Scientists Who won Nobel Prize

Here is a list of top ten scientists who won nobel prize.

1. Alfred Bernhard Nobel (Swedish Inventor of Dynamite and Founder of the Nobel Prize):

The Nobel Prize is the world’s most famous prize. It is awarded every year to persons with most outstanding contributions in six fields, namely, physics, che­mistry, literature, physiology or medicine, peace and economics. The sixth prize for economics was instituted in 1968 by the National Bank of Sweden, and was first awarded in 1969. One prize is awarded in each field. If there are more than one recipients of the award in one field, the prize money is equally distributed amongst all the winners. The prize was founded by Alfred Bernhard Nobel — the founder of the science of destruc­tion.

Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, and made a huge fortune from this and other explosives. When he died in 1898, he left a fabulous sum of nine million dollars the interest on which, according to his will, should be distributed as prizes on his death anniversary to persons for their out­standing works in physics, chemistry, medical sciences, literature and peace. The Nobel Prizes were started in 1901. It consists of a gold medal, a certificate and a large sum of money. In this way, the man who invented one of the deadliest weapons of destruction helped the cause of interna­tional understanding.

Nobel was born in Stockholm (Sweden). His father, Immanuel Nobel, came from a poor peasant background, and worked his way to fame as a military engineer. From his father he learned the fundamen­tals of engineering, and like his father, he had an inborn talent for invention. Like his two elder brothers, Robert and Ludwig, Alfred Nobel was schooled at home by private tutors.

The Nobel family left Stockholm in 1842 to join the father in St. Petersburg (Leningrad). Young Nobel was a competent chemist at 16, and was fluent in English, French, German, Russian and Swedish lan­guages. He left Russia in 1850 to spend a year studying chemistry in Paris, and four years in the United States working under the direction of John Ericsson, the builder of the ironclad warship ‘Monitor’. Upon his return to St. Petersburg, Nobel worked in his father’s factory till the firm went bankrupt in 1859.

Together with his father, who had also returned to Sweden, Alfred Nobel now began experimenting with explosives. At Holenberg, near Stockholm, both father and son opened a small workshop for their researches, and for producing nitroglycerine. At their workshop, one day in 1864, an accident occurred; a nitroglycerine explosion wrecked the plant, and Alfred’s younger brother and four other men were killed in the blast. The rebuilding of the factory was disallowed by the Swedish government, and Nobel became branded as a ‘Mad scientist’.

A month later, Nobel’s father suffered a stroke and remained an invalid for the rest of his life. This left Alfred Nobel to carry on alone. He began to set up new factories in Norway and Germany. But nitro­glycerine remained a very dangerous material. The mishap that oc­curred in Nobel’s workshop was not the only one of its kind. Nobel’s factory in Germany also blows up; so did a ship off Panama; and other blasts occurred in San Francisco, New York and Australia. In the end, Belgium and France no longer allowed nitroglycerine to be made on their territories, while Sweden would not let it be transported and Britain severely restricted its use.

These restrictions created many hardships in Nobel’s work. In 1866, he discovered that some nitroglycerine had leaked from its cask. The cask was packed in an absorbent substance called kieselguhr. He noticed that nitroglycerine was much safer to handle in this condition. If it was absorbed into kieselguhr, it would not explode from shocks. Nobel called his discovery ‘dynamite’.

From then on, Alfred Nobel’s factories grew rapidly. He made his fortune from selling dynamite. In 1887, he invented ballistite, the smokeless nitroglycerine powder that most countries soon began to use as gunpowder. Altogether, Nobel secured more than 100 patents on his inventions.

As a mark of honour to Alfred Nobel, the 102nd element was named as Nobelium after him. There is an institution in Sweden which has also been named after him as Nobel Institute of Sweden. The Institute of Nobel Prize has made his name immortal on this earth.

2. Albert Einstein (Father of Modern Physics):

Albert Einstein was a great genius on this earth who left a per­manent impact of his scientific work in the field of physics. For his contributions, he is known as the father of modern physics.

Although he was born at Ulm in Germany, his family moved to Munich when he was one year old. He was very shy in his childhood. Since his mother was fond of play­ing piano, he also learnt playing it from her mother. Sometimes he was so absorbed in music that he did not care even for his meals.

Right from the beginning Einstein was interested in science. Once his father gifted him a watch in which a magnetic compass was fitted in the chain. He forgot about the watch and started asking his father many questions about the magnetic compass.

Einstein was very sharp in mathematics but just mediocre in other subjects. When he was 15, his family moved to Italy. From there he was sent to Switzerland. There he appeared for an examination to take admission in the Zurich University, but he failed. Next year he ap­peared again after full preparations and cleared the examination for admission in the university. In 1900, he completed his education, and became a citizen of Switzerland. He wanted to become a teacher, but could not get a teaching job of his choice. Finally, he joined the Swiss Patent Office as a clerk.

During these days young Einstein fell in love with a Yugoslav science student, Mileva Marec, and married her in 1903. The couple had two sons. Einstein used to take his child in a pram for a walk. During his walk he always carried a notebook with him. His mind was always engaged in thinking something about science. He would often stop the pram and write something in his notebook regarding problems of mathematics and physics. Later, when the notebook was scrutinized, it contained many solutions regarding the problems of the universe.

In 1905, at the age of 26, Einstein got his Ph.D. degree from Zurich University. In the same year, he published five research papers. Almost overnight, Einstein became a world famous scientist.

In one paper, he showed that when light falls on metals like potassium, tungsten, etc., they emit electrons. He called these electrons ‘photoelectrons’ and the effect ‘photoelectric effect’. For propounding the theory of this effect, he was awarded Nobel Prize in 1921.

In his second paper, he gave a theory for Brownian Motion according to which the motion of free particles in a liquid is due to collision of particles with the molecules of the liquid. His third paper was related to the “Special Theory of Relativity” in which he showed that the physical quantities like mass, length and time are not constant, but vary with the velocity of the body. This paper stunned the world. This theory was so complicated that only few scientist of the world could understand it fully at that time.

In his fourth paper, he gave the revolutionary idea establishing the equivalence of matter and energy. According to this theory, if one pound of matter is converted into energy then it will give an energy equal to that obtained by burning seven million tons of dynamite. The atomic bomb was the result of this equation.

In his fifth paper, Einstein proved that light travels in the form of particles called photons. In 1916, he published a paper on the ‘General Theory of Relativity’, and explained the way the force of gravity works.

In 1933, Germany was in the grip of brutality and dictatorship of Hitler. The condition of Jew was very miserable. For this, Einstein started opposing Hitler. His activities made Hitler very angry. During this period Einstein was invited to give a lecture in America. While he was in America his friends wrote to him not to come back to Germany where he was likely to be punished. Einstein accepted the advice of his friends and decided to stay on in America where he was accorded a senior position in Princeton University.

He worked on the development of Atom Bomb in the regime of President Roosevelt. On seeing the terrible effects of the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Einstein became very sad and worked throughout his life on the peaceful uses of atomic energy.

After retiring from Princeton University, in 1845, Einstein continued to serve science. On April 18, 1955, this great scientist died in a Princeton hospital. His end came while he was fast asleep.

Einstein was not only a scientist, but also a great apostle of peace. To honour Einstein, an element ‘Einsteinium’ has been named after him. After his death, his brain was taken out and preserved in Princeton hospital. A number of scientists has studied it to know more about the mystery of the genius of this great scientist.

3. Madame Curie (Lady Scientist who Discovered Radium):

Two generations of the Curie family played a prominent role in the development of modern physics. No other family has ever won five Nobel Prizes. In this family, Madame Curie received Nobel Prize twice, her husband Pierre Curie once, and their daughter Irene Curie and her husband Frederic Joliot Curie once each. No other single family has ever won five Nobel Prizes. It shows how devoted to science were the members of the Curie family.

Marie Curie was born at Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Her maiden name was Maria Sklodowska, but after getting married to Pierre Curie, she became famous as Madame Curie.

The parents of Madame Curie were teachers. Therefore, her childhood was spent in studies. At the age of 16, she passed her high school examination and was given the gold medal for distinction in studies. After this, Marie wanted to study science in the university, but, being a woman, she could not get admission. In those days, women were not allowed to pursue higher studies in Warsaw University. In 1891, Marie went to Paris for her higher studies. She got the first position in B.Sc. at the Sorbonne University. After passing the examination, she was introduced to Pierre Curie by her friend. Both became impressed with one another and later got married.

Marie Curie started her career as the co-helper of Prof. Becquerel, the discoverer of radioactivity. Becquerel had left some pieces of uranium in the drawer of his table a few years earlier. One day, Marie took out these pieces and used them to weigh photo-plates. When there photo-plates were developed, she saw a strange jumble of lines on these. Marie became suspicious that some rays had emanated from the uranium which affected the photo-plates.

In order to solve the mystery behind this incident, Marie resigned from the assistantship of Prof. Becquerel. One night, Marie and her husband studied the map of Europe, and discovered that in the small country of Bohemia uranium pitchblende was found in plenty. The Curie couple requested the government of Bohemia to donate them 10 thousand kilograms of pitchblende free of cost. The government accepted their request and the Curies obtained pitchblende for their experiment.

For months together, both wife and husband did a lot of hard work to extract radium from pitchblende. Their make-shift laboratory was covered only with a tin roof which had many holes though which rain water would sweep in. Both of them, however, continued their research work against all odds.

On one night of November 1898, they left the substance obtained from pitchblende in a test tube. When, after resting for some time, they opened the door of their laboratory, they saw in the dark room a strange blue light coming out from the opening of the test tube. Thrilled, Marie pressed her husband’s hand. As they   the candle in the room, the blue light disappeared. They named this element ‘radium’. For this work Marie Curie, Pierre Curie along with Becquerel received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1903.

In 1911, Marie Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for her work on the isolation of radium and polonium and for the study of the chemical properties of these elements.

After two years of their marriage, the pair got a daughter whom they name Irene Curie. Irene Curie, just like her mother, was exceptionally talented in science. In 1926, she married Frederic Joliot. The husband-wife then synthesised artificial radioactive substances, for which, they were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1935.

In 1906, Pierre Curie died in a road accident. Madame Curie got a serious setback from this. In Paris, she established the Curie Institute of Radium. To honour her, a chemical element ‘curium’, and a unit of radioactivity ‘curie’ have been name after her.

Marie was a kind-hearted woman; she helped looking after victims of the First World War. For this, she was given many honours by the American Government. Throughout her life, Marie Curie was exposed to radioactive substances. She developed leukemia and blood cancer due to excessive radiation, and died on July 4, 1934. The contribution she made to human progress can never be forgotten.

4. Lord Rutherford (Man who gave Internal Structure of Atom):

Every matter is made up of very small particles called atom. In the 19th century, the internal struc­ture of atom was a mystery to scientists. This mystery was solved by Lord Rutherford. He was the first to show with the help of experiments that there is a small part inside an atom called nucleus. He also showed that nucleus is positively charged. Sometime be­tween 1909-1914, he made the model of the nucleus.

Lord Rutherford was born on August 30, 1871, at Spring Grove, in New Zealand. He was the fourth son of his parents. Right from his childhood, he was exceptionally intelligent and had a deep interest in physics, chemistry and mathemat­ics. At the age of 17, he got the junior scholarship in the university. After that, he moved to Christ Church and got the Bachelor’s degree in four years.

The last decade of 19th century is assumed to be the decade of great inventions in human history. While Henery Hertz was working on electromagnetic waves in Germany, Rutherford developed an in­strument to generate electromagnetic waves in the university’s cold underground laboratory. Subsequently, he published many papers on this subject. In 1895, he won a scholarship from Cambridge University, and moved to Cavendish Laboratory. There he was welcomed by great scientist J.J. Thomson, the discoverer of electron.

In Cavendish Laboratory, he began his study of radioactivity. He discovered that there were different kinds of rays given off by radio­active substances. He called some alpha rays and others beta rays. These names are used even today. With the help of alpha rays he studied the structure of atom and found that most of the mass is located in the tiny nucleus.

In 1907, Rutherford left Canada and went to Manchester Uni­versity. These were the happiest days of his life. For his work on radioactive substances, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1908. With the help of experiments he demonstrated that alpha rays are a stream of positively charged particles and consist of the nuclei of Nelium atoms.

In 1911, Rutherford studied the effect of interaction of alpha rays with gold foil, and gave a new concept of the existence of nucleus in the atom. In 1912, Niels Bohr, the great Danish Physicist, came to work with Rutherford and both of them worked together.

World War I started in 1914 and many scientists scattered away to different places. Rutherford also came back to Cavendish Laboratory where he was knighted. In 1917, he gave a new scientific gift to the world. He was the first person to change one element into another. He changed nitrogen into oxygen by bombarding the nitrogen atoms with alpha particles. In 1919, he succeeded Thomson in the Cavendish Chair at Cambridge.

In 1920, Rutherford worked on hydrogen nucleus ‘proton’. In rec­ognition of his scientific contributions, he was made President of the Royal Society which position he held from 1925 to 1930. He was made Baron Rutherford of Nelson in 1931. After a prolonged illness, this great scientist died on 19th October 1937. He was buried in West Minster Abbey.

In honour of his memory, the element with atomic number 104 has been named Rutherfordium. Earlier, another isotope of this element had been named Kurchatovium.

5. Sir Alexander Fleming (Scientist who Invented Penicillin):

Alexander Fleming was that first bacteriologist whose discovery of penicillin in 1928 paved the way for antibiotic therapy for infectious diseases. This Scotish bacteriolo­gist, after taking his degree in 1906 at St. Mary’s Medical School London, started work on antibac­terial substances in the same school. After this, he went to the Army Medical Corps, and contin­ued his research there. When World War I was over in 1918, he returned to St. Marry’s Medical School. In 1928, while he was working on antibacterial substances, he found a substance, now called penicillin, in the mould that prevented growth of bacteria. The story of discovery of penicillin is very interesting.

Fleming was using a pantry dish for his antibacterial experiments. One day, he noticed that some strange flecks of fungus had grown in the uncovered pantry dish containing mucus from infected wounds. He also noticed that wherever the fungus had grown, the bacteria had died. The fungus had presumably been caused by a spore which had flown in through a window and settled on the pantry dish. For the next few days, Fleming concentrated on testing the strange growth. He found that it was ‘penicillium’. This was a rare fungus in the mould family.

The strange event of bacterial killing was repeated experimentally by Fleming. First, he grew the rare variety of penicillium, and then he took the fluid from this fungus and examined its effect on bacteria. This ex­periment was repeated on different types of bacteria, and from these experiments he concluded that the fungus had a deadly effect on the diseases which cause microbes.

This was a very significant discovery, because the fluid acted as a powerful repellent to the growth of bacteria. Since this fluid was obtained from the penicillium fungus, it was named as penicillin. Flem­ing conducted many experiments with penicillin. He found that even a diluted solution of this substance was quite effective in stopping bacterial growth. He also discovered that penicillin was a strange sub­stance which during experimentation changed into some other sub­stance and became un-effective, Due to this property of the substance, the study regarding penicillin could not progress much. This problem was, however, solved by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain of Oxford University in 1938. These two scientists stabilised the medicine by a complex process known as freeze drying.

During the World War II in June 1941, penicillin was tested on six patients. The results were very much encouraging but, unfortu­nately, due to the shortage of penicillin two patients died. This tragic incidence proved that it was essential to produce the medicine in large quantities.

At the end of 1941, Fleming went to America and discussed with the U.S. scientists regarding the methods of isolation of penicillin. American drug manufacturers gave him full support in his endeavour. After many months of tireless efforts, a flawless technique of extracting penicillin in large quantities was evolved. Soon the manufacture and use of penicillin became wide-spread, and this antibiotic became the back bone of medical sciences. It saved thousands of lives during the World War II.

Penicillin can be injected into the human blood for treating diphtheria, pneumonia and severe wounds. During surgical operations, peni­cillin is given to patients to prevent the bacterial infections from spreading. It is a very effective medicine for controlling venereal diseases.

After the discovery of penicillin, several other antibiotics like streptomycin, teramycin, etc., were discovered. Today, these antibiot­ics are saving the lives of millions of people all over the world. For this wonderful discovery, the Nobel Prize for medicine was awarded jointly to Fleming, Florey and Chain in 1945. Fleming died on March 11, 1955 in London.

6. Sir C.V. Raman (Inventor of Raman Effect):

Probably there is no one in the field of science who is not ac­quainted with the name of C.V. Raman. He was the first Indian Scientist to win the Nobel Prize for his famous discovery named after him as ‘Raman Effect’ in 1930. The most surprising thing is that he made this discovery with an equip­ment worth hardly Rs. 200. Today, the Raman effect is studied with the aid of equipment worth millions of rupees.

Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was born on 7th November 1888, at Trichinopoli (now called Tiruchirapalli) in Tamil Nadu. His father was a physics teacher in a college. Raman was an exceptionally brilliant student from the very beginning. When he passed his matriculation at the age of 12, his parents were keen to send him abroad for higher studies. But on medical grounds, a British surgeon advised them not to send him abroad.

Therefore, Raman stayed in the country and was admitted in Presidency College, Madras. In 1904, he did his graduation and, in 1907, he did his M.Sc. in Physics, and topped in the university. While he was a student in the Presidency College he carried out many remark­able researches in the field of physics. He worked on diffraction of light and his first research paper on this subject was published in 1906.

In 1907, after passing a Civil Service competitive examination, he became the Deputy Accountant General in Calcutta. Though he was very busy at this position, he used to spare his evenings for scientific research. He would spend his time after the office hours at the labo­ratory of the Indian Association for Cultivation of Sciences. Some­times, he worked throughout the whole night. He got inspiration from Aushootosh Mukherjee who was the secretary of the Indian Science Association. He was so interested in the scientific research that in 1917 he resigned from his job and became the Professor of Physics at Calcutta University.

During a sea voyage to Europe in 1921, he observed with wonder the blue colour of the Mediterranean and of glaciers. He became anxious to find out the reason of this blue colour. After returning to India, he did many experiments related to the scattering of light from water and transparent blocks of ice. On the basis of these experiments, he gave the scientific explanation for the blue colour of sea-water and sky.

There is an interesting incident regarding the inspiration for the discovery of the Raman effect. On a December evening in 1927, Raman was showing a visitor some instruments in his laboratory. At that time, one of his young students, K.S. Krishnan, rushed to him and announced – “Professor Compton has won the Nobel Prize on scattering of X-rays.” (He was the same K.S. Krishnan who later became the Director of the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi.) Raman was equally delighted, but he was lost in some thoughts. He told Krishnan that if the Compton effect was true for X-rays, it must be true for light too.

He started experiments to verify his belief. He used monochro­matic light from a mercury arc which was passed through transparent materials, and was allowed to fall on a spectrograph to record its spectrum. In these experiments, he observed some new lines in the spectrum which were later called ‘Raman Lines’. Four months later, on March 16, 1928, Raman announced his discovery of ‘Raman Effect’ to an assembly of scientists at Bangalore. For the discovery of ‘Raman Effect,’ he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.

Many experiments have since been conducted throughout the World on ‘Raman Effect’. It has been proved of utmost importance in understanding the molecular structure of chemical compounds. In fact, within a decade of its discovery, the structure of about 2000 compo­unds was studied. With the invention of the laser, the ‘Raman Effect’ has become a powerful tool for scientists.

In 1924, Sir C.V. Raman was elected the Fellow of the Royal Society of London. He did a lot of work on magnetism and musical instruments. In 1943, he founded Raman Research Institute near Bangalore. Here he continued the scientific research till his death in 1970. His advice to young scientists was that scientific research needed independent thinking and hard work rather than sophisticated equip­ments. The apparatus used for the discovery of the Raman effect did not cost him much.

Throughout his life, Sir C.V. Raman gave lectures on science in different universities and institutions. He was received everywhere with great honour. He never aspired for any high position. His ambition, instead, was to serve science.

7. Guglielmo Marconi (Inventor of Wireless Telegraphy and Radio):

Today radio is the most effec­tive means of global communi­cation. It immediately gives us information regarding any event anywhere in the world. Wireless telegraphy and radio are the inven­tions of the world famous Physicist, Guglielmo Marconi. In fact, Mar­coni is known as the father of wireless telegraphy. For this dis­covery he was awarded Nobel Prize for physics in 1909.

Marconi was born in Italy and was educated in physics in a tech­nical school in Leghorn, Italy. He conducted his early experiments on his father’s estate near Bologna. His father was never happy with his activities, but his mother always encouraged him to do research. She would even serve food to him in his laboratory itself.

When Marconi was just 20, he came to know about the radio-waves discovered by Heirich Hertz. Hertz believed that these waves can be used to carry messages. At that time messages were already being sent in Morse code using electric wires. Marconi started working in the field of radio-wave communication.

One night in 1894, Marconi came down from his room and woke up his mother. He requested his mother to come into his laboratory. He wanted to show her an important experiment. In his laboratory, Marconi showed her an electric bell positioned in between many instruments in one corner of the room. Marconi himself went to the other comer of the room and pressed a Morse key. As soon as he pressed the key, the electric bell, placed at a distance of 30 feet, rang. The ringing of the bell with the radio waves was a great achievement. She thought it was not an important achievement. At that time, she could not understand the importance of this experiment. Later, when Marconi sent messages from one place to another without wire (i.e. wireless messages) only then could she realise the importance of this small experiment.

Marconi was encouraged by the success of this experiment. With the help of his younger brother Alfango, he transmitted and received back the messages across his garden. One day, Marconi placed his own self-made transmitter on one side of a hill and the receiver on the other side. Alfango was there to receive messages. When Alfango started receiving Marconi’s messages, he started dancing on top of the hill. At this success, Marconi became confident that his instrument was good for long distance communication also.

After this, Marconi moved over to England to continue further experimentation. During 1896-97, he gave a series of successful dem­onstrations of wireless telegraphy. Sir William Pronce, an engineer of General Post Office, showed a great interest in Marconi’s experiments. By 1897, Marconi had succeeded in radio communication over a distance of 12 miles. Marconi became famous throughout Europe for this achievement. His dream of sending messages without wire was fulfilled. He subsequently set up the Marconi Company in 1897.

In 1898, England’s Prince of Wales was caught by fever in his small ship near an island. Queen Victoria was also staying at the port at that time. Marconi connected both the places with the help of his instrument to enable the Queen to receive news of son’s welfare. During 16 days, about 150 messages were sent from both the places. In 1899, Marconi transmitted a radio signal across the English Chan­nel, a distance of about 31 miles. The same year, he equipped two U.S. ships to report to newspapers in New York City the progress of a yatch race.

On December 12, 1901, the letter ‘S’ was sent in Morse code across the Atlantic Ocean. It created a world-wide sensation. At the age of just 33, i.e. in 1909, Marconi received Nobel Prize for physics. Many people started feeling reactions and charged him that he wanted to sell his instrument throughout the world. But it was not correct.

In 1915, Marconi started experiments related to radio transmis­sion. In early days of 1920, Marconi invited his friends on his boat. The music which was played there was being broadcast by London Radio. Marconi continued to work on his experiments and with the in­struments he devised, radio broadcasting began in England on 14th February 1922.

In 1930, Marconi was chosen President of the Royal Italian Academy. Marconi lived upto the age of 63, to see all the changes in radio communication brought about with his contribution. When he died on 20 July 1937, the age of Television had begun. We cannot forget this great scientist who gave the base of radio communication to the modern age.

8. Max Planck (Scientist who Developed Quantum Theory):

The development of quantum theory is one of the biggest revolu­tionary achievements of the present century in the history of physics. Quantum theory was developed by the well-known Physicist Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck. In December 1900, Max Planck established a theory regarding the exchange of energy between matter and electro­magnetic radiation which, in 1901, became famous as ‘quantum the­ory’. This was entirely different from the theories of classical physi­cists, but later it revolutionized the sciences of biology, medicine and engineering. As a result of quantum theory, it became possible to dis­cover new galaxies of knowledge.

Before we discuss more about Max Planck, it is necessary to know something about quantum theory. Although it is difficult to explain this theory in a layman’s language, we can say that electro­magnetic radiation is absorbed by matter only in the form of discrete packages. The amount of energy in a package depends on the frequency of the radiation. This package of energy is called quantum. Quantum is a Latin word which means quantity. One quantum of light is called a photon.

The quantum theory devised by Max Planck was so complex that in the beginning only Albert Einstein could understand its importance. On the basis of this theory he explained the phenomenon of photo­electric effect. There was a time when scientists were not ready to accept the quantum theory of Max Planck, but later they realised that it was the only theory which can resolve every problem of physics. Later, famous scientists like Albert Einstein, de-Bregle, Rutherford, Davison, Pauli, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, solidified the base of this theory which has now become an integral part of physics.

The father of quantum theory, Max Planck, was born on Kiel, Germany. His father, Julius Wilhelm, was a professor of law in Kiel University. Later he joined Gottingen University.

Planck was mainly educated in Munich and Berlin universities. In Berlin University, he worked with Kirchhoff and Helmboltz, the world famous scientists. In 1879, he did his Ph.D. from Munich University. From 1880 to 1885, he taught Physics in this University. The revo­lutionary ideas regarding quantum theory were induced into his mind by Kirchhoff. After 1885, Planck became associate professor of physics in Kiel University where he worked for four years. In 1889, he was appointed Professor of Physics in Berlin University in place of Kirchhoff which position he held till his retirement.

He started his research in the field of thermodynamics with the inspiration from Kirchhoff and as a result of his deep involvement in the subject, he published several research papers related to thermo dynamical problems.

While studying thermodynamics, he was also trying to solve certain problems related to radiation physics. During these studies, he tries to find out the relationship between the energy distributions with the different colours of light. The results he obtained from the study of radiation from the black body were markedly different from the findings of classical physicists. After continuous research, he was able to establish a relationship between the energy and frequency of radia­tion. His findings were published in 1900 which later became the basis for the famous quantum theory of radiation. He proved beyond doubt that the apparently continuous radiation is in fact made up of small packages of energy.

Max Planck received many honours and awards. In 1918, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in recognition of his quantum theory. In 1926, he was elected the Fellow of the Royal Society of London and in 1928 he was given the Koopley Medal of the Royal Society.

He was later appointed the president of Wilhelm Cancer Society for the popularization of science. Meanwhile, the political condition of Germany became very bad under the dictatorship of Hitler and his Nazi Government. Max Planck had to face many difficulties in the regime of the Nazi Government. In fact, it was the most painful period of his life. He wanted to serve his country, but the policies of Nazi Govern­ment were against the Jews. He got his biggest shock in 1944 when his son was hanged for a false allegation of planning the murder of Hitler. After this event, he became totally dejected. During World War II, his house was destroyed by a bomb explosion.

On October 4, 1947, this world famous scientist died in Gottingen. He was always respected by his colleagues for his scientific achievements, but, at the same time, he was equally respected for his personal qualities. He was very fond of music. In fact, once he had decided to take up music as his career. As a mark of respect a ‘constant’ has been named as ‘Planck constant’ which is often used in physics and quantum theory.

9. Sir James Chadwick (Discoverer of Neutron):

The internal structure of the atoms has always been a great problem to the scientists. Many attempts were made to solve this problem. Although in the early years of the 20th century scientists knew that atom contained nega­tively charged electrons and posi­tively charged protons, the total mass of the atom. So it was sus­pected that atom might contain some neutral particles. This fact was proved in 1932 by a British Physicist named Sir James Chadwick.

From his experiments, he proved that nucleus of the atom contains uncharged particles called neutrons. He also pointed out that the mass of neutron is approximately equal to the mass of protons. When the mass of neutrons was added to the mass of protons, the total mass was found equal to the mass of the atom concerned. For the discovery of neutron, Chadwick was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1935.

Today all the mysteries about the structure of atom have been solved. The central part of the atom is called nucleus. The nucleus consists of positively charged protons and neutral particles called neutrons. Electrons revolve round nucleus in different shells. The mass of proton is slightly less than that of neutron. Discovery of neutron has been a boon to the scientists working in the field of nuclear physics. The discovery of the neutrons and researches on chain reactions contributed a lot to the development of the atomic bomb.

Sir James Chadwick was born at Manchester in 1891. He was educated at the Universities of Manchester and Cambridge. From 1923, Chadwick worked with Ernest Rutherford in the Cavendish Labora­tory, Cambridge, where both of them studied the transmutation of elements, that is, when some elements were bombarded with alpha particles, they changed into new elements. In 1927, Chadwick was elected the Fellow of the Royal Society.

In 1932, Chadwick demonstrated that radiation from the element beryllium, caused by the bombardment of alpha particles, is actually a stream of electrically neutral particles. The mass of these neutral particles was almost the same as that of protons. Chadwick called these particles ‘neutrons’, and also studied the properties of these particles. For this discovery, he was awarded the Nobel Prize and he became a world famous scientist. Since these neutral particles have the capability of entering into the nucleus, these were used for the development of the first atomic bomb. Later, neutron bomb was developed on this basis. For this discovery, Chadwick was awarded the Hughes Medal in 1932.

Chadwick also worked with the German nuclear physicist, Hans Geiger, who invented the Geiger counter to ascertain radioactivity and count radioactive particles.

Chadwick also worked on chain reactions. These reactions were used in nuclear fission. He was the first to discover the existence of isotopes. An isotope is a form of an element that is different from other forms of the same element. An isotope contains a different number of neutrons in its nucleus while the number of protons is the same. Today, isotopes are used in treating various diseases. For example, an isotope of cobalt is used in the treatment of cancer. Similarly, iodine isotope is increasing day by day in agriculture also. In our country, isotopes are produced on a large scale at Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, Bombay.

10. Hargobind Khorana (Manufacturer of Artificial Genes in the Laboratory):

A gene is a unit of heredity. It determines characteristics that an organism inherits from its parents. Each gene influences one particular characteristic. Genes are located on chromosomes in the nucleus of a cell. Each cell contains thousands of genes. Genes are made up of DNA (Deoxyribose nucleic acid) and RNA (Ribose nucleic acid). In 1976, Dr. Hargobind Khorana manufactured the artificial gene, for the first time, in his laboratory and stunned the world. By this invention this Indian born scientist became famous all over the world. This was the first step towards production of artificial life.

Hargobind Khorana was born on January 9, 1922, at Raipur in Punjab (now in Pakistan). His father was the village tax collector at Raipur. Of the hundred people in that tiny village only those of his family were literate. He started his education in his village school, where classes were held in the shade of a big tree. Khorana distinguished himself in studies right from the beginning.

Hargobind Khorana passed his B.Sc. examination in the first division from D.A.V. College, Lahore. He also obtained his M.Sc. degree in chemistry in 1945 from Punjab University, Lahore. In 1945, he went to Manchester University, Liverpool in England for higher studies. There he worked under Prof. A. Robertson and got his Ph.D. in 1948.

In 1948, he came back to India but could not get a suitable job. He applied for a teaching post at the University of Delhi, but his application was rejected. He remained without job for several months. Dejected, Khorana went back to England for further research. There he worked with Nobel laureate, Sir Alexander Todd at Cambridge University. In 1952, he went to Canada and got married to the daughter of a Swiss M.P.

In 1953, Dr. Khorana was elected as the head of the Organic Chemistry Group of Commonwealth Research Organisation. He remained in this position up to 1960. In 1959, he produced a chemical called ‘Coenzyme A’ which is essential for certain processes in the human body. In 1960, he went to the United States of America and started working with Nirenberg on the creation of artificial life at the Institute for Enzyme Research at the University of Wisconsin. At this Institute, he developed the methods of synthesizing RNB and DNB. On account of his research it has become possible now to treat some hereditary diseases. For this discovery at the age of 46, he was awarded the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine along with M.W. Nirenberg and R.W. Holley.

In 1970, Khorana joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as the Alfred Sloan Professor of Biology and Chemistry. His work on genetic code is well known throughout the world.

Escherichia coli is a bacteria that lives in the intestines of human beings and animals. Scientists at Cambridge in Britain had already worked out its structure. Khorana and his team took up the task of building a gene of this organism in their laboratory. Piece by piece, they built up the 207 genes of this bacteria. In August 1976, this manmade gene was “inserted” into Escherichia coli. It began to work like its natural gene. This achievement was hailed all over the world.

On paper, the production of gene appears easy, but is not so in practice. To produce one gene, it took Khorana and his 24 team members nine years of consistent labour. Production of human gene is still a distant possibility, if not a dream, because structure of human gene is very complex.

In addition to Nobel Prize, Khorana has been honoured with many prestigious awards including the Merch Award of the Chemical Institute of Canada (1958), Gold Medal of the Professional Institute of Canadian Public Service (1960), Dannie Heineman Prize (1967), Lasker Foundation Award and Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1968). Dr. Khorana has written nearly 300 papers on genetic research.

When he visited India in 1969, he was awarded Padma Bhushan by the Government of India, and was conferred with the honorary degree of D.Sc. by Punjab University, Chandigarh.

Khorana is at present researching how a gene functions in a cell, why it works when wanted and what makes it stop functioning. Now that a gene can be made in the laboratory, it is possible to observe how genes affect the cell functions. Scientists all over the world are hopeful that Dr. Khorana’s studies may give us the cause of genetic defects and the way to correct them. It may also become possible to know about the cause of cancer, in the near future, as a result of Khorana’s research.