gellman also likes to observe birds, research human languages, travels to the streets of Brazil to learn drums, and accompanies ballet companies. Various hobbies are dazzling, but they have little success.
Gelman once said modestly: “If I look farther than others, it’s because I am surrounded by dwarves.”
No. 8 Open an unknown world
David Thouless
Age 84 years old
Solis and colleagues first introduced topology to the field of condensed matter physics, explaining the states of matter such as superconductivity and superfluidity.
With this achievement, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2016.
The award said that their research results have opened up an unknown world.
No. 9 Gender ceiling in the infinite universe
Jerrie Cobb
Age 88 years old
In 1959, 13 women received and passed the same level of testing as male astronauts in the NASA Mercury Project. Cobb was the first woman to pass the test.
However, Cobb’s team was not accepted by NASA. Instead of sending Cobb to the sky, NASA chose to make her a NASA publicity consultant.
But Cobb was later fired for making NASA sexist statements.
In her autobiography Jerrie Cobb, Solo Pilot, she wrote, “My country, my culture, is not ready for women to fly in space.”
It was not until 1983 that the first female astronaut appeared in the United States: Sally Ride.
Cobb once said, “I’m willing to pay the price of life for going to space. I do, I used to, and now I do.”
But throughout her life, her space dream has not come true.
No. 10 Awarding female scientists
Paul Greengard
Age 93 years old
Greengard discovered how neurotransmitters such as dopamine act on cells and affect the nervous system.
His discovery is of great significance in curing Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia and other diseases, and he has become one of the Nobel Prize winners in physiology or medicine.
Because of the injustice of female scientists in the scientific community, Greengard donated all the Nobel Prizes and set up the Pearl Meister Greengard Award for female scientists. .
The name of the award comes from Gringard’s mother, who died of dystocia when he was born. Gringard said he wanted to leave something in his mother’s name.
No. 11 Decryptor of the genetic code
Sydney Brenner (Sydney Brenner)
Age 92 years old
Brenner is known as the “decryptor of the genetic code.”
In 1960, Brunner confirmed the existence of mRNA.mRNA brings genetic information carried by DNA in the nucleus into the cytoplasm, directing the production of proteins.
1961 He demonstrated the triple nature of protein translation, discovered frameshift mutations, and provided early interpretation of the genetic code.
In 1968, Brenner began to focus on the research of C. elegans and discovered the genetic regulation mechanism of organ development and programmed cell death, so he won the Nobel Prize.
…
“When I saw this model and heard that base complementary pairing, I realized that this is the key to understanding all the difficult biological problems-this is the birth of molecular biology.”
—— Sydney Brunner
No. 12 Do it yourself
Jerry Merryman
Age 86 years old
Merriman has been a master since childhood.
Removed the alarm clock, repaired the electrical appliances, and worked at an electrical appliance shop at the age of 11 to repair the radio.
When he went to the town to watch a movie, the police often found it out from the cinema because their radio was broken, waiting for him to fix it.
In 1965, Kilby (Jack Kilby, 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics) approached Merriman and wanted to make a book-sized portable calculator together.
It took only three days for Merriman to draw the calculator’s circuit.
The portable calculator was well received and soon became an essential tool for American families.
“I thought we just invented a calculator, but I didn’t expect to start an electronic revolution.”
—— Jerry Merriman
No. 13 Physicist paving the way for lasers
Zhores Alferov
Age 88 years old
The phones, DVDs, and solar cells we use today can’t get away from one person: Jols Alferov.
Alferov devoted his life to the field of semiconductor heterostructure.
His semiconductor heterostructure technology has been widely used in the manufacture of high-speed optoelectronic and microelectronic components, which has laid the foundation for modern information technology. Therefore, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000.
The New York Times described him as “a physicist who paved the way for lasers.”
No. 14 Everything is known
Manfred Eigen
Age 91 years old
Chemical reactions in many liquids are faster than we think, and can even reach a millionth to a billionth of a second.
At that time, the chemical community generally believed that such a fast reaction rate could not be measured.
Aigen doesn’t think so, he thinks everything will have an answer.
After some research, he invented a relaxation method for determining fast chemical reactions: a chemical system that is in equilibrium, and after a sudden disturbance from the outside, the system will be characterized by a time lag and then move to a new equilibrium, The reaction rate can be determined by observing the energy absorbed when the equilibrium is restored.
The invention of the relaxation method makes people understand chemical reactions more deeply and promotes people’s understanding of enzymes and other substances.
In 1967, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his great contribution to the relaxation method.
No. 15 Einstein in the ocean
Walter H. Munk
Age 101 years old
Although people call Munch “Einstein of the Marine World”, he doesn’t like it because he doesn’t think he can compare with Einstein.
After World War II, Munch studied the relationship between wind and ocean circulation and coined the term “wind circulation” that is now widely used.
Since the end of the 1950s, Munch returned to the field of wave research, taking the lead in using spectral density to describe waves.
In 1963, he led an experiment to observe the path and attenuation of ocean waves generated by winter storms in the southern hemisphere as they propagate northward.
The results show that as the distance increases, the wave energy hardly decays. This work, coupled with Munch’s work on wave forecasting during World War II, made wave forecasting a science.
Munk has made a decisive contribution to our understanding of ocean currents, tides and tsunamis. It is a well-deserved “Einstein in the marine world”.
No. 16 Adventurous mathematician
Michael Atiyah
Age 89 years old
The Riemann conjecture is called “the crown of conjecture”, and countless talented mathematicians have fallen in front of this mountain.
In 2018, Atia claimed to have proven the Riemann conjecture and used a 5-page essay to explain the proof process. So far, the mathematical community is cautious about his proof.
Many people are not optimistic about Atia’s proof, and think that his proof is not mathematically rigorous, just a farce.
But regardless of the result, it does not detract from Atiya’s brilliance as a mathematician.
He has won the Fields Prize and the Abel Prize (known as the Nobel Prize in mathematics), and has made outstanding contributions to K-theory and index theory. He is one of the most famous mathematicians in the world.
He said, “You will be famous for solving Riemann’s conjecture, but if you are already a celebrity, there is a risk of notoriety.”
No. 17 Sweeping Monk’s Counterattack