Tagbilaran City Science High School http://scihi.org TCSHS Online Community Tue, 14 Jan 2025 16:37:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.29 http://scihi.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/cropped-scihi-blog-icon-32x32.png SciHi Blog http://scihi.org 32 32 Sir Benjamin Baker and the Forth Bridge http://scihi.org/sir-benjamin-baker-forth-bridge/ Fri, 31 Mar 2023 05:03:48 +0000 http://scihi.org/?p=12954 Sir Benjamin Baker (1840-1907)

Sir Benjamin Baker (1840-1907), [Public Domain] via WikiCommons

On March 31, 1840, British civil engineer Sir Benjamin Baker was born. Baker worked in mid to late Victorian era and helped develop the early underground railways in London with Sir John Fowler, but he is best known for his work on the Forth Bridge. He made many other notable contributions to civil engineering, including his work as an expert witness at the public inquiry into the Tay Rail Bridge disaster.

Early Years

Benjamin Baker was born in Keyford, which is now part of Frome, Somerset, UK, in 1840, the son of Benjamin Baker, principal assistant at Tondu Ironworks, and his wife Sarah Hollis. He was educated at Cheltenham Grammar School and, at the age of 16, became an apprentice at Messrs Price and Fox at the Neath Abbey Iron Works. After his apprenticeship he spent two years as an assistant to Mr. W.H. Wilson. In 1861 Baker became an assistant to the consulting engineer John Fowler, which should be the starting point of a life long association.

The Westminster Subterranean District Railway

Baker became Fowler’s chief assistant in 1869 and as such was responsible for the construction of the subterranean District Railway from Westminster to the City of London. In 1875 Baker became Fowler’s partner in business and the two were close friends despite a difference in age of twenty-three years.[2]

On Urban Railways

Baker also served as consultant for the building of other London Underground lines, all bored deep in the London clay. In his early paper ‘On Urban Railways’ (1874), it was his suggestion that the ideal urban railway should ‘undulate’, with the stations being placed at each summit. This simple idea means that gravity assists the engine in starting and supplements the brakes in stopping, thus aiding fuel consumption and longevity of equipment.[2]

Transporting Cleopatra’s Needle

Cleopatra's Needle: construction of the cylinder around the Needle for transport to London.

Cleopatra’s Needle: construction of the cylinder around the Needle for transport to London. [Public Domain], National Maritime Museum Reproduction ID: H1000, via WikiCommons

His other projects included the docks at Avonmouth and Hull and the transport 1877-78 of the 180-ton obelisk Cleopatra’s Needle, from Egypt and its reerection in London, now standing on the Thames Embankment. Baker designed the vast iron cylinder that brought Cleopatra’s Needle from Alexandria, Egypt, to London. The cylinder was 28 m long and almost 5 m in diameter, was fitted with metal bulkheads which held the obelisk in place, and the whole contraption was rolled into the water for towing to England. It had a vertical stem and stern, a rudder, two bilge keels, a mast for balancing sails, and a deck house. This acted as a floating pontoon which was to be towed to London by the ship Olga, commanded by Captain Booth. This was not an easy task, yet in contrast to the seven years it had taken the French to remove the Luxor obelisk to Paris, Cleopatra’s Needle was erected on the embankment only eighteen months after the initial plan was drawn up.

Long Span Bridges

Baker obtained an extremely large professional practice, ranging over almost every branch of civil engineering, and was more or less directly concerned with most of the great engineering achievements of his day. In 1867 Baker wrote a series of articles, “Long Span Bridges,” which advocated the introduction of steel, and showed that much longer spans were possible using this material. The book is remarkably prescient for the way the properties of steel could be exploited in structures. Moreover he discussed the application of cantilevers, which were later used in his Forth Bridge (1882–90).

The Tay Rail Bridge Disaster

River Tay Bridge, middle section collapsed, photographed by Valentines in 1880

River Tay Bridge, middle section collapsed, photographed by Valentines in 1880

In 1880, Baker was called as an expert witness to the inquiry into the Tay Rail Bridge disaster. Although he was acting on behalf of Thomas Bouch, the builder of the first railway bridge across the Tay, he performed his role with independence and tenacity. His testimony was against the theory that the bridge was simply blown over by the wind that fateful night. He made a meticulous survey of structures at or near the bridge, and concluded that wind speeds were not excessive on the night of the disaster. The official analysis of the failure suggested that a wind pressure of over 30 pounds per square foot was needed to cause toppling of the structure, but he examined smaller structures in the vicinity of the bridge and concluded that the pressure could not have exceeded 15 pounds per square foot on the night of the disaster. Such smaller structures included walls, ballast on the track on the bridge and both signal boxes either actually on or very near the bridge.

The Forth Bridge

Andrew Bell [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Forth Bridge – Andrew Bell [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

By this time he had already made himself an authority on bridge construction, and shortly afterwards he was engaged on the work which made his reputation with the general public: the design and erection of the Forth Bridge in collaboration with Sir John Fowler and William Arrol. It was an almost unique design as a large cantilever bridge, and was built entirely in steel, another unprecedented development in bridge engineering. Stiffness was provided by hollow tubes which were riveted together so as to make sound joints. Baker promoted his design in numerous public lectures, and arranged demonstrations of the stability of the cantilever by using his assistants as stage props.

Cantilever Bridge Design

The Stability of the Cantilever, Lexikon der gesamten Technik (1904) Otto Lueger.

The Stability of the Cantilever, Lexikon der gesamten Technik (1904) Otto Lueger.

The use of a cantilever in bridge design was not a new idea, but the scale of Baker’s undertaking was a pioneering effort, later followed in different parts of the world. Much of the work done was without precedent, including calculations for incidence of erection stresses, provisions made for reducing future maintenance costs, calculations for wind pressures made evident by the Tay Bridge disaster, the effect of temperature stresses on the structure, and so on. At the completion of that bridge, Baker was knighted [1] and in the same year the Royal Society recognized his scientific attainments by electing him one of its fellows. In 1892 the French Academy of Sciences recognized the work of Fowler and Baker by the joint award of the Poncelet Prize. He also dealt with questions of earth pressure and the strength of masonry in his articles in the Engineering Magazine.

Benjamin Baker died on April 9, 1907, aged 67.


4th March 1890: Forth Bridge in Scotland opened by the future King Edward VII, [6]


References and Further Reading:

]]> Melanie Klein and the Psychoanalysis of Children http://scihi.org/melanie-klein-psychoanalysis-children/ http://scihi.org/melanie-klein-psychoanalysis-children/#respond Thu, 30 Mar 2023 05:00:36 +0000 http://scihi.org/?p=12948 Melanie Klein (1882 - 1960)

Melanie Klein (1882 – 1960), photo by Douglas Glass, [CC BY 4.0] , via Wikimedia Commons

On March 30, 1882, Austrian–British psychoanalyst Melanie Reizes Klein was born. Klein is known for her work with young children, in which observations of free play provided insights into the child‘s unconscious fantasy life, enabling her to psychoanalyze children as young as two or three years of age. She was a leading innovator in object relations theory.

“Feelings of love and gratitude arise directly and spontaneously in the baby in response to the love and care of his mother.”
– Melanie Klein (1937) 

Youth and Psychoanalysis Training

Melanie Klein was born the youngest of four children of Moritz and Libussa Reizes. Her father was a doctor and came from an Orthodox Jewish family in Lviv, her mother came from what is now Slovakia. Melanie originally wanted to study medicine, but did not pursue this goal after becoming engaged to Arthur Klein in 1899. They married in 1903, shortly after their daughter Melitta was born. Their son Hans followed in 1907. Melanie Klein was already depressed during her pregnancy and afterwards. Her son Erich was born in 1914. During this time she began her psychoanalysis tuition with Sandor Ferenczi in Budapest. She was intensively occupied with the newly developing psychoanalysis and began to analyse her youngest son in response to Ferenczi’s encouragement, although she had no formal training at all. In 1921, Klein moved to Berlin studying with the German psychoanalyst, and a collaborator of Sigmund Freud,[6,7] Karl Abraham. Despite the support by Abraham, Klein was never really able to increase her influence in Berlin.

Moving to London

When the British psychoanalyst Ernest Jones contacted Melanie Klein, impressed by her pioneering work with children, Klein moved to London and remained there for the rest of her life. However, when Sigmund and Anna Freud arrived in London in 1938, Melanie Klein‘s theories came into conflict with those of Continental analysts who were migrating to Britain. Following the debated between their followers, the British Psychoanalytical Society split into three separate training divisions: (1) Kleinian, (2) Anna Freudian, and (3) independent.

Psychoanalysis with Children

Melanie Klein was one of the first psychoanalysists to work with younger children. She innovated several techniques like the integration of toys when working with children and developed theories on infant development. She assumed that children express their inner conflicts in the game, and that it is possible for the analyst to explore and interpret these conflicts by observing the game. Klein also established a training program in psychoanalysis and became known as one of the co-founders of object relations theory. She managed to extend Sigmund Freud’s understanding of the unconscious mind. Klein analyzed children‘s play and explored the mind of infants, for instance, finding an early Oedipus complex and the earliest roots of the superego. Melanie Klein was able to make significant theoretical contributions to psychoanalysis, most notably the ‘paranoid-schizoid position’ and the ‘depressive position‘. She further showed how these primitive mental states impact on the adult.

Klein vs Freud

While Freud’s psychoanalysis placed a strong emphasis on the concept of instincts and thus understood the human being primarily as an individual, Melanie Klein increasingly drew attention to early childhood developments and mother-child interaction. She argued that the way a person perceives the world and the expectations with which they approach it are shaped by their relationships to important early reference persons (“objects”). These objects can be loved or hated. Here Klein believed to have remained true to the Freudian driving concept of libido and death instinct. Freud, on the other hand, saw her as a deviationist.

Melanie Klein died on 22 September 1960, at age 78 in London, England.


On positive psychology – Martin Seligman, [10]

References and Further Reading:

]]> http://scihi.org/melanie-klein-psychoanalysis-children/feed/ 0 Colonel Drake and the Dawn of the Oil Business http://scihi.org/colonel-drake-petroleum/ http://scihi.org/colonel-drake-petroleum/#respond Wed, 29 Mar 2023 05:15:00 +0000 http://blog.yovisto.com/?p=610 Edwin Drake (1819-1880)

Edwin Drake (1819-1880)

On March 29, 1819, Petroleum entrepreneur Edwin Laurentine Drake, also known as Colonel Drake, was born. He is popularly credited with being the first to drill for oil in the United States. His success launched an Oil Rush and brought the world a new energy source.

Titusville, Pennsylvania

Edwin Drake was born in Greenville, Greene County, New York, as son of Lyman and Laura Drake. He grew up on family farms around New York State and Castleton, Rutland County, Vermont before leaving home at the age of 19. He spent the early parts of his life working the railways around New Haven, Connecticut as a clerk, express agent and conductor for the New York and New Haven Railroad. Ill health forced his retirement in 1857, but it also opened a new opportunity for him. Thus, by 1858, the Drake family found themselves living in Titusville, Pennsylvania.

What to do with Petroleum?

While petroleum oil was already known, there was no appreciable market for it. Samuel Martin Kier is credited with founding the first American oil refinery in Pittsburgh. In 1848, he began packaging petroleum oil as a patent medicine charging $0.50 per bottle.He also produced petroleum butter (petroleum jelly) and sold it as a topical ointment. Neither product proved to be a commercial success. After further experimenting, he discovered an economical way to produce kerosene and he became the first person in the United States to refine crude oil into lamp oil (kerosene). Along with a new lamp to burn Kier’s product a new market to replace whale oil as a lamp oil began to develop in 1854.

Seneca Oil

Seneca Oil, originally called the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, was founded by George Bissell and Jonathan Eveleth. They created the company after catching wind of reports that petroleum collected from an oil spring in Titusville, Pennsylvania was suitable for use as lamp fuel. Bissell found that the “rock oil” would be a practical alternative if a method could be devised to extract the oil from the ground. Interest in the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company was initially low until a report commissioned by Bissell and Eveleth showed that there was significant economic value in petroleum. Before being offered a job by Bissell and Eveleth, Drake bought stock in Seneca Oil. But his job opportunity with the company arose because both parties were staying in the same hotel in Titusville. He was hired on a salary of $1,000 a year to investigate the oil seeps on land owned by Seneca Oil. One of the reasons, why the oil company chose the retired railway man maybe was because he had free use of the rail.

Hiring Uncle Billy

Drake decided to drill in the manner of salt well drillers. He purchased a steam engine to power the drill and hired William “Uncle Billy” A. Smith, a blacksmith and experienced salt well driller, to make the tools and do the drilling. The well was dug on an island on the Oil Creek. It took some time for the drillers to get through the layers of gravel. At about 5 meters the sides of the hole began to collapse. Those helping him began to despair, but not Drake. It was at this point that he devised the idea of a drive pipe. This cast iron pipe consisted of 3.0m long joints. The pipe was driven down into the ground. At about 10 meters they struck bedrock.

"Reproduction, copyrighted in 1890, of a retouched photograph showing Edwin L. Drake, to the right, and the Drake Well in the background, in Titusville, Pennsylvania, where the first commercial well was drilled in 1859 to find oil." [Public Domain], via U.S. Library of Congress / WikiCommons

“Reproduction, copyrighted in 1890, of a retouched photograph showing Edwin L. Drake, to the right, and the Drake Well in the background, in Titusville, Pennsylvania, where the first commercial well was drilled in 1859 to find oil.” [Public Domain], via U.S. Library of Congress / WikiCommons

Drake’s Folly

The drilling tools were now lowered through the pipe and steam was used to drill through the bedrock. The going, however, was slow. Progress was made at the rate of just one meter per day. After initial difficulty locating the necessary parts to build the well, which resulted in his well being nicknamed “Drake’s Folly“, Drake finally proved successful. On August 27, 1859, the drill slipped into a crevice six inches below the 69-foot depth of the drilled hole. Uncle Billy pulled up the tools and headed home. The next day when he went back to the well, he discovered oil floating on the water just a few feet from the derrick floor.

The Legacy of a “Crazy Man”

Although, Drake had never been an officer, let alone in the military, James M. Townsend, one of the investors, used the salutatory title “Colonel” in his correspondence with Drake. The title stuck and Drake became commonly know as Colonel Drake. Drake set up a stock company to extract and market the oil. But, while his pioneering work led to the growth of an oil industry that made many people fabulously rich, for Drake it didn’t work out. He failed to patent his drilling invention and furthermore lost all of his savings in oil speculation in 1863. He was to end up as an impoverished old man. In 1872, Pennsylvania voted an annuity of $1,500 to the “crazy man” whose determination founded the oil industry. On November 9, 1880 Edwin Drake passed away in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he had lived since 1874.


Martin Blunt, Introduction to the oil industry and petroleum engineering, [7]

References and Further Reading:

]]> http://scihi.org/colonel-drake-petroleum/feed/ 0 Pierre Simon de Laplace and his true love for Astronomy and Mathematics http://scihi.org/laplace-astronomy-mathematics/ http://scihi.org/laplace-astronomy-mathematics/#comments Tue, 28 Mar 2023 05:49:00 +0000 http://blog.yovisto.com/?p=611 Portrait of Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749 - 1827) by Johann Ernst Heinsius (1775), [CC BY-SA 4.0] via WikiCommons

Portrait of Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749 – 1827) by Johann Ernst Heinsius (1775), [CC BY-SA 4.0] via WikiCommons

On March 23, 1749, French mathematician and astronomer Pierre Simon marquis de Laplace was born, whose work was pivotal to the development of mathematical astronomy and statistics. One of his major achievements was the conclusion of the five-volume Mécanique Céleste (Celestial Mechanics) which translated the geometric study of classical mechanics to one based on calculus, opening up a broader range of problems.

“One sees, from this Essay, that the theory of probabilities is basically just common sense reduced to calculus; it makes one appreciate with exactness that which accurate minds feel with a sort of instinct, often without being able to account for it.”
– Pierre Simon de Laplace,  Introduction to Théorie Analytique des Probabilités (1814)

The Son of a Cider Merchant

Pierre Simon Laplace, the son of a cider merchant was born in the Normandie, and grew up as a well educated child attending the local school at a Benedictine priory. In later years, he was sent to Caen in order to study theology and philosophy were he found out about his love to mathematics. Laplace quit his studies in 1768 applying to study mathematics under the most famous French mathematician of his time, Jean-Baptiste le Rond d’Alembert.[4] D’Alembert was immediately impressed by the young Laplace and ready to teach and support him.

Volumes 1-5 of Pierre-Simon Laplace's "Traité de mécanique céleste" (1799) [Public Domain] via WIkiCommons

Volumes 1-5 of Pierre-Simon Laplace’s “Traité de mécanique céleste” (1799) [Public Domain] via WikiCommons

France’s Most Influential Scientist

Already three years later, Laplace taught geometry, trigonometry, analysis and statistics and published several works on game theory, probability theory and other difficult issues to improve his reputation. He was admitted to the Académie Française at only 24 years. Laplace was about to become one of France’s most influential scientists and had the honor to examine the future members of the royal artillery. One of his aspirants was the 16 year old Napoleon Bonaparte, who later offered Laplace a position as his minister of the interior.

The Committee for Weights and Measures

During the French Revolution, Laplace was able to continue his research as far as possible and in 1792 he became a member of the Committee for Weights and Measures, which was later responsible for the introduction of the units metres and kilograms. But Laplace had to give up this office, because with the rule of Robespierre, participation in the revolution and hatred of the monarchy became a condition for the work. After Robespierre himself died by the guillotine on 28 July 1794, Laplace returned to Paris and became one of the two examiners for the École polytechnique in December of that year. In 1795 Laplace resumed his work on the Committee for Weights and Measures and became its chairman. In the same year, the academy was re-established with the umbrella organisation Institut de France. Laplace was a founding member and later also president of the institute.  He also took over the management of the Paris Observatory and the research department.

The Société d’Arcueil

After Laplace had voted in 1804 in the Senate for Napoleon’s appointment as emperor, he ennobled him to count in 1806. In the same year Laplace moved to Arcueil, a suburb of Paris, in the house next door to the chemist Claude-Louis Berthollet, with whom he founded the Société d’Arcueil. There, they conducted experiments with other, mostly young scientists. Among these scientists were Jean-Baptiste Biot and Alexander von Humboldt.[5] Through this work, however, he made enemies because he set up a clear research programme, which mainly included his own research priorities, and also carried this out mercilessly. Laplace lost further reputation because he continued to hold on to the particle nature of light, while wave theory was increasingly recognised by Augustine Jean Fresnel.[6]

Switching Sides

Laplace created further opponents when he voted for Napoleon’s deposition in 1814 and immediately made himself available for the Bourbon restoration. King Louis XVIII, on the other hand, made Laplace a Pair of France in 1815 and a Marquis in 1817. In 1816 Laplace stopped working at the École polytechnique and became a member of the 40 Immortals of the Académie française.

Laplace’s Achievements

However, Laplace’s scientific contributions are numerous. In the field of astronomy, he published a work titled Traité de Mécanique Céleste, a collected work of all scientific approaches after Newton. In the book series he also demonstrated the mathematical prove for the stability of planetary orbits – due to irregularities in the orbit curves, it was believed at the time that the solar system could collapse – and hypothesized about the possibility of black holes. This work was a great success and used and studied by every astronomer or those willing to be one. Laplace’s second major field of research was probability theory. For Laplace, it was a way out to achieve certain results despite a lack of knowledge. In his two-volume work Théorie Analytique des Probabilités (1812), Laplace gave a definition of probability and dealt with dependent and independent events, especially in connection with gambling. He also dealt in the book with the expected value, mortality and life expectancy. The work refuted the thesis that a strict mathematical treatment of probability was not possible. Laplace has always been more a physicist than a mathematician. Mathematics served him only as a means to an end. Today, however, the mathematical methods that Laplace developed and used are much more important than the actual work itself, like the Laplace operator, or the Laplace transform.

Laplace died in Paris in 1827. His brain was removed by his physician, François Magendie, and kept for many years, eventually being displayed in a roving anatomical museum in Britain.


Gilbert Strang, Laplace Transform: First Order Equation, [11]

References and Further Reading:

]]> http://scihi.org/laplace-astronomy-mathematics/feed/ 1 Karl Pearson and Mathematical Statistics http://scihi.org/karl-pearson-mathematical-statistics/ http://scihi.org/karl-pearson-mathematical-statistics/#respond Mon, 27 Mar 2023 05:36:32 +0000 http://scihi.org/?p=12906 Karl Pearson (1857-1936) with Sir Francis Galton, 1909 or 1910.

Karl Pearson (1857-1936) with Sir Francis Galton, 1909 or 1910.

On March 27, 1857, English mathematician and biostatistician Karl Pearson was born. Pearson has been credited with establishing the discipline of mathematical statistics. He founded the world’s first university statistics department at University College London in 1911, and contributed significantly to the field of biometrics, meteorology, theories of social Darwinism and eugenics.

“It was Karl Pearson, a man with an unquenchable ambition for scholarly recognition and the kind of drive and determination that had taken Hannibal over the Alps and Marco Polo to China, who recognized the power in Edgeworth’s formulations of Galton’s ideas. Pearson lacked Galton’s originality and Edgeworth’s depth of understanding, but it was his zeal, with a vital assist from G. Udny Yule, that created the methodology and sold it to the world.”
– Stephen M. Stigler (1986) on Karl Pearson, in [11]

Youth and Education

Karl Pearson was born as second child into a family from Yorkshire Quakers in Islington, London, UK, to William Pearson, a barrister of the Inner Temple, and his wife Fanny (née Smith). Pearson was educated privately at University College School, after which he went to King’s College, Cambridge in 1876 to study mathematics, where he was taught by Stokes, Maxwell, Cayley, Burnside, and most importantly the outstanding student coach Edward Routh, to graduate in 1879 as Third Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos.[1]

Physics, Metaphysics, Physiology, and Roman Law

He then travelled to Germany to study physics at the University of Heidelberg under G. H. Quincke and metaphysics under Kuno Fischer. He next visited the University of Berlin, where he attended the lectures of the famous physiologist Emil du Bois-Reymond on Darwinism. Pearson also studied Roman Law, taught by Bruns and Mommsen, medieval and 16th century German Literature, and Socialism.

Called to the Bar

Despite being called to the Bar in 1882, Pearson never practiced law. During 1882-84 he lectured around London on a wide variety of topics such as German social life, the influence of Martin Luther, and historical topics. He even proposed himself to Karl Marx as the English translator of the existing volume of Das Kapital.[2,4] He also wrote essays, articles and reviews as well as substituting for professors of mathematics at King’s College and University College London.[1]

Academic Career

In 1884 Pearson was appointed professor of applied mathematics and mechanics at University College, London. He taught graphical methods, mainly to engineering students, and this work formed the basis for his original interest in statistics.[2] 1891 saw him also appointed to the professorship of Geometry at Gresham College. There he met Walter Frank Raphael Weldon, a zoologist who had some interesting problems requiring quantitative solutions. Weldon introduced Pearson to Charles Darwin’s cousin Francis Galton,[5] who was interested in aspects of evolution such as heredity and eugenics. Pearson became Galton’s protégé. Pearson was a co-founder, with Weldon and Galton, of the statistical journal Biometrika.[1]

The Grammar of Science

In 1892 Pearson published The Grammar of Science, in which he argued that the scientific method is essentially descriptive rather than explanatory. Soon he was making the same argument about statistics, emphasizing especially the importance of quantification for biology, medicine, and social science. It was the problem of measuring the effects of natural selection that captivated Pearson and turned statistics into his personal scientific mission.[2] When young Albert Einstein [6] started the Olympia Academy study group in 1902, with his two younger friends, Maurice Solovine and Conrad Habicht, his first reading suggestion was Pearson’s The Grammar of Science which covered several themes that were later to become part of the theories of Einstein and other scientists. Pearson asserted that the laws of nature are relative to the perceptive ability of the observer. Irreversibility of natural processes, he claimed, is a purely relative conception. An observer who travels at the exact velocity of light would see an eternal now, or an absence of motion. He speculated that an observer who travelled faster than light would see time reversal, similar to a cinema film being run backwards. Pearson also discussed antimatter, the fourth dimension, and wrinkles in time.

The Creation of Modern Statistics

Through his mathematical work and his institution building, Pearson played a leading role in the creation of modern statistics. The basis for his statistical mathematics came from a long tradition of work on the method of least squares approximation, worked out early in the 19th century in order to estimate quantities from repeated astronomical and geodetic measures using probability theory. Pearson drew from these studies in creating a new field whose task it was to manage and make inferences from data in almost every field. His positivistic philosophy of science provided a persuasive justification for statistical reasoning.[2]

A Man of Universal Interests

Pearson’s work was all-embracing in the wide application and development of mathematical statistics, and encompassed the fields of biology, epidemiology, anthropometry, medicine, psychology and social history. Among those who assisted Pearson in his research were a number of female mathematicians who included Beatrice Mabel Cave-Browne-Cave and Frances Cave-Browne-Cave. He also founded the journal Annals of Eugenics (now Annals of Human Genetics) in 1925. Pearson’s commitment to socialism and its ideals led him to refuse the offer of being created an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 1920 and also to refuse a knighthood in 1935.

Karl Pearson died on April 27, 1936, aged 79.


Philippe Rigollet, 1. Introduction to Statistics, [10]

References and Further Reading:

]]> http://scihi.org/karl-pearson-mathematical-statistics/feed/ 0 Conrad Gessner’s Truly Renaissance Knowledge http://scihi.org/conrad-gessners-renaissance-knowledge/ http://scihi.org/conrad-gessners-renaissance-knowledge/#comments Sun, 26 Mar 2023 05:00:00 +0000 http://blog.yovisto.com/?p=613 Conrad Gessner (1516–1565), Stich von Conrad Meyer, 1662

Conrad Gessner (1516–1565), Engraving by Conrad Meyer, 1662

On March 26, 1516, Swiss naturalist and bibliographer Conrad Gessner was born. His five-volume Historiae animalium (1551–1558) is considered the beginning of modern zoology, and the flowering plant genus Gesneria is named after him. He is considered as one of the most important natural scientists of Switzerland and was sometimes referred to as the ‘German Pliny‘.

The Godson and Protege of Zwingli

Conrad Gessner was born and educated in Zürich, Switzerland as the son of Ursus Gessner, a poor furrier, and his wife Agathe. The death of his father at the Battle of Kappel in 1531 as the wars spawned by the Reformation had reached also the Swiss cantons, left Conrad in a rather desolate condition. Fortunately, he happened to be also the godson and protegé of the Swiss Protestant reformer Huldrych Zwingli, and with the help of the Protestant classics scholar Oswald Myconius and Heinrich Bullinger, the successor of Zwingli, Gessner was enabled to continue his studies at the universities of Strassburg and Bourges, where he displayed great linguistic talent and interest in nature. In 1535, religious unrest drove him back to Zürich, where he made an imprudent marriage.

Academic Career and Bibliotheca Universalis

In 1537 Gessner received a professorship in Greek at Lausanne and speedily compiled single-handedly an entire dictionary in that language. Here he had leisure to devote himself to scientific studies, especially botany. The city physician of Zurich prevailed upon the young scholar to resume his medical studies so after wandering across France, Gessner settled down at the medical school of Montpellier and became a doctor of medicine. At about 1540 Gessner began teaching Aristotelian physics at the Collegium Carolinium, the precursor of the University of Zürich. In his spare time he composed his Bibliotheca universalis, a vast encyclopedia in which he listed alphabetically all of the authors, who had written in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, with a listing of all their books printed up to that time. This work made Gessner famous, and offers of scholarly employment poured in, including one from the Fuggers, the richest family of Europe. However, the offer provided by the famous bankers attached the condition that Gessner must embrace Catholicism, which he refused. Thereafter, he spent the rest of his life as a practicing physician at Zurich, leaving only for short expeditions to study flora and fauna.

Unicorn (Monoceros). Conrad Gesner, Historiae Animalium; liber primus, qui est de quadrupedibus viviparis, Zurich, 1551.

Unicorn (Monoceros). Conrad Gesner, Historiae Animalium; liber primus, qui est de quadrupedibus viviparis, Zurich, 1551.

Gessner’s Historiae Animalium

Gessner also wrote Mithridates de differentis linguis (1555), an account of approximately 130 different languages. In addition, he wrote voluminously about plants, although most of his botanical works were published posthumously. His magnum opus, however, was the Historiae animalium (“Accounts of Animals“, 1551–1558 and 1587), a 4,500-page encyclopedia of animals, now regarded as the starting point of modern zoology. It was also the first printed work to include illustrations of fossils. Gessner attempted to list and to describe all of the world’s animals in most possible detail. He tried not only to give an account of animals as denizens of the natural world, but moreover also to convey their place within literary tradition. There are many anecdotes, and the names of animals are given in various languages. Knowledge derived from ancient sources, in particular Aristotle, Pliny, Aelian, and the Old Testament, was combined with folklore and with information from medieval scholars such as Albertus Magnus.[6] Thus, the book contains many accounts of mythical creatures, too. For example, the basilisk and the unicorn are discussed alongside real animals such as foxes or porcupines. One of the major achievements of Gessner lies in his new emphasis on observation and accurate description that had been lacking in the works of earlier scientists, who largely accepted whatever had been passed on to them from the ancient and authoritative sources.

Later Life

Conrad Gessner received an imperial patent of nobility in 1564. In his manifold works, Gessner can be recognized as one of the most versatile and productive scholars of Switzerland, who distinguished himself in many areas of science. In 1565 the plague, which has been identified from Gessner’s description as a form of pulmonary bubonic, came to Zurich, and on December 13 he passed away.


How One Man Organized All Knowledge, [8]

References and Further Reading:

]]> http://scihi.org/conrad-gessners-renaissance-knowledge/feed/ 1 Norman Borlaug and the Green Revolution http://scihi.org/norman-borlaug-green-revolution/ http://scihi.org/norman-borlaug-green-revolution/#respond Sat, 25 Mar 2023 05:39:29 +0000 http://scihi.org/?p=12897 Norman Ernest Borlaug (1914-2009)

Norman Ernest Borlaug (1914-2009) [Public Domain] via WikiCommons

On March 25, 1914, American biologist and humanitarian Norman Ernest Borlaug was born. Borlaug led initiatives worldwide that contributed to the extensive increases in agricultural production termed the Green Revolution and has been awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. Borlaug is often called “the father of the Green Revolution“, and is credited with saving over a billion people worldwide from starvation.

“You can’t build a peaceful world on empty stomachs and human misery.”
– Norman E. Borlaug, as quoted in [8] 

Norman Borlaug – Youth and Education

Norman Borlaug was born in Cresco, Iowa, USA, the eldest of four children to Henry Oliver Borlaug and his wife Clara (née Vaala). From age seven to nineteen, he worked on the family farm, fishing, hunting, and raising corn, oats, timothy-grass, cattle, pigs and chickens. He attended a rural school in Howard County, followed by Cresco High School. Through a Depression-era program known as the National Youth Administration, he was able to enroll at the University of Minnesota in 1933. Borlaug failed the entrance exam, but was accepted to the school’s newly created two-year General College. After two quarters, he transferred to the College of Agriculture’s forestry program.

Immediately before and immediately after receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in 1937, he worked for the U.S. Forestry Service at stations in Massachusetts and Idaho. Returning to the University of Minnesota to study plant pathology, receiving a master of science degree in 1940 and Ph.D. in plant pathology and genetics in 1942. From 1942 to 1944, he was a microbiologist on the staff of the du Pont de Nemours Foundation where he was in charge of research on industrial and agricultural bactericides, fungicides, and preservatives.[1]

Research in Disease Resistant Wheat

In 1944 Norman Borlaug accepted an appointment as geneticist and plant pathologist assigned the task of organizing and directing the Cooperative Wheat Research and Production Program in Mexico. This program, a joint undertaking by the Mexican government and the Rockefeller Foundation, involved scientific research in genetics, plant breeding, plant pathology, entomology, agronomy, soil science, and cereal technology. Within twenty years he was spectacularly successful in finding a high-yielding short-strawed, disease-resistant wheat.[1] Seeking to assist impoverished farmers who struggled with diseased and low-producing crops, Borlaug experimented with novel varieties of wheat, creating disease-resistant strains that could withstand the harsh climate. That work was founded on earlier discoveries of ways to induce genetic mutations in plants, and his methods led to modern plant breeding.[4]

The Green Revolution

The Green Revolution resulted in increased production of food grains (especially wheat and rice) and was in large part due to the introduction into developing countries of new, high-yielding varieties, beginning in the mid-20th century with Borlaug’s work. At a research station at Campo Atizapan, he developed a short-stemmed (“dwarf”) strain of wheat that dramatically increased crop yields. Previously, taller wheat varieties would break under the weight of the heads if production was increased by chemical fertilizers. Borlaug’s short-stemmed wheat could withstand the increased weight of fertilized heads and was a key element in the Green Revolution in developing countries. Wheat production in Mexico multiplied threefold owing to this and other varieties.[4]

Agricultural Revolution in Asia

Following Norman Borlaug’s success in Mexico, the Indian and Pakistani goverments requested his assistance, and with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Borlaug began his agricultural revolution in Asia. With India and Pakistan facing food shortages due to rapid population growth, the importation of Borlaug’s dwarf wheat in the mid-1960s was responsible for a 60 percent increase in harvests there, helping both countries to become agriculturally self-sufficient. His work in developing countries, especially on the Indian subcontinent, is estimated to have saved as many as one billion people from starvation and death.[4]

Pakistan became self-sufficient in wheat production by 1968; India was self-sufficient in all cereal crops by 1974. Since then, grain production in both countries has consistently outpaced population growth. Borlaug’s achievements in Mexico, India and Pakistan were hailed as a Green Revolution. The scientists Borlaug had trained in Mexico and Asia spread his techniques and grains to Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Indonesia, to continental South America and to Africa. Around the world, infant mortality rates fell and life expectancy rose. In many countries, the rising standard of living reduced social tensions and political violence.[5]

The Nobel Peace Prize

“There can be no permanent progress in the battle against hunger until the agencies that fight for increased food production and those that fight for population control unite in a common effort.”
– Norman E. Borlaug, 1970 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech

For his contributions to the world food supply, Norman Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. Borlaug continually advocated increasing crop yields as a means to curb deforestation. The large role he played in both increasing crop yields and promoting this view has led to this methodology being called by agricultural economists the “Borlaug hypothesis”, namely that increasing the productivity of agriculture on the best farmland can help control deforestation by reducing the demand for new farmland. According to this view, assuming that global food demand is on the rise, restricting crop usage to traditional low-yield methods would also require at least one of the following: the world population to decrease, either voluntarily or as a result of mass starvations; or the conversion of forest land into crop land. It is thus argued that high-yield techniques are ultimately saving ecosystems from destruction.

Following his retirement, Borlaug continued to participate in teaching, research and activism. Borlaug died of lymphoma at the age of 95, on September 12, 2009.


Juliet Christian-Smith & David Zoldoske, The Future of Irrigated Agriculture: Where’s the Water?, [7]

References and Further Reading:

]]> http://scihi.org/norman-borlaug-green-revolution/feed/ 0 Sidney Fox and his Research for the Origins of Life http://scihi.org/sidney-fox-origins-life/ http://scihi.org/sidney-fox-origins-life/#respond Fri, 24 Mar 2023 05:00:48 +0000 http://blog.yovisto.com/?p=9125 Sidney Fox

Sidney Fox (1912-1998)

On March 24, 1912, American biochemist Sidney W. Fox was born. In search for the origins of life, Fox explored the synthesis of amino acids from inorganic molecules, the synthesis of proteinous amino acids and amino acid polymers called “proteinoids” from inorganic molecules and thermal energy, and created what he thought was the world‘s first protocell out of proteinoids and water.

“A further aspect I should like to discuss is what I call the practice of infinite escape clauses. I believe we developed this practice to avoid facing the conclusion that the probability of self-reproducing state is zero. This is what we must conclude from classical quantum mechanical principles as Wigner demonstrated”
– Sidney W. Fox

Sidney Fox – Early Years

Sidney Fox was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Jacob Fox, a Jewish wig-maker, and Louise Berman, a Ukrainian immigrant. He attended the University of California and earned his Bachelors Degree in Chemistry. At the California Institute of Technology, Fox earned his Ph.D. in 1940 and did his postdoctoral work at the Linus Pauling Laboratory where he also grew close with Linus Pauling. Fox became a full professor at Iowa State College in 1943 and was appointed head of the Iowa Agricultural Experimental Station’s Chemistry Department at the end of the decade.

Academic Career

During his years as a researcher, Sidney Fox taught at several universities in the United States. In the 1950s, he was Professor of Chemistry, Director of the Oceanographic Institute, and Director of the Institute for Space Biosciences at the University of Floria. In the 1960s, Fox changed his position to the University of Miami where he was a professor and the director of the Institute for Molecular Evolution. The program was supported by NASA. In his later years, Fox also worked at the Southern Illinois University and the University of South Alabama.

The Miller-Urey Experiment

Sidney Fox performed several experiments in the field of the production of amino acids from inorganic molecules. These experiments were based on the information found in the Miller–Urey experiment, which was performed Stanley Miller [5] under the guidance of Harold Urey [4] in the early 1950s. They boiled water in a flask with the gases hydrogen, ammonia, and methane. The gases then flowed past two electrodes that produced an electrical charge that acted as the lightning that would have been in the atmosphere before life on Earth. After the gases condensed and fell back into the flask, Miller observed acids and amino acids in the flask. They concluded that life formed from the presence of inorganic molecules, water, and electrical charge.

Further Experiments

Similar results were achieved by Sidney Fox and Kaoru Harada in the 1960s. In their experiment, methane flowed through a concentrated solution of ammonium hydroxide and then into a hot tube containing silica sand at about 1000 °C. Fox indicated that silica gel, volcanic lava, and alumina could be used in place of silica sand. The gas was then absorbed in cold, aqueous ammonia. The result was twelve protein-like amino acids: aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, serine, threonine, proline, tyrosine, and phenylalanine.

Synthesis of Protinoids

Along with Kaoru Harada, Fox performed another experiment in 1958 titled ‘Thermal Copolymerization of Amino Acids to a Product Resembling Protein‘. Starting out with L-glutamic acid heated in an oil bath. Then, DL-aspartic acid and an amino acid mixture were added to the L-glutamic acid and heated under a layer of CO2. The solution was then cooled and later water and ethanol were added and filtered. The solid left over from filtering was put in cellophane dialysis tubing and left in a water bath. After a few days, the insides of the tubes were observed and the researchers found polypeptide chains, which they called proteinoids. The experiment was meant to resemble the drying-out of amino acids in similar conditions to those of primordial Earth. The experiment did not prove that proteins were formed on primordial earth using primarily heat, but Fox and Kaoru Harada believed it suggested that if proteinoids could be synthesized using just heat and the amino acids formed from the Miller–Urey experiment, then more research could lead to an answer to how anabolic reactions, enzymatic proteins, and nucleic acids were first formed and in turn, how the earliest forms of life originated.

The Protocell

Sidney Fox also claimed that the origin of the cell is a microsphere or protocell. Microspheres are made from the addition of water or salt solution to the appropriate proteinoids. In his experiment, the microspheres produced were mostly uniformly spherical and Fox believed that the shape and uniformity mimics that of coccoid bacteria. Fox also believed that the uniformity meant that there was a sophisticated system that kept the microspheres at equilibrium. The microspheres were able to asexually divide via binary fission, could form junctions with other microspheres, and developed a double membrane corresponding to that of a cell. They could have been an important intermediate stage on the way to the origin of life. Microspheres could be the missing link between simple organic compounds and living cells.

Fox continued working as a professor up into his eighties. Sidney Walter Fox died on Monday, August 10, 1998 in Mobile, Alabama, at age 86.


Harold Urey lecturing at UCLA 4/10/1968 [9]

References and Further Reading:

]]> http://scihi.org/sidney-fox-origins-life/feed/ 0 Emmy Noether and the Love for Mathematics http://scihi.org/emmy-noether-mathematics/ http://scihi.org/emmy-noether-mathematics/#respond Thu, 23 Mar 2023 05:37:00 +0000 http://blog.yovisto.com/?p=616 Emmy Noether (1882 - 1935)

Emmy Noether (1882 – 1935)

On April 23, 1882, German mathematician and physicist Emmy Noether was born, who is best known for her groundbreaking contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics. Albert Einstein called her the most important woman in the history of mathematics, as she revolutionized the theories of rings, fields, and algebras.

“My methods are really methods of working and thinking; this is why they have crept in everywhere anonymously.”
Letter to Helmut Hasse (1931) as quoted in Auguste Dick, Emmy Noether, 1882-1935 (1981) Tr. H. I. Blocher, p. 61.

Youth and Education

Emmy Noether came from a wealthy Jewish family. Her father Max Noether held a chair in mathematics at the University of Erlangen. Emmy did not show any particular precociousness in mathematics, but had an interest in music and dancing in her youth. She attended the Städtische Höhere Töchterschule. In April 1900 she passed the state examination to become a teacher of English and French at girls’ schools in Ansbach. In 1903 she passed the external Abitur examination at the Royal Realgymnasium – today’s Willstätter-Gymnasium – in Nuremberg. Emmy Noether decided to enroll at the University of Erlangen, but as one of two women at the institution, she was only allowed to audit her classes instead of really participating in them. Noether also finished her graduation at a grammar school in Nuremberg three years later. While restrictions were hard on studying women in Erlangen, Noether attended lectures of famous scientists like Karl Schwarzschild [5] or David Hilbert [6] in Göttingen. After returning to Erlangen, she was allowed to finally study mathematics and taught at the universities’ mathematical institute without payment after her graduation.

Teaching at the University without Payment

David Hilbert had to put great effort into getting Emmy Noether into Göttingen University as privatdozent. Eventually she was allowed to teach at the university despite her sex, but still without any payment. Since the habilitation of women at Prussian universities was prohibited by a decree, the Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Göttingen submitted an official application to the Prussian minister on 26 November 1915, to make an exception for Emmy Noether. However, the application was rejected and Emmy Noether then had no choice but to announce her lectures under the name of Hilbert, whose assistant she acted as.

The Noether Theorem

In these years, she proved the Noether theorem one of the most important contributions to the field of mathematics since the Pythagorean theorem, as many of her male colleagues noted. It proves a relationship between symmetries in physics and conservation principles. This basic result in the theory of relativity was praised by Einstein in a letter to Hilbert when he referred to Noether’s penetrating mathematical thinking. Noether enjoyed a great reputation and delivered her habilitation lecture in 1919 but was not given any salary for her work until 1924 when Noether was appointed a special teaching position in algebra.

Ideal Theory

A great part in the development of abstract algebra was achieved in the 20th century and Emmy Noether depicted a major influence on the topic with several papers and lectures. Beginning with the year 1920, Noether began publishing works on the ideal theory, defining left and right ideals as a ring followed by another publication, analyzing ascending chain conditions. Noether published Abstrakter Aufbau der Idealtheorie in algebraischen Zahlkorpern  in 1924. In this paper she gave five conditions on a ring which allowed her to deduce that in such commutative rings every ideal is the unique product of prime ideals.[3]. After these works, Noether had many supporters in the scientific community and several mathematical terms were named after her. During the lectures she gave at university, Noether gave up regular lesson plans and rather used the time for intense discussions, bringing her research forward. Some students paid lots of respects to her methods, others were rather frustrated.

Noether sometimes used postcards to discuss abstract algebra with her colleague, Ernst Fischer. This card is postmarked 10 April 1915.

Noether sometimes used postcards to discuss abstract algebra with her colleague, Ernst Fischer. This card is postmarked 10 April 1915.

Finally a Full Professor

After a long friendship with the mathematician Pavel Alexandrov, Noether decided to continue her work at the Moscow State University in 1928 for some time. There she critically contributed to the development of Galois theory. Emmy Noether’s achievements are numerous. And even though she received several awards for her works she was still not promoted to being a full professor at the university, which caused much frustration along her colleagues who dearly respected her achievements and her personality.

Hypercomplex Numbers

Further recognition of her outstanding mathematical contributions came with invitations to address the International Congress of Mathematicians at Bologna in September 1928 and again at Zürich in September 1932. Her address to the 1932 Congress was entitled Hyperkomplexe Systeme in ihren Beziehungen zur kommutativen Algebra und zur Zahlentheorie. Much work on hypercomplex numbers and group representations was carried out in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but remained disparate. Noether united these results and gave the first general representation theory of groups and algebras. In 1932 she also received, jointly with Emil Artin,[7] the Alfred Ackermann-Teubner Memorial Prize for the Advancement of Mathematical Knowledge.

Expelled from the University

In 1933, Emmy Noether received the same letter as many of her Jewish colleagues. She was expelled from her position at the University of Göttingen due to the new Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. However, she continued her lectures on class field theory secretly in her apartment until starting her job at the University of Oxford and later the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

Death

Emmy Noether passed away on April 14, 1935. At her memorial, many notable mathematicians and friend’s of Noether like Pavel Alexandrov, Bryn Mawr or Hermann Weyl paid their respects. Although she received little recognition in her lifetime considering the remarkable advances that she made, she has been honoured in many ways following her death.[3]

Emmy Noether and Modern Algebra

Emmy Noether is one of the founders of modern algebra. Her mathematical profiling developed in cooperation and discussion with Professor Paul Gordan from Erlangen, who also became her doctoral supervisor. He was often called the “King of the Invariants”. The theory of invariants occupied Emmy Noether until 1919 decidedly. In Göttingen, by then a world centre of mathematical research, she built up her own mathematical school. Noether is also ascribed a decisive role in the implementation of abstract algebraic methods in topology.


Georgia Benkart, Celebrating Emmy Noether, [12]

References and Further Reading:

]]> http://scihi.org/emmy-noether-mathematics/feed/ 0 Nathan Rosen – Wormholes and Time Travel http://scihi.org/nathan-rosen/ http://scihi.org/nathan-rosen/#respond Wed, 22 Mar 2023 05:15:00 +0000 http://blog.yovisto.com/?p=617 Nathan Rosen (1909-1995)

Nathan Rosen (1909-1995), photo: http://www.technion.ac.il/~peres/Rosen.jpg

On March 22, 1909, US-American physicist Nathan Rosen was born. He is best known for his cooperation together with Albert Einstein and Boris Podolsky on the quantum-mechanical description of physical reality leading the the so-called Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradoxon, as well as his postulation of worm holes connecting distant areas in space. Although purely theoretic, his work also had an important impact on science fiction literature.

Early Years

Nathan Rosen was born in New York City. He first studied electrical engineering (bachelor’s degree) and then physics (master’s degree 1929) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received his doctorate in 1932 with the thesis “Calculation of Energies of Diatomic Molecules” under John C. Slater. During his time at the University, Rosen already published several papers on the explanation of an atomic nucleus‘ structure and on wave functions. He then became a National Research Fellow at the University of Michigan and Princeton University, where he studied theoretical molecular physics (model of the hydrogen molecule). However, he already wrote his master’s thesis on gravitational physics and contacted Albert Einstein at Princeton to get his opinion.

The Assistant of Einstein

Rosen started his assistance job to Albert Einstein in 1935, extending Einstein’s studies on wave functions, resulting in a publication together with Boris Podolsky. In the paper, the three scientists attempted to answer the question “Can quantum-mechanical description of physical reality be considered complete?“. The effects were then named the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox (EPR). The EPR paradox contains a thought experiment, attempting to reveal insufficiencies of quantum mechanics and indeed they at least proved the research on quantum mechanics at this state was incomplete.

Artist impression of a Schwarzschild wormhole

Artist impression of a Schwarzschild wormhole, image: Alain r, [CC BY-SA 3.0], via WikiCommons

The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradoxon

“Due to the lucidity and apparently incontestable character of the argument, the paper of Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen created a stir among physicists and has played a large role in general philosophical discussion. Certainly the issue is of a very subtle character and suited to emphasize how far, in quantum theory, we are beyond the reach of pictorial visualization.”
– Niels Bohr, (1949) as quoted in [14]

The essence of the paradox is that particles can interact in such a way that it is possible to measure both their position and their momentum more accurately than Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle allows [11], unless measuring one particle instantaneously affects the other to prevent this accuracy, which would involve information being transmitted faster than light as forbidden by the theory of relativity (“spooky action at a distance”). This consequence had not previously been noticed and seemed unreasonable at the time; the phenomenon involved is now known as quantum entanglement. According to quantum mechanics, under some conditions, a pair of quantum systems may be described by a single wave function, which encodes the probabilities of the outcomes of experiments that may be performed on the two systems, whether jointly or individually. The routine explanation of this effect was, at that time, provided by Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. Physical quantities come in pairs called conjugate quantities. Examples of such conjugate pairs are (position, momentum), (time, energy), and (angular position, angular momentum). When one quantity was measured, and became determined, the conjugated quantity became indeterminate. Heisenberg explained this uncertainty as due to the quantization of the disturbance from measurement.

Einstein-Rosen Bridges

After working for Einstein, Rosen was suggested to continue his work in Israel. Both scientists began focusing on wormholes after discovering a mathematical method for wormholes able to connect certain areas in space. These Einstein-Rosen bridges were found by mating the mathematical solutions of black holes and white holes through using Einstein’s field equations from 1915. The Einstein-Rosen bridges, also called Schwarzschild wormholes were completely theoretical, but John A. Wheeler and Robert W. Fuller proved these wormholes in 1962 to be unstable. A wormhole can be visualized as a tunnel with two ends, each at separate points in spacetime (i.e., different locations and/or different points of time), or by a transcendental bijection of the spacetime continuum. Wormholes are consistent with the general theory of relativity, but whether wormholes actually exist remains to be seen. A wormhole could connect extremely long distances such as a billion light years or more, short distances such as a few meters, different universes, or different points in time.

"Embedding diagram" of a Schwarzschild wormhole

“Embedding diagram” of a Schwarzschild wormhole, image: AllenMcC. Vector: KES47, [CC BY-SA 3.0], via WikiCommons

Wormholes

According to general relativity, the gravitational collapse of a sufficiently compact mass forms a singular Schwarzschild black hole. In the Einstein–Cartan–Sciama–Kibble theory of gravity, however, it forms a regular Einstein–Rosen bridge. This theory extends general relativity by removing a constraint of the symmetry of the affine connection and regarding its antisymmetric part, the torsion tensor, as a dynamical variable. Torsion naturally accounts for the quantum-mechanical, intrinsic angular momentum (spin) of matter. The minimal coupling between torsion and Dirac spinors generates a repulsive spin–spin interaction that is significant in fermionic matter at extremely high densities. Such an interaction prevents the formation of a gravitational singularity. Instead, the collapsing matter reaches an enormous but finite density and rebounds, forming the other side of the bridge.

Wormholes in Science Fiction

However, wormholes not only fascinated scientists, also science fiction writers increased their interest in them. Numerous writers in literature, television and films used and still use wormholes to transport whole star ships or travel through time as in Star Trek’s movie from 2009 in which Spock [10] and Nero use (fictional) red matter to build artificial black holes and travel back in time. Contrary to physics, there are no limits in science fiction and even in Star Trek, a completely stable wormhole near the planet Bajor can be found, unique also in the Star Trek universe. A notable science fiction novel is also ‘The Forever War‘ by Joe Haldeman from 1974. In the plot, interstellar travel is possible through collapsars, another word for black holes. The plot is leaned on the theory by Einstein and Rosen, claiming that there may be bridges located in the black holes.

Rosen’s Later Life

Rosen later was  professor of theoretical physics at the University of Kiev (on Einstein’s recommendation) and from 1941 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before going to Israel, where he was professor at the Technion in Haifa from 1953 and founder of the Institute of Theoretical Physics there. He was temporarily head of the Physics Department and the Faculty of Nuclear Engineering there. In 1977 he became Distinguished Professor at the Technion. He was emeritus in 1979, but continued to teach gravitational physics at the Technion (as Gerard Swope Professor Emeritus) until 1991. In Israel, he was also involved in building the engineering education at Ben Gurion University in Be’er Scheva (1969-1971 he was Dean of Engineering there).

Nathan Rosen died on December 18, 1995 in Haifa.


A take on time travel paradoxes | Paul Bunnell | TEDxEmbryRiddlePrescott, [15]

References and Further Reading:

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