1. SCIENCE FACTS
1. There are 62,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body ± laid end to end they would
circle the earth 2.5 times
2. At over 2000 kilometers long, The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on
Earth
3. The risk of being struck by a falling meteorite for a human is one occurrence every 9,300
years
4. A thimbleful of a neutron star would weight over 100 million tons
5. A typical hurricane produces the energy equivalent of 8,000 one megaton bombs
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2. FAMOUS SCIENTISTS
1. Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833-1896)
Chemist, industrial, creator of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prizes,
this Swedish inventor was born in Stockholm, in October 21st 1833, and
died in San Remo, Italy, in December 10th 1896.
In 1842, his family moved to St. Petersburg, where his father produced
submarine mines and torpedoes for the Russian army. Nobel made several
work journeys through Europe and, from 1850 to 1852, visited the United
States. When Immanuel Nobel, his father, returned to Sweden, in 1859, Alfred began to work
close to his research explosive laboratory in Stockholm. Made several experiences that led to the
production of nitroglycerine. In September 3rd 1864, an explosion destroyed the factory, killing
his younger brother.
The explosions continued, leading Nobel to try finding a less dangerous substance that could be
easier to manipulate and transport. In 1863, he invented the detonator. In 1864, in Stockholm,
founded the Nitroglycerine Company, the first of that kind all over the world, and in 1865
established the factory in Krummel, Germany. He invented dynamite in 1866.
To these explosive inventions one can add the fumeless gunpowder (known as lallistite, 1888). In
other industry fields the production the synthetic rubber, leather and the artificial silk should be
referred. Nobel registered a total of 355 patents.
After his death, he left his personal fortune to the fund created to award the Nobel Prizes.
2. Niels Bohr (1885-1962)
Danish phys icist, Bohr was born in Copenhagen, in 1885, and died
also in this city in 1962. Bohr graduated in his birth city, in 1911, and
worked with J. J. Thomson and E. Rutherford in England. In 1913, by
applying the atomic model of Rutherford, was able to understand some
of the spectral series of hydrogen and the structure of the periodic
system of elements. He announced the correspondence principle and, in
1928, the complementary principle. Bohr studied the liquid drop
nuclear model, and before the discovery ofplutonium, foresighted its
fission property, similar to that of U-235. Bohr received the Nobel Prize of Physics in 1922.
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3. 3. Fritz Haber (1868-1934)
German chemist, winner of the Nobel Prize of
Chemistry in 1918, for the synthesis of ammonia
from its elements. Fritz Haber was born in Bresla,
in December 9th 1868, and died in Basle,
Switzerland, in January 29th, 1934.Haber studied
in Berlin, Heidelberg, Charlottenburg and
Karlsruhe. Taught Chemistry in the High
Technique School of Karlsruhe until 1911, when
he went to Berlin, as professor of Chemical-Physics at the University of Berlin and later as
director of the Chemical-Physics Institute Kaiser Wilhelm.
The research work made by Haber (1905-1911) on the equilibrium
between nitrogen, hydrogen and ammonia established the exact temperature and pressure, as well
as the catalyst, that optimized the ammonia formation. Ammonia produced through this method
could be transformed in nitric acid by oxidation, using the Ostwald process. This acid was then
used in producing explosives and fertilizers.
Carl Bosh developed the industrial stages for the Haber process. The perfection of the Haber-
Bosh process encouraged Germany to enter in World War I. During the war, Haber led the
chemical war and headed the first attack with chlorine gas in Ypres (1915). Hitler's regime
ordered his exile due to his Jewish origins.
Haber also worked on the thermodynamics of gaseous reactions, the electrochemistry (especially
the electrolytic reduction of nitrobenzene), the composition of flames and explosions of gas, etc.
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