When Pioneer of Thermodynamics Was Rejected

Sometimes an idea is so far ahead of the time that when proposed it is met with suspicion and mockery. This happened with English physicist and mathematician James Prescott Joule (1818–1889) when he tried to publish his concept of heat.

Buy in India

Buy in USA

Joule was an avid reader and grew up interested particularly in the field of electricity. He and his brother experimented by giving electric shocks to each other. However, a long-time association with his father's brewery business drew him closer to studying the nature of heat.

In 1843, Joule identified heat as a form of energy. This idea was rejected by the Royal Society because at that time heat was considered to be a "material fluid" which flowed from hot to cold body.

Joule's concept posited that heat was not a fluid but rather a "vibration" from one molecule to another. But at that time (1840s) the existence of atoms and molecules was a disputed subject among scientists. Therefore, Joule's visualization of heat was deemed mere fantasy.

Buy in India

Buy in USA

Despite initial rejection, Joule tried to demonstrate his idea mechanically in 1845. His experiment involved the use of a falling weight, in which gravity does the mechanical work, to spin a paddle wheel in an insulated barrel of water. The spinning increased the temperature of water.

Thus, the experiment not only showed that work and energy were equivalent but also that potential energy of the falling weight was getting converted into heat, hence the rise in temperature. So, heat must be a form of energy.

Joule was laughed at in the beginning but he kept on trying, until his idea became common-sense and he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1850.

He went on to work with renowned British physicist William Thomson, aka Lord Kelvin. Together, they developed the absolute temperature scale and published the Joule-Thomson effect, in 1852, a process which has applications in cooling appliances such as refrigerator and air conditioner.

Today, the SI unit of work (and energy) has been named Joule in his honor. He is also widely recognized as one of the founders of thermodynamics as his results led to the formation of the first law.

How Max Born Won Nobel Prize After Getting Suspended

In 1933, when the Nazi Party came to power in Germany, physicist Max Born, who was Jewish, was suspended from professorship at the University of Göttingen. It was a poor decision since under him Göttingen had become one of the world's most promising centres for physics.

Born had spent over 12 years at the University. Here, he developed the matrix mechanics with his assistant Werner Heisenberg. Furthermore, this was the place where he formulated an interpretation of the probability density function, which won him the Nobel Prize, almost 20 years later, in 1954.

Out of job, he accepted an offer from physicist C. V. Raman to go to Bangalore in 1935 where he taught at the Indian Institute of Science. Then, in 1936, he migrated to the University of Edinburgh where he was offered a permanent chair.

Born became a naturalized British citizen in 1939, one year before the second world war broke out in Europe. During this time, he helped as many of his remaining friends and relatives still in Germany get out of the country thus saving them from persecution.

Despite all the bad memories, Gottingen always remained especially close to his heart because it was there that he came under the guidance of the three most renowned mathematicians of the time: Felix Klein, David Hilbert and Hermann Minkowski.

Although Klein didn't approve of Born's particular interest in natural philosophy (physics) he was still impressed by his mathematical prowess. Hilbert especially identified Born's talent and soon hired him as an assistant. Born would often meet Minkowski at Hilbert's house where they would discuss the theory of relativity.

Here, at Gottingen, in 1922, Arnold Sommerfeld sent his student Werner Heisenberg to be Born's assistant. Three years later, they had formulated the matrix interpretation of quantum mechanics. It won Heisenberg his Nobel Prize in physics (1932).

Buy in India

Buy in USA

A year later, Heisenberg wrote a letter to Born in which he said how he had delayed in writing to him due to a "bad conscience" that he alone had received the Prize for work done in collaboration. Born, however, did not mind at all as his contribution to quantum mechanics could not be changed by a "wrong decision" from the outside.

But Born would ultimately win the most coveted prize in 1954 after a fruitful career of 50 years. He was 72 years old at the time of winning. He died in 1970 and is buried in the same cemetery as David Hilbert. Born's life thus came full circle. In 2017, Google honored Born with a doodle on their home page.

Nominated 84 Times For Nobel Prize But Never Won

If there was anybody close to Einstein's genius, it was his compatriot Arnold Sommerfeld. And despite being 10 years Einstein's senior, Sommerfeld was more supportive of the new quantum theory and made many pioneering contributions to it.

Also, did you know that Sommerfeld served in the military for 9 years before becoming a full-time physics professor? Like that, following are 10 amazing facts from Arnold Sommerfeld's life as a tribute to the most under-appreciated physics brain of the 20th century.

1. Since childhood, Arnold Sommerfeld was a quick learner. He received his PhD in physics when he was only 22 years old.

2. He was among the first to acknowledge the validity of Einstein's relativity. His support helped it propel into more of an "accepted status" in the scientific community.

3. Sommerfeld received 84 nominations across 25 years for Nobel Prize in physics (more than any other physicist) but surprisingly, he never won.

4. Yet, he won many times through those he educated and inspired, including (but not limited to) Heisenberg, Pauli, Debye and Bethe.

5. He was the one who introduced the second and the third quantum numbers. They're important because of their use in determining the electron configuration inside an atom.

6. Einstein once told Sommerfeld: "What I especially admire about you is that you have pounded out of the soil such a large number of young talents."

7. Sommerfeld encouraged collaboration from his students. He would home tutor them or meet at a local café to discuss their doubts after a lecture. His successful teaching career was 32 years long.

8. Sommerfeld was also a traveler who traveled around the world in two years (1928-1929) with major stops in India, China, Japan and the US.

9. He wrote to Einstein shortly after Hitler took to power: "I can assure you that the misuse of the word ‘national’ by our rulers has thoroughly broken me of the habit of national feelings that was so pronounced in my case."

10. Sommerfeld died in 1951 in Munich after getting hit by a truck while he was walking with his grandchildren. He was 82 years old. In 2004, department of theoretical physics at the University of Munich was named after Sommerfeld.

Who Was Jagadish Chandra Bose?

There are only a handful of people whose legacy goes on to live for-ever. Indian scientist Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose is one of them, as you shall see. He was born in Bikrampur, present-day Bangladesh, on November 30, 1858. His father was a colleague of reformist Raja Ram Mohan Roy and his mother was a housewife.

Early education

Most of Bose's education was conducted in Calcutta. After graduation in 1879, he wanted to compete for Indian Civil Service examination but his father, Bhagawan Chandra Bose, cancelled that plan. He wanted his son to become a science scholar instead, which was why, he sent Jagadish to London for further training.

Change of Plans

At first, Bose was enrolled at University of London so to become a doctor. However, he had to quit it mid-way because of illness due to the odour in dissection rooms. Therefore, he shifted his attention to natural sciences and earned a general-sciences degree from the University of Cambridge in 1884.

Work with Waves

After returning from England, Bose became a professor of physics at Presidency College, Calcutta. During a November 1894 lecture, he ignited gunpowder and rang a bell at a distance using millimetre long microwaves. He wrote: "The invisible light can easily pass through brick walls, buildings etc. Therefore, messages can be transmitted by means of it without the mediation of wires."

Bose perfected his long-distance communication technique (he invented various microwave components in doing so) but never ever thought of patenting it, unlike his European colleagues, such as Marconi, who himself was developing a telegraphy technique using radio waves.

Fun fact: In 1997, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) named Bose as one of the fathers of radio science.

Plant research

Bose's work with plants was one of a kind. He exposed plants to various stimuli such as microwaves, heat, chemicals, etc. By the help of his own invention, crescograph, a plant movement detector, Bose proved scientifically a parallel between animal and plant tissues. Other striking results were obtained, such as, quivering of injured plants, which Bose interpreted as a power of feeling in plants.

Agnosticism

According to his colleagues, Jagadish Chandra Bose was 60 years ahead of time. He was not only remarkable by intellect but also a very progressive human being by character. Furthermore, he was married to renowned feminist and social worker, Abala Bose.

During a conference in 1915, Bose recalled: "In the school, to which I was sent, the son of the Muslim attendant of my father sat on my right side, and the son of a fisherman sat on my left. They were my playmates. When I returned home from school accompanied by my school fellows, my mother welcomed and fed all of us without discrimination. Although she was an orthodox old-fashioned lady."

Bose grew up worshipping science and scientific method. He believed agnosticism to be the real essence of science and scientific method. A man shall not say he knows or believes that which he has "no scientific grounds" for professing to know or believe. Bose laid the foundations of "Basu Bigyan Mandir" (Bose Institute) in Kolkata, West Bengal.

He said: I dedicate today this Institute, not merely a Laboratory but a Temple. The power of physical methods applies to the establishment of that truth which can be realized directly through our senses, or through the vast expansion of the perceptive range by means of artificially created organs.

Teaching

According to physicist Satyendra Nath Bose, one of the students of Sir J.C. Bose at Presidency College, he was a brilliant teacher whose classes were visually appealing and interactive in style.

But, as a researcher, he faced racial discrimination at the University, because the British Empire continued to assert its control over Indian educational institutions. Bose was denied entry into the laboratories and his funding was often cut short.

Despite it all, J.C. Bose remained a devoted professor there for more than 30 years. In 1917, he established his own research institute and served as its director until his death in 1937.

Summing up

J.C. Bose is a celebrated figure not only for his groundbreaking discoveries and inventions in science but also for his work as an educator. His life's mission was to discourage brain-drain by providing competent research facilities in the country itself. Today, J.C. Bose is remembered as the founder of modern scientific research in India.

Who Was Lise Meitner?

Lise Meitner was an Austrian-Swedish scientist known for her discoveries of the element protactinium and nuclear fission. She was praised by Albert Einstein as the "German Marie Curie" for her long-time association with both physics and chemistry. In this post, let's take a look at 10 most amazing facts about Lise Meitner.

Collaboration with nephew

Lise Meitner became a role model for her nephew, Otto Robert Frisch, who grew up becoming a physicist himself. Together, they hypothesized that the split of Uranium in two, explained the incredible energy release in "fission", a term Frisch coined.

Her role in World War I

Meitner was known for her compassion and modesty. During the World War I, when the situation required, she served as a nurse for two years. In 1916, she resumed her physics research.

Early education & PhD

Her earliest research work began at age eight, when she kept a notebook of her records underneath her pillow. She attended the University of Vienna at age 23 and became the second woman to receive a doctoral degree in physics in 1905.

Professorship & war

In 1926, Meitner accepted a post at the University of Berlin and became the first woman in Germany to become a full professor of physics. In 1938, at the start of World War II, she had to flee Nazi Germany due to her Jewish heritage.

Help by Bohr

Niels Bohr helped Lise escape Nazi Germany in 1938. She stayed with Niels and his wife, Margrethe Bohr, at their holiday house in Tisvilde, Denmark. Meitner fled to Sweden, where she lived for many years, ultimately becoming a Swedish citizen.

Manhattan Project

When the atomic bomb project was started in 1942, Meitner was offered a key position at Los Alamos Laboratory, but she refused to work on it, saying, "I will have nothing to do with the bomb!"

Dinner with President

Meitner was known all over the world, so much so, that many claimed her the female equivalent of Einstein. She was awarded "Woman of the Year" in 1946 by the National Press Club, Washington and also joined President Truman for dinner.

Chemical elements

In 1917, Meitner discovered a stable isotope of Protactinium along with chemist Otto Hahn. She also has a chemical element named after her, a radioactive synthetic element, called the Meitnerium.

Nobel Prize snub

Meitner was nominated 19 times for Chemistry Nobel Prize and 29 times for Physics Nobel Prize but never got the top honors. Despite that, she was invited to attend the prestigious Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in 1962.

Critical of friends

She was critical of her friends: Otto Hahn, Max von Laue and Werner Heisenberg, they who participated in Germany's nuclear bomb project. Their association prompted Einstein to write a letter to the-then American president Roosevelt to build a bomb of their own, before the Germans did.

Meitner wrote a letter to the three: "The reason I write this to you is true friendship. You all worked for Nazi Germany and did not even try to resist...What then must the English and Americans be thinking!?" 

After her death in 1968, her nephew Frisch composed the inscription on her gravestone, which read: "Lise Meitner: a physicist who never lost her humanity."

Biography of Madame Curie

A leading figure in the history of sciences, Marie Curie was prohibited from higher education in her native Poland. Many years later, she became the first woman Nobel laureate. She remains the only person to win the most coveted prize in two different sciences. This is her story.

Childhood

Maria was born in 1867 in Warsaw (Poland) which was then part of the Russian Empire. She was the fifth and youngest child of well-known science professor Władysław Skłodowski. Her mother, Marianna Bronisława operated a reputed boarding school for girls in the big bustling city.

When Maria was seven years old, her eldest sibling died of typhoid and then three years later her mother lost the battle to tuberculosis. At the same time, Władysław was fired from his job due to pro-Polish sentiments and the family eventually lost all the savings.

In the middle of crisis, Władysław decided to join a low-paying teaching job. The Russian authorities at the school banned the usage of laboratory equipment so he brought it home and instructed his children in its use. In this way, Maria was taught to experiment at an early age.


Teenage

For some years, Maria was home-schooled. But her father recognized her talent for scientific thinking and learning. Therefore, despite economic troubles, she was admitted to a prestigious learning centre for girls. Maria graduated with a gold medal in 1883 aged sixteen.

She was unable to join any regular institution of higher education because she was a woman. Her father then suggested to join the "secret flying university" a Polish patriotic institution (often in conflict with the governing Russian Empire) which welcomed women students.

During this time, she fell in love with a young man (who'd later go on to become a prominent Polish mathematician), Kazimierz Żorawski, his name. The two discussed marriage, but Żorawski’s parents rejected Marie due to her family's poverty and Kazimierz was unable to oppose them.

Higher education

Maria returned home to her father in Warsaw. The loss of relationship with Żorawski was heartbreaking for her and Władysław was devastated seeing his daughter in pain. Three years later, in 1890, he was able to secure a more lucrative position again and arranged for Maria to reach Paris.

Maria and her father

Maria proceeded her studies of physics and chemistry in the University of Paris where she would be known as Marie. She focused so hard on her studies that she sometimes forgot to eat. In 1893, Marie Skłodowska was awarded a degree in physics at age 26.



In 1894, she began her research career with an investigation of the magnetic properties of various steels. That same year French physicist Pierre Curie entered her life; and it was their mutual interest in natural sciences that drew them together.


Marriage

Eventually they began to develop feelings for one another and Pierre proposed marriage. Marie returned to Warsaw and told her father that in Pierre, she had found a new love, a partner, and a scientific collaborator on whom she could depend. Władysław agreed.

But she was still living under the illusion that she would be able to work in her chosen field in Poland. Pierre declared that he was ready to move with her to Poland, even if it meant being reduced to teaching French.

Things hadn't changed though as she was denied again because of her gender. A letter from Pierre convinced her to return to Paris and work with him in his small laboratory. In 1895, they were married and for their honeymoon, took a bicycle tour around the French countryside.

The Curies also got going with their research work in a converted shed (formerly a medical school dissecting room) which was poorly ventilated and not even waterproof. But they were very dedicated scientists and hardly discouraged by such problems.

Radioactivity

In 1896, Henri Becquerel discovered that uranium salts spontaneously emitted a penetrating radiation that could be registered on a photographic plate. Marie was intrigued by this new phenomenon (she coined the term radioactivity) and decided to look into it.

She hypothesized that the radiation was not the outcome of some interaction of molecules but must come from the atom itself. She began studying two uranium minerals, pitchblende and torbernite, and discovered that both pitchblende and torbenite were far more active than uranium itself.

Marie concluded that the two minerals must contain small quantities of radioactive substances other than uranium. In 1898, the couple announced their discovery of Polonium and Radium, elements previously unknown, which were far more active than uranium.

Four years later in 1902, the husband and wife team was able to separate 0.1 gram of radium chloride from a ton of pitchblende, a remarkable achievement, for which the duo shared the Nobel Prize in physics with Henri Becquerel.

The award money allowed the Curies to hire their first laboratory assistant. However, the Curies still did not have a proper laboratory. Upon Pierre Curie's complaint, the University of Paris relented and agreed to create a new laboratory, but it would not be ready until 1906.



In 1906, walking across a street of Paris in heavy rain, Pierre was struck by a horse-drawn vehicle and fell under its wheels, causing his skull to fracture. Marie, by then a mother to two beautiful daughters, Irène and Ève, was traumatized by her husband's death.

She continued to work in the new laboratory hoping to reach greater heights in physics and chemistry as a tribute to her husband Pierre. In 1910, she isolated the pure radium metal; and also defined a new unit  of radioactivity called "curie" in the memory of her late husband.


Affair & death

In 1911, Marie was on the front pages of local tabloids as a "foreign home-wrecker" after having an affair with French physicist Paul Langevin, a married man who was estranged from his wife. The news was exploited by her academic opponents, one declaring her "a detestable idiot."

There's no denying that the affair was painful for Langevin’s family, particularly for his wife, Jeanne, but at the time when the news broke out, Marie was giving a lecture in Brussels. And when she returned to Paris, she found an angry crowd outside of her house and had to seek refuge, with her little daughters.

The Swedish Academy of Sciences honored her a second time despite the Langevin Scandal. She was awarded the Prize in Chemistry for isolating radium hence becoming the only person to win Nobel Prize in two different sciences.

A month after accepting her 1911 Nobel Prize, she was hospitalized with depression and a kidney ailment. During her time at the hospital, she received a letter from Einstein, essentially saying, "please ignore the haters." Marie returned to her laboratory after a gap of about 14 months.

From then onwards, it became very difficult to focus on the sciences and even more so during the World War I. Also perhaps because Marie could not forgive herself after the incident. The war ended, and she was invited to Warsaw in a ceremony, laying the foundations of the Radium Institute.

Curie visited Poland for the last time in early 1934 (before the second world war) where she died of aplastic anemia, a condition due to long exposure to radiation. Her final resting place was decided Paris Panthéon alongside her husband Pierre. In 1935, a life-size statue of Maria Skłodowska Curie was established in a Warsaw park facing the Radium Institute.



Personality

She used to wear the same dress to laboratory every day, "If you are going to be kind enough to give me one," she instructed regarding a proposed gift for her wedding, "please let it be practical and dark so that I can put it on afterwards to go to the laboratory."

She refrained from patenting the radium-isolation process, so that the scientific community could do their research unhindered. Scientific endeavors were more dear to her than monetary benefits. In fact, she even gave much of her Nobel Prize money to friends, family, students, and research associates.

The curies were not religious and Marie was agnostic by choice. Neither wanted a religious service for their marriage ceremony. She wore a dark blue outfit, instead of a bridal gown, which would be worn by her in the lab for years to come. One of the guests quipped, "Skłodowska is Pierre's biggest discovery."

Today, the radium is used to produce radon, a radioactive gas which is used to treat some types of cancer. At the time of their discovery, a new industry began developing, based on radium (as in self-luminous paints for watches), but the Curies did not patent their discovery and benefited little from this increasingly profitable business.

Marie had the strong conviction that her work would provide important benefits for the rest of humanity, "I am one of those who think that the world will draw more good than evil from new discoveries," her passion for science was aroused in her early years, and remained intact until her last breath.

In her final years, she advocated bravely for invoking a scientific approach in the people, "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less," she would say.

Self-taught scientist who became father of electricity

Although Faraday received little formal education, he was one of the most influential scientists in history becoming the inspiration for likes of Einstein and Tesla. He is best known for the discovery of electromagnetic induction, his invention of the electric motor, contributions to electrochemistry or due to the fact that he was responsible for introducing the concept of field in physics.

In 1873, the standard unit of electrical capacitance was named farad in his honor. The Bank of England unveiled a £20 bill with his portrait in 1991 as he joined a distinguished group of Britons with their own notes, including William Shakespeare, Florence Nightingale and Isaac Newton. Many claim him the father of electricity and in fact, Maxwell himself had said, "Faraday is, and must always remain, the father of that enlarged science of electromagnetism."

Early education

Michael Faraday was born to Margaret and James Faraday on 22nd September, 1791. The family was not well off so they moved to London seeking more opportunities. The young Faraday, who was the third of four children, having only the most basic school education, had to educate himself, while working on the streets of London.

At the age of 14, Faraday became an apprentice to a local bookbinder and bookseller, George Riebau, in Blandford Street, Marylebone. During his seven years of apprenticeship, Faraday made good use of the priceless access to books which his employment gave him and which his generous employer allowed.

Faraday was deeply motivated by the book, "Conversations on chemistry" by Jane Marcet so much so that when 20 years old, he attended the lectures by the most renowned English chemist of the time, Sir Humphry Davy. Faraday later on sent Davy a 300-page book based on the notes that he had taken during these lectures. Davy's reply was immediate, kind, and favourable.

The first invention

In 1813, when Davy damaged his eyesight in an accident with nitrogen trichloride, he decided to take Faraday as temporary assistant. In the class-based English society, Faraday was not considered a gentleman, because of which, Davy's wife declined to treat Faraday as an equal making his life so miserable that he contemplated suicide.

But Davy refused to let the talented young man go. He employed Faraday permanently as his scientific assistant much to his wife's displeasure. They went together on a tour of the continent meeting the scientific elite of Europe as well as exchanging ideas with them. Davy joked that his assistant Michael Faraday was his greatest discovery; little did he know that he'd be right!

In 1820, Danish physicist Hans Ørsted discovered (although by accident) that electric current in a wire could deflect magnetic needle in the immediate vicinity. Davy wasn't bothered the least by it, but Faraday, on the contrary, declared it one of the greatest discoveries of mankind. One year later, Faraday invented the electric motor by using the same principle, which is today the basis of fans, pumps, compressors, elevators, and refrigerators.

Faraday's rapid rise made Davy jealous and he became indifferent to him, treating him more as a challenger. Towards the end, Davy even accused Faraday of plagiarism causing Faraday to cease all research in electromagnetism until his mentor's death. In 1829, Davy was paralyzed by a stroke and passed away aged 50. Despite the bitter ending, Faraday described Davy fatherlike, kind and protective.

Electromagnetism

Thus, Faraday began his great series of experiments, in which he discovered the law of electromagnetic induction. The breakthrough came when he wrapped two insulated coils of wire around an iron ring, and found that upon passing a current through one coil, a brief current was induced in the other coil.

Faraday went on to invent a rudimentary generator in 1831 and as the story is usually told, the prime minister or some other senior politician was given a demonstration of induction by Faraday. When asked, “What good is it?” Faraday replied: “What good is a newborn baby?” Fifty years passed before electric power really took off as envisioned by Faraday.

Faraday was little interested in mathematics and his own scientific career was characterized by simple ideas and simple experiments. But the discovery of induction was eventually formalized by Scottish physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell into an equation now known as Maxwell–Faraday equation.

Faraday wrote in a letter to Maxwell, "I was at first almost frightened when I saw such mathematical force made to bear upon the subject, and then wondered to see that the subject stood it so well." The equation by Maxwell became the foundation of power generation hence making Faraday the father of electricity.

Later life

After induction, Faraday formulated the laws of electrolysis in 1834 whose applications are far and wide such as production of industrial chemicals and electroplating. For his unprecedented work, Faraday was appointed the Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution without a degree. He was also offered a knighthood but he turned it down citing religion.

In 1836, he invented the Faraday cage, an enclosure used to block the electromagnetic field. You can find a real-life version of Faraday cage right inside your kitchen: the metal shell in the microwave oven acts like a Faraday cage as it prevents the microwaves inside the oven from leaking out. Faraday cages are also used in MRI scans to prevent external frequencies from causing any distortion to the data coming from the patient.

Beyond his scientific research into areas such as chemistry and physics, Faraday accepted numerous, and often time-consuming, service projects for the greater good of the country. For example, every Christmas, Faraday would give free science lectures to a general audience, including young people, in an informative and entertaining manner.

He delighted in filling soap bubbles with various gasses in front of his audiences and marveled at the rich colors of polarized lights, but the lectures were also deeply philosophical. In this way, Faraday was really the world's first science communicator. He delivered a total of nineteen such lectures until he was 53 years old.

Many years after his scientific career, Faraday dedicated a book to George Riebau, his first employer, writing: "...you kindly interested yourself in the progress I made in the knowledge of facts relating to the different theories in existence, readily permitting me to examine those books in your possession that were in any way related to the subjects occupying my attention."

Science and religion

Faraday was a devout Christian although there may have been some conflict between his religious beliefs and his activities as a scientist. Many of his colleagues and especially Henry Bence Jones had claimed through letters and writings that Faraday was a scientist first and religious second, but he was also both.

Jones, who was Faraday's junior, published the book, "The Life and Letters of Faraday", in 1870. Faraday said of himself, "Without experiment, I am nothing. In early life I was a very lively, imaginative person, who could believe in the Arabian Nights as easily as in the Encyclopedia, but facts became more important to me, and saved me. I could trust a fact. One thing is fortunate, which is, that whatever our opinions, they do not alter nor derange the facts of nature."

Faraday's laboratory journal entry on 19 March, 1849 says, "ALL THIS IS A DREAM. Still examine it by experiments. Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature; and in such things as these, experiment is the best test of such consistency." Faraday viewed his discoveries of nature's laws as part of the continual process of reading the book of nature.

When asked about his speculations on life beyond death, Faraday replied, "Speculations? I have none. I am resting on certainties. I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."

Who was Carl Sagan?

As a scientist, Carl Sagan contributed enormously to our knowledge of the solar system. He correctly predicted the existence of methane lakes on Saturn's largest moon Titan. When other astronomers had imagined Venus to be a balmy paradise he showed it to be dry, thick and unpleasantly hot. Carl went on to propose that the atmosphere of the early earth must have contained powerful greenhouse gases.

When she returned, all of Carl's enthusiasm turned into utter disappointment. She had with her a book on the Hollywood stars, wait what, those weren't the kind of stars that concerned an astronomer.

The librarian, a little embarrassed, shifted her attention to a different bookshelf. After searching for a while, she brought with her the correct book, titled, "secrets of the stars". She handed it to the young astronomer. This incident made a deep and lasting impression on a young Carl Sagan.

Career at NASA

Carl Sagan attended the University of Chicago where he came under the guidance of famous physicists such as Enrico Fermi and Edward Teller. As an undergraduate he worked for geneticist H.J. Muller and wrote a thesis on the origins of life.

Carl Sagan went on to earn a masters in physics in 1956, before earning a PhD degree in 1960.

Then he became a visiting scientist to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he contributed to the making of the first Mariner orbiter mission to Venus.

The Mariner Orbiter confirmed his conclusions on the surface conditions on Venus in 1962. He also worked closely with NASA for the successful landing of man on the moon in 1969.

Next, he worked with NASA for the Viking space program which  was set up to explore the habitat and environment of planet Mars. For the first time in human history, a man-made object had landed on an alien world.

viking on mars, 1976

However, the viking landing did not receive attention it deserved. The general public was widely unaware of a significant success in the field of space exploration. Was it not important to people? Was it not worth their time? These questions began to haunt Carl's imagination.

Therefore, just two years later in 1978, Carl Sagan began to work for a new TV show, Cosmos: a personal voyage. Its objective was to narrate to people the story of cosmic evolution, sciences and civilization. In 1980, the first episode of Cosmos was aired and became an instant hit.

Cosmos

Using the word "cosmos" rather than the word universe implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system; the opposite of chaos. Nobody had ever explained space, in all its bewildering glory, as well as Sagan did.

ship of the imagination

Cosmos was seen in over 60 countries by more than 500 million people. It was the biggest show of the eighties.

In the fifth episode of the series, Sagan explained the kind of experiments performed by viking on the surface of planet Mars. The episode ends with the possibility of the colonization of Mars which became inspiration for the likes of Elon Musk.

During the same time, he was also working with NASA for the voyager space program whose mission was to investigate the outskirts of the solar system for signs of life.

Voyager 1, which had completed its primary mission and was leaving the Solar System, was commanded by NASA to turn its camera around and take one last photograph of Earth across a great expanse of space, at the request of Carl Sagan.

This picture is called The Pale Blue Dot.

consider again that dot

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.

The earth is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

People's Astronomer

Through his appearances on TV and eloquent writings, he has shown many a times how space humbles as well as lifts. He brought astronomy into our living rooms.

Today, the word "cosmos" is on everyone's lips thanks to Carl Sagan. He made astronomy more accessible to people by popularizing it.

In fact, Carl Sagan turned astronomy into a deep spiritual experience.

That we are not different from space but a little part of it, made from it. The nitrogen in our DNA, calcium in our teeth and iron in our blood were first forged in the interiors of the dying stars. That we are the star-stuff contemplating the stars is well and truly a great spiritual realization.