Kansas Sesquicentennial 2011 Elmer McCollum 1879-1967 Kansas Sesquicentennial 2011 Benjamin F. Mudge 1817-1879

Moved to Wyandotte County in 1861. Born and raised on a farm near Ft. Scott. Became the first state geologist. Earned two degrees in chemistry at the Led geology and fossil expeditions in Gove, . Ellsworth, Smith, Trego, Ellis, and Jewell He discovered A and B and found Counties. Famous for finding the first fossil that D helps prevent a bone disease ever in America of a bird with teeth in 1872. called . Co-founder of the Kansas Academy of His studies helped Americans understand Science in 1867. Taught at what is now that what they eat affects their health. Kansas State University. Discovered 80 new species of extinct plants EXTRA COOL: McCollum Hall at KU is named in and animals from the time when Kansas was Photo courtesy of Kansas Historical Society* honor of Elmer and his brother Burton, another an ocean. scientist. ELMER McCOLLUM Benjamin Franklin MUDGE EXTRA COOL: Three of his discoveries have been named for him. CHEMISTRY GEOLOGY / PALEONTOLOGY Project of the Ad Astra Kansas Initiative Project of the Ad Astra Kansas Initiative Kansas Geological Survey www.adastra-ks.org www.adastra-ks.org *Copy use and restrictions apply

Ernest Fox NICHOLS 1869-1924 William PURVIS / Charles WILSON Born in Leavenworth. Because of poor health he was homeschooled by his mother. They were railroad mechanics in Goodland Orphaned at age 15, he went to live with his in the early 1900s. aunt and uncle in Manhattan. Worked together in the railroad shop to build Graduated from Kansas State University. an aircraft that could take off and land Famous for his work on infrared radiation. vertically. Their first version lifted several He proved that light exerts pressure, feet off the ground. information important to astrophysicists as Applied for the first U.S. patent for a rotary they study the stars. wing aircraft (helicopter) in 1912. Also known for the Nichols radiometer, a Their project to build a fulI-scale version was device for measuring stellar radiation. unsuccessful, but their main ideas were

Did radiation research for General Electric. taken and improved upon in the 1930s to KansasMemory.org, Kansas State Historical Society* Ernest Fox NICHOLS make forward flight possible. Physics EXTRA COOL : Nichols was one of the most William PURVIS/Charles WILSON General Electric famous scientists of the time and was friends with Inventors EXTRA COOL : A replica of their helicopter is on Albert Einstein. *Copy use and restrictions apply display at Goodland’s High Plains Museum. SCIENCE in KANSAS ANSAS - SCIENCE in KANSAS ANSAS - Project of the Ad Astra Kansas Initiative 2011 2011 Project of the Ad Astra Kansas Initiative 150 years and counting www.adastra- 150-ks.org 150 years and counting www.adastra- 150-ks.org years and years and counting counting