MARIE CURIE -- TWICE HONORED NOBEL LAUREATE

MARIE CURIE, born as Maria Sklodowska on November 7, 1867 was a physicist and chemist of Polish upbringing and, subsequently, French citizenship.
She was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity, the first twice-honored Nobel Laureate and still the only one in two different sciences, and the first female professor at the University of Paris.
While an actively loyal French citizen, she never lost her sense of Polish identity. Madame Curie named the first new chemical element that she discovered Polonium for her native country.
From childhood she showed an exceptional memory and work ethic, and was known to neglect food and sleep in order to study.
At age 16, she graduated from a Russian Liceum at the top of her class, winning a gold medal on completion of her secondary education there.
At the University of Paris, she studied mathematics, physics and chemistry. Later, in 1909, she would become that University’s first female professor, when she was named to her late husband’s chair in physics, which he had held for only a year and half before his tragic death.In 1903, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Pierre Curie, Marie Curie, and Henri Becquerel the Nobel Prize in Physics, “in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel.
Curie was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize.
Eight years later, she received the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, “in recognition of her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements of radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds o this remarkable element”.
Sklodowska-Curie was the first person to win or share two Nobel Prizes.
Hear death in 1934 was from aplastic anemia, almost certainly due to exposure to radiation, as the damaging effects of ionizing radiation were not yet known, and much of her work had been carried out in a shed with no safety measures.
She had carried test tubes containing radioactive isotopes in her pockets and stored them in her desk drawer, remarking on the pretty blue-green light the substances gave off in the dark.

HERMANN EMIL FISCHER -- THE NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY -- 1902

HERMANN EMIL FISCHER won the noble prize in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his work on sugar and purine syntheses.
Hermann Emil Fischer was born on October 9, 1852, at Euskirchen, in the Cologne district.
His father was a successful business man.
He passed his final examination in 1869 with great distinction. His father wished him to enter the family lumber business, but Emil wished to study the natural sciences, especially physics and, after an unsuccessful trial of Emil in the business, his father said that Emil was too stupid to be a business man and had better be a student – sent him in 1871 to the University of Bonn to study chemistry.
In 1872, however, Emil, who still wished to study physics, was persuaded by his cousin Otto Fischer, to go with him to the newly established University of Strasbourg, where Professor Rose was working on the Bunsen method of analysis. Here Fischer met Adolf Baeyer, under whose influence he finally decided to devote his life to chemistry.
The work, however, on which Fischer’s fame chiefly rests, was his studies of the purines and the sugars. This work, carried out between 1882 and 1906 showed that various substances, little known at that time, such as adenine, xanthine, in vegetable substance, caffeine and in animal excrete uric acid and guanine, all belonged to one homogeneous family and could be derived from one another.
In 1884, Fischer began his great work on the sugars, which transformed the knowledge of these compounds and welded the new knowledge obtained into a coherent whole
Throughout his life he was well served by his excellent memory, which enabled him, although he was not a naturally good speaker, to memorize manuscripts of lectures that he had written.
Emil Fischer died on July 15, 1919.

JACOBUS H.van ‘t Hoff - THE NOBLE PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY 1901

JACOBUS born in 1852 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, had an inclination of following the scientific career since childhood.
When he was 19, in the year 1871, he obtained his diploma in technology.
In 1878, he was appointed as a professor of chemistry, mineralogy and geology, and he occupied this seat for 18 years.
But he was not happy with this chair, he was overburdened by giving elementary lectures, examining large number of students, and even those who had nothing related to his field in particular. There was little time left for him to carry on his own research work.
Leaving this chair, he accepted the invitation of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, he proceeded to Bonn. At this post he remained till end of his life.
His serious identity however was revealed in 1874, when studies of contributions to the studies of acids and 3 dimensional chemical structural formulas were published.
Jacobus greatly valued the power imagination in scientific research. He believed that the most prominent scientists had this quality at the highest level.
His studies explain the asymmetrical carbon atom and occurrence of numerous isomers.
In the year 1901, he won the first Nobel Prize in chemistry. He had doctorate from several institution, prominently being, Harvard and Yale University.
Jacobus was a great lover of nature, he was fond of botanical tours, and when in Bonn he enjoyed the walks in the mountains nearby alone or in company.
Jacobus died on March 1, 1911 at Berlin.

SULLY PRUDHOMME NOBEL PRIZE WINNER 1901 LITERATURE.

We have a number of noble prize winners, Nobel prize winners have certainly an outstanding excellence in the field in which they worked.
Sully Prudhomme of France borne in the year, 1830 has such an outstanding contribution in French Poetry and Stanzas.
At the age of 2 Sully lost his father, he stayed with uncle after that time.
He earnestly wanted to become an engineer but an eye disease terminated his academic career. Later on he tried to work in Law but since he had no inclination to this field he remained constantly restless.
Inspired by a failed love affair, he remained a life long bachelor.
His experimental poetry writings were very well acclaimed by the fellow members of students’ society and this prompted his first publications in the year 1865 his first publications Stanzas and Poems. He was only 26 at that time.
Along with poems he also wrote some essays on Pascal, he kept writing until 1888.
One shall find his works calm and impersonal , against excessive emotions, and romanticism.
He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in the year 2001.
He died at his villa on September 07, 1907.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN---A DEAF MUSIC COMPOSER

Probably there would not be single man who has anything to do with classical music composition or piano that has not learnt the name of Beethoven. He is the landmark in the history of music. An excellence in music composition is compared with Beethoven as the ruling mark.
Born on December 16, 1770 in Bonn in Germany, Beethoven’s life was full of struggle for the music learning, and his personal life was even fuller of trouble.
Beethoven’s firs teacher was his own father, who himself was a tenor, since then he had some other teachers in Vienna where he traveled to learn more of music.
By 1793, Beethoven started receiving the hard earned good name in the field of music.
He had however a very difficult finance, rather than serving the court or church, he made his earnings by selling his notations, lessons to the students, gifts from the nobles , but the income was really hard to come and Beethoven was never able to live comfortably. His friends supported him though.
Around 1796, Beethoven started losing his hearing. But this did not hamper his music compositions; he can hear the music and compose the music by feeling the vibrations of piano.
By 1814, Beethoven was totally deaf.
His best composition The Ninth Symphony was however composed when he was losing his hearing.
As his hearing was lost, his friend would write to him in notes what they want to say, and Beethoven would write his replies. These conversations are his views about music and compositions.
Beethoven was really man of pride, he would stop playing, if he saw that his audience is not paying attention to him or chatting.
Beethoven is regarded as the greatest master of musical composition.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN -- THE HERO OF THE CIVIL WAR

He failed as a businessman.
He failed as a farmer.
He failed in his first attempt to obtain a political office.
He had so many other failures.
But Abraham Lincoln had one unique quality, the humaneness. This common looking man ( in his own words “ Common looking people are the best in the world, that is reason Lords makes so many of them” ) who had schooling of barely 12 months. ( In his own words “ Still some how I could read , write and cipher…….but that was all “ )
This great gentleman had many ups and down, probably downs only.
Lincoln made extra ordinary efforts to gain the knowledge; he was reading during time available on farms, he would borrow books from the neighbors.
Lincoln was elected as the 16^th president of America on November 6, 1860.
After Lincoln’s election, many southern states fearing republican control in the government seceded from the union. After the fall of Ft. Sumter, Lincoln raised the army and decided to fight to save the union from falling apart.
On January 1, 1863, Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. This was Lincoln’s declaration of freedom of all slaves.
Lincoln successfully pulled out the country from the mess of civil war. He was re-elected 1864.
Lincoln was a great speaker, a great leader; his quotes can still move the people.
But the one below are tops.
“ With malice toward none, with charity to all, with firmness in the right, as God give us to see the right, let’s strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds …….”
And

“ …..and that we highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation under the God shall have a new birth of freedom – and that the government of the people, by the people and for the people , shall not perish from the earth………”

Abraham Lincoln shall be remembered for years and years for his vital role in preserving the Union during Civil War and beginning the process that lead to end of slavery in United States. He shall be remembered for his character, his speeches and his letters, and as a humble man of humble origins who had great determination.
On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln was shot dead, a first president assassinated.