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Galileo Galilei1564 - 1642

Galileo Galilei was an Italian scientist who formulated the basic law of falling bodies, which heverified by careful measurements. He constructed a telescope with which he studied lunar craters, and discovered four moons revolving around Jupiter and espoused the Copernican cause.

Robert Hooke1635 - 1703

Robert Hooke was an English scientist who made contributions to many different fieldsincluding mathematics, optics, mechanics, architecture and astronomy. He had a famous quarrelwith Newton.

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Sir Isaac Newton1643 - 1727

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Isaac Newton was the greatest English mathematician of his generation. He laid the foundationfor differential and integral calculus. His work on optics and gravitation make him one of thegreatest scientists the world has known.

Leonhard Euler1707 - 1783

Leonhard Euler was a Swiss mathematician who made enormous contibutions to a wide rangeof mathematics and physics including analytic geometry, trigonometry, geometry, calculus andnumber theory.

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James Watt

James Watt, b. Jan. 19, 1736, d. Aug. 25, 1819, was aScottish engineer and inventor who played animportant part in the development of the steam engineas a practical power source. He studied instrumentmaking and went (1755) to London at the age of 18 tostudy further and practice his trade. In 1757 he wasappointed instrument maker at the University of Glasgow; there he met the physicist Joseph Black,who was studying the thermodynamic (heat)

properties of steam. Watt studied the Newcomensteam engine then in use and made a number of

important improvements. In 1769 he patented aseparate condenser (a chamber for condensing thesteam) for the engine.

Thomas Young (1773-1829).

Thomas Young was an English physician and physicist, with a brilliant mind andeclectic interests. By the age of fourteen it is said that he wasacquainted with Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Hebrew, Arabicand Persian. So great was his knowledge that he was calledcalled Phenomena Young by his fellow students at Cambridge.He studied medicine in London, Edinburgh, and Gttingen andset up medical practice in London. His initial interest was insense perception, and he was the first to realize that the eyefocusses by changing the shape of the lens. He discovered thecause of astigmatism, and was the initiator, with Helmoltz, of the three colour theory of perception, believing that the eyeconstructed its sense of colour using only three receptors, for red, green and blue. In 1801 he was appointed Professor of Physics at Cambridge university.

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Jean Baptiste JosephFourier

1768 - 1830

Fourier studied the mathematical theory of heat conduction. He established the partialdifferential equation governing heat diffusion and solved it by using infinite series of trigonometric functions.

Johann CarlFriedrich Gauss

1777 - 1855

Carl Friedrich Gauss worked in a wide variety of fields in both mathematics and physicsincuding number theory, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, magnetism, astronomy andoptics. His work has had an immense influence in many areas.

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