Louis Pasteur (born December 27, 1822; died September 28, 1895) was a French scientist who worked as a chemist, pharmacist, and microbiologist. He is best known for discovering the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization, a process named after him. His research in chemistry helped people understand how diseases are caused and how they can be prevented.
John Tyndall ( / ˈ t ɪ n d əl / ; 2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was an Irish physicist. He became famous for studying diamagnetism in the 1850s. Later, he discovered important things about infrared radiation and the physical properties of air.
James Clerk Maxwell FRS FRSE (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who developed the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation. This theory was the first to explain electricity, magnetism, and light as different forms of the same phenomenon. Maxwell’s equations for electromagnetism helped join electricity, magnetism, and light into one theory, which was the second major unification in physics, following the earlier unification by Isaac Newton.
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (26 June 1824 – 17 December 1907), was a British mathematician, physicist, and engineer. He was born in Belfast and served as the professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for 53 years. During this time, he conducted important research on the study of electricity.
George Boole (pronounced BOOL; born November 2, 1815; died December 8, 1864) was an English self-taught mathematician, philosopher, and logician. He became the first professor of mathematics at Queen’s College, Cork in Ireland. He worked in the fields of differential equations and algebraic logic and is best known for writing The Laws of Thought (1854), which includes Boolean algebra.
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (born Ada Byron on December 10, 1815, and died on November 27, 1852), was an English mathematician and writer. She is best known for her work on Charles Babbage’s proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, called the Analytical Engine. She was the first person to recognize that the machine could be used for purposes beyond simple calculations.
Charles Babbage (born December 26, 1791; died October 18, 1871) was an English expert in many areas, including mathematics, philosophy, invention, and engineering. He first proposed the idea of a digital computer that could be programmed. Some people believe Babbage deserves the title “father of the computer.” He designed the first mechanical computer, called the difference engine, which inspired later electronic computers.
Herman Hollerith was born on February 29, 1860, and died on November 17, 1929. He was a German-American statistician, inventor, and businessman who created an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards. This machine helped summarize information and later assist with accounting tasks.
James Densmore (February 3, 1820 – September 16, 1889) was an American businessman and inventor. He worked with Christopher Sholes, who, along with Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule, helped create one of the first practical typewriters at a machine shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Carlos Glidden (November 8, 1834 – March 11, 1877), with Christopher Sholes, Frank Haven Hall, and Samuel W. Soule, invented the first useful typewriter at a machine shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US. He kept working on improving the typewriter until he died.