Stephen Hawking

Date of Birth : 1942 Country of Birth : UK Major Discoveries : Theories on the origin of the Universe Writing by the Scientist : A brief history of time : From the Big Bang to Black Holes (1995) Stephen Hawking decided to become a scientist when he was 8 or 9 years old. By the time he was 14, he had narrowed down his field of interest to mathematics and physics. After obtaining a first class honours degree from Oxford University, he decided to do his Ph.D. study at Cambridge. It was at Cambridge that the disease that was to make him a physical wreck first manifested itself. He began bumping into things. His hands trembled and he found it difficult to tie his shoelaces. His parents took him to a specialist who, after subjecting him to a battery of tests, announced that he had a rare ailment known as motor neuron disease. Victims of the disease usually do not live very long and Hawking, who was 21 years old at the time, was told that he might not live to see his 25th birthday. He was plunged into despair and lost interest in his work. His despondency lasted two years. Then he realised that death was not imminent and he began to fight back the crippling ailment. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1966, married, had children, and slowly began to make a name for himself in his chosen field of study, Cosmology, the study of the Universe. In 1988, he wrote a book in which he put down some of his ideas about the formation and ultimate destiny of the universe. It was titled 'A Brief History of Time'. It became a best-seller, and brought him fame and fortune. Today Hawking is confined to a wheelchair and he cannot even speak without a synthesizer, but his mind remains unaffected. To doctors, he is a medical curiosity; to scientists, he is a pathbreaker in the study of the universe — some have even described him the 'world's greatest living physicist'.

Charles Darwin

Date of Birth-Death : 1809-1882 Country of Birth : UK Major Discoveries : The theory of natural selection Writing by the Scientist : Origin of species by means of natural selection(1859); Descent of man (1871)

Born into a wealthy family, Darwin grew up amidst a life of wealth and comfort . His father was a doctor and had similar aspirations for him. It was no surprise therefore that Darwin first studied medicine at Edinburgh. However, it soon became clear to the family, and particularly to young Charles, that he was not cut out for a medical career. He then went to Cambridge to train to become a clergyman . While at Cambridge, Darwin befriended a biology professor John Stevens Henslow, and his interest in zoology and geography grew. An unforeseen opportunity precluded Darwin's plan of becoming a clergyman. He was invited on board the ship, H.M.S. Beagle as a gentleman companion to the captain. 

The round-the-world journey on H.M.S.Beagle lasted almost five years. Darwin spent most of these years investigating the geology and life of the lands he visited, especially South America, the Galapagos islands, and Pacific coral reefs. This journey triggered in him, an interest in evolution of life on earth, the diversity in plant and animal life, and how they survived.
Upon his return to England in 1836, Darwin tried to solve the riddles of these observations and the puzzle of how species evolve. He began to develop the theory of evolution that was to make him famous. 

Darwin proposed that all life on earth developed gradually over millions of years from a few common ancestors. In other words, the numerous species alive today arose from a single original life form. They developed new characteristics to adjust to different conditions and environments. Those that could not survive perished. 

He called this process of evolution - natural selection. All life, he said, is a continuous struggle in which only the fittest can survive. In other words, in the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment. 

Darwin was the first of the evolutionary biologists. Until then, people believed that the world they lived in, was the same as what God had created thousands of years ago. Darwin’s theories met with fierce opposition, and even though his theories have been questioned and debated upon, “Darwinism” as his theories are called, remain the first ever documentation on how such a variety of species of plants and animals evolved. 

Darwin continued to write and publish his works on biology throughout his life. He lived with his wife and children at their home in the village of Downe, fifteen miles from London. In the later years, Darwin was plagued by fatigue and intestinal sickness. He died on 19 April, 1882, and lies buried in Westminster Abbey.

Hippocrates

This was an era when people believed that humans suffered from diseases because of supernatural causes such as the action of unfriendly spirits, ghosts, and demons, or from witchcraft. There was no science of medicine. Superstition was very deep rooted in the society. 

It was during these times that Hippocrates was born on the Aegean island of Cos, in Greece. What is known of Hippocrates is from the writings by famous scientists of those times, including those of Hippocrates himself. His teachers in medicine are said to have been his father, Heracleides, and Herodicos of Selymbria.

Hippocrates was the first to understand the workings of the human body through scientific experiments. He did not believe in any of the superstitious explanations given for the ailments of the human body, nor did he believe in miraculous cures. His extensive research in the field of medicine and disease earned him the name of Hippocrates Asclepiades, or "descendant of (the doctor-god) Asclepios." 

Hippocrates’ observations of the human body, have been brought together in the form of a ten volume encyclopedia of medicine and surgery as known in his day. Hippocrates was the first to scientifically explain how the human body works, on the importance of good nutrition for a healthy mind and body, and that disease occurs when something goes wrong with the normal functioning of our body systems. These were revolutionary thoughts. His work not only gained undisputed popularity during his times, but have been accepted as the first step towards the Science of Medicine. 

The contributions of Hippocrates to the field of medicine have stood the test of time. Even today when doctors graduate out of medical school they take an oath, called the Hippocratic oath, which has remained the universal standard for patient care down the years. In the oath, the physician pledges to work for the good of the patient, and to do him no harm.