Text 15 Outstanding scientists of the world
The world knows the names of many great scientists: mathematicians, physicists, chemists, biologists, linguists, historians etc. A lot of discoveries have been made by them in different fields of science and engineering. The role of science when it serves the interests of man and society is very important. It's a great productive force which helps to develop the economy and solve social problems increasing in this way the well-being of people.
Among the names of great scientists who contributed much to different fields of science and engineering one should mention Isaac Newton, the founder of modern mathematics, physics, spectroscopy, the discoverer of the law of motion and the universal law of gravitation; Dmitri Mendeleyev, the discoverer of the Periodic System of Elements; Mikhail Lomonosov, the great Russian scientist; Alfred Nobel, the great Swedish inventor and industrialist; Igor Kurchatov, Pierre and Marie Curie, the physicists; Yuri Gagarin, the cosmonaut; I. Prigozhin, the chemist; A. Kuprevich, Nobel laureate, biologist and others.
Vocabulary
science, n наука
carry out, v проводитьисследования
scientific, a научный
work out, v разрабатывать
scientist, n ученый
launch, v запускать
engineering, n техника
inventor, n изобретатель
discovery, n открытие
spaceship, n космический корабль
merit, n заслуга
commemoration, n- ознаменование
flight, n полет
pilot, v пилотировать
space, n космическое пространство
go up, v взлетать
due to, adv благодаря
research, n исследование, изучение
conquer, v покорять
genius, n гений
exploration, n исследование, освоение
orbit, n орбита
star, n звезда
artificial, a искусственный
come true сбываться
satellite, n спутник
Exercises:
I. Answer the questions.
1. Do you know any outstanding scientists of the world?
2. Which of them made great discoveries?
3. Who invented the electric candle?
4. Who discovered the Periodic Law of elements?
5. Who is the man standing behind the rocket industry?
6. Who is the first Russian (American, Kazakh) cosmonaut?
7. What famous inventors do you know?
8. What distinguished writers lived in the 20th century?
9. Are there any world famous composers of the 20th century?
10. Are there any outstanding politicians and public figures in our country?
11. What people are considered to be outstanding?
12. What qualities must they possess?
13. Is it enough to be talented to be called outstanding?
I. Make up sentences using italicized words and word combinations.
Lomonosov made a number of discoveries in natural sciences.
He was the first to compile a Russian grammar.
The most famous inventors were Polzunov and Kulibin.
Tsiolkovsky worked out the theory of cosmic flights.
Newton carried out many experiments with prism.
III. Read and say what are these scientists famous for.
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton, one of the greatest men in the history of science, was born in a little village in England in 1642. When Isaac was nineteen he became a student of Cambridge University. He began to study physics, astronomy and mathematics.
Newton's contribution to these sciences is so great that he may be considered the founder of modern mathematics, physics and spectroscopy. Newton discovered the law of motion and the universal law of gravitation. He studied the nature of light and colour and came to the conclusion that white light is composed of many different colours known to us as the spectrum. Such a phenomenon was quite unknown before Newton's work.
So long as humanity lives, Isaac Newton, the greatest of men of science, will never be forgotten.
Dmitri Mendeleyev
In 1869 the great Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleyev announced the discovery of the Periodic Law of elements. So science received the key to the secrets of matter. All the greatest discoveries which have been made since then in the fields of chemistry and physics have been based on this law.
The elements in Mendeleyev's Periodic Table follow one another in the order of their atomic weights. They are arranged in periods and groups.
Mendeleyev's discovery made it possible for the scientists to find 38 new chemical elements to fill the empty spaces left in the Periodic Table. At the same time they tried to find elements heavier than the last element in the Periodic Table. In 1955 the American scientist Dr. Glenn Seabord obtained element No 101 and named it Mendele-vium in honour of the creator of the Periodic Law.
V. Read and say how the names of the inventers are shown in the names of their inventions.
Charles Mackintosh (1766—1843), a Manchester textile chemist developed a rubber solution (резиновый раствор) for covering fabric which led to the production of waterproof raincoats, or mackintoshes.
Samuel Finley Morse (1791—1872), an American portrait painter who invented the telephonic short sound (.) and long sound (-) alphabet known as Morse code.
Adolphe Sax (1814—1894), a Belgian musician who invented an instrument called the saxaphone after his name Sax. It was only one of the whole family of new instruments, which were also called the saxophones.
Hans Wilhelm Geiger (1882—1945) a German physicist. In 1906—1909 he designed a counter for detecting radioactivity. This was the beginning of modern geigers or geiger counters.
Rudolf Diesel (1858—1913), a German engineer who invented the diesel engine in 1897 and so began a transport revolution in cars, lorries and trains.
VI. Read the text about the prominent people of nowdays and say how they combine the feachers of a scientist and a stateman.
Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King
Two twentieth-century leaders who have continued to influence non-violent social protest movements internationally are Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Of different races and cultures, born on opposite sides of the world, in nations vastly different in wealth and technology, these two men in their later years shared the philosophy of non-violent, but direct action and expended their lives in pursuit of peaceful solutions to social inequities. An examination of their lives, consequently, reveals both similarities and differences in their family backgrounds, ideology, and plans for social action.
The family backgrounds of the two men show obvious parallels and also striking differences. Gandhi was a Hindu of the Baniyu (Trading) caste; his father, nevertheless, was chief minister of the small state of Kathiawad. At the age of 19, Gandhi broke with the tradition of his family and went to study law in England, where he had his first contact with Western culture. Although he read and studied the Bible with interest, he became more deeply convinced of the logicality and profundity of the Hindu religion.
King was a Black American born into a family of Christian ministers. His father was the paster of a church which his father-in-law had founded many years before. Unlike Gandhi, King decided to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and study for the ministry. It was only after studying the philosophic works of Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Marx, Neitzsche, and finally Gandhi that he began to formulate his own philosophy. Early environment, family tradition, and study, at some points similar but at most points different, shaped the characters of Gandhi and King and formed their expectations for their societies and their people.
VII. Translate the text using the dictionary.