LoC #64: Top 52 Scientists

[Kete]

I can't believe I forgot Walter White.

[Tripe]

22


Johannes Kepler

And now this can be posted:

EDIT: And, if you enjoyed that one, I'm pretty sure there's another that can show up a little later (there's actually three chances for it to work).

[Darth Geek]

It did, however, lead to some nice quips, with Einstein's saying "I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice." and "Do you really think the moon isn't there if you aren't looking at it?", while Bohr, in response, said "Einstein, don't tell God what to do."

I had heard the first two quotes, but never the third. That's awesome.

[Johnny Unusual]

Forgot Frink, Yay for Frankenstein and I'm not really familiar with the other entries, although they all sound interesting (Yes, I'll watch Breaking Bad someday.  Get off my back!)  I guess I am relatively knowledgable about Copernicus, but just the basic, common knowledge stuff.  That said, all good entries and all interesting reads.  I also liked the collection of Frauds.

BTW, I can't decide between my favourite low-hanging fruit of Neils Bohr mockery.

Is it...

"Welcome to the Boring World of Neils Bohr." - Simpsons

or

"That guy is a total bore, and a big fan of Neils Bohr; the most aptly named of all Danish physicists." - Strong Bad

[Darth Geek]

Glad to see so many real scientist make it. I am sure the top slots will largely be fictional, though.

[goflyblind]

20


Carl Sagan

67 points - 6 lists - Highest Position: 2 (Imrahil)

Short Biography

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He spent most of his career as a professor of astronomy at Cornell University where he directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books. He advocated scientifically skeptical inquiry and the scientific method, pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). He wanted to learn what stars were, since none of his friends or their parents could give him a clear answer: "I went to the librarian and asked for a book about stars ...And the answer was stunning. It was that the Sun was a star but really close. The stars were suns, but so far away they were just little points of light ...The scale of the universe suddenly opened up to me. It was a kind of religious experience. There was a magnificence to it, a grandeur, a scale which has never left me. Never ever left me."


Major Discoveries

Sagan's contributions were central to the discovery of the high surface temperatures of the planet Venus. As a visiting scientist to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he contributed to the first Mariner missions to Venus, working on the design and management of the project. Mariner 2 confirmed his conclusions on the surface conditions of Venus in 1962. Sagan was among the first to hypothesize that Saturn's moon Titan might possess oceans of liquid compounds on its surface and that Jupiter's moon Europa might possess subsurface oceans of water. This would make Europa potentially habitable. Europa's subsurface ocean of water was later indirectly confirmed by the spacecraft Galileo. The mystery of Titan's reddish haze was also solved with Sagan's help. The reddish haze was revealed to be due to complex organic molecules constantly raining down onto Titan's surface. Sagan is best known, however, for his research on the possibilities of extraterrestrial life, including experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by radiation.


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/wupToqz1e2g" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/wupToqz1e2g</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/iE9dEAx5Sgw" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/iE9dEAx5Sgw</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/DI9ImScQGAo" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/DI9ImScQGAo</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/hLkC7ralR30" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/hLkC7ralR30</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/MlikCebQSlY" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/MlikCebQSlY</a>


Up Next: I'm guessing this next entry already has a patent on any idea I'm ever going to come up with.

[goflyblind]

19


Thomas Edison

68 points - 8 lists - Highest Position: 11 (Pak-Man, CJones)

Short Biography

Thomas Edison was an American inventor and businessman. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" (now Edison, New Jersey) by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large-scale teamwork to the process of invention, and because of that, he is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. Edison became a telegraph operator after he saved three-year-old Jimmie MacKenzie from being struck by a runaway train. Jimmie's father, station agent J.U. MacKenzie of Mount Clemens, Michigan, was so grateful that he trained Edison as a telegraph operator.


Major Discoveries

Thomas Edison began his career as an inventor in Newark, New Jersey, with the automatic repeater and his other improved telegraphic devices, but the invention that first gained him notice was the phonograph in 1877. His first phonograph recorded on tinfoil around a grooved cylinder, but had poor sound quality and the recordings could be played only a few times. Edison's major innovation was the first industrial research lab, which was built in Menlo Park, New Jersey. It was built with the funds from the sale of Edison's quadruplex telegraph. Menlo Park became the first institution set up with the specific purpose of producing constant technological innovation and improvement. Edison was legally attributed with most of the inventions produced there, though many employees carried out research and development under his direction. His staff was generally told to carry out his directions in conducting research, and he drove them hard to produce results. Building on the contributions of other developers over the previous three quarters of a century, Edison made improvements to the idea of incandescent light, and entered the public consciousness as "the inventor" of the lightbulb, and a prime mover in developing the necessary infrastructure for electric power. Edison's true success, like that of his friend Henry Ford, was in his ability to maximize profits through establishment of mass-production systems and intellectual property rights. George Westinghouse and Edison became adversaries because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution instead of the more easily transmitted alternating current (AC) system invented by Nikola Tesla and promoted by Westinghouse. Unlike DC, AC could be stepped up to very high voltages with transformers, sent over thinner and cheaper wires, and stepped down again at the destination for distribution to users. AC replaced DC in most instances of generation and power distribution, enormously extending the range and improving the efficiency of power distribution. Though widespread use of DC ultimately lost favor for distribution, it exists today primarily in long-distance high-voltage direct current transmission systems. Low-voltage DC distribution continued to be used in high-density downtown areas for many years but was eventually replaced by AC low-voltage network distribution in many of them.


Up Next: Our next entry is electrifying.

[goflyblind]

18


Benjamin Franklin

72 points - 5 lists - Highest Position: 3 (Mrs. Dick Courier)

Short Biography

Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. At age 17, Franklin ran away to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, seeking a new start in a new city. When he first arrived he worked in several printer shops around town. In 1727, Benjamin Franklin, then 21, created the Junto, a group of "like minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who hoped to improve themselves while they improved their community." The Junto was a discussion group for issues of the day; it subsequently gave rise to many organizations in Philadelphia. Reading was a great pastime of the Junto, but books were rare and expensive. The members created a library, initially assembled from their own books. This did not suffice, however. Franklin then conceived the idea of a subscription library, which would pool the funds of the members to buy books for all to read.


Major Discoveries

Franklin was a prodigious inventor. Among his many creations were the lightning rod, glass armonica, Franklin stove, bifocal glasses and the flexible urinary catheter. Franklin never patented his inventions; in his autobiography he wrote, "... as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously." His inventions also included social innovations, such as paying forward. Franklin's fascination with innovation could be viewed as altruistic; he wrote that his scientific works were to be used for increasing efficiency and human improvement. He was the first to label electric charge as positive and negative respectively, and he was the first to discover the principle of conservation of charge. Franklin was, along with his contemporary Leonhard Euler, the only major scientist who supported Christiaan Huygens' wave theory of light, which was basically ignored by the rest of the scientific community. In the 18th century Newton's corpuscular theory was held to be true; only after Young's famous slit experiment were most scientists persuaded to believe Huygens' theory.





Up Next: The next entry is positively glowing.

[goflyblind]

17


Marie Curie

74 points - 6 lists - Highest Position: 3 (anais.butterfly)

Short Biography

Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a French-Polish physicist and chemist. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to win in two fields, and the only person to win in multiple sciences. She was also the first female professor at the University of Paris, and became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Panthéon in Paris. Unable to enrol in a higher education institution due to being a female, she and her sister Bronisława became involved with the Flying University, a clandestine teaching institution, teaching a pro-Polish curriculum in defiance of the Russian authorities, and also willing to admit female students. Later, in Paris, she attended the University of Paris, studying physics, chemistry, and mathematics. She was known for her honesty and moderate life style. Having received a small scholarship in 1893, she returned it in 1897 as soon as she begun earning her keep. She gave much of her first Nobel Prize money to friends, family, students and research associates. In an unusual decision, Marie intentionally refrained from patenting the radium-isolation process, so that the scientific community could do research unhindered. She insisted that monetary gifts and awards were given to the scientific institutions she was affiliated with, rather than herself. She and her husband often refused awards and medals. Albert Einstein is reported to have remarked that she was probably the only person who was not corrupted by the fame that she had won.


Major Discovery

Marie had begun her scientific career in Paris with an investigation of the magnetic properties of various steels, commissioned by the Society for the Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale. Marie decided to look into uranium rays as a possible field of research for a thesis. She used an innovative technique to investigate samples. She discovered that uranium rays caused the air around a sample to conduct electricity. Using this technique, her first result was the finding that the activity of the uranium compounds depended only on the quantity of uranium present. She had hypothesized that the radiation was not the outcome of some interaction of molecules, but must come from the atom itself. This hypothesis was an important step in disproving the ancient assumption that atoms were indivisible. In her systematic search for other substances beside uranium salts that emitted radiation, by 1898, Marie had found that the element thorium likewise, was radioactive. In July 1898, Marie and her husband published a paper together, announcing the existence of an element which they named "polonium", in honour of her native Poland. On 26 December 1898, the Curies announced the existence of a second element, which they named "radium" for its intense radioactivity – a word that they coined. Her first Nobel Prize was awarded for her work on radioactivity, while her second was for her discovery of new elements. Writes Cornell University professor L. Pearce Williams, "The result of the Curies' work was epoch-making. Radium's radioactivity was so great that it could not be ignored. It seemed to contradict the principle of the conservation of energy and therefore forced a reconsideration of the foundations of physics. On the experimental level the discovery of radium provided men like Ernest Rutherford with sources of radioactivity with which they could probe the structure of the atom. As a result of Rutherford's experiments with alpha radiation, the nuclear atom was first postulated. In medicine, the radioactivity of radium appeared to offer a means by which cancer could be successfully attacked."


Up Next: Meep!

[goflyblind]

16


Bunsen Honeydew

82 points - 7 lists - Highest Position: 6 (Darth Geek)

Portrayed By: Dave Goelz (television and film)

Short Biography and Discoveries

Dr. Bunsen Honeydew is the resident scientist on The Muppet Show, and the host of the Muppet Labs sketches. In season one of The Muppet Show he worked alone, but in season two, his assistant Beaker was added to the show. Bunsen is always eager to show off his latest scientific discovery, but his excitement about progress tends to render him short-sighted. Beaker usually ends up being harmed by Dr. Honeydew's inventions. Bunsen Honeydew's name comes from the scientific instrument called the Bunsen burner, and the shape of his head, which looks like a honeydew melon.

He has appeared in every Muppet movie, often with a large role contributing to the film's plot. In The Muppet Movie, Kermit the Frog meets Bunsen and Beaker in an old ghost town, where Honeydew shows off his latest invention, "Insta-Grow Pills," which can temporarily make things grow bigger. In The Muppet Christmas Carol, Bunsen and Beaker portray charity workers. In Muppets from Space, Bunsen invents a number of devices for the Muppets to use when they rescue Gonzo.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/4QrelL9fOjY" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/4QrelL9fOjY</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/w9SWB1usr0M" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/w9SWB1usr0M</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/VRvmqSu6YMo" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/VRvmqSu6YMo</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mggl7cC8iys" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/Mggl7cC8iys</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/EFebGZ7FJQQ" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/EFebGZ7FJQQ</a>


Up Next: Give this next entry a lever, and he might just move the world.

[goflyblind]

15


Archimedes

85 points - 5 lists - Highest Position: 3 (Compound)

Short Biography

Archimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. During his youth, Archimedes may have studied in Alexandria, Egypt, where Conon of Samos and Eratosthenes of Cyrene were contemporaries. He referred to Conon of Samos as his friend, while two of his works have introductions addressed to Eratosthenes. The last words attributed to Archimedes are "Do not disturb my circles", a reference to the circles in the mathematical drawing that he was supposedly studying when disturbed by the Roman soldier. The tomb of Archimedes carried a sculpture illustrating his favorite mathematical proof, consisting of a sphere and a cylinder of the same height and diameter. Archimedes had proven that the volume and surface area of the sphere are two thirds that of the cylinder including its bases.


Major Discoveries

The most widely known anecdote about Archimedes tells of how he invented a method for determining the volume of an object with an irregular shape. According to Vitruvius, a votive crown for a temple had been made for King Hiero II, who had supplied the pure gold to be used, and Archimedes was asked to determine whether some silver had been substituted by the dishonest goldsmith. Archimedes had to solve the problem without damaging the crown, so he could not melt it down into a regularly shaped body in order to calculate its density. While taking a bath, he noticed that the level of the water in the tub rose as he got in, and realized that this effect could be used to determine the volume of the crown. For practical purposes water is incompressible, so the submerged crown would displace an amount of water equal to its own volume. By dividing the mass of the crown by the volume of water displaced, the density of the crown could be obtained. This density would be lower than that of gold if cheaper and less dense metals had been added. Archimedes then took to the streets naked, so excited by his discovery that he had forgotten to dress, crying "Eureka!". The test was conducted successfully, proving that silver had indeed been mixed in. The Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis described how King Hiero II commissioned Archimedes to design a huge ship, the Syracusia, which could be used for luxury travel, carrying supplies, and as a naval warship. The Syracusia is said to have been the largest ship built in classical antiquity. Since a ship of this size would leak a considerable amount of water through the hull, the Archimedes screw was purportedly developed in order to remove the bilge water. Archimedes' machine was a device with a revolving screw-shaped blade inside a cylinder. It was turned by hand, and could also be used to transfer water from a low-lying body of water into irrigation canals. The Archimedes screw is still in use today for pumping liquids and granulated solids such as coal and grain. The Claw of Archimedes is a weapon that he is said to have designed in order to defend the city of Syracuse. Also known as "the ship shaker," the claw consisted of a crane-like arm from which a large metal grappling hook was suspended. When the claw was dropped onto an attacking ship the arm would swing upwards, lifting the ship out of the water and possibly sinking it. The 2nd century AD author Lucian wrote that during the Siege of Syracuse, Archimedes destroyed enemy ships with fire. Centuries later, Anthemius of Tralles mentions burning-glasses as Archimedes' weapon. The device, sometimes called the "Archimedes heat ray", was used to focus sunlight onto approaching ships, causing them to catch fire. Archimedes was able to use infinitesimals in a way that is similar to modern integral calculus. Through proof by contradiction, he could give answers to problems to an arbitrary degree of accuracy, while specifying the limits within which the answer lay. Using this method, he was able to calculate the value of π to within less than a percent, and the square root of three to within 0.00002 percent. He introduced this result without offering any explanation of the method used to obtain it.


Up Next: This next scientist wants you to wash your hands. Seriously. Do it now.

[goflyblind]

14


Louis Pasteur

91 points - 5 lists - Highest Position: 4 (Mrs. Dick Courier)

Short Biography

Louis Pasteur was a french chemist and microbiologist. Louis Pasteur was an average student in his early years, but he was gifted in drawing and painting. His pastels and portraits of his parents and friends, made when he was 15, were later kept in the museum of the Pasteur Institute in Paris. He obtained both a bachelor of arts degree and a bachelor of science degree. After serving briefly as professor of physics at Dijon Lycée, he became professor of chemistry at the University of Strasbourg, where he met and courted Marie Laurent. Together they had five children, only two of whom survived to adulthood; the other three died of typhoid. These personal tragedies inspired Pasteur to try to find cures for diseases such as typhoid.


Major Discovery

In Pasteur's early work as a chemist, he resolved a problem concerning the nature of tartaric acid. He was the first to demonstrate the chirality (that there are two possible orientations) of the molecule, by showing that light passed through a solution containing the molecule rotates depending on the chriality. Pasteur is most well-known for promoting vaccination as a valid form of preventing disease, coining the term "vaccine" in the first place. He created a vaccine for anthrax in cattle, cholera in chickens, and rabies in humans. Pasteur was devoted to his research, with Axel Munthe writing of the rabies vaccine research: "Pasteur himself was absolutely fearless. Anxious to secure a sample of saliva straight from the jaws of a rabid dog, I once saw him with the glass tube held between his lips draw a few drops of the deadly saliva from the mouth of a rabid bull-dog, held on the table by two assistants, their hands protected by leather gloves." Pasteur demonstrated fermentation is caused by the growth of micro-organisms, and the emergent growth of bacteria in nutrient broths is not due to spontaneous generation, but rather to biogenesis. Because of his study in germs, Pasteur encouraged doctors to sanitize their hands and equipment before surgery. Prior to this, few doctors or their assistants practiced these procedures.


Up Next: The next entry is part of a team, and he does some sort of super-science.

[goflyblind]

13


Thaddeus Venture

95 points - 6 lists - Highest Position: 1 (Pak-Man)

Portrayed By: James Urbaniak (animated series)

Short Biography

Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture is a fictional character in the animated series Venture Brothers. He is the father of the Venture twins. A pill popper, he constantly lives in the shadow of his famous father Dr. Jonas Venture, from whom he inherited Venture Industries. There is some question as to his actual degree of ability in the nebulously defined field of super-science. In fact, in "The Incredible Mr. Brisby", amusement park tycoon Roy Brisby accuses Dr. Venture of not having a doctorate at all. While Dr. Venture desperately wishes to emerge from his father's shadow, ultimately his knack for cutting corners proves his undoing, with his shoddy attempts at genuine technological innovation typically resulting in utter debacle (serving as the premise for several episodes). Dr. Venture is shown to have attended college with Brock, Pete White, Baron Underbheit and The Monarch, but he never graduated, apparently receiving "honorary degrees" from several Tijuana community colleges. Dr. Venture seems to dislike his sons; it seems ambiguous whether he actually cares for them at all. However, in Season 4 it is revealed that Dr. Venture sees a lot of himself in Dean and in fact, loves his son. His sons have died on multiple occasions and he keeps cloning them and has not tried to cash in on the process. His childhood time with the original team Venture has had an undeniably traumatizing effect on him, and he still wakes up at night with nightmares of his worst adventures. He takes pills to manage his erratic psyche, hallucinations and stress.


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/uu4QJagx0hI" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/uu4QJagx0hI</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mr2jz3q_P-A" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/Mr2jz3q_P-A</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/cArysRFkF-c" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/cArysRFkF-c</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/mn88hl1Iz64" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/mn88hl1Iz64</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ykEGtwJuZIs" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/ykEGtwJuZIs</a>


Up Next: Deep hurting!

[goflyblind]

12


Clayton Forrester

99 points - 7 lists - Highest Position: 2 (Darth Geek)

Portrayed By: Trace Beaulieu

Short Biography

Clayton Deborah Susan Forrester is a fictional character in the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000. He is portrayed as a typical "mad scientist". Growing up, he was part of the evil version of Cub Scouts, Evilos. Forrester's high school career was typified by a series of humiliations, presumably contributing to his rather deranged personality. Frequently teased by classmates, he received a "shameful expulsion" from the Chess Club, suffered a "shameful shower incident" during his sophomore year, got rejected by the Swing Choir, was frequently victimized by book-dumpings after typing class, was forced to do power sit-ups in gym, and received "the revulsion, scorn, and rejection of all the pretty girls." At some point, he was struck by lightning, resulting in the white streak in his hair and mustache. While earning his doctorate, Forrester took some undergraduate courses in Super-Villainry, and at some point he joined the Fraternal Order of Mad Science. He was a frequent attendee of the Mad Scientist Convention, although he lost the convention's invention contest each year (on one occasion his entry, "the More Painful Mouse Trap," was met only with laughter). In response to his rejections, he has blown up the convention center twice and once used incendiaries to not "actually make the building blow up, it just made it burn...really quickly." After completing his doctorate, he obtained work at the prestigious Gizmonic Institute. At GI, he conducted experiments in sensory deprivation on an ordinary Joe(l). However, Joel escaped, and so Dr. F experimented on GI's handyman, Mike.


Major Discovery

While working at Gizmonic Institute, Forrester and his assistant sent Joel (and later Mike) cheesy movies which he was forced to watch, in order to find a movie that would drive people mad and allow him to take over the world. In response, Joel built several robot friends to keep him company, and keep himself from being driven mad. During Joel's time on MST3K, Forrester participated in Invention Exchanges with Joel and the 'bots. Some of Dr. F's more interesting inventions include:
 - the Limb Lengthener
 - Deep 13 Sweet toothpaste, which creates cavities
 - Johnny Longtorso, an action figure whose body parts are each sold separately
 - Unhappy Meals, fast food meals that contain unfortunate surprises.
 - the Re-Comfy Bike
 - Beanbag pants, perfect for lounging at a discussion salon
 - the Self-Image Printers that reveal a person's true persona


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/R88T3ZHbvDM" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/R88T3ZHbvDM</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/zQb7wIyQwAs" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/zQb7wIyQwAs</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZrkhSc28ql8" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/ZrkhSc28ql8</a>


Up Next: The next entry is probably the second-biggest name in twentieth century physics.

[goflyblind]

11


Stephen Hawking

107 points - 6 lists - Highest Position: 1 (Johnny Unusual)

Short Biography

Stephen Hawking is a British theoretical physicist, mathematician, and author, who works mainly in mathematical relativity. He is confined to a wheelchair as a result of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which began when he was a graduate student at Cambridge, though he continues to work as a physicist to this day nearly forty years after diagnosis. Hawking has named his secondary school mathematics teacher Dikran Tahta as an inspiration, and originally wanted to study the subject at university. However, Hawking's father wanted him to apply to University College, Oxford, which his father had attended. As University College did not have a mathematics fellow at that time, they did not accept applications from students who wished to study that discipline. Therefore, Hawking applied to study natural sciences with an emphasis in physics. While at Oxford, he coxed a rowing team, which helped ease his immense boredom at the university. His physics tutor, Robert Berman, later said "It was only necessary for him to know that something could be done, and he could do it without looking to see how other people did it. ... his mind was completely different from all of his contemporaries". He has appeared as himself on, Star Trek: The NExt Generation, The Big Bang Theory, The Simpsons, and Futurama.


Major Discovery

Hawking's most significant contribution to physics is through the Singularity theorems he developed along with Roger Penrose and G. F. R. Ellis. These describe, in highly mathematical terms, conditions necessary for black holes and the start or end of the Universe. By combining quantum field theory with general relativity in a very specific way (this isn't generally possible, which causes no end of problems in theoretical physics), and found that black holes emit radiation, eventually named Hawking radiation. He is most well-known to the general public as an author, where his writings popularize the ideas of general relativity through the publication of A Brief History of Time (the best-selling science book of all time), Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays, and The Universe in a Nutshell.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/OmzwuYj5w1U" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/OmzwuYj5w1U</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Nda7w487yU0" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/Nda7w487yU0</a>


Up Next (Tomorrow): Watch out, we've got a real badass (scientist) up next.