Modern society unthinkable without scientific achievements, engineering and technology. Over the past 100 years, these inventions have radically changed human life and his ideas about the surrounding universe. American scientists made a great contribution to the development of science, some of them we'll talk In this article.

inventors Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) is considered the most famous American scientist of the 18th century. He made a great contribution to the development of politics and national culture, but most of all he is known for his love of experiments with electric current. He invented the lightning rod and put forward several theories related to electricity. His inventions also included bifocal lenses, a urinary catheter, and a speedometer.

Another famous American scientist-inventor is Thomas Edison (1847-1931). This man has more than 1000 different inventions to his credit. The most famous of them is the incandescent lamp. A large number of his inventions relate to the fields of radio electronics and cinematography. It is interesting to note that if we divide all of Edison's discoveries over the period of his life (with the exception of his childhood), it turns out that he invented something new every two weeks.

Americans who received the Nobel Prize in Physics

The list of American scientists who have received the Nobel Prize in Physics is quite long. Here is a list of the most famous personalities, which are over 15 recent years were awarded this high award:

• David J. Gross, H. David Politzer, and Frank Wilczek. These scientists received the prize in 2004 for their research in the physics of strong interactions.
• Roy J. Glauber. He became a Nobel laureate in 2005 for his research in the field of quantum theory and coherence in optics.
• John C. Mather and George Smoot. These scientists received the prize in 2006 for their space research, in particular for their discovery of the anisotropy of cosmic radiation.
• Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt and Adam G. Riess. All these scientists became famous in 2011 for their discovery of the accelerated expansion of the Universe thanks to observations of supernovae.
• The 2017 Physics Prize was awarded for the research of American scientists in the field of gravitational waves. It was awarded to Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne.

American Nobel Prize Laureates in Chemistry

Over the past 15 years, many American scientists have received the Nobel Prize for achievements in chemistry. Here is a list of names and the corresponding discovery area:

• Irwin Rose. American biochemist who received a prize in 2004 for his research on ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation.
• Robert H. Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock. These scientists received a prize in 2005 for developing a method of organic metathesis synthesis.
• Roger D. Kornberg. The American scientist became a laureate in 2006 for his research on eukaryotes.
• Martin Chalfie and Roger Y. Tsien. American biochemists, were awarded in 2008. The prize went to them for their research on green fluorescent protein.
• Thomas A. Steitz. Nobel laureate 2009. He was awarded for comprehensive studies of the structure and properties of the ribosome.
• Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka. The scientists received the prize in 2012 for their research into receptors attached to the so-called G protein.

If we talk about the Nobel Prizes for American scientists in chemistry in the first half of the 20th century, it is necessary to mention Theodore William Richards (1914), who was awarded for determining the atomic mass of many chemical elements, as well as Harold Clayton Urey , 1934), who discovered the heavy hydrogen deuterium.

Americans who distinguished themselves for their work in the field of medicine

Here is a list of famous American Nobel laureates in the field of medicine, starting from the 20th century:

• Thomas Morgan (Thomas H. Morgan). Prize in 1933 for the discovery of the important role of chromosomes in the inheritance of genetic information.
• Joseph Erlanger and Herbert S. Gasser. These scientists became laureates in 1944 for their research on nerve fibers.
• Selman A. Waksman. Prize in 1952 for research into the first effective antibiotic against tuberculosis, streptomycin.
• Peyton Rous and Charles B. Huggins. Laureates of 1966, who were awarded for the discovery of a hormonal method of treating prostate cancer.
• David Baltimore, Renato Dulbecco, Howard M. Temin. These scientists received the prize in 1975 for their research into the mechanism of interaction of cancer viruses with the genetic material of cells.
• Michael S. Brown and Joseph L. Goldstein. They won the award in 1985. Received a prize for the discovery of cholesterol metabolism.

Speaking about modern American scientists, it should be noted Bruce Beutler, who became a Nobel laureate in 2011 for his contributions to the development of immunology, as well as John O'Keefe, who won the award in 2014 for his research brain.

Americans who distinguished themselves in the field of literature

The number of American scientists who received the Nobel Prize in Literature during the 20th century is significantly smaller than the number of American laureates in the field. natural sciences. Thus, during the 20th and 21st centuries, only 10 Americans were awarded this title. The most famous of them are Ernest Hemingway (1954 award for The Old Man and the Sea), Joseph Brodsky (1987 award for the work “History of the 20th Century”) and Toni Morrison (1993 award for the novel “Beloved”).

American inventor of the telephone

Unit of sound intensity

One of the inventors of the telephone

Invented the telephone

First person to call

What was the name of the man who, out of love for a girl who had become deaf after a serious illness, created devices with which he could demonstrate the articulation of sound speech to the deaf?

The name of which American scientist was immortalized in the name of one of the logarithmic quantities used to measure the difference between quantities of the same name?

On the day of his funeral in 1922, more than 13 million telephones went silent in memory of him.

American designer, inventor of the telephone

River in Canada

Inventor of the telephone

Played a villain in the film "Saw"

American inventor

Inventor of the photophone

One of the inventors of the telephone, a Scot

The first person to talk on the phone

American inventor of the telephone (1847-1922)

Scottish anatomist, physiologist and surgeon (1774-1842)

100 great secrets of astronautics Slavin Stanislav Nikolaevich

What did the Americans come up with?

What did the Americans come up with?

Perhaps most vividly difficult character space manifested itself in the case of the American space station Skylab (“Celestial Laboratory”).

American space station Skylab

Two years after the creation of the first space laboratory, Salyut, in the Soviet Union, the Americans launched their station into orbit. It was a suitably modified third stage of the huge Saturn launch vehicle, with the help of which US astronauts landed on the surface of the Moon. Well, after the “lunar program” was completed, another use was found for the same rocket.

Despite the fact that the American station had a slightly shorter length than ours (14.6 m), thanks to its larger diameter (6.6 m versus 4.15 m), the astronauts were able to be accommodated with greater comfort - each had their own personal sleeping cabin.

Each cabin contained 6 lockers for personal belongings and a sleeping bag. True, due to the cramped conditions, this bag simply hung on the wall, so the astronaut had to sleep as if “standing up,” but in zero-gravity conditions this did not matter much.

The room for personal hygiene had an area of ​​2.8 square meters. m, which is quite comparable in size to the toilets and bathrooms in our apartments. It was equipped with a washbasin and waste receptacles. Interestingly, the washbasin was a closed sphere with two openings for the hands, equipped with rubber flaps, so that water could not get from the inside to the outside and was sucked out by a special pump.

All this was mounted against one of the walls of the room. On the other wall there are individual cabinets for toiletries. The astronauts washed themselves with sponges and shaved with safety razors.

The wardroom, where the astronauts spent their leisure time, cooked and ate, had an area of ​​9.3 square meters. m (usually the kitchen in many of our apartments has only 6 sq. m). There was a stove with burners for heating food, a small table, cabinets and refrigerators.

The table on three sides was equipped with three individual taps for drinking water. In addition, there are also taps for cold and hot water used in cooking.

There were also four chairs - three at the table, one at the window through which you can observe and, if desired, photograph the Earth, as well as a library and a tape recorder with a supply of cassettes.

The compartment for training and conducting experiments (area 16.7 sq. m) was equipped with a number of instruments and devices, in particular systems for creating negative pressure in the lower half of the astronaut’s body - the Americans borrowed them from us; For the first time, such suits were tested on Salyut. Nearby stood a bicycle ergometer, on the axis of which there were small electric generators - so that by rotating the pedals, the astronaut also generated electricity during training. And on the control panel with a recording device and indicators of blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate, body temperature and metabolic rate, all parameters of the trainee’s body were shown.

The laboratory compartment was approximately twice the volume of the domestic compartment and was used mainly for experiments related to the movements of astronauts. Its internal diameter is 6.4 m, and the height from the floor to the transition hatch into the airlock chamber was 6 m.

To make it easier for people to move inside the station, handrails and brackets were provided, and in addition, astronauts could wear safety belts at their workplaces.

So that the crew, if necessary, can move from spaceship to the station block or, on the contrary, get off at open space, there was an airlock chamber. It also housed equipment for storing and supplying gases that made up the artificial atmosphere of the station, and for monitoring the parameters of its atmosphere. Devices were also installed here to ensure thermal regulation in the station’s compartments and power supply before the deployment of solar panels and during flight in the Earth’s shadow.

The mooring structure served to dock the station with the Apollo space transport ship. It had two docking points. One - the main one - was located in the end part of the structure, the second - the backup one - was located on the side wall.

The station also had a set of astronomical instruments and other equipment for scientific research purposes.

The Americans seem to have thought of everything down to the smallest detail. On Earth, before the launch, multi-ton reserves of not only oxygen, nitrogen, water and food, but also a lot of clothes, shoes, linen and household items were loaded into the station's storerooms. Among them were 60 shirts, jackets and pants, 210 sets underwear, 15 pairs of shoes and gloves, 30 overalls, 95 kg of towels and rags for drying, 25 kg of paper napkins, 55 bars of soap, 1800 sewage bags, a set of repair tools, 13 film cameras, 104 film cassettes, a first aid kit weighing 34 kg, 108 pens and pencils, etc.

However, despite the fact that the total mass of all this stuff reached 5 tons, the reserves were still not enough, and they then had to be renewed when changing crews.

According to the program, the launch of the station was scheduled for May 14, 1973. Three expeditions were supposed to visit it, and the first, consisting of Charles Conrad, Paul Weitz and Joseph Kerwin, was supposed to launch within a day after the station entered orbit.

However, already before the start everything went wrong. First, the electricians at the cosmodrome went on strike. Then the service farm was struck by lightning. Then, when refueling the launch vehicle, the liquid oxygen supply pump failed, and it had to be urgently replaced...

So when the Saturn 5 rocket finally took off, to the great delight of half a million spectators gathered around the cosmodrome, they breathed a sigh of relief and service staff. But, as it turned out, they were happy early.

When the launch vehicle did its job and Scalab was in orbit, it turned out that the pyrotechnic locks did not work and the solar panels did not open. According to telemetry measurements, they produced only 25 W of energy instead of the required 12,400 W. This was a serious problem, and the engineers on Earth were alarmed.

The mood in the Control Center finally soured when an analysis of the situation showed that the malfunction was serious, and even if astronauts were sent, they were unlikely to be able to fix the accident - they simply could not reach the batteries, since there were no steps or handrails in this area on the outside of the station.

Trouble rarely comes alone; At the same time, it turned out that the anti-meteor screen was also torn off during launch. The loss, perhaps, would not have been very terrible - as practice shows, there are not so many micrometeorites in near-Earth space - if this screen had not also served as a kind of solar umbrella, protecting the station from overheating. As a result, within a day the temperature inside the station rose to 38°C and continued to rise. A day later, it was absolutely scorching hot inside the station - 55°C!

Of course, it would be possible to spit on everything and prepare a spare station for launch. However, every US resident was aware that the station cost 294 million dollars, and the launch vehicle and launch maintenance work cost another 160 million. But thrifty Americans are not accustomed to throwing so much money down the drain.

They began to think about how to save the station. And then a saving thought occurred to someone: “What if the astronauts take a white heat-reflecting blanket with them and cover the station with it?..”

Calculations have shown that in this case the temperature inside the station can drop to a completely acceptable value.

The start of the first expedition was postponed until May 25. And while experts were thinking about what size the bedspread should be and what to sew it from, the astronauts began to train, trying to understand, while still on Earth, how best they could complete the unexpected task.

A few days later, the “umbrella” was a folding panel measuring approximately 3.5? 4 m of two layers of nylon and mylar fabric was ready. It was sewn by two seamstresses, who, along with their machines, were transported by a special plane to the spaceport from Houston. They worked 12–14 hours a day and did everything conscientiously. At the same time, the design of the rods was developed to facilitate the opening of the multi-meter “umbrella”.

All this was immediately taken by the astronauts. They put on spacesuits and climbed into a pool of water, at the bottom of which there was a mock-up of the station and it was possible to conduct final training in conditions close to reality.

And while they were training, the seamstresses sewed two more spare panels - as they say, just in case.

Meanwhile, alarming news continued to arrive from the station. The heat was doing its job: the heated insulation began to release harmful gases into the station’s atmosphere. In addition, food began to spoil in refrigerators that were not working well due to the heat and lack of electricity...

The astronauts hurried to the cosmodrome, where their rocket was already waiting. But the start had to be postponed again - the service farms, again, for the second time (!), were struck by lightning, and all the systems had to be rechecked again and again - had a huge electric discharge disrupted their serviceability?..

The brave and determined are sometimes lucky - the lightning did not do much harm this time. The launch went without any complications, and soon the Apollo with the crew on board moored to the station.

An external inspection confirmed the initial assumptions: one of the solar panels was torn off, and the other did not open because a piece of the anti-meteorite screen got into the mechanism.

The crew put on their spacesuits, the commander opened the hatch in the command compartment of the ship, and Paul Weitz, leaning out, tried to pull out a piece of the screen from the panel opening mechanism with a special hook on a long handle. But all his efforts were in vain - the damned fragment settled firmly.

On Earth they decided that the attempt could be repeated sometime later, but for now the crew should rest properly, because the astronauts had not slept for more than 20 hours.

The crew closed the hatch, filled the cabin with an oxygen-nitrogen mixture and removed their spacesuits. All that remained was to dock firmly with the station and you could sleep peacefully.

Not so! Neither the first nor the second attempts were successful - the docking locks stubbornly refused to work. Why? To find out, it was necessary to put on the spacesuits again, climb out and repair the locks. Exhausted people again put on protective armor, but then a saving thought came to the experts on Earth. It is not necessary to climb outside; you must first check whether power is supplied to the lock drive.

The fault was found and fixed. The locks closed. The crew took off their spacesuits and finally had the opportunity to rest after 27 hours of wakefulness and hard work.

While the crew was sleeping, specialists on Earth analyzed the situation again and again, looking for the best ways rescuing the station. The results of the reflections were not very comforting. Most experts agreed that with the available tools, the astronauts are unlikely to be able to knock out the fragment and open the solar panel - this operation will have to be left to the second shift of astronauts, if there is one.

The doubts about whether or not to prepare for the next two shifts could be resolved after the astronauts examined the station from the inside, and then went outside and tried to throw a life-saving blanket-umbrella over it.

On May 26, the well-rested crew returned to work. First of all, the astronauts went to explore the station. It was pretty dangerous occupation, because, as already mentioned, toxic gases could accumulate inside due to the high temperature. After consulting, the astronauts decided not to wear spacesuits - you can’t turn around in them inside the station - but to limit themselves to only respirators and protective gloves.

Weitz was the first to go on reconnaissance, “armed” with a gas analyzer. He did not find any poisons in the station's atmosphere; he only found a rag floating in zero gravity and some nuts - evidence of the hasty work of earthly installers. The temperature inside the station reached 45 °C. “It’s like living here in the desert - it’s hot, but it’s possible,” he commented on the results of the inspection.

On Earth they breathed a sigh of relief - there was hope that the station could be saved.

Returning to their ship after the excursion, the crew had breakfast. The astronauts then unpacked the heat shield and began installing it. The team split up. Konrad and Weitz again dived into the heat of the station, and Kerwin remained on the ship to monitor the progress of the operation through the window and give advice.

To install and open the “umbrella,” the astronauts used a special gateway designed to extend scientific instruments into outer space and a mechanical manipulator arm.

We had to tinker with the deployment of the panel quite a bit. At about 4 o'clock, the astronauts, sweating profusely, methodically straightened the cloth, from time to time taking refuge from the heat in the cooler airlock chamber. However, it was not possible to straighten the umbrella completely - three large folds remained. But the operators on Earth were happy with what was done; they hoped that after warming up in the sun, the cloth would straighten out on its own (which later, by the way, happened).

The main thing was done: the station, protected from the scorching rays, ceased to resemble a sauna. The temperature inside the cabin began to drop at a rate of one degree per hour, and soon the thermometer stopped at 37 °C. Subsequently, when the station was turned around so that the Sun no longer attacked it head-on, the temperature dropped by another 7°. It was already possible to live in Skylab.

Having moved to the station, the crew tried to carry out at least some of the planned scientific experiments. Some things were done, some were not. Thus, due to the heat, Weitz was unable to develop the planned power on the bicycle ergonometer, the film in the film camera jammed, the pendulum scales failed... Nevertheless, the astronauts were able to prepare experiments on exploration of minerals on Earth from space, conducted several sessions of photographing both the earth's surface, and space, a solar flare was detected...

Meanwhile, the temperature on board the station dropped to 25 °C, and life for the astronauts became almost normal. They even took up acrobatics - they began to run along the cylindrical surface of the station, making full revolutions. At first, the runner kept falling off the wall, “floating up” to the center of the station, but in the end everyone got used to it and even showed this “attraction” on television, to the great delight of journalists and television viewers.

Ground services tried to derive practical benefit from this unplanned experiment. They measured the amount of vibration and shaking of the station from intense movements inside it and came to the conclusion that they were insignificant and quite acceptable.

Then, for the first time in the history of astronautics, Konrad cut Weitz's hair, carefully collecting all the hair with a vacuum cleaner. And then all the astronauts took turns washing in the space shower.

As we have already said, water in zero gravity collects in large bubbles. Therefore, to prevent it from scattering throughout the station, the shower stall is surrounded by plastic film so that it looks like a barrel. The astronaut climbed inside through the top hatch, closed it behind him and only then turned on the water, which was then sucked out by a special pump. Well, the last drops had to be collected with the same vacuum cleaner, which was on strike due to unusual work.

The astronauts pointed this out to earthly designers, and they promised to prepare a new modification of the dust-water-volume sucker for the next flight to the station.

At the same time, everyone together - both ground-based experts and astronauts - were looking for ways to repair at least one solar battery so that they would not have to save electricity so harshly. Finally, it was decided that on July 7, the astronauts would go into outer space, armed with a pole and... surgical scissors. At first it was supposed to take a saw with us, but then they abandoned it - God forbid the astronaut cuts a glove or space suit with it. And a leak in space can lead to even greater troubles than a hole in a diving suit.

The day before leaving Earth, final recommendations for repairs were transmitted to the station. One of the astronauts must use a pre-installed homemade handrail to reach the solar panel, tie a cable to it, and “sail” to safe distance and pull the end of the rope.

Conrad listened to the instructions and gloomily quipped: “I’ll pull, and the panel will slam me like a fly...” But he was reassured by the information that the spring there was not very strong and the corresponding experiments had already been carried out on Earth.

And so on July 7, 1973, Conrad and Kerwin put on their spacesuits and climbed out. We quickly assembled an 8-meter pole from the tubes. Scissors were tied to its end, and, getting closer to the scene of the accident, Kerwin tried to cut with them a piece of metal that had jammed the opening mechanism. Konrad helped him, holding his comrade so that he did not “float up”.

How difficult such seemingly simple work in space turned out to be can be judged by this fact: the heart rate of trained people soon jumped to 150 beats per minute. The astronauts were greatly hampered in their work by the spacesuits that were inflated in a vacuum, like soccer balls - after all, air pressure was maintained inside them, but it was impossible to reset it - people had to breathe with something...

In the end, they got tired of such a useless task, and Conrad climbed, moving the pole with his hands, to the scene of the accident. When he got there, he saw that the panel was jammed with a small strip of aluminum with a bolt. The astronaut positioned the scissors correctly and pressed one of the rings. Puffing Kerwin pulled the rope tied to another ring - and in the end the strip was cut.

Hooray! Victory?! But it turned out that the joy was premature - the panel moved a little, but did not open completely. The astronauts tied the end of the cable to it and harnessed themselves into the strap, like barge haulers on the Volga. The panel moved further, but did not open completely...

Discouraged repairmen returned to the station and reported everything in detail to Earth. A painful silence lasted for several minutes - experts on Earth figured out what the problem was. Finally, the operator from the Control Center reported that perhaps the reason for the failure was that the panel opening hydraulic drive, which was in the shadow, froze. It is necessary to turn the station so that the Sun shines on it, and then, probably, the panel will open.

That's what they did. And - oh, miracle! - after a few hours the panel started working.

Having received an additional supply of electricity, the astronauts breathed a sigh of relief and were able to truly engage in scientific work.

Interestingly, among other things, they carried out experiments invented by American schoolchildren. For example, one boy suggested photographing volcanoes from space using infrared film that records thermal radiation. And then, in his opinion, by the difference in temperature between the volcano and the surrounding area, one can judge how soon the eruption will occur. Another was interested in whether radishes would grow in zero gravity and how their roots would be positioned...

When the crew completed their mission and landed on June 22, experts estimated that the astronauts had completed the scientific program by 80–90%, despite the fact that repair work had taken up a lot of their time and effort.

The next two crews also suffered - people suffered from both the heat and space motion sickness (yes, this happens not only on sea ​​ships, but also in space), and from diseases... The program of experiments was very intense - sometimes I had to work 12 hours a day. But the astronauts did not lose heart; they found time not only for serious matters, but also for jokes.

So, one day at the Mission Control Center they suddenly heard a pleasant female voice coming from the station. Where is the woman from?! And everyone laughed until they cried when they figured out that one of the astronauts had smuggled a tape recording of his wife’s voice into the station...

In general, everyone turned out to be great and deserves that, in addition to the astronauts already named, we also mentioned the names of the commander of the second crew, Alan Bean, a pilot who previously flew on Apollo 12 to the Moon, as well as his colleagues - Owen Garriott, PhD, a specialist in ionospheric physics, and aeronautical engineer Jack Lousma.

In the third crew, the commander was J. Carr, and his colleagues were W. Pogue and E. Gibson. All newcomers who flew into space for the first time, they nevertheless set a national record for the duration of stay in space - 84 days.

The Skylab station itself also performed well. Having flown off, she fell into the Indian Ocean in 1978, without causing harm to anyone living on Earth.

America and Americans America is the most rich country in the world, because half of its population consists of cashiers who escaped from Europe and their descendants. Kazimierz Bartoszewicz America is the only country that went from barbarism straight to decline, bypassing the stage