EntranceScientists who made discoveries in technology. Report of a scientific discovery
Over the centuries, there have been countless greatest scientific discoveries that have shocked the world and brought changes to the existence of mankind. Many of these discoveries improved and embellished our lives, making it more comfortable and safe. There have been cases when the ideas of scientists, put into practice, brought with them threat, destruction and evil. And most of the events of the modern scientific world in the future will lead to consequences or achievements that we can only guess about now.
Nevertheless, among this huge number of scientific discoveries there are those without which our life would have a completely different look and different content. tried to create a list of the 10 greatest scientific discoveries of all time, in no particular order. There may be something you cannot agree with. Or maybe you have a completely different opinion on this matter. Try creating your own list and putting it forward for discussion.
1. Electricity
This is truly a magical power, a phenomenon without which we would literally and figuratively remain in the dark. No lamp in the evening, no TV, computer, elevator, heater, microwave oven...the list can really go on and on. After all, our society is highly dependent on electricity, which fuels our beloved way of life.
2.Penicillin
Indeed, what kind of genius must a person be to see a piece of mold on bread and think that this could be a medicine that will save the lives of millions. And such a genius was Alexander Flemming. It is to him that we owe the existence of antibiotics. Of course, not everything happens quickly, because after Flemming discovered the bactericidal effect of the mold, more than 10 years had to pass for other prominent figures H.W. Flory and E. Chain managed to introduce this antibiotic into industrial production and, accordingly, mass use.
3. Gunpowder
The discovery of gunpowder is credited to Chinese alchemists who lived in the 9th century. Since its discovery, this explosive mixture has been used for hunting, war, and entertainment. At one time, gunpowder contributed to the development of rocket technology. Despite the fact that gunpowder in many ways did not serve good purposes, we must still give it its due and include it in the list of the greatest scientific discoveries; history would look radically different if this substance had not been in the hands of man.
4. Wheel
Was it a scientific discovery, an accidental discovery, or a remarkable invention? The world may never know. Archaeological excavations have uncovered a prototype wheel that dates back to the fifth millennium BC. The invention of the wheel became a catalyst for the development of science as a whole. And in particular, by improving crafts and mechanics, this invention was also of great importance in the economic life of people.
5. Plastic
In 1969, John Wesley Hiatt discovered a method for producing a substance that revolutionized people's daily lives. Plastic. Today, most household items, and in other words, the artificial environment around us, consists of plastic. Plastic chairs, disposable bags, packaging, appliances, toys and much, much more. What is remarkable is the recyclability of this material.
6. Computer
It is impossible to attribute the invention of the computer to just one scientist, since the computer in its modern form was gradually transformed from various devices. And of course everyone will agree about the enormous importance this technology has in our world. It organizes our life, makes it more orderly and perfect. We have unlimited access to any type of information at arm's length. Humanity has reached a level of global communication, a phenomenon that no one had heard of for another 20 years.
7. Printing press.
This invention does not seem that significant at first glance, but when you think about it, you will see all its weight. Gutenberg's press opened the door to the possibility of publishing knowledge and information and disseminating this knowledge to the masses. Access to books was no longer the privilege of a select few people. The independence of the individual's thinking became a key element of society, and printing unified knowledge and literature.
8. Mechanical watches.
Time, in fact, was a measure of events long before the invention of the chronometer. It was mainly determined by the movement of the sun in the sky. In fact, there was no universal time, only time strictly defined for a specific area. And what the invention of the clock made possible soon became mandatory. In a clock-driven world, you are either “on time,” “ahead of schedule,” or “late.”
9. Telescope
The invention of the telescope proved the fact that the Earth is nothing more than a round piece of stone in the vastness of outer space, and not the center of everything, including the universe. Many disagreed at that moment, and some still disagree to this day.
10. Toilet
Conduct this experiment: imagine a modern metropolis, be it London, New York or Tokyo, without a toilet. After all, this is impossible. Modern cities can exist thanks to the ability of people to provide densely populated areas with clean water and get rid of waste. Without toilets and running water, not a single skyscraper or high-rise building can function. Remove high-rise buildings, office centers and hypermarkets from your picture of the world, and you have to change the whole picture.
The 20th century can be considered a century of revolutions. And not only political, but also scientific. Many believed that scientists were of no use at all. They sit, they say, in their offices and laboratories for years and all to no avail. What's the point of spending money on research? But scientists, through a series of significant discoveries, have convinced the whole world that this is not so. At the same time, in the 20th century, significant discoveries were made extremely often, radically changing our lives. This has made it possible today to create the future that science fiction writers once did not even dream of. Below we will tell you about the ten most significant scientific discoveries of the last century, just a decade for each.
1) The first revolution was organized by Max Planck at the beginning of the century. At the end of the 19th century, he was invited to the position of professor at the University of Berlin. Planck was so devoted to science that, in his free time from lectures and work, he continued to study the distribution of energy in the spectrum of an absolutely black body. As a result, the stubborn scientist in 1900 derived a formula that very accurately described the behavior of energy in this case. This had absolutely fantastic consequences. It turned out that energy is not emitted evenly, as previously thought, but in portions - quanta. These conclusions initially confused Planck himself, but he nevertheless reported the strange results on December 14, 1900 to the German Physical Society. It is not surprising that they simply did not believe the scientist. However, based on his conclusions, already in 1905, Einstein created the quantum theory of the photoelectric effect. After this, Niels Bohr built the first model of the atom, according to which electrons rotate around the nucleus in certain orbits. The consequences of Planck's discovery for humanity are so great that it can be considered incredible, a genius! Thus, thanks to the scientist, nuclear energy, electronics, and genetic engineering subsequently developed. Astronomy, physics and chemistry received a powerful impetus. This happened due to the fact that it was Planck who clearly marked the boundary where the Newtonian macroworld with the measurement of matter in kilograms ends, and the microworld begins, in which it is necessary to take into account the influence of individual atoms on each other. Thanks to the scientist, it became known at what energy levels electrons live and how they behave there.
2) The second decade brought a discovery that also changed the minds of all scientists. In 1916, Albert Einstein completed his work on the general theory of relativity. It also received another name - the theory of gravity. According to the discovery, gravity is not a consequence of the interaction of fields and bodies in space, but a consequence of the curvature of four-dimensional space-time. The discovery immediately explained the essence of many hitherto incomprehensible things. Thus, most of the paradoxical effects that occur at near-light speeds simply contradicted common sense. However, it was the theory of relativity that predicted their appearance and explained the essence. The most famous of them is the effect of time dilation, in which the observer's clock runs slower than the one moving relative to him. It also became known that the length of a moving object along the axis of motion is compressed. Today, the theory of relativity applies not only to objects moving at a constant speed relative to each other, but also to all reference systems in general. The calculations were so complex that the work took 11 years. The first confirmation of the theory was the description of the curved orbit of Mercury produced with its help. The discovery explained the bending of rays from stars when they pass near other stars, the red shift of galaxies and stars observed in telescopes. Black holes became a very important confirmation of the theory. Indeed, according to calculations, when a star like the Sun is compressed to 3 meters in diameter, light simply will not be able to leave its limits - such will be the force of attraction. Recently, scientists have discovered many such stars.
3) After the discovery made in 1911 by Rutherford and Bohr about the structure of the atom by analogy with the solar system, physicists around the world were delighted. Soon, based on this model, with the help of Planck and Einstein’s calculations on the nature of light, it was possible to calculate the spectrum of the hydrogen atom. But when calculating the next element, helium, difficulties arose - the calculations showed completely different results from the experiments. As a result, by the 1920s, Bohr's theory had faded and began to be called into question. However, a way out was found - the young German physicist Heisenberg managed to remove some assumptions from Bohr's theory, leaving only the most necessary. He found that it was impossible to simultaneously measure the location of electrons and their speed. This principle was called “Heisenberg uncertainty”, and electrons appeared to be unstable particles. But even here the strangeness with elementary particles did not end. By that time, physicists had already become accustomed to the idea that light could exhibit the properties of both a particle and a wave. The duality seemed paradoxical. But in 1923, the Frenchman de Broglie suggested that ordinary particles could also have wave properties, demonstrating the wave properties of the electron. De Broglie's experiments were confirmed in several countries at once. In 1926, Schrödinger described de Broglie's material waves, and the Englishman Chirac created a general theory, the assumptions of Heisenberg and Schrödinger included in it as special cases. In those years, scientists had no idea about elementary particles at all, but that theory of quantum mechanics perfectly described their movement in the microworld. Over the following years, the basis of the theory has not undergone obvious changes. Today, in any natural sciences that reach the atomic level, quantum mechanics is used. These are engineering sciences, medicine, biology, mineralogy and chemistry. The theory made it possible to calculate molecular orbitals, which in turn allowed the emergence of transistors, lasers, and superconductivity. It is to quantum mechanics that we owe the appearance of computers. Solid state physics was also developed on its basis. That is why new materials appear every year, and scientists have learned to clearly see the structure of matter.
4) The decade of the thirties can without mistake be called radioactive. Although back in 1920, Rutherford expressed a hypothesis that was strange at that time. He tried to explain why positively charged protons do not repel. The scientist suggested that in addition to them, there are also some neutral particles in the nucleus, equal in mass to protons. By analogy with the already known electrons and protons, Rutherford proposed calling them neutrons. However, the scientific world did not take the physicist’s ideas seriously at that time. Only 10 years later, the Germans Becker and Bothe discovered unusual radiation when irradiating boron or beryllium with alpha particles. Unlike the latter, the unknown particles escaping from the reactor had much greater penetrating power. And their parameters were different. Two years later, in 1932, the Curies decided to direct this radiation to heavier atoms. It turned out that under the influence of these unknown rays they become radioactive. This effect is called artificial radioactivity. In the same year, James Chadwick was able to confirm these results, and also find out that nuclei from atoms are knocked out by new uncharged particles with a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. It was the neutrality of such particles that allowed them to penetrate the core, destabilizing it. So Chadwick discovered the neutron, confirming Rutherford's thoughts. This discovery brought not only benefit to humanity, but also harm. By the end of the decade, physicists were able to prove that nuclei could fission under the influence of neutrons, releasing even more neutral particles. On the one hand, this use of such an effect led to the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, decades of the Cold War with nuclear weapons. And on the other hand, the emergence of nuclear energy and the use of radioisotopes in various scientific fields for widespread use.
5) With the development of quantum theories, scientists could not only understand what was happening inside matter, but also try to influence these processes. The case with the neutron is mentioned above, but in 1947, employees of the American company At@T Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley were able to learn how to control large currents flowing through semiconductors using small currents. For this they will subsequently receive the Nobel Prize. This is how a transistor was born, in which two p-n junctions are directed towards each other. Along the junction, current can only flow in one direction; when the polarity changes at the junction, the current stops flowing. In the case of two junctions directed towards each other, unique opportunities for working with electricity appeared. The transistor gave a huge impetus to the development of all science. Tubes have been removed from electronics, which has dramatically reduced the weight and volume of the equipment used. Logic chips appeared, which gave us the microprocessor in 1971, and later the modern computer. As a result, today there is not a single device, car or even home in the world that does not use a transistor.
6) The German chemist Ziegler studied the Gregnard reaction, which helped to significantly simplify the synthesis of organic substances. The scientist wondered - is it possible to do the same with other metals? His interest had a practical side, because he worked at the Kaiser Institute for Coal Research. A by-product of the coal industry was ethylene, which had to be disposed of somehow. In 1952, Ziegler studied the decomposition of one of the reagents, and as a result, low-density polyethylene, HDPE, was obtained. However, it has not yet been possible to completely polymerize ethylene. However, unexpectedly, chance helped - after the end of the reaction, not a polymer, but a dimer (a compound of two ethylene molecules) - alpha-butene - unexpectedly fell out of the flask. The reason for this was the fact that the reactor was poorly washed from nickel salts. This ruined the main reaction, but analysis of the resulting mixture showed that the salts themselves did not change; they only acted as a catalyst for dimerization. This conclusion promised huge profits - previously, to produce polyethylene it was necessary to use a lot of organoaluminum, apply high pressure and temperature. Now Ziegler began to look for the most suitable catalyst, sorting through transition metals. In 1953, several of these were found at once. The most powerful of them turned out to be based on titanium chlorides. Ziegler told the Italian company Montecatini about his discovery, where his catalysts were tested on propylene. After all, ethylene, being a by-product of oil refining, costs ten times less than ethylene, and also gives the opportunity to experiment with the structure of the polymer. As a result, the catalyst was somewhat modernized, resulting in stereoregular polypropylene, in which all propylene molecules were located equally. This gave the chemist greater control over polymerization. Soon artificial rubber was created. Today, organometallic catalysts have made it possible to carry out most syntheses cheaper and easier; they are used in almost all chemical plants in the world. However, the most important thing remains the polymerization of ethylene and propylene. Ziegler himself, despite the enormous industrial application of his work, always considered himself a theoretical scientist. The student who did not clean the reactor well did not become famous either.
7) April 12, 1961 became a significant milestone in the history of mankind - its first representative visited space. This was not the first rocket to orbit the Earth. Back in 1957, the first artificial satellite was launched. But it was Yuri Gagarin who showed that dreams of stars can someday become reality. It turned out that not only bacteria, plants and small animals, but also humans can live in zero gravity. We realized that the space between the planets is surmountable. Man has visited the Moon, and an expedition to Mars is being prepared. The solar system is saturated with space agency vehicles. A person studies Saturn and Jupiter, Mars and the Kuiper belt up close. Several thousand satellites already revolve around our planet. These include meteorological instruments, scientific instruments (including powerful orbital telescopes), and commercial communications satellites. This allows us today to call anywhere on the planet. The distances between cities seem to have decreased, and thousands of television channels have become available.
8) The birth of a girl, Louise, into the Brown family on July 26, 1978, became a scientific sensation. Gynecologist Patrick Steptoe and embryologist Bob Edwards, who attended the birth, were extremely proud. The fact is that the girl’s mother, Leslie, suffered from obstruction of the fallopian tubes. She, like millions of other women, could not conceive a child on her own. The attempts lasted 9 long years. Steptoe and Edwards undertook to solve the problem, and for this they made several scientific discoveries at once. They developed a method for extracting an egg from a woman without damaging it, creating conditions for its existence in a test tube, then artificially inseminating it and returning it back. The experiment was a success - specialists and parents were convinced that Louise was an absolutely normal child. In the same way, her parents helped her sister to be born. As a result, by 2007, more than two million people were born using the in vitro fertilization (IVF) method. If it were not for the experiments of Steptoe and Edwards, this would simply be impossible. Today, medicine has gone even further - adult women give birth to their own granddaughters, if their children are unable to do this themselves, women are fertilized with the semen of already deceased men... The IVF technique is becoming increasingly popular - after all, multiple experiments have confirmed that test tube children are no different from those born who is conceived naturally.
9) In 1985, scientists Robert Curl, Harold Croteau, Richard Smalley and Heath O'Brien studied the spectra of graphite vapor formed under the influence of a laser on a solid sample. Unexpectedly, strange peaks emerged that corresponded to atomic masses of 720 and 840 units. Scientists soon came to the conclusion that a new type of carbon had been found - fullerene. The name of the find was born from Buckminster Fuller's designs, which were very similar to new molecules. Carbon-based varieties of football and rugby football soon appeared. Their names are associated with sports, since the structure of the molecules was similar to the corresponding balls. Now fullerenes, which have unique physical properties, are used in many different devices. But the most important thing was the fact that these techniques allowed scientists to create carbon nanotubes, which are twisted and cross-linked layers of graphite. Today, science has been able to create tubes with a diameter of 5-6 nanometers and a length of up to 1 centimeter. The fact that they are made from carbon allows them to exhibit a wide range of physical properties, from semiconducting to metallic. New materials for fiber optic lines, displays and LEDs are being developed based on nanotubes. With the help of the invention, it became possible to deliver biologically active substances to the right place in the body, to create so-called nanopipettes. Ultra-sensitive chemical sensors have been developed and are now used in environmental monitoring, medical, biotechnological and military applications. Nanotubes help create transistors, fuel cells, and nanowires are created from them. The latest development in this area is artificial muscles. In 2007, research was published showing that a bundle of nanotubes could behave similarly to muscle tissue. Although the conductivity of electric current in an artificial formation is similar to natural muscles, nanomuscles do not wear out over time. Such a muscle withstood half a million compressions to 15% of its original state, the shape, mechanical and conductive properties did not change as a result. What does this give? It is quite possible that someday disabled people will receive new arms, legs and organs, which can be controlled only by the power of thought. After all, a thought for the muscles is like an electrical signal to activate it.
10) The 90s became the era of biotechnology. The first worthy representative of the work of scientists in this direction was an ordinary sheep. Usually she was only outwardly. For the sake of its appearance, the staff of the Roslin Institute in England worked hard for several years. The egg from which the famous Dolly was later born was completely gutted, then the nucleus of an adult sheep cell was placed in it. The developed embryo was implanted back into the uterus and the result was awaited. Dolly, in the rank of candidates for the title of the first clone of a large living creature, beat out almost 300 candidates - all of them died at different stages of the experiment. Although the legendary sheep survived, its fate was unenviable. After all, the tips of DNA, telomeres, which serve as the body’s biological clock, have already counted 6 years in Dolly’s mother’s body. After another 6 years of the clone's life, in February 2003, the animal died from the diseases of old age - arthritis, specific pneumonia and other ailments. But Dolly’s appearance on the cover of Nature magazine in 1997 itself created a real sensation - it became a symbol of the superiority of man and science over nature itself. The following years after Dolly's cloning saw the appearance of copies of a wide variety of animals - dogs, piglets, bulls. It was even possible to obtain second-generation clones - clones from clones. So far, however, the problem with telomeres has remained unresolved, and human cloning remains prohibited around the world. But this area of science remains very interesting and promising.
Over the centuries, scientists have made countless discoveries that have improved our quality of life and helped us understand the world around us. It is very difficult (if not impossible) to assess the significance of these discoveries, but one thing is for sure - some of them have literally changed our lives. From penicillin and the screw pump, to x-rays and electricity, the site has collected 12 of the greatest scientific discoveries in human history!
Scientific discovery No. 1. Penicillin
If Alexander Fleming, a Scottish scientist, had not discovered penicillin, the first antibiotic, in 1928, we would probably still be dying from diseases such as stomach ulcers, dental abscesses, strep throat and scarlet fever, staph infections, Lyme disease, leptospirosis and others.
No. 2. Mechanical watches
There is some controversy as to what the first mechanical clock was, but it is believed that it was created by the Chinese monk and mathematician Ya-Xing in 723 AD. e. This is one of the greatest scientific discoveries in human history, which allowed us to determine time.
No. 3. Circulation
One of the greatest scientific discoveries in medicine is the discovery of blood circulation, which is attributed to the English physician William Harvey. He was the first person to fully describe the systemic circulation and the properties of the blood pumped by the heart to the brain and body in 1628.
No. 4. Screw Pump
One of ancient Greece's greatest scientists, Archimedes, is believed to have developed one of the first water pumps, a rotating corkscrew that pushed water up a tube. This changed the irrigation process and is still used in many wastewater treatment plants today.
Discovery No. 5. Pasteurization
Discovered by French scientist Louis Pasteur in the 1860s, pasteurization is a heat treatment process that destroys pathogenic microorganisms in certain foods and beverages such as wine, beer and milk. This great scientific discovery in human history has had a profound impact on public health.
No. 6. Electricity
The life-changing discovery of electricity is credited to English scientist Michael Faraday. His major discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis. Faraday's experiments also created the first generator, a precursor to the huge generators that produce our electricity.
No. 7. Anesthesia
Crude forms of anesthesia such as opium, mandrake and alcohol were used as early as 70 AD, but it was not until 1847 that American surgeon Henry Bigelow used ether and chloroform as the first general anesthetics, making painful operations more bearable.
No. 8. X-rays
German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discovered X-rays in 1895 while studying the phenomena that accompany the passage of electric current through an extremely low-pressure gas. For this great scientific discovery in human history, Roentgen was awarded the first ever Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.
No. 9. Periodic table
In 1869, Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleev noticed that as atomic mass increases, the chemical properties of elements change not monotonically, but periodically. With this knowledge, he was able to create the first periodic table, one of the greatest scientific discoveries in chemistry.
No. 10. Paper
Although modern predecessors such as papyrus and amate existed in the Mediterranean world and pre-Columbian America, respectively, these materials are not defined as true paper. The first paper making process was recorded in China, during the Eastern Han period (25-220 AD).
No. 11. Liquid Crystals
If the Austrian botanical physiologist Friedrich Reinitzer had not discovered liquid crystals while studying the physicochemical properties of various cholesterol derivatives back in 1888, LCD televisions simply would not exist today.
No. 12. Polio vaccine
On March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Jonas Salk announced that he had successfully tested a vaccine against polio, the virus that causes the chronic disease polio. In 1952, an epidemic year for polio, there were 58,000 new cases in the United States and more than 3,000 deaths caused by the disease.
MOSCOW, February 8 – RIA Novosti. The post-Soviet era is considered to be a time of deep crisis in domestic science, however, both in the 1990s and later, Russian scientists managed to obtain world-class scientific results.
In honor of Russian Science Day, the RIA Novosti agency conducted a large-scale survey of experts and compiled a list of the most important and most striking discoveries made by Russian scientists over the past 20 years. This list does not pretend to be complete and objective; it does not include many discoveries, but it gives an idea of the scale of what has been done in post-Soviet science.
Synthesis of superheavy elements will help discover new elements - scientistsExperiments on the synthesis of superheavy elements open up new “unexplored lands” for humanity and, ultimately, can lead to the production of long-lived superheavy elements, academician Yuri Oganesyan, scientific director of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, told RIA Novosti.Super heavy elements
It was in the post-Soviet era that Russian scientists took the lead in the race for superheavy elements of the periodic table. From 2000 to 2010, physicists from the Flerov Laboratory at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Moscow Region, synthesized for the first time the six heaviest elements, with atomic numbers 113 to 118.
Two of them are already officially recognized by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and. The application for the discovery of elements 113, 115, 117 is currently being considered by IUPAC.
“It is possible that one of the new elements will be given the name “Moscovium,” Andrei Popeko, deputy director of Flerov’s laboratory, told RIA Novosti.
Exawatt lasers
Russia has created a technology that makes it possible to obtain the most powerful light radiation on Earth. In 2006, the PEARL (PEtawatt pARametric Laser) installation was built at the Nizhny Novgorod Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, based on the technology of parametric amplification of light in nonlinear optical crystals. This installation produced a pulse with a power of 0.56 petawatts, which is hundreds of times greater than the power of all power plants on Earth.
Now the IPF plans to increase the power of PEARL to 10 petawatts. In addition, it is planned, which involves the creation of a laser with a power of up to 200 petawatts, and in the future - up to 1 exawatt.
Such laser systems will make it possible to study extreme physical processes. In addition, they can be used to initiate thermonuclear reactions in targets, and on their basis it is possible to create laser neutron sources with unique properties.
Super powerful magnetic fields
Physicists from the Russian nuclear center in Sarov, under the leadership of Alexander Pavlovsky, in the early 1990s developed a method for producing record-breaking powerful magnetic fields.
Using explosive magnetic-cumulative generators, where the blast wave “compressed” the magnetic field, they managed to obtain a field value of 28 megagauss. This value is an absolute record for an artificially produced magnetic field; it is hundreds of millions of times higher than the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field.
Using such magnetic fields, it is possible to study the behavior of matter under extreme conditions, in particular, the behavior of superconductors.
Oil and gas will not run out
The press and environmentalists regularly remind us that oil and gas reserves will soon - in 70-100 years - come to an end, this could lead to the collapse of modern civilization. However, scientists from the Russian Gubkin University of Oil and Gas claim that this is not so.
Through experiments and theoretical calculations, they proved that oil and gas can be formed not as a result of the decomposition of organic substances, as the generally accepted theory says, but in an abiogenic (non-biological) way. They found that in the upper mantle of the Earth, at depths of 100-150 kilometers, there are conditions for the synthesis of complex hydrocarbon systems.
“This fact allows us to talk about natural gas (at least) as a renewable and inexhaustible source of energy,” Professor Vladimir Kucherov from Gubkin University told RIA Novosti.
Lake Vostok
Russian scientists may have made the last major geographical discovery on Earth - the discovery of the subglacial Lake Vostok in Antarctica. In 1996, together with British colleagues, they discovered it using seismic sounding and radar observations.
Drilling a well at Vostok station allowed Russian scientists to obtain unique data on the climate on Earth over the past half a million years. They were able to determine how the temperature and CO2 concentration changed in the distant past.
In 2012, a Russian polar explorer managed for the first time to penetrate this relict lake, which had been isolated from the outside world for about a million years. Studying water samples from it may lead to and allow us to draw conclusions about the possibility of the existence of life beyond the Earth - for example, on Jupiter's moon Europa.
Mammoths - contemporaries of the ancient Greeks
Mammoths were contemporaries of the Cretan civilization and became extinct in historical times, and not in the Stone Age, as previously thought.
In 1993, Sergei Vartanyan and his colleagues discovered the remains of dwarf mammoths, whose height did not exceed 1.8 meters, on Wrangel Island, which, apparently, was the last refuge of this species.
Radiocarbon dating, carried out with the participation of specialists from the Faculty of Geography of St. Petersburg University, showed that mammoths lived on this island until 2000 BC. Until then, it was believed that the last mammoths lived on Taimyr 10 thousand years ago, but new data showed that mammoths existed during the Minoan culture in Crete, the construction of Stonehenge and the 11th dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs.
Third kind of people
The work of Siberian archaeologists under the leadership of Academician Anatoly Derevyanko made it possible to discover a new, third species of human beings.
Until now, scientists knew about two higher species of ancient people - Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals. However, in 2010, a study of DNA from the bones showed that 40 thousand years ago, a third species, called Denisovans, lived with them in Eurasia.
Methane and water on Mars
Although Russia has failed to conduct successful independent interplanetary missions in the post-Soviet period, Russian scientific instruments on American and European probes and ground-based observations have yielded unique data about other planets.
In particular, in 1999, Vladimir Krasnopolsky from MIPT and his colleagues, using an infrared spectrometer on the Hawaiian CFHT telescope, first detected absorption lines of methane on Mars. This discovery was a sensation, since on Earth the main source of methane in the atmosphere is living beings. These data were then confirmed by measurements from the European Mars Express probe. Although the Curiosity rover has not yet confirmed the presence of methane in the Martian atmosphere in these searches.
The Russian HEND instrument on board the Mars-Odyssey probe, created under the leadership of Igor Mitrofanov from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, showed for the first time that there are huge reserves of subsurface water ice at the poles of Mars and even in mid-latitudes.
© State Astronomical Institute named after. PC. Sternberg Moscow State University M.V. Lomonosova/ Zhanna Rodionova
10 February 2014, 14:29 Another pyramid discovered in Egypt and other scientific discoveries of the weekEvery Monday, the site's editors select the most unexpected scientific news from the past week. In this issue: why children forget what happened to them before the age of 7, who built the pyramid discovered in Egypt, how fertility depends on the level of education of women and much more.He began his work by comparing mythological motifs among the aborigines of Siberia and America, and then included in his research data on the cultures of almost all peoples of the world, which made it possible to paint an impressive picture of the primary settlement of people around the globe.
He proved that there are stable coincidences of certain mythological motifs in certain regions, which correlate with the ancient movements of primitive tribes, which is confirmed by archaeological and genetic data.
“Thus, for the first time in the history of science, we have a way to relatively accurately estimate the time of existence of the components of an oral tradition, which solves a number of central problems of folklore or, at least, gives researchers a guideline for subsequent research,” the professor told RIA Novosti Sergei Neklyudov from Russian State University for the Humanities.
Millennium Challenge
Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman proved the Poincaré conjecture in 2002, one of the seven “Millennium Problems” on the Clay Mathematics Institute's list. The hypothesis itself was formulated back in 1904, and its essence boils down to the fact that a three-dimensional object without through holes is topologically equivalent to a sphere.
Perelman was able to prove this hypothesis, but he received unprecedented popularity in the media when he received $1 million from the Clay Institute for this proof.
Every year brings the world new technologies and new discoveries that take humanity to a qualitatively different, higher level of development. We have collected in one review the latest discoveries from various fields, and each of these discoveries for humanity is a step towards new opportunities.
1. A terrible disease will help cure cancer
Scientists have made a breakthrough in finding a cure for cancer by attaching malaria proteins to cancer cells. Human trials should begin within four years.
2. New ape species have been discovered in South Africa
Last September, paleontologists reported that a new anthropoid species had been found - Homo naledi. This conclusion is based on the discovery of fifteen partially preserved skeletons. It is believed that Homo naledi may have lived in Africa about three million years ago.
3. Study Finds Working Longer Increases Risk of Stroke
According to a study published in The Lancet, people who work more than 55 hours a week are 33% more likely to have a stroke than those who work 35-40 hours a week. They also have a 13% higher risk of coronary heart disease.
4. For the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the woolly mammoth genome has been completed
At the same time, a number of reasons were discovered that allowed these animals to survive in the Arctic.
5. The brightest galaxy in the Universe was discovered
Last May, NASA announced that the brightest galaxy in the Universe, WISE J224607.57-052635.0, had been discovered. It is smaller than the Milky Way, but emits ten thousand times more energy (mostly in the form of infrared radiation).
6. Scientists have made progress in creating the first quantum computer
Two major steps in creating a quantum computer were taken by IBM scientists. They were able to find a way to detect and measure both types of quantum errors. It also created a square lattice of four superconducting qubits on a chip just over 6mm in size.
7. The first exoplanet with a visible spectrum was discovered
Astronomers from Chile have for the first time directly observed the spectrum of visible light reflected from an exoplanet. We are talking about the exoplanet 51 Pegasi b.
8. Three Thousand Atoms Were Caught With One Photon
Physicists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Belgrade have developed a new technique with which they were able to capture three thousand atoms using just one photon.
9. Amazon forests have begun to absorb less carbon dioxide
The results of a long-term 30-year study of the South American rainforest, which involved an international team of almost 100 researchers, published rather disappointing data. Tropical forests are gradually losing their ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as trees die at an ever faster rate.
10. NASA Discovered Evidence of a Vast Ancient Ocean on Mars
According to NASA scientists, a vast ancient ocean once covered almost half of Mars' northern hemisphere, making the planet a more promising place to search for alien life than previously thought. The huge ocean, according to scientists, was up to one and a half kilometers deep and contained a total of twenty million cubic kilometers of water (more than in the Arctic Ocean).
11. Researchers Used Nanotechnology to Treat Breast Cancer
Iranian nanotechnologists have managed to synthesize a substance with a bioadaptive and biodegradable molecular chain. This medicine can reduce the toxicity of anti-cancer drugs.
12. Scientists have reprogrammed plants to be drought-resistant
Scientists have genetically reprogrammed plants to be more drought-resistant.
13. HIV vaccine
The fight against HIV and AIDS took a huge step forward in 2015 when scientists at The Scripps Research Institute developed a vaccine that was incredibly effective against HIV-1, HIV-2 and simian immunodeficiency virus. The main difference with the new drug is that it actually changes DNA to fight the virus. Previously, injections of a weakened form of the virus were injected into the patient’s body so that the immune system “learned” to fight it. The research is currently in its early stages, but preliminary results are very promising.
14. Brain research can help predict future behavior
An article published in the journal Neuron described a number of recent studies showing that brain scans can help predict a person's future learning, criminality, and health-related behavior. Technology can offer opportunities to personalize education and clinical practice.
15. Human muscles capable of contracting were grown in the laboratory for the first time.
In a lab at Duke University, researchers have grown human muscles that contract and respond to external stimuli (such as electrical impulses, biochemical signals and pharmaceuticals) just like real muscles. The new tissue should soon allow researchers to test new drugs and study muscle diseases outside the human body.
Especially for those who are interested in science and the beyond, we have collected.