Week 5 [16.05-22.05.2016] Unappreciated people in the history of mankind

I would like to pay tribute to the great forgotten and to remind you of a few people who deserve a bit more sympathy.

Fritz Haber

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Haber from Germany, also known as the "father of chemical weapons", is responsible for creating deadly gases that were used during the First World War. Another significant Fritz’s invention was Zyklon B - designed for the disinfestation, but used by the Nazi  to murder prisoners in  gas chambers of concentration camps.

What does Haber have for his defense? Well, the Nobel Prize for the development of the synthesis of ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen. Thanks to this discovery, it was possible to produce ammonia on an industrial scale and apply it in the production of nitrogen fertilizers, which are the main nutrient of plants. To this day, it is the basic and most important element of the agricultural economy – the Haber method allows to feed one-third of the entire human population!

Aryabhatta

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Here is a great astronomer who lived in India in the fifth century AD. Aryabhatta is the author of a book which teaches both astronomical and mathematical theories. The Hindu scholar claimed his hypothesis much ahead of his time. Aryabhatta stated that the planets move in epicycles and shine by the reflected sunlight. The astronomer also calculated the length of the year -365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes and 30 seconds. He was also the first who scientifically explained the phenomenon of solar and lunar eclipses. As if that were not enough, Aryabhatta also calculated the circumference of our planet. He made a mistake by only 0.2%! To his achievements should be added the calculation of the Pi number  (accuracy of four decimal places).

Most of the theories were confirmed in observations of Galileo and Copernicus. But keep in mind that the Indian astronomer wrote his book a thousand years before the discovery of these sky researchers.

Joseph Gayetty

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Forgive me, but I have to mention a guy whose invention greatly contributed to the comfort of our life. This man in 1857 created a prototype of a toilet paper roll. The first ones were moisturized with soothing aloe and were sold for the price of half a dollar apiece.

Wasilij Aleksandrowicz Archipow

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It's amazing that sometimes one quick decision can have colossal significance for the fate of mankind. 

In 1962 the world was on the brink of nuclear war. After the Soviet Union secretly placed in Cuba ballistic missile launchers, President John F. Kennedy blocked water transport of weapons to Cuba and categorically demanded that the Russians have to dismantle torpedoes that threatened US security.

At this point in the direction of Cuba followed the submarine B-59 with a powerful nuclear warhead on board. The Americans, hoping to force the Soviet commanders to exit the machine to the surface, began the attack using deep sea explosives.

The crew of the heavily overheated ship had lost contact with Moscow a few days earlier. For many soldiers on board it was a sign that the war started. Three officers had to unanimously decide whether the rocket with the head of the power of 11 kilotons would be used. And only one of them, Vasily Arkhipov, objected to the use of this "final argument". The commander had to confront with Valentin Grigorievich Sawicki - another officer who almost lost his temper and desperately tried to convince his friend to launch the rockets.

Finally Arkhipov not only calmed enraged Sawicki, but urged him to put a ship on the surface. Then after making contact with Russia, the officers learned how little was missing to unleashed a nuclear war between two powers.

Norman Borlaug

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Dr. Borlaug was a geneticist who worked for DuPont as a specialist of pesticides to combat fungi and bacteria that decimated agricultural crops. In 1944 the scientist was dispatched to Mexico to look into the problem of blight - a wheat disease which drastically reduced the annual harvest and placed millions of people with the prospect of starvation.

The task of Dr. Borlaug was to obtain wheat resistant to the fungus. After years of work, the geneticist chose from 6,000 wheat crosses one. And everything would be in perfect order, if not another issue that Dr. Borlaug had to cope with - it turned out that the effect of almost thirteen years of hard work was too weak blade. As a result, the wheat was very fragile. Then he came up with the idea of crossing his "child" with a dwarf variety of wheat growing in Japan. This idea turned out to be a hit - Mexico not only coped with the problem of the fungal disease, but became a leader in the field of wheat exports.

Dr. Norman Borlaug saved from hunger around a billion people around the world! He did this without the need of deforestation and causing ecological disasters.

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