Science Milestones - Eva Varga

One of the seven wonders of the modern world, the Golden Gate Bridge was the life mission of an engineer who had never designed or overseen the building of a suspension bridge. At the time of its construction the Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world, built hundreds of feet above the dangerously churning waters of the entrance to San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate.

Joseph Strauss, a bridge builder from Chicago, had been visiting San Francisco for several years to supervise work on a small drawbridge, one of four hundred he had built around the world. But Strauss’s ambitions far surpassed any work his firm had ever attempted.

Bridges have long been an interest to us a family and we enjoy spending the weekend in the big city of San Francisco whenever possible. We watched the new Bay Bridge as it was constructed but the red hue of the Golden Gate Bridge has always captivated us.

Biography

strauss Joseph Baermann Strauss was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on the 9th of January 1870. He loved poetry and hoped to pursue a career in the arts like his mother, a pianist, and his father, a painter and writer. Though he never became a fine artist, he would help create one of the most famous bridges in the world.

Following his college graduation, Strauss worked as a draftsman for the New Jersey Steel and Iron Company, and the Lassig Bridge and Iron Works Company in Chicago. Seven years later, he was named principal assistant engineer in the firm of Ralph Modjeski, a Chicago engineer. While working for Modjeski, Strauss developed his trademark “bascule” drawbridge design. Strauss’ bascule was a utilitarian structure, practical but unlovely.

Strauss eventually left Modjeski’s company, forming the Strauss Bascule Bridge Company in 1904. A prolific engineer, he constructed some 400 drawbridges across the U.S. Yet he dreamed of building “the biggest thing of its kind that a man could build.”

In 1919, San Francisco’s city engineer, Michael O’Shaughnessy, approached Strauss about bridging the Golden Gate, the narrow, turbulent passage where San Francisco Bay meets the Pacific Ocean. Strauss campaigned tirelessly over the next decade to build the bridge. He faced enormous opposition from the “Old Guard” — environmentalists, ferry operators, city administrators, and even the engineering community. Yet in November 1930, a year into the Great Depression, voters at last supported a bond issue for Strauss’ bridge. The ambitious project finally had its green light.

Strauss alienated many people in his quest to build the structure, his first suspension bridge. Obsessed with claiming credit as the span’s creator, he minimized the contributions of Charles Ellis and Leon Moissieff, the two visionaries who actually worked out the significant engineering challenges of building the bridge.

On May 27, 1937, the bridge opened to the public. Returning to his other great love, poetry, Strauss composed verse for the occasion, exulting, “At last, the mighty task is done.” It would be the last mighty task of his life. Exhausted, Strauss moved to Arizona to recover. Within a year, he would die of a stroke.

Bring it Home

Read about some of the opposition to the bridge. Then prepare a poster expressing either support for, or opposition to, the Golden Gate Bridge project. Your poster should reflect one of the arguments made for or against the bridge at the time it was being debated. Illustrate your poster with a drawing of the benefit or harm the bridge would bring to your community.
During his campaign, Strauss had bribes distributed to members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to secure their support for the project. Imagine that you are a young newspaper editor in San Francisco at the time and you have just learned about these bribes. How could you respond in a way that would be in the city’s long-term interest? Write an editorial condemning the bribes or praise the project as necessary regardless of the maneuvers that might be necessary to make it happen.
Read about Irving Morrow, about the man who designed the Golden Gate Bridge’s distinctive Art Deco features. Find a photo of another building or other object designed in the Art Deco style and explain what you like about the style. Alternatively, choose another bridge or building structure, find out what style of architecture it represents, and explain why you like it.
Coordinate a toothpick bridge building competition amongst your friends.
People love suspension bridges for many reasons: their beauty, their utility, their mathematical elegance, their long spans, or even for the regional bragging rights they confer. Research other suspension bridges around the world and create a PowerPoint or a webpage to share with others what you learned.
Learn how the Golden Gate Bridge was financed. What is a bond? Why do governments issue bonds? Why do voters have to vote to approve a bond issue? What is “collateral” and what did these six counties use as collateral for the bonds?
Visit the Golden Gate Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge Pavilion yourself and learn more about the construction of this Strauss’ first suspension bridge.
While in San San Francisco, enjoy the Golden Gate Treasure Hunt in honor of the 75th Anniversary.

jhfabre Jean-Henri Fabre is best known for his popularization of insect natural history. Although a reclusive amateur, with no scientific training, he was an acute observer of insect behavior. He combined his observations (most made in his own backyard) with an easy to read writing style that made his books popular.

The ten volumes of Souvenirs Entomologiques attracted only mild attention when they were first published. Fabre was 84 when the last volume appeared, and he was “discovered” soon afterwards. He was elected to numerous scientific societies, provided a government pension, and even the President of France came to visit him.

Biography

Fabre Jean Henri Casimir Fabre was a French entomologist born at Saint-Léons in Aveyron, France on December 22, 1823.

He earned teaching certificate at the young age of 19 and began teaching in Carpentras. He was a popular teacher, however, he is probably best known for his study of insects, and is considered by many to be the father of modern entomology.

Much of his enduring popularity is due to his marvelous teaching ability and his manner of writing about the lives of insects in biographical form. He died on October 11, 1915.

One of his most notable discoveries was in regards to insect pheromones. Pheromones are chemicals released from the body of animals and insects that are used to attract mates or relay danger.

L’Harmas, Fabre’s house at Sérignan in the Vaucluse northeast of Orange, was well screened by trees. In a series of key experiments, initially studying the Great Peacock Moth, Fabre found that a female moth could attract males over large distances, even on stormy nights.

“It is smell, therefore, that guides the Moths, that gives them information at a distance“.

He deduced that the male antennae had something to so with it, noted that surrounding the female with trays of molecules like naphthalene or lavender oil did not deflect the males from their aim, and observed that males were attracted to an empty cage where the female had spent the previous evening.

Bring it Home

Visit the Parc de loisirs Micropolis – a tourist attraction all about entomology; there is also a museum on Fabre’s life at Saint-Léons
Read Fabre’s Book of Insects
Take part in a National Moth Week event
Begin your own insect collection
Take a look at my Introductory Entomology Unit Study
Learn how scientists are using insect pheromones to protect crops from pests
Design an inquiry activity of your own. For example, What essential oils are different species of insects most attracted to? or Can pheromones be used to repel ants?
Conduct an Insect Survey – Collect data to calculate the diversity of insects; includes a free notebooking printable
Enoy the activity, How do ants find food?
Test the hypothesis that termites determine the direction of their nest from the degrees of the angles found in their pheromone trails.

Science Milestones

Visit my Science Milestones page to learn more about scientists whose discoveries and advancements have made a significant difference in our lives or who have advanced our understanding of the world around us.

During the 19th century scientists knew little about what went on inside an atom. However, by the end of the century there were startling new ideas about the structure of the atom resulting from the discoveries of X-rays, radioactivity, and the electron. Marie Curie was amongst the leaders whose discoveries of radioactivity led to a new understanding of atomic structure.

mariecurie

In 1896 Henri Becquerel was using naturally fluorescent minerals to study the properties of x-rays, which had been discovered the previous year by Wilhelm Roentgen. Becquerel exposed potassium uranyl sulfate to sunlight and then placed it on photographic plates wrapped in black paper, believing that the uranium absorbed the sun’s energy and then emitted it as x-rays.

Believing his experiment had failed due to the inclement weather in Paris, he decided to develop his photographic plates anyway. To his surprise, the images were strong and clear, proving that the uranium emitted radiation without an external source of energy such as the sun. Becquerel had discovered radioactivity.

“I am amongst those who think science has great beauty.”

The term radioactivity was actually coined by Marie Curie, who together with her husband Pierre, began investigating the phenomenon recently discovered by Becquerel. The Curies extracted uranium from ore and to their surprise, found that the leftover ore showed more activity than the pure uranium. They concluded that the ore contained other radioactive elements. This led to the discoveries of the elements polonium and radium. It took four more years of processing tons of ore to isolate enough of each element to determine their chemical properties.

Biography

MarieCurie

Maria Sklodowska was born in Warsaw on November 7, 1867, the daughter of a school teacher. As a young girl, Manya (as she was affectionately called) received a general education in local schools and some scientific training from her father. She was a brilliant student and dreamed of studying at the Sorbonne in Paris but it took eight years of saving before she could afford to go. Despite very poor living conditions and a lack of French she graduated in physics in 1893 and mathematics in 1894.

“All my life through, the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child.”

She met Pierre Curie, Professor in the School of Physics in 1894 and in the following year they were married. Her early researches, together with her husband, were often performed under poor laboratory conditions. The discovery of radioactivity by Henri Becquerel in 1896 inspired the Curies in their research which led to the isolation of polonium, named after the country of Marie’s birth.

Pierre was tragically killed in 1906, leaving Marie with two daughters; Irène aged 9 and Eve aged 2. Determined to continue their work, Marie became the first ever woman professor at the Sorbonne and as well as teaching, she discovered how to isolate radium in metallic form. In 1911 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the discovery of the elements radium and polonium.

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.”

During World War I, she established a front-line X-ray service in the battlefields of Belgium and France, tirelessly fundraising, training staff, and driving the X-ray vans. After the war, Marie continued her research and to raise funds for a hospital and laboratory devoted to radiology. She eventually died in 1934 from the cumulative effects of radiation exposure.
marie_curie

My daughter is pictured here giving a living history performance as Madame Curie.

Bring it Home

Research Marie Curie and her life’s work and create a living history presentation to present to others.
Watch the BrainPop video on Marie Curie to learn about her early days, from her humble beginnings in Poland, to her professorship at the Sorbonne.
Visit the EPA‘s Radiation Protection Pages to learn about radiation and radiation protection.
Write a brief story that describes what Marie Curie might have felt when she realized that she had discovered a new element.

Science Milestones

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For more than 100 years, the Nobel Prizes have recognized the finest in human achievements, from literature and science to the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses,” according to the last will and testament of founder Alfred Nobel.

nobel

As we traveled through Scandinavia in 2011, we came upon numerous buildings and monuments that began to unfold the story of the Nobel Prize (like the Oslo City Hall, pictured above, where the Nobel Prize Ceremony takes place). We also came to discover that the life of Alfred Nobel is a very interesting story.

Biography

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Stockholm on 21 October 1833. His father, an inventor and engineer who struggled financially for much of his life, was forced to declare bankruptcy. Immanuel left Sweden and began working in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he impressed the czar with one of his inventions, submerged explosive mines that could thwart a naval invasion. In 1842, when his father was financially stable, Alfred moved with his family to St. Petersburg.

“Success is not a place at which one arrives but rather the spirit with which one undertakes and continues the journey.”

Alfred did not attend school but received private tutoring from good teachers. He was quick to master four foreign languages, and showed great ability in the natural sciences, especially chemistry.

Most researchers at the time considered nitroglycerine (discovered by Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero in 1847) too unsafe to have any practical use. The Nobel family, however, investigated its potential for commercial and industrial uses. Not surprising, their inquiries had tragic results.

“A recluse without books and ink is already in life a dead man.”

Seeking a safe way to use the oily liquid, in 1867 Alfred Nobel found that by mixing nitroglycerin with diatomaceous earth, the resulting compound was a stable paste that could be shaped into short sticks that mining companies might use to blast through rock. Nobel patented this invention as “dynamite,” from the Greek word dunamis, or “power.”

The invention of dynamite revolutionized the mining, construction and demolition industries. Railroad companies could now safety blast through mountains, opening up vast stretches of the Earth’s surface to exploration and commerce. As a result, Nobel, who eventually garnered 355 patents on his many inventions, became incredibly wealthy.

When Alfred’s brother Ludvig died in 1888, some journalistic error printed Alfred’s obituary instead. The obituary was widely published and he quickly learned how others perceived him. One French newspaper wrote “Le marchand de la mort est mort,” or “the merchant of death is dead.” The obituary went on to describe Nobel as a man “who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before.”

“If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day.”

Nobel was reportedly stunned by what he read, and as a result became determined to do something to improve his legacy. One year before he died in 1896, Nobel signed his last will and testament, which set aside the majority of his vast estate to establish the five Nobel Prizes, including one awarded for the pursuit of peace.

Not everybody was pleased with this. His will was opposed by his relatives and questioned by authorities in various countries. It took four years for his executors to convince all parties to follow Alfred’s wishes. In 1901, the first Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine and Literature were first awarded in Stockholm, Sweden and the Peace Prize in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway.

Bring it Home

Learn more about one of the recipients of the Nobel Prize. Women have been awarded the Nobel Prize 44 times. Find out about the work by these famous scientists:
Learn about the production Microscopes including microscope simulations, photo galleries, & readings
Find out what you can use conductive polymers for in the future by furnishing a house with the game Conductive Polymers
Learn about human blood types and blood transfusions with The Blood Typing Game
Read a book by one of the Nobel Peace Prize winners :
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- I, Rigoberta Menchú by Rigoberta Menchú

On a related note, the Nobel Peace Prize medallion was designed by Norwegian artist Gustav Vigeland. In my post Gustav Vigeland: Artist & Visionary, I share his life story and a complimentary art lesson.

Science Milestones

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From my experience in the classroom, I would dare to state that most students really enjoy using a microscope. They love getting to see this microscopic world up close and to marvel at the science of what is usually invisible to our “naked” eye.

My daughter has had a fascination with fungi ever since I can remember. On a nature walk a few years ago, she discovered slime molds and she immediately knew what the focus of her science fair project would be.

vanLeeuwenhoek

Slime molds are a broad term describing some organisms that use spores to reproduce. Though slime molds are no longer considered part of the fungi kingdom, her discovery opened the doors to a new realm of science.

The kids began to ponder what organisms might be present in the small pools of stagnate water along the trail we frequented on our evening walks. They even began to ask questions about the different types of microscopes.

It was clearly time to introduce them to the father of microbiology, Antonj van Leeuwenhoek.

Biography

Antonj Philips van Leeuwenhoek (October 24, 1632 – August 26, 1723) was a Dutch tradesman and scientist. He is commonly known as “the Father of Microbiology“, and considered to be the first microbiologist. He was born Thonis Philipszoon in Delft, Holland on October 24, 1632, to Philips Thoniszoon, a basket maker, and Grietge Jacobs (Margrietke Jacobsdochter van den Berch), a brewer’s daughter.

As an adult, he preferred to sign himself “Antonj van Leeuwenhoek” (pronounced “AHN-toe-nee fahn LAY-oo-ven-hook”), that is, “Anthony from the Lion’s Corner”, after the location of his father’s corner house near the Leeuwenpoort, the “Lion’s Port” in Delft’s East End. The use of ‘van’ was an affectation of social standing that he assumed for its prestige.

His only known formal education was at an undistinguished elementary school in the village of Warmond. He never attended a university, though an uncle is believed to have taught him some mathematics and physics. In 1648, at age 16, he began a five-year apprenticeship with a Scottish linen draper in Amsterdam, returning to Delft in 1654 to open his own woolens shop.

In 1653, van Leeuwenhoek encountered his first simple microscope, a magnifying glass used by textile merchants to count threads and to check quality. Such lenses were capable of magnifying to a power of about three diameters. He also read Robert Hooke’s newly published Micrographia, which may have piqued his enduring interest in the world of the tiny.

He began to make his own hand-held microscopes; it is believed that he constructed at least several hundred but no two accounts of van Leeuwenhoek’s work agree on the number or quality. He left about 250 finished instruments, most of which included a mounted specimen, and also about 200 mounted lenses.

The number and variety of van Leeuwenhoek’s original scientific discoveries is astonishing. I share only a few of his most notable “firsts”:

1674 – In a single vial of pond scum, he discovered and described the beautiful alga Spirogyra
1683 – He observed bacteria in feces, including a motile spirochete
1674 – He found that yeast consists of individual plant-like organisms
Between 1680 and 1701 he carried out many micro-dissections, mainly on insects, making an enormous number of discoveries:
- He wrote extensive accounts of the mouthparts and stings of bees
- He was the first to realize that “fleas have fleas
- He concluded that each of the hundreds of facets of a fly’s compound eye is in fact a separate eye with its own lens.

He often referred with reverence to the wonders God designed in making creatures great and small. He believed that his amazing discoveries were merely further proof of the great wonder of God’s creation.

Antonj van Leeuwenhoek enjoys a rare distinction among revolutionary discoverers, in that he was widely recognized and honored for his genius in his own time. In 1716, when he was in his 84th year, the University of Louvain officially honored him by striking a gold medal with his likeness on the obverse and a view of the city of Delft on the reverse, in recognition of his work. A distinguished delegation from the university ceremoniously presented this to him in a bag made of woven gold bullion, along with a diploma. This incident corresponds roughly with the modern conferring of an honorary degree.

He died on 30th August, 1723, aged almost 91.

Bring it Home

Read Leeuwenhoek’s Micrographia online at Project Gutenberg.
Create a visual timeline of van Leeuwenhoek’s scientific discoveries.
Collect a jar of pond scum and make observations with a microscope of your own. Keep a journal of your observations.
Make a van Leeuwenhoek microscope replica
Try your hand at microbiology with one of these Microbiology Experiments or Microbes in Action

Science Milestones

I can vividly recall watching the tragedies of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster unfold on the television. Though I wasn’t particularly interested in astronomy or space exploration, Christa McAuliffe had captured the hearts and minds of school children across the country.

Today marks Christa’s 66th birthday and in her honor, I wanted to celebrate the accomplishments of women in space. I’ve chosen to focus particularly on McAuliffe and her colleague, Barbara Morgan for these women touched my life personally.

Women in Space

Hundreds of people have flown in space, yet the number of women that have made the journey is still relatively small. Although the first woman flew into space in 1963, it would not be until almost 20 years later that another flew.
The first woman in space was a Soviet cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova launched with the Vostok 6 mission on June 16, 1963. The United States did not have a woman in space until 1983, when astronaut Sally Ride launched with the seventh Space Shuttle mission.

In the 1980s, female astronauts/cosmonauts went on to become commonplace. Since then, more than 40 American women have entered space. Most served on the various Space Shuttle flights from 1983 to 2010. Six American women have also served on Soyuz flights.

55 different women total including cosmonauts, astronauts, payload specialists, and foreign nationals have flown in space.

6 different female cosmonauts have flown on the Soviet/Russian program
1 female astronaut or taikonaut has flown in the Chinese program
48 different women have flown with NASA. 43 of these were Americans

As of July 2014, while 24 men have journeyed to the moon, no woman has travelled beyond low earth orbit.

Biographies

McAuliffeMorgan Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe was born on September 2, 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts to Edward Christopher Corrigan and Grace Mary Corrigan. She was the eldest of five children and became a teacher in 1970.

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan announced the Teacher in Space Project and McAuliffe learned about NASA’s efforts to find the first civilian, a gifted teacher who could communicate with students to fly into space. McAuliffe became one of more than 11,000 applicants. On July 1, 1985, she was announced as one of the 10 finalists, and on July 7 she traveled to Johnson Space Center for a week of thorough medical examinations and briefings about space flight.

As a member of mission STS-51-L, she was planning to conduct experiments and teach two lessons from the Space Shuttle. On January 28, 1986, She was one of the seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Barbara Radding Morgan was born on November 28, 1951 to Dr. and Mrs. Jerry Radding and raised in Fresno, California. After high school, she attended Stanford University, graduating with distinction in 1973 and her teaching credential a year later.

Morgan was selected as the backup candidate for the NASA Teacher in Space project on July 19, 1985. From September 1985 to January 1986, Morgan trained with Christa McAuliffe and the Space Shuttle Challenger crew at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas.

Following McAuliffe’s death, Morgan assumed the duties of Teacher in Space Designee and resumed her teaching duties at McCall-Donnelly Elementary. Her duties with NASA included public speaking, educational consulting, and curriculum design.

In January 1998, Morgan was selected by NASA as a Mission Specialist and reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1998, making her a full-time astronaut. While training, she continued to present at science conferences across the country and in 2001, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet her at a CESI Luncheon (NSTA Convention 2001) where she was the keynote speaker and I was presented with an award along with Bill Nye.

She flew on STS-118 in August 2007. Three weeks after Morgan’s mission ended, she conducted her first space education assignment at Walt Disney World in Florida, telling those in attendance to “Reach for your dreams … the sky is no limit.”

Morgan’s words were etched into a plaque on a wall of Mission: Space. The “Wall of Honor” contains quotes from notable people, such as Neil Armstrong, John F. Kennedy, Charles Lindbergy, Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Galileo, and Christa McAuliffe. Morgan’s plaque is placed beside McAuliffe’s, which says: “Space is for everybody … That’s our new frontier out there.”

Bring it Home

Explore some of the activities and lessons provided by NASA:

Read one of the many wonderful biographies of pioneering women in space:

Women in Space: 23 Stories of First Flights, Scientific Missions, and Gravity-Breaking Adventures by Karen Bush Gibson
Christa McAuliffe: A Space Biography by Laura S. Jeffrey
The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster in American History by Suzanne Lieurance

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