VARIO

US
SCIEN
TISTS

Name :Jahlive mckoy

Subject: Physics
Grade : 9o

Acknowledgement
Firstly I would like to thank God for the strength to do this project. I would also like to thank my
teacher for giving me this project as it has increased my knowledge and awareness about the
various scientists that has contributed to many developments today. I would also like to thank my
family members for assisting me with this project.

Introduction
A scientist, in a broad sense, is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a
more restricted sense, a scientist may refer to an individual who uses the scientific method. The
person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. There are several scientists that have
contributed to todays work and development of many devices. Many of these scientists are
centuries old and their discoveries have made a huge impact on our lives today. Other scientists
have worked on what previous scientists have discovered to make more modern devices and
discoveries. Some of these scientists have originated from many areas in the world and include
the Caribbean. These scientists include Albert Einstein, Gertrude Elion, Louis Grant, Warren
Henry and Adolfo Figueroa-Vias.

Any Scientist Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical
physicist and philosopher of science. He developed the general theory of relativity, one of the
two pillars ofmodern physics (alongside quantum mechanics). He is best known in popular
culture for his massenergy equivalenceformula E = mc2 (which has been dubbed "the world's
most famous equation"). He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his services to
theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect. The
latter was pivotal in establishing quantum theory.
Near the beginning of his career, Einstein thought that Newtonian mechanics was no longer
enough to reconcile the laws of classical mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field.
This led to the development of his special theory of relativity. He realized, however, that the
principle of relativity could also be extended to gravitational fields, and with his subsequent
theory of gravitation in 1916, he published a paper on the general theory of relativity. He
continued to deal with problems of statistical mechanics and quantum theory, which led to his

explanations of particle theory and the motion of molecules. He also investigated the thermal
properties of light which laid the foundation of the photon theory of light. In 1917, Einstein
applied the general theory of relativity to model the large-scale structure of the universe.
He was visiting the United States when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 and, being Jewish,
did not go back to Germany, where he had been a professor at the Berlin Academy of Sciences.
He settled in the U.S., becoming an American citizen in 1940. On the eve of World War II, he
endorsed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt alerting him to the potential development of
"extremely powerful bombs of a new type" and recommending that the U.S. begin similar
research. This eventually led to what would become the Manhattan Project. Einstein supported
defending the Allied forces, but largely denounced the idea of using the newly
discovered nuclear fission as a weapon. Later, with the British philosopher Bertrand Russell,
Einstein signed the RussellEinstein Manifesto, which highlighted the danger of nuclear
weapons. Einstein was affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey,
until his death in 1955.
Einstein published more than 300 scientific papers along with over 150 non-scientific works.
Albert Einstein's first paper submitted in 1900 to Annalen der Physik was on capillary attraction.
It was published in 1901 with the title "Folgerungen aus den Capillarittserscheinungen", which
translates as "Conclusions from the capillarity phenomena". Two papers he published in 1902
1903 (thermodynamics) attempted to interpret atomic phenomena from a statistical point of view.
These papers were the foundation for the 1905 paper on Brownian motion, which showed that
Brownian movement can be construed as firm evidence that molecules exist. His research in
1903 and 1904 was mainly concerned with the effect of finite atomic size on diffusion
phenomena.

Black scientist Warren Henry

Warren Elliot Henry (1909 2001) was born on a peanut farm in Evergreen, Alabama. Both
parents were graduates of Tuskegee Institute, and George Washington Carver lived on Henry's
parent's farm doing research during summer months. Little Warren learned how to read when he
was 4 and occasionally went on walks with his father and Carver. He was allowed to stay up past
bedtime only if he were studying or reading.
Henry attended Tuskegee Institute, where he majored in three subjects Mathematics, English and
French. Although Dr. Carver was retired by then, he was still on campus doing research and
conducting a bible study class, which Warren Henry also attended. In 1931, Henry earned a
Bachelor of Science from Tuskegee Institute, and then served as a principal at a segregated
school in rural Ardmore, Alabama.
As a school principal, Henry received a summer scholarship at Atlanta University. At the end of
the summer, he received a tuition scholarship at Atlanta university. While in graduate school, he
taught classes at Spelman and Morehouse Colleges. In 1937, Henry earned an Master of Science
in Orhanic Chemstry from Atlanta University.

The Summer after he earned his M.S., Henry studied at the University of Chicago. At the end, a
professor, Anton Berg, asked whether he intended to study for the Ph.D. Berg said there was no
money, but Henry would have their moral support. Henry stayed as this period (1938-41) was
exciting and stimulating, he was exposed to the latest thoughts of the originators of modern
physics theories. He passed the language requirements (French and German) the first month at
the school. Henry was the only one of five students who took the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination
the next January.
It was for Dr. Henry, the beginning of a long association with scientists who either had already
won Nobel prizes in chemistry and physics, or were destined to do so. Arthur Compton taught
him quantum mechanics, Wolfgang Pauli taught nuclear forces, Robert Millikan taught
molecular spectra. He played tennis with Dr. Enrico Fermi who won the Nobel prize for
achieving the first sustained chain reaction in a nuclear reactor. (over his career, he has been
associated with more than 17 Nobel prize winners). Warren Henry earned a Ph.D. (Physical
Chemistry) from the University of Chicago in 1941. He wanted to continue with research, and in
those days a Ph.D. should have guaranteed him a research position, but only the historically
black schools offered him a job, teaching. Thus, he returned to Tuskeegee Institute, where he
taught courses. Some of his students were members of the 99th Pursuit Suadron, part of the later
famous Tuskegee Airmen.
A friend, P.R. Bell, from the University of Chicago, helped Dr. Henry find a wartime position at
MIT's Top-secret Radiation Laboratory (1943-1946). There Dr. Henry developed video
amplifiers that were used in portable radar systems on warships. He was recruited by Dr.

Clarence Zener (Zener Diode) for a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Institute of Metal at the U. of
Chicago, Warren Henry became chair the Department of Physics at Morehouse College.
The summer after his year at Morehouse, Warren wanted to do low temperature research, but was
turned down at Rutgers University for a request to use their equipment (this was around the time
Rutgers refused to allow Paul Robeson sing in its choir) . He told his disappointment to an
acquaintance at the Office of Naval Research. He was told to go to the Naval Research
Laboratory and tell them to hire him for a two month stay. Dr. Henry then said, "At the end of
two months, I was asked by Dr. Richard Dolecek to stay. I stayed for 12 years." (1948-1960).
During the 1950s his research and knowledge of materials at extremely low temperatures was
probably unsurpassed in the U.S. While at the Naval Research Laboratory, Henry headed the
group that installed the high field Bitter Magnet. Henry also worked at UC Berkeley as a guest
investigator at the Giauque Lab under the auspices of Glenn Seaborg. In the 1960's while at
Lockheed Space and Missile Co., he developed guidance systems for the detection of submarines
and helped to design the hover craft that was specially developed for use in night fighting during
the Vietnam War.

Jamaican Scientist - PROF. LOUIS GRANT

A pathologist and microbiologist, Prof. Louis Grant was associated with the University of the
West Indies for 20 years and achieved the highest academic honour. As he was in touch with
Science from an early age as his father worked in a chemical laboratory at the Appleton
Estate. He had showed great promise as a student early in his life, and in fact, won a scholarship
that made him able to attend Jamaica College before he left the island and went to study abroad.
In the 1940's he dreamed of a Jamaica with less disease and he sought the help he needed and
completed a mass vaccination that is credited with the eradication of the tuberculosis disease
here in Jamaica. And in the 1960's when Leptospirosis began spreading all over Jamaica, Prof.
Grant did the necessary research and discovered that infected rats were urinating on the food that
was being consumed by the people who were ill. He quickly spread the word so that people
would do more to get rid of the rats and protect their food. Soon there was a big decrease in the
number

of

cases.

After that horses were afflicted with a virus called the Equine Encephalitis, on the eastern side of
the island, he then instituted quarantine for the horses, donkeys and mules in that area.

This prevented the billion dollar horse industry from being ruined.Again in the late 1960's
Jamaicans began suffering from a fever. Dr. Grant realized it was the Dengue Fever. And after
intense research he found out that the aedes aegypti mosquitos were actually spreading the virus.
Again he launched a public education campaign that helped to reduce the spread of the virus.

A Female Scientist - Gertrude Belle Elion

Gertrude

Belle

Elion (January

23,

1918

February

21,

1999)

was

an American biochemist and pharmacologist, and a 1988 recipient of the Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine. Working alone as well as with George H. Hitchings, Elion developed a
multitude of new drugs, using innovative research methods that would later lead to the
development of theAIDS drug AZT.
Elion and Hitchings used the differences in biochemistry between normal human cells
and pathogens (disease-causing agents) to design drugs that could kill or inhibit the reproduction
of particular pathogens without harming the host cells. Most of Elion's early work came from the
use and development of purines. Elion's inventions include:

6-mercaptopurine (Purinethol), the first treatment for leukemia and used in organ
transplantation.

Azathioprine (Imuran), the first immuno-suppressive agent, used for organ transplants.

Allopurinol (Zyloprim), for gout.

Pyrimethamine (Daraprim), for malaria.

Trimethoprim (Septra),

for meningitis, septicemia,

the urinary and respiratory tracts.

Acyclovir (Zovirax), for viral herpes.

Nelarabine for cancer treatment.

and bacterial

infections of

Caribbean Scientist

Adolfo Figueroa-Vias, Ph.D. is the first Puerto Rican astrophysicist at the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and is an expert in solar and space plasma
physics at the Heliophysics Science Division. As a staff scientist his research interests include
studying plasma kinetic physics and magnetohydrodynamics of the solar wind, heliosphere,
shock waves, MHD and kinetic simulation of plasma instabilities, and turbulent processes
associated with space, solar and astrophysical plasmas.
Vias has pioneered methods for the analysis of plasma particle detectors on board spacecraft.
He has conceived and developed a technique for the determination of the fluid moments of
velocity distribution function in space plasma measurements from particle detectors. This
method is currently being tested for implementation on board any satellite CPU processing unit
with particle detectors, to reduce the amount of data required to compute the moments on ground
with only a small amount of measurements required via telemetry to unpack the physical
quantities on ground. Vias has also pioneer work to resolve the geometrical properties,

propagation velocity, and characteristics of shock waves from simple conservation principles.
His work has received national and international recognition (known as the Vias-Scudder
Method) because it is the most accurate and robust method for in-situ shock characteristics
determination from space plasma measurements. The Vias-Scudder method have been
implemented into an Interactive Data Language (IDL) visualization tool named SDAT (Shock
and Discontinuities Analysis Tool) for distribution to the scientific community and investigators
interested in shock physics.Vias is a staff astrophysicist at the Geospace Physics Laboratory of
the Heliophysics Science Division at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Vias continues
actively in research and lecturing at various national and international research centers and
universities, He is also a post-doctoral mentor and adviser to many national and international
young scientists. He is currently an active member of the American Physical Society (APS), the
American Geophysical Union (AGU), and a founding member of the Latin American
Association for Space Geophysics (ALAGE).

Reference
Gayle, W. (2014). Jamaican Scientist. In My-Island-Jamaica.com. Retrieved October 12, 2014
Gertrude Elion. (2014). In Famous Scientists. Retrieved October 12, 2014
Albert

Einstein.

(2014).

In wikipedia.

Retrieved

October

14,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein
Williams, S. (2008). Physicist of African Diaspora. Retrieved October 14, 2014

2014,

from