Science & Technology Flashcards
Learn about these select few innovators who discovered and/or invented some seriously important stuff!
Who is:
Nicolaus Copernicus
15th and 16th-century Renaissance Polish astronomer who argued that the Earth moves about the Sun, displacing the Earth from the center of the universe
Who is:
Johannes Gutenberg
- German printer who invented the printing press and movable type printing in the mid-15th century
- The first book printed from movable type was the Gutenberg Bible, of which 48 copies survive
Who is:
Jacques Cousteau
- French oceanographer and innovator of the 20th century who explored and studied the sea and all forms of marine wildlife
- He pioneered marine conservation and, along with Émile Gagnan, invented the Aqua-Lung, the first self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA)
Who is:
Tim Berners-Lee
British computer scientist and the inventor of the World Wide Web
Who is:
Nikola Tesla
Serbian-American inventor and engineer of the 19th and 20th centuries noted for his contributions to the design of the modern AC electric power system
Who is:
Galileo Galilei
- 16th and 17th-century Italian physicist and philosopher who was a central figure in the Scientific Revolution
- He proved that objects with different masses fall at the same velocity and discovered the moons of Jupiter
- He controversially supported heliocentrism, made improvements to the design of the telescope, and laid the groundwork for modern kinetics, dynamics, and astronomy
Who is:
Albert Einstein
- German-born physicist of the 20th century often considered the father of modern physics thanks to his development of the general theory of relativity
- Although he won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work pertaining to the photoelectric effect (which helped develop quantum theory), he is best known for his mass-energy equivalence formula E=mc2 (which helped lead to the development of nuclear fission)
Who is:
Isaac Newton
- English scientist of the 17th and 18th centuries, considered one of the greatest scientists in human history
- He played an enormous role in developing modern understanding of calculus, light, motion, and gravity
Who is:
Guglielmo Marconi
- Italian inventor of the 19th and 20th centuries who developed radio transmission and wireless telegraphy
- He won the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics
Who is:
Louis Pasteur
- French scientist of the 19th century who helped prove the germ theory of disease – the notion that diseases are caused by microorganisms
- One of the founders of microbiology, he created vaccines for anthrax and rabies, and developed pasteurization, the process of heating fluids so as to kill harmful bacteria
Who is:
Charles Darwin
- English naturalist of the 19th century who helped develop the theory of evolution
- His most famous work, The Origin of Species, is considered to be the foundation of modern evolutionary biology
Who is:
Edward Jenner
English physician of the 18th and 19th centuries who pioneered the smallpox vaccine and who is now regarded as the father of immunology
Who is:
Florence Nightingale
- English nurse of the 19th and 20th centuries who is regarded as the founder of modern nursing
- She rose to fame during the Crimean War, where she tended wounded soldiers day and night, earning her the nickname “Lady with the Lamp”
- In London, she later established the first secular nursing school in the world
Who is:
Joseph Lister
19th-century English surgeon who pioneered antiseptic surgery, promoting the idea of sterile surgery to reduce infections
Who is:
Louis Daguerre
19th-century French artist and physicist most known for inventing the daguerreotype process of photography, and as a result, as a father of photography
Who is:
Johannes Kepler
- German mathematician of the 16th and 17th centuries and one of the major figures of the scientific revolution
- While he invented an improved version of the refracting telescope, he is best known for his laws of planetary motion
Who is:
Marie Curie
- Polish-born physicist of the 19th and 20th centuries who worked mainly in France and was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize
- She is best known for her research on radioactivity and for her techniques of isolating radioactive isotopes
Who is:
Léon Foucault
19th-century French physicist best known for inventing a pendulum (named after him) that demonstrates the rotation of the Earth
Who is:
Michael Faraday
- English scientist of the 19th century most famous for establishing the notion of the electromagnetic field in physics
- He is credited with the discoveries of diamagnetism, electromagnetic induction, and the laws of electrolysis
Who is:
Niels Bohr
- 20th-century Danish physicist best known for developing the model of the atom with a nucleus at the center and electrons orbiting around it
- Also a contributor to both the Manhattan Project and the field of quantum mechanics, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922
Name the scientific or technological figure:
15th and 16th-century Renaissance Polish astronomer who argued that the Earth moves about the Sun, displacing the Earth from the center of the universe
Nicolaus Copernicus
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- German printer who invented the printing press and movable type printing in the mid-15th century
- The first book printed from movable type was the Gutenberg Bible, of which 48 copies survive
Johannes Gutenberg
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- French oceanographer and innovator of the 20th century who explored and studied the sea and all forms of marine wildlife
- He pioneered marine conservation and, along with Émile Gagnan, invented the Aqua-Lung, the first self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA)
Jacques Cousteau
Name the scientific or technological figure:
British computer scientist and the inventor of the World Wide Web
Tim Berners-Lee
Name the scientific or technological figure:
Serbian-American inventor and engineer of the 19th and 20th centuries noted for his contributions to the design of the modern AC electric power system
Nikola Tesla
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- 16th and 17th-century Italian physicist and philosopher who was a central figure in the Scientific Revolution
- He proved that objects with different masses fall at the same velocity and discovered the moons of Jupiter
- He controversially supported heliocentrism, made improvements to the design of the telescope, and laid the groundwork for modern kinetics, dynamics, and astronomy
Galileo Galilei
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- German-born physicist of the 20th century often considered the father of modern physics thanks to his development of the general theory of relativity
- Although he won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work pertaining to the photoelectric effect (which helped develop quantum theory), he is best known for his mass-energy equivalence formula E=mc2 (which helped lead to the development of nuclear fission)
Albert Einstein
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- English scientist of the 17th and 18th centuries, considered one of the greatest scientists in human history
- He played an enormous role in developing modern understanding of calculus, light, motion, and gravity
Isaac Newton
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- Italian inventor of the 19th and 20th centuries who developed radio transmission and wireless telegraphy
- He won the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics
Guglielmo Marconi
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- French scientist of the 19th century who helped prove the germ theory of disease – the notion that diseases are caused by microorganisms
- One of the founders of microbiology, he created vaccines for anthrax and rabies, and developed pasteurization, the process of heating fluids so as to kill harmful bacteria
Louis Pasteur
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- English naturalist of the 19th century who helped develop the theory of evolution
- His most famous work, The Origin of Species, is considered to be the foundation of modern evolutionary biology
Charles Darwin
Name the scientific or technological figure:
English physician of the 18th and 19th centuries who pioneered the smallpox vaccine and who is now regarded as the father of immunology
Edward Jenner
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- English nurse of the 19th and 20th centuries who is regarded as the founder of modern nursing
- She rose to fame during the Crimean War, where she tended wounded soldiers day and night, earning her the nickname “Lady with the Lamp”
- In London, she later established the first secular nursing school in the world
Florence Nightingale
Name the scientific or technological figure:
19th-century English surgeon who pioneered antiseptic surgery, promoting the idea of sterile surgery to reduce infections
Joseph Lister
Name the scientific or technological figure:
19th-century French artist and physicist most known for inventing the daguerreotype process of photography, and as a result, as a father of photography
Louis Daguerre
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- German mathematician of the 16th and 17th centuries and one of the major figures of the scientific revolution
- While he invented an improved version of the refracting telescope, he is best known for his laws of planetary motion
Johannes Kepler
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- Polish-born physicist of the 19th and 20th centuries who worked mainly in France and was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize
- She is best known for her research on radioactivity and for her techniques of isolating radioactive isotopes
Marie Curie
Name the scientific or technological figure:
19th-century French physicist best known for inventing a pendulum (named after him) that demonstrates the rotation of the Earth
Léon Foucault
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- English scientist of the 19th century most famous for establishing the notion of the electromagnetic field in physics
- He is credited with the discoveries of diamagnetism, electromagnetic induction, and the laws of electrolysis
Michael Faraday
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- 20th-century Danish physicist best known for developing the model of the atom with a nucleus at the center and electrons orbiting around it
- Also a contributor to both the Manhattan Project and the field of quantum mechanics, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922
Niels Bohr
Who is:
Alfred Nobel
- Wealthy Swedish scientist and arms manufacturer of the 19th century who invented dynamite
- After his death, his fortune was used to establish the Nobel Prizes
Who is:
Enrico Fermi
- Italian-American physicist of the 20th century most known for building the first nuclear reactor
- He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938
Who is:
Euclid
Ancient Greek mathematician and the founder of the study of geometry
Who is:
Ptolemy
- Greek-Roman philosopher and citizen of Egypt of the first and second centuries A.D.
- He authored several important and highly influential scientific treatises on astrology and mathematics
Who is:
Louis Braille
- 19th-century Frenchman who was blinded as a child and later developed a new system of reading and writing for the blind, later named in his honor as braille
- The braille system remains enormously important to the blind as a way to communicate and learn, and has been adapted for many languages
Who is:
Jonas Salk
20th-century American medical researcher who discovered and developed the first polio vaccine
Who is:
J. Robert Oppenheimer
- American physicist of the 20th century who, along with Enrico Fermi, is known as the “father of the atomic bomb”
- Played a major role in the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons
Who is:
Eli Whitney
18th and 19th-century American inventor, famous for inventing the cotton gin, one of the major inventions of the Industrial Revolution
Who is:
Thomas Edison
American inventor of the 19th and 20th centuries who patented more than a thousand devices and aided in the development and design of numerous others, many of them instrumental to modern life, such as the phonograph, the motion picture camera, power stations and generators, and the incandescent light bulb
Who is:
Henry Ford
- American industrialist of the 19th and 20th centuries who founded Ford Motor Company
- He championed the assembly line technique of mass production, using it to build the Model T automobile, which, although not the first automobile, revolutionized transportation
Who is:
Alexander Graham Bell
- Scottish-born American inventor of the 19th and 20th centuries who is credited with the invention of the telephone
- He devoted much of his research and career to elocution, hearing, speech, and the education of the deaf
- He helped found the National Geographic Society
Who are:
the Wright Brothers
- Orville and Wilbur, two American brothers and inventors of the 19th and 20th centuries who in 1903 built the first successful airplane and achieved the first sustained human flight
- They subsequently developed their machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft and invented three-axis control, which remains the standard system of aircraft controls
Who is:
Levi Strauss
- Bavarian-born American businessman who founded the first company, Levi Strauss & Co., to manufacture blue jeans, which were invented by him and tailor Jacob Davis
- Technically, what they actually invented was working pants with reinforcements from copper rivets at points of stress
Who is:
Elias Howe
American inventor of the 19th century who perfected the design of the modern sewing machine, which incorporated a lockstitch design
Who is:
Douglas Engelbart
- American inventor who is best known for his innovations in human-computer interaction, most notably the invention of the computer mouse
- He is also noted for his work on networked computers and hypertext
Who is:
Samuel Morse
American inventor of the 19th century who invented the single-wire telegraph and co-invented Morse code
Who is:
Leo Baekeland
- Belgian-born American chemist of the 19th and 20th centuries best known for inventing Bakelite (in 1907), a nonflammable and inexpensive plastic
- Recognized in 1993 as having been the world’s first synthetic plastic, Bakelite helped bring about the beginning of the modern plastics industry
Who is:
Pythagoras
Greek mathematician and philosopher of the 5th and 6th centuries B.C. who is widely credited with the discovery and proof of the Pythagorean theorem in geometry
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- Wealthy Swedish scientist and arms manufacturer of the 19th century who invented dynamite
- After his death, his fortune was used to establish the Nobel Prizes
Alfred Nobel
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- Italian-American physicist of the 20th century most known for building the first nuclear reactor
- He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938
Enrico Fermi
Name the scientific or technological figure:
Ancient Greek mathematician and the founder of the study of geometry
Euclid
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- Greek-Roman philosopher and citizen of Egypt of the first and second centuries A.D.
- He authored several important and highly influential scientific treatises on astrology and mathematics
Ptolemy
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- 19th-century Frenchman who was blinded as a child and later developed a new system of reading and writing for the blind, later named in his honor as braille
- The braille system remains enormously important to the blind as a way to communicate and learn, and has been adapted for many languages
Louis Braille
Name the scientific or technological figure:
20th-century American medical researcher who discovered and developed the first polio vaccine
Jonas Salk
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- American physicist of the 20th century who, along with Enrico Fermi, is known as the “father of the atomic bomb”
- Played a major role in the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Name the scientific or technological figure:
18th and 19th-century American inventor, famous for inventing the cotton gin, one of the major inventions of the Industrial Revolution
Eli Whitney
Name the scientific or technological figure:
American inventor of the 19th and 20th centuries who patented more than a thousand devices and aided in the development and design of numerous others, many of them instrumental to modern life, such as the phonograph, the motion picture camera, power stations and generators, and the incandescent light bulb
Thomas Edison
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- American industrialist of the 19th and 20th centuries who founded Ford Motor Company
- He championed the assembly line technique of mass production, using it to build the Model T automobile, which, although not the first automobile, revolutionized transportation
Henry Ford
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- Scottish-born American inventor of the 19th and 20th centuries who is credited with the invention of the telephone
- He devoted much of his research and career to elocution, hearing, speech, and the education of the deaf
- He helped found the National Geographic Society
Alexander Graham Bell
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- Orville and Wilbur, two American brothers and inventors of the 19th and 20th centuries who in 1903 built the first successful airplane and achieved the first sustained human flight
- They subsequently developed their machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft and invented three-axis control, which remains the standard system of aircraft controls
the Wright Brothers
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- Bavarian-born American businessman who founded the first company, Levi Strauss & Co., to manufacture blue jeans, which were invented by him and tailor Jacob Davis
- Technically, what they actually invented was working pants with reinforcements from copper rivets at points of stress
Levi Strauss
Name the scientific or technological figure:
American inventor of the 19th century who perfected the design of the modern sewing machine, which incorporated a lockstitch design
Elias Howe
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- American inventor who is best known for his innovations in human-computer interaction, most notably the invention of the computer mouse
- He is also noted for his work on networked computers and hypertext
Douglas Engelbart
Name the scientific or technological figure:
American inventor of the 19th century who invented the single-wire telegraph and co-invented Morse code
Samuel Morse
Name the scientific or technological figure:
- Belgian-born American chemist of the 19th and 20th centuries best known for inventing Bakelite (in 1907), a nonflammable and inexpensive plastic
- Recognized in 1993 as having been the world’s first synthetic plastic, Bakelite helped bring about the beginning of the modern plastics industry
Leo Baekeland
Name the scientific or technological figure:
Greek mathematician and philosopher of the 5th and 6th centuries B.C. who is widely credited with the discovery and proof of the Pythagorean theorem in geometry
Pythagoras
