Alfred Bernhard Nobel
In 1842 Nobel's family moved to St. Petersburg, Russia where he obtained his education. He traveled widely as a young man, becoming fluent in five languages. Nobel was interested in literature and wrote novels, poetry and plays in his spare time. In the 1860s he began experiments with nitroglycerin in his father's factory. He tried many ways to stabilize this highly volatile material. Nobel discovered that a mix of nitroglycerin and a fine porous powder called kieselguhr was most effective. He named this mixture dynamite, and received a patent in 1867.
He set up factories around the world to manufacture dynamite and other explosives. Construction and mining companies, and the militaryordered large quantities of this relatively safe explosive. Sales of dynamite brought Nobel great wealth. His other chemical research provided valuable information on the development of artificial rubber, leather, silk and precious stones.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
was a French naval officer,explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water.known for his extensive underseas investigations.
Cousteau became a capitaine de corvette in the French navy in 1948 and president of the French Oceanographic Campaigns and commander of the ship Calypso in 1950. He became director of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco in 1957.
Cousteau was the founder of the Underseas Research Group at Toulon and of the French Office of Underseas Research at Marseille, Fr. (renamed the Centre of Advanced Marine Studies in 1968). The inventor of the Aqua-Lung diving apparatus and a process for using television underwater, he became head in 1957 of the Conshelf Saturation Dive Program, conducting experiments in which men live and work for extended periods of time at considerable depths along the continental shelves. His many books include Par 18 mètres de fond (1946; “Through 18 Metres of Water”), The Silent World (1953), The Living Sea (1963), Three Adventures: Galápagos, Titicaca, the Blue Holes (1973), Dolphins (1975), and Jacques Cousteau: The Ocean World (1985). He also wrote and produced films concerning the oceans, which attracted immense audiences both in motion-picture theatres and on television.
If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed and if we are not willing to change, we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by the insect.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jacques_yves_cousteau.html(accessed 04.04.09)
Keith Campbell (biologist)
Keith Campbell, English biologist and co-creator of Dolly, the cloned sheep, will speak at Wake Forest University at 7 p.m. Feb. 1 in Brendle Recital Hall. Campbell’s presentation, “What We Can Do and Should We Do It?” will focus on his cloning research and the political and ethical implications of the technology.
In conjunction with the lecture, the film “The Island” will also be shown at 7 p.m. Jan. 30. The film and lecture are part of the “For Whose Humanity?” film and speaker series sponsored by Wake Forest’s Pro Humanitate Center, and Campbell’s visit is part of the university’s “Voices of Our Time” series. Both the film and lecture are free and open to the public.
In 1996, Campbell held the main role in the first cloning of a mammal, a Finn Dorset lamb named Dolly, from adult mammary cells. He is credited with the key role because of his idea to coordinate the stages of the “cell cycle” of the somatic cells and eggs.
Campbell earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the University of London and a doctoral degree from the University of Dundee in Scotland. While working at the Roslin Institute in the early 1990s, he became involved with the cloning efforts lead by Ian Wilmut. In July 1995, Campbell and fellow researcher Bill Ritchie succeeded in producing a pair of lambs, Megan and Morag, from embryonic cells.
In 1998, Campbell and Ritchie created another sheep named Polly from genetically altered skin cells containing a human gene.
" Sometimes the obvious is elusive."
http://www.fundingflorida.com/quotes_to_ponder.htm(accessed 04.04.09)
Hard working boy...- -b
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