GREAT LIVES

BIRTHDAY OF THE FOUNDER OF HOMEOPATHY, DR SAMUEL HAHNEMANN 

NOBEL LAUREATES

Marh 27 is the birth anniversary of Wilhelm Röntgen 

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was born on #OnThisDay March 27, 1845, at Lennep in the Lower Rhine Province of Germany, as the only child of a merchant in, and manufacturer of, cloth. His mother was Charlotte Constanze Frowein of Amsterdam, a member of an old Lennep family which had settled in Amsterdam.

When he was three years old, his family moved to Apeldoorn in The Netherlands, where he went to the Institute of Martinus Herman van Doorn, a boarding school. He did not show any special aptitude, but showed a love of nature and was fond of roaming in the open country and forests. He was especially apt at making mechanical contrivances, a characteristic which remained with him also in later life. In 1862 he entered a technical school at Utrecht, where he was however unfairly expelled, accused of having produced a caricature of one of the teachers, which was in fact done by someone else.

He then entered the University of Utrecht in 1865 to study physics. Not having attained the credentials required for a regular student, and hearing that he could enter the Polytechnic at Zurich by passing its examination, he passed this and began studies there as a student of mechanical engineering. He attended the lectures given by Clausius and also worked in the laboratory of Kundt. Both Kundt and Clausius exerted great influence on his development. In 1869 he graduated Ph.D. at the University of Zurich, was appointed assistant to Kundt and went with him to Würzburg in the same year, and three years later to Strasbourg.

In 1874 he qualified as Lecturer at Strasbourg University and in 1875 he was appointed Professor in the Academy of Agriculture at Hohenheim in Württemberg. In 1876 he returned to Strasbourg as Professor of Physics, but three years later he accepted the invitation to the Chair of Physics in the University of Giessen.

After having declined invitations to similar positions in the Universities of Jena (1886) and Utrecht (1888), he accepted it from the University of Würzburg (1888), where he succeeded Kohlrausch and found among his colleagues Helmholtz and Lorenz. In 1899 he declined an offer to the Chair of Physics in the University of Leipzig, but in 1900 he accepted it in the University of Munich, by special request of the Bavarian government, as successor of E. Lommel. Here he remained for the rest of his life, although he was offered, but declined, the Presidency of the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt at Berlin and the Chair of Physics of the Berlin Academy.

Röntgen’s first work was published in 1870, dealing with the specific heats of gases, followed a few years later by a paper on the thermal conductivity of crystals. Among other problems he studied were the electrical and other characteristics of quartz; the influence of pressure on the refractive indices of various fluids; the modification of the planes of polarised light by electromagnetic influences; the variations in the functions of the temperature and the compressibility of water and other fluids; the phenomena accompanying the spreading of oil drops on water.

Röntgen’s name, however, is chiefly associated with his discovery of the rays that he called X-rays. 

In 1895 he was studying the phenomena accompanying the passage of an electric current through a gas of extremely low pressure. Previous work in this field had already been carried out by J. Plucker (1801-1868), J. W. Hittorf (1824-1914), C. F. Varley (1828-1883), E. Goldstein (1850-1931), Sir William Crookes (1832-1919), H. Hertz (1857-1894) and Ph. von Lenard (1862-1947), and by the work of these scientists the properties of cathode rays – the name given by Goldstein to the electric current established in highly rarefied gases by the very high tension electricity generated by Ruhmkorff’s induction coil – had become well known. Röntgen’s work on cathode rays led him, however, to the discovery of a new and different kind of rays.

On the evening of November 8, 1895, he found that, if the discharge tube is enclosed in a sealed, thick black carton to exclude all light, and if he worked in a dark room, a paper plate covered on one side with barium platinocyanide placed in the path of the rays became fluorescent even when it was as far as two metres from the discharge tube. During subsequent experiments he found that objects of different thicknesses interposed in the path of the rays showed variable transparency to them when recorded on a photographic plate. When he immobilised for some moments the hand of his wife in the path of the rays over a photographic plate, he observed after development of the plate an image of his wife’s hand which showed the shadows thrown by the bones of her hand and that of a ring she was wearing, surrounded by the penumbra of the flesh, which was more permeable to the rays and therefore threw a fainter shadow. This was the first “röntgenogram” ever taken. In further experiments, Röntgen showed that the new rays are produced by the impact of cathode rays on a material object. Because their nature was then unknown, he gave them the name X-rays. Later, Max von Laue and his pupils showed that they are of the same electromagnetic nature as light, but differ from it only in the higher frequency of their vibration.

Numerous honours were showered upon him. In several cities, streets were named after him, and a complete list of Prizes, Medals, honorary doctorates, honorary and corresponding memberships of learned societies in Germany as well as abroad, and other honours would fill a whole page of this book. In spite of all this, Röntgen retained the characteristic of a strikingly modest and reticent man. Throughout his life he retained his love of nature and outdoor occupations. Many vacations were spent at his summer home at Weilheim, at the foot of the Bavarian Alps, where he entertained his friends and went on many expeditions into the mountains. He was a great mountaineer and more than once got into dangerous situations. Amiable and courteous by nature, he was always understanding the views and difficulties of others. He was always shy of having an assistant, and preferred to work alone. Much of the apparatus he used was built by himself with great ingenuity and experimental skill.

Röntgen married Anna Bertha Ludwig of Zürich, whom he had met in the café run by her father. She was a niece of the poet Otto Ludwig. They married in 1872 in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. They had no children, but in 1887 adopted Josephine Bertha Ludwig, then aged 6, daughter of Mrs. Röntgen’s only brother. Four years after his wife, Röntgen died at Munich February 10, 1923, from carcinoma of the intestine.

Source: Nobel Prize

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GANDHIANA

GREAT SCIENTISTS

GREAT HOMEOPATHS

THE GENIUS OF JOHN VON NEUMANN

The genius of John von Neumann 

v/@PhysInHistory

He could speak eight languages by the age of six, including Ancient Greek and Latin. He could divide eight-digit numbers in his head at the age of six. He was familiar with differential and integral calculus by the age of eight. He entered the University of Budapest at the age of 15 and earned a degree in chemical engineering at the age of 19. He obtained his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Berlin at the age of 22.

John von Neumann was a remarkable mathematician, physicist, and computer scientist who was born in Hungary in 1903. He was a child prodigy who showed extraordinary talents in language, memory, and calculation. He made major contributions to many fields of mathematics, physics, economics, and computer science, such as game theory, quantum mechanics, operator algebras, von Neumann architecture, and cellular automata.

v. Neumann was a genius who amazed his peers and influenced many disciplines. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century.

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RENOWNED HOMEOPATH HONOURED

GREAT HOMEOPATHS

On the anniversary of his death, here's a little on the life and times of one of our early homeopaths - Dr. Clemens Von Boenninghausen

M.D.

(1785-26/01/1864)

Dr. Boenninghausen was born to one of the oldest noble families of Westphalia, Germany. His full name was Clemens Maria Franz Baron Von Boenninghausen. He was Baron by inheritance, a lawyer by profession, and an agriculturist by natural inclination. He held respected and responsible posts in Germany and enjoyed a life of position and influence.

As a Doctor of Law, Dr. Boenninghausen practiced as a lawyer for some time and later became a judge. Because of his interest in horticulture, he was made Director of Botanical Gardens at Munster. Here, he came to be known as the "Sage of Munster." It was in 1827 that he developed purulent tuberculosis.

When he did not find any relief from the best orthodox treatment, and the physicians gave no hope of his recovery, he wrote a letter to his friend, Dr. A. Weihe, expressing his hopelessness for life and bidding him his last goodbye. Dr. A. Weihe was a homoeopath and asked Boenninghausen to try homoeopathic treatment. Fortunately for Boenninghausen and for homoeopathy, Dr. Weihe cured him.

Being greatly impressed with his treatment Boenninghausen took deep interest in studying homoeopathy and devoted his remaining years to the cause of homoeopathy. During this time he maintained regular correspondence with Dr. Hahnemann. Most of his systematic works concerning homoeopathy were published between 1828 and 1846. He was a regular contributor of articles on homoeopathic subjects to the journals.

http://www.wholehealthnow.com/bios/clemens-von-boenninghausen.html

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GANDHIANA

GREAT MATHEMATCIANS

Galileo Galilei was born on 15 February 1564 in Pisa and was educated at the Camaldolese Monastery at Vallombrosa. In 1581 was sent by his father to enrol for a medical degree at the University of Pisa. Galileo never seems to have taken medical studies seriously, attending courses on his real interests which were in mathematics and natural philosophy. He left Pisa in 1585 without completing his medical degree and began teaching mathematics in Florence and later at Siena. During the summer of 1586 he taught at Vallombrosa, and in this year he wrote his first scientific book The little balance (La Balancitta) which described Archimedes' method of finding the specific gravities of substances using a balance. His reputation grew and in 1588 he received a prestigious invitation to lecture on the dimensions and location of hell in Dante's Inferno at the Academy in Florence. In 1589, Galileo was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics at the University of Pisa where he wrote De Motu a series of essays on the theory of motion which he never formally published. The book contains his important idea that one can test theories by conducting experiments and gave the famous example of testing falling bodies using an inclined plane to slow down the rate of descent.

In 1591,Vincenzo Galilei, Galileo's father, died and as the eldest son Galileo had to provide financial support for the rest of the family. Being Professor of Mathematics at Pisa was not well paid, so Galileo lobbied for a more lucrative post. In 1592, Galileo was appointed Professor of Mathematics at the University of Padua (the University of the Republic of Venice) at a salary of three times that he had received at Pisa. On 7 December 1592 he gave his inaugural lecture and began a period of 18 years at the University, years which he later described as the happiest of his life. At Padua his duties were mainly to teach Euclid's geometry and standard (geocentric) astronomy to medical students, who would need to know some astronomy in order to make use of astrology in their medical practice. While in Padua, Galileo publicly argued against Aristotle's view of astronomy and natural philosophy.

At Padua, Galileo began a long‐term relationship with Maria Gamba; however they never married. In 1600 their first child Virginia was born, followed by a second daughter, Livia, in the following year. In 1606 their son Vincenzo was born. Much later when his daughters were being educated at the Franciscan Convent of St Matthew outside Florence, Virginia took the name Sister Maria Celeste and Livia the name Sister Arcangela. Since they had been born outside of marriage, Galileo believed that they themselves should never marry.

In May 1609, Galileo received a report telling him about a spyglass that a Dutchman had shown in Venice. Using his own technical skills as a mathematician and as a craftsman, Galileo began to make a series of telescopes whose optical performance was much better than that of the Dutch instrument. His first telescope was made from available lenses and gave a magnification of about four times. To improve on this Galileo learned how to grind and polish his own lenses, and by August 1609 he had an instrument with a magnification of around eight or nine. Galileo immediately saw the commercial and military applications of his telescope (which he called a perspicillum) for ships at sea.

By the end of 1609 Galileo had turned his telescope on the night sky and began to make remarkable discoveries which he described in a short book called the Starry Messenger, published in Venice in May 1610. Galileo claimed to have seen mountains on the Moon, to have proved the Milky Way was made up of tiny stars, seen (although not understood their nature) the rings of Saturn, four small bodies orbiting Jupiter, and most importantly noted that the planet Venus showed phases like those of the Moon, and therefore must orbit the Sun, not the Earth. Galileo knew that all his discoveries were evidence for Copernicanism, although not a proof. Other observations made by Galileo included the observation of sunspots. He reported these in Discourse on floating bodies which he published in 1612 and more fully in Letters on the sunspots, which appeared in 1613.

The Jovian moons, with an eye to getting a position in Florence, he quickly named 'the Medicean stars'. He had also sent Cosimo de Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, an excellent telescope for himself. In June 1610, only a month after his famous little book was published, Galileo resigned his post at Padua and became Chief Mathematician at the University of Pisa (without any teaching duties) and Mathematician and Philosopher to the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

In 1611, he visited Rome where he was treated as a leading celebrity. He was also made a member of the Accademia dei Lincei and this was an honour which was especially important to Galileo who signed himself 'Galileo Galilei Linceo' from this time on.

Despite his private support for Copernicanism, Galileo tried to avoid controversy by not making public statements on the issue. At a meeting in the Medici Palace in Florence in December 1613 with the Grand Duke Cosimo II and his mother the Grand Duchess Christina of Lorraine, Castelli, the successor to Galileo in the Chair of Mathematics at Pisa, was asked to explain the apparent contradictions between the Copernican theory and Holy Scripture. Castelli defended the Copernican position vigorously and wrote to Galileo afterwards telling him how successful he had been in putting the arguments. Galileo, less convinced that Castelli had won the argument, wrote Letter to Castelli to him arguing that the Bible had to be interpreted in the light of what science had shown to be true. Galileo's enemies ensured that a copy of the Letter to Castelli was sent to the Inquisition in Rome. However, after examining its contents they found little to which they could object. The point at issue for the Inquisition was whether Copernicus had simply put forward a mathematical theory which enabled the calculation of the positions of the heavenly bodies to be made more simply or whether he was proposing a physical reality.

In 1616 Galileo wrote a letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Lorraine which vigorously attacked the followers of Aristotle. In this work, he argued strongly for a non‐literal interpretation of Holy Scripture when the literal interpretation would contradict facts about the physical world proved by mathematical science. In this Galileo stated quite clearly that for him the Copernican theory is not just a mathematical calculating tool, but is a physical reality: “…I hold that the Sun is located at the centre of the revolutions of the heavenly orbs and does not change place, and that the Earth rotates on itself and moves around it. Moreover ... I confirm this view not only by refuting Ptolemy's and Aristotle's arguments, but also by producing many for the other side, especially some pertaining to physical effects whose causes perhaps cannot be determined in any other way, and other astronomical discoveries; these discoveries clearly confute the Ptolemaic system, and they agree admirably with this other position and confirm it” . Pope Paul V then ordered that Sacred Congregation of the Index decide on the Copernican theory. The cardinals of the Inquisition met on 24 February 1616 and took evidence from theological experts. They condemned the teachings of Copernicus and the decision was conveyed to Galileo, who had not been personally involved in the trial. Galileo was forbidden to hold Copernican views.

Maffeo Barberini, who was an admirer of Galileo, was elected as Pope Urban VIII and invited Galileo to papal audiences on six occasions and led Galileo to believe that the Catholic Church would not make an issue of the Copernican theory. Galileo, therefore, decided to publish his views believing that he could do so without serious consequences from the Church. By this stage in his life Galileo's health was poor and it took him 6 years to complete his famous Dialogio. Galileo attempted to obtain permission from Rome to publish the Dialogue in 1630, but this did not prove easy. Eventually he received permission from Florence, not Rome. In February 1632 Galileo published Dialogue concerning the two chief systems of the world: Ptolemaic and Copernican and shortly after its publication the Inquisition banned its sale and ordered Galileo to appear in Rome before them. Galileo's accusation at the trial which followed was that he had breached the conditions laid down by the Inquisition in 1616. However, a different version of this decision was produced at the trial rather than the one Galileo had been given at the time. When found guilty and after making his abjuration of heliocentricity, he famously uttered the apocryphal words to himself “Epur si muove“ (And yet it does move).

Galileo was condemned to lifelong imprisonment, but the sentence was carried out somewhat sympathetically and it amounted to house arrest rather than a prison sentence. In 1634, he suffered a severe blow when his daughter Virginia, Sister Maria Celeste, died. She had been a great support to her father through his illnesses and Galileo was shattered and could not work for many months. When he did manage to restart work, he began to write Discourses and mathematical demonstrations concerning the two new sciences. After Galileo had completed work on the Discourses it was smuggled out of Italy, and taken to Leyden in Holland, where it was published. It was his most rigorous mathematical work which treated problems on impetus, moments, and centres of gravity. In the Discourses he developed some of his most famous and enduring mathematical ideas, such as on the motion of objects on an inclined plane, the acceleration of free‐falling bodies, as well as the movement of the pendulum.

Galileo died in Arcetri (near Florence) #OnThisDay 8 January 1642. It was a sad end for so great a man to die condemned of heresy. His will indicated that he wished to be buried beside his father in the family tomb in the Basilica of Santa Croce, but his relatives rightly feared that this would provoke opposition from the Church. His body was concealed and only placed in a fine tomb in the church in 1737 by the civil authorities against the wishes of many in the Church. On 31 October 1992, 350 years after Galileo's death, Pope John Paul II gave an address on behalf of the Catholic Church in which he admitted that errors had been made by the theological advisors in the case of Galileo. He declared the Galileo case closed, but he did not admit that the Church was wrong to convict Galileo on a charge of heresy because of his belief that the Earth rotates round the sun.

Source: ncbi.nlm.nih

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