Titoli in Scienza e tecnologia

Sir Isaac Newton changed the world with his many discoveries and inventions about mathematics, science, optics, and physics. Although he was brilliant, Newton felt no need to publish his ideas or to inform his fellow scientists of the amazing discoveries he made. Because of this, his discoveries were often disputed. Despite the controversy that often surrounded him, Newton made astounding advances in his efforts to understand how nature worked. His legacy lives on through inventions such as microscopes, eyeglasses, telescopes, and cameras.

Henry Ford loved mechanical things: springs and gears, cogs and wheels, and things that clicked and ticked and turned. One hot summer day in 1876, Henry and his father were riding to Detroit in their farm wagon. Suddenly there was a huffing-puffing monster heading straight toward them. It was a road-roller, and it was lumbering down the road all by itself. That was the day Henry started thinking about horseless riding machines—and he never stopped.

Rachel Carson wasn’t always the Rachel Carson, renowned environmental activist. From her earliest years, Rachel had a passion for nature—to her, it was a fairyland, and she loved to write about her adventures and the creatures she saw. Encouraged by teachers, Rachel wanted nothing more than to study the ocean and its inhabitants. Though unable to finish her PhD due to financial constraints, Rachel found work in science and success as a nature writer.

In 1791 plans for the new capital city, Washington, D.C., were in the works, but someone was needed to help with the surveying. Thomas Jefferson recommended Benjamin Banneker for the job. Banneker was a free black man who lived at a time when black Americans had few, if any, rights. Yet he was an accomplished farmer, mathematician, astronomer, and surveyor. What Are You Figuring Now? is the story of a man who was never afraid to try something new, no matter how difficult.

There wasn't anything that George Washington Carver couldn't grow. He took the common goober—today's peanut—and created hundreds of useful products from it, turning goobers into a very profitable staple for the South. At the same time, this very special man passed on to everyone who knew him the importance of following one's own dreams.

In 1877 a young man developed a way to reproduce sounds so they could be heard again and again. This young man, Thomas Edison, has since been heralded as one of the world's greatest inventors. This inspiring biography details the creation of Edison's favorite invention, the phonograph. Young listeners will also discover that Edison did not allow his handicap (he was hard of hearing) to slow him down.

Did you know that NASA uses mathematics for space travel? Meet Katherine Johnson, one of the first African-American and female mathematicians who worked for NASA. Learn about her life growing up in segregated America and her journey to pursue her education and dreams. Her mathematical calculations helped American astronauts to go to space, land on the moon, and return to earth safely in 1969!

What was Isaac Newton like? Secretive, vindictive, withdrawn, obsessive, and oh, yes, brilliant. His imagination was so large that, just “by thinking on it”, he invented calculus and figured out the scientific explanation of gravity. Yet Newton was so small-minded that he set out to destroy other scientists who dared question his findings. This compelling portrait of Newton, contradictions and all, places him against the backdrop of 17th-century England, a time of plague, the Great Fire of London, and two revolutions.

When Thomas Edison was a boy, he loved performing experiments and coming up with new inventions. His curiosity sometimes got him in trouble, though, like when he accidentally burned down his dad’s barn! By the time he turned 12, he had found ways to make a living by learning how to print newspapers and send telegraphs in Detroit, Michigan. Imagine what he did as an adult!

In the late 1700s, young Louis Braille overcame his disability by inventing "night writing," a system of raised dots to help blind people read. This alphabet of raised dots allowed sightless people to live more independent lives.

Garrett Morgan was an inventor concerned for the well-being of other people. His inventions included the safety hood gas mask and signals that set the standard for today's traffic lights. It is easy to see that the lives of many people were made better or saved by Garrett Morgan’s inventions.

Every visitor of Yosemite National Park in California should say "thank you" to one man: John Muir.

Galileo used his telescope to discover new and marvelous mysteries in the night sky!

Srinivasa Ramanujan has been described as a rock-star mathematician. Though he died almost one hundred years ago, his work in mathematics will always be important.

Did you know the Nobel Prize is named after the man who invented dynamite? Learn all about the life of Alfred Nobel, who grew up in a desperately poor family.

Joseph Montgolfier and his brother Étienne developed the first balloon. But its first riders were a sheep, a rooster, and a duck!

Meet Doug Taron, a scientist who studies butterflies and other Insects & Arachnids at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago.

An old timer regales the audience with the story of the Stanley brothers and their famous Stanley Steamer, a steam-powered automobile.

Isaac Newton did not discover gravity; people had noticed it before! But he did figure out the rules for how it works.

Why would Geoffrey Pyke propose a strange idea like building an aircraft carrier from a mixture of ice and wood pulp?