Fred Hoyle and Katherine Johnson

• Science is becoming more diverse and connected, with researchers collaborating to expand knowledge across fields for broader theories.

Fred Hoyle (1915-2001)

• British astrophysicist who studied the origin of elements in stars.
• Postulated that chemical elements are created by nuclear reactions within large stars.
• Proposed the steady state theory, stating the Universe's average density remains constant as it expands due to continuous creation of new matter.
• Coined the term "Big Bang" dismissively for the rival theory.
• The steady state theory was discredited in the 1960s.
• Later studied organic molecules in comets and theorized they brought life to Earth.

Katherine Johnson (1918-)

• American mathematician who calculated trajectories for space missions, including Alan Shepard's.
• Worked at NACA (later NASA) in 1953, manually doing calculations for engineers.
• Assisted with planning the Apollo 11 Moon mission launch site and flight path in 1969.
• Retired from NASA in 1986 after working on the US space shuttle program.

Irene Uchida (1917-2013)

• Canadian medical geneticist who studied how genes and chromosomes affect health.
• Investigated chromosome differences in genetic conditions and congenital abnormalities, including congenital heart disease and Down syndrome.
• Down syndrome involves an extra chromosome (47 instead of 46).
• Examined how X-rays affect chromosomes.

Yvonne Brill (1924-2013)

• Worked at the Douglas Aircraft Company starting in 1945.
• Invented a propulsion system for stationary unmanned spacecraft orbits.
• Worked on thrusters for weather satellites, rocket designs for US Moon missions and the Mars observer.
• Worked on a rocket engine for the space shuttle at NASA from 1981 to 1983.

Abdus Salam (1926-1996)

• Born in Pakistan, he Studied mathematics and physics at the University of Cambridge, UK.
• Proposed the electroweak theory, unifying the weak interaction between subatomic particles with the electromagnetic force.
• His theory suggested the existence of messenger particles for the weak interaction.
• His theories were confirmed at CERN in 1973.
• Shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979 with Sheldon Lee Glashow and Steven Weinberg.

Vera Rubin (1928-2016)

• Discovered in the 1970s that stars in the outer parts of spiral galaxies orbit as fast as stars closer to the center.
• This contradicted Newtonian gravity and suggested that galaxies possess a halo of invisible matter exerting gravitational force on outer stars.
• Showed this to be true for the Andromeda Galaxy in 1970.
• By 1985, she Had examined 60 spiral galaxies and recognized it as a general phenomenon.
• Her research helped to convince astronomers of the existence of dark matter.
• Received the National Medal of Science in 1993 along with other prestigious awards.

Peter Higgs (1929-)

• Born in Newcastle, England
• Studied physics at King's College London and began working at the University of Edinburgh in 1960.
• Best known for the theory explaining the origin of the mass of elementary (subatomic) particles.
• According to his theory, these particles obtain mass through interaction with the Higgs field, which permeates space.
• Predicted that the field should produce its own type of particle, known as the Higgs boson.
• The search for the Higgs boson spurred the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project at CERN, with scientists discovering a particle with the predicted characteristics in 2012.
• Received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013, sharing it with François Englert for work carried out in 1964.

Eric Kandel (1929-)

• Born in Vienna and fled to the US due to rising anti-Semitism.
• Studied the cellular basis of behavior and studied medicine at New York University, earning his degree in 1956.
• Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2000 with two others, for work on the role of synapses (nerve junctions) in memory and learning.
• Investigated sea slugs, which have simple nervous systems with large cells.
• Helped to clarify the processes behind short- and long-term memory, demonstrating their applicability to humans.

Mario J. Molina (1943-)

• Born in Mexico City.
• Studied chemical engineering.
• In 1974, he and Sherwood Rowland demonstrated that CFCs released from aerosols, foams, and refrigerants deplete the ozone layer, which is essential for shielding humans from solar ultraviolet radiation.
• This work led to restricting CFCs.
• Awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Rowland.

Lap-Chee Tsui (1950-)

• Canadian medical geneticist born in Shanghai and moved to Canada in 1977.
• Discovered the gene fault responsible for cystic fibrosis.
• Cystic fibrosis causes the body to produce very thick mucus, impairing the lungs.
• Identifying the faulty gene opened avenues for new treatments based on correcting or replacing it.

Mae Carol Jemison (1956-)

• First African American woman in space, traveled into orbit on the space shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
• Graduated from medical school in 1981 and served as a medical officer in the Peace Corps in West Africa.
• Applied to the US space agency in 1985.
• In 1987, she became one of 15 candidates selected from over 2,000 applicants for astronaut training.
• Served as the science mission specialist on the space shuttle and co-investigator of two bone cell research experiments.

Donna Strickland (1959-)

• Canadian optical physicist.
• Paved the way for the shortest and most intense laser pulses.
• Developed chirped pulse amplification (CPA) with Gérard Mourou in France in 1985.
• Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics with Mourou in 2018 for this.
• Became an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo in 1997, where she leads the ultrafast laser research team.
• CPA has uses in cancer therapies and laser eye surgery among other things.

Carol Greider (1961-)

• American molecular biologist.
• Most of her research focuses on telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.
• Telomeres are DNA segments at the ends of chromosomes, playing an important role in cell lifespan.
• Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 with Elizabeth Blackburn and Jack W. Szostak.
• Her findings include that In inhibiting telomerase in cancer cells slows tumor growth, indicating potential for anticancer drug development.