PHYSICS SCHOOL - Key Persons

Isaac Newton was an English philosopher, mathematician, and physicist who was one of the most known and influential scientists in history. He was the one who introduced calculus in the area of mathematics, the heterogeneous white light in the area of optics, the three laws of motion in the area of mechanics, and the universal law of gravitation in the area of physics. Where and When was Isaac Newton Born? Isaac Newton was born on the 4th of January 1643 in a Woolsthorpe manor house which is in Lincolnshire, England. His recorded birthday was on Christmas day which is on December 25, 1642 because England did not adopt the Gregorian calendar yet at the time he was born. His father, who also went by the name Isaac, was a farmer and he died three months before his son Isaac Newton was born. When he was at the age of three, his mother Hanna Ayscough remarried to Reverend Barnabus Smith. Isaac Newton was left to be cared for by his grandmother, who was named Margery Ayscough, because his mother raised a new family with her new husband. Isaac Newton did not have a happy childhood. He grew up holding grudges against his mother and his stepfather. He went to school at a free grammar school known as The King's School which is in Grantham. When his mother returned to Woolsthorpe after her second husband died, she took Isaac Newton away from school because she wanted him to become a farmer. Isaac Newton was never inclined to become a farmer and eventually, he returned to The King's School in 1660 for him to be prepared to enter a university. Isaac Newton was admitted to Cambridge university's Trinity College on the 5th June 1661. He entered as a sizar which means that he entered college as a working student despite having a wealthy mother. The scientific revolution has not yet penetrated the aura of learning in Cambridge and Isaac Newton, along with other students, was taught of Aristotle's teachings in the college. Isaac Newton had a preference to study the more modern philosophies of Rene Descartes, Pierre Gassendi, Thomas Hobbes, and other modern philosophers because he himself had already mastered and understood the ideas of these modern philosophers during his private studies when he was still in Woolsthorpe. Isaac Newton was taking his bachelor's degree in 1665 when the university in Cambridge closed for two years because of the Great Plague. It was during this time of the Great Plague in 1665 and 1666 that the genius of Isaac Newton was surfacing out and it showed through developing and formulating his own theories and formulas in mathematics, optics, physics, and even in astronomy. In 1667, he became a minor fellow in Trinity College. In 1668, he became a major fellow after he got his Master's Degree. In 1669, he became Lucasian Professor of Mathematics and his position enabled him to enhance his earlier researches. In 1672, he became a Royal Society fellow and then his first publication on light and the nature of color was released. Publications of Isaac Newton's principles and great works on different subjects went on as he continued to do experiments and intensive studies. He had encountered disputes on most of his works after releasing them but he remains someone to have had a substantial influence on science.

Maria Skłodowska, who is known today as Marie Curie, was born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland. She was Polish-raised and she was the fifth and youngest child. Her parents were both educators. Her father, Władysław Skłodowski, was a mathematics and physics professor. Her mother, Bronisława Boguska, died of tuberculosis when Maria was still twelve.

Job Titles:

• Director of the Institute of Radioactivity
• S School and University Life

Marie Curie was a French physicist and chemist who is known today for being associated with the origin of radioactivity and the discovery of radium and polonium. She is a legendary scientist for being the first woman to have won the Nobel Prize in Physics and the first scientist to have won two Nobel Prizes. Marie Curie was an intelligent student. In 1883, she finished her secondary education earning a gold medal. She first learned physics from her father. She wanted to learn more but women in Poland were not allowed to enter universities during her time. She wanted to study at the Sarbonne which is the University of Paris but she did not have the means to do so. So she earned a living to help sustain her family by being a tutor and being a governess in well-off families. In 1891, she moved to Paris in lieu to an arrangement with her sister who had just finished a degree in medicine there and she entered as a physics student at the Sarbonne where she studied physics, chemistry, and mathematics. She devoted herself to her studies. In 1893, she finished first place with her degree in physics. In 1894, she finished second place with her degree in mathematics. Marie Curie became the director of the Institute of Radioactivity which is in Warsaw, Poland in 1911 and she won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in the same year for her work on isolating pure radium. In 1914, she became the first director of the Radium Institute in Paris. Marie Curie had two daughters with Pierre. She died of anemia on July 4, 1934, and her health condition was due to too much exposure to high levels of radiation. The negative health effects of radioactivity were not recognized and known while she was still doing her studies on radioactivity. Marie Curie's great work and discoveries in the field of radioactivity makes her one of the most important scientists in physics.

Max Planck was a German physicist who is known today for originating the quantum theory. He got the Nobel Prize in 1918 and he is considered as one of the legendary scientists who introduced modern physics to the world of science. When and Where was Max Planck Born? Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, who is more commonly known today as Max Planck, was born on April 23, 1858 in Kiel, Germany. His father, Johann Julius Wilhelm Planck, was a Constitutional Law Professor at the University of Kiel and his mother, Emma Planck, was the second wife of his father. Max Planck came from a line of an intellectual family. Both his great-grandfather and grandfather were theology professors in Göttingen, Germany. He studied elementary in Kiel but he spent his secondary at the Maximillian Gymnasium in Munich after his family moved in 1867 when his father got appointed as a professor in Munich. He excelled in music rather than in mathematics to the extent that he even considered becoming a musician. Max Planck Quantum Theory of Radiation (Planck Postulate) In 1900, he publicized his quantum theory of radiation or radiation law which is interchangeably known today as Planck Postulate, quantum theory, or Planck's radiation formula thorough study on the second law of thermodynamics and black-body radiation. He formulated a mathematical solution to describe his law which states that electromagnetic energy can only be transmitted in quantized form and that it is absorbed in discreet packets having absolute sizes of what is known today as Planck's constant. Though his work did not get accepted and appreciated immediately until Albert Einstein acknowledged and studied more of his important discovery. In 1926, he became a foreign member of the Royal Society and he retired at the University of Berlin in this same year. Max Planck was married twice. In March 1887, he was married to Marie Merck and he had four children with her. In March 1911, he got married again to Marga von Hoesslin and he had one son with her. One of his sons to Marie Merck was unfortunately executed in 1944 after having been associated to an unsuccessful plot against Adolf Hitler. Max Planck stated in his quantum theory that the energy that is emitted by the radiating black-body is an integer multiple of the product of Planck's constant and the frequency of light and this product is associated with the fundamental frequency of each of the radiating body's oscillators. This is described by the formula E = nhf where E is the emitted energy, h is Planck's constant, f is the frequency of light, and n = 1, 2, 3, …

Job Titles:

• Scientist
• Black Holes and the Singularity Theorem
• Research Fellow at the Gonville

Stephen Hawking is a theoretical physicist who is known for having significant contributions in physics especially in the field of cosmology and on quantum gravity. Where and When was Stephen Hawking Born Stephen William Hawking was born in Oxford, England on the 8th of January 1942. His father, Dr. Frank Hawking, was a renowned researcher in tropical medicine and biology. His mother, Isobel Hawking, moved from London to Oxford with Frank Hawking while she was still pregnant with Stephen when London was attacked during the World War II. Stephen Hawking was the first child to his parents and his family moved back to London when he was born. Stephen Hawking began his schooling at the St. Alban's High School for Girls in 1950 when he was still 8 years old. During his time, boys could attend at girl's schools until they were 10 years old. When he was 11 years old, he was transferred to the St. Alban's School. His father wanted him to study medicine when he entered the University of Oxford in 1959 as a scholar but he was more interested to take up mathematics. The University of Oxford did not offer mathematics so he took up physics with his degree in natural sciences. After studying for three years, he was awarded with a first class honors in his degree. He got his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Oxford in 1962 and then studied in Cambridge to study theoretical astronomy and cosmology. Stephen Hawking develops Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) In 1963, Stephen Hawking was diagnosed to have ALS or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis which made him void of neuromuscular control and he was confined to a wheelchair. The doctors told him that he cannot live with enough time to complete his doctorate degree because of his incurable disease. It was only when he met the woman that he would want to marry that his research progressed and he was able to go through his doctorate degree when his illness slowed down. In 1966, he finished his doctorate degree. Stephen Hawking became a Research Fellow at the Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge where he later became a Professorial Fellow. He became a part of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics in Cambridge in 1973 and became a professor of gravitational physics in 1977. In 1979, he became a Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. He also became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974. He was a member of the US National Academy of Sciences. He had 12 honorary degrees. In 1989, he became a Companion of Honour. In 1988, he published a book titled " A Brief History of Time" which describes his theories of the universe and it became a best seller. Stephen Hawking was married to Jane Wilde in 1965 and they had three children. He was divorced to Jane Wilde in 1991 and he was married to Elaine Mason in 1995. He was divorced again to Elaine Mason in 2006. Stephen Hawking is a notable scientist known for his theories in the field of cosmology. His principles comprise the fundamental laws that govern the universe. One of his most significant contributions is his concept of time that started with the Big Bang theory around ten billion years ago. Stephen Hawking laid his principles on black holes that opposed the dominating argument that a black hole destroys anything that will fall into it. He suggested that the formation of many black holes may have occurred early after the Big Bang. Hawking radiation is what is referred as the subatomic particles that black holes thermally create and emit.