FFaammoouuss SScciieennttiissttss by Ms. Amatucci’s th 4 Graders Stony Point Elementary School December 2005 We dedicate this book to all children who will be the "discoverers" of the future and who will some day fulfill their dreams in the world of science. The Process The Virginia 4th Grade Standards of Learning set an expectation that while studying different topics in science (Life Science, Physical Science, and Earth Science) students will become familiar with historical contributions made by individuals. This book came about as a consequence of our desire to meet the standards as well as to produce a book of artistic and literary merit. Initially, we immersed ourselves in the information contained in piles of books from our classroom and library. We created a brainstorming chart and a list of fascinating scientists. Later, each student thought about the field of science that most interested them and settled on one scientist. Each student studied their person and thought about questions like: o What did the scientist do to make him/her well known in the scientific world? o Briefly describe the discovery, invention, or research. o What prompted him/her to do his/her work? The first step in the art process was to sketch our image. We sketched the scientist in portrait style. We made adjustments and started on another sketch. Using our pencil sketches, we used colored pencils to recreate the portraits. We used normal pencils very lightly to get the general idea of what it would look like. Then we colored it in with colored pencils. We layered (using different shades of similar colors to make it stand out) and burnished our picture to give it a waxy, glazed look. For the writing process, we talked about what would be interesting to read. With this information in hand, we did more research on our scientists and collected interesting words and phrases. We answered questions in a template – Scientist Research By First Last Name Who: Where: When: What: How: Why: We took the prases and made them into sentences with whole sentences. We wrote our paragraphs and did the word processing on the computer. The final step was to mount our portraits and paragraphs in an aesthetic manner and prepare them for our group display. Carl Sagan By Abby Weaver Carl Sagan was born in New York on November 9, 1934. He died on December 20, 1996. He wrote books, had a TV show called “Cosmos”, and he also had a movie that was seen by about 500 million people. He was a consultant and advisor to NASA since the 1950s. He was one of the first to think that there was life on other planets, especially Mars. He helped design the Mariner 2 mission to Venus and the Mariner 9 and Viking trips to Mars. He also worked on the Voyager mission to the outer solar system and the Galileo mission to Jupiter. He helped solve the mysteries of the high temperatures in Venus. As a boy he loved to read science fiction books and was very interested in Astronomy. His parents taught him to search for his answers to his many questions. As an adult he continued to search for his answers to his questions about science. Robert Oppenheimer By Alex Houchens He did his research at Los Alamos in New Mexico. He did his research around June 1942. He is no longer living. Robert Oppenheimer invented the first atomic/nuclear bomb. Oppenheimer began to look for a way to separate Uranium 235 from natural uranium and to find out the mass that was to make an atomic bomb. The atomic bomb was used during World War II. It ended the war with Japan. Tycho Brahe by Alex McNair Tycho Brahe was born in Denmark and lived from 1546 to 1601. He created more accurate astronomy instruments and more accurate ways to observe the planets and the moon. His observations showed that the planets and other objects (comets, stars) were behind the moon and that planets and the moon moved in orbits. Brahe observed the moon and the planets and their orbits very carefully with the best instruments. He was very careful with his observations. He kept very accurate records of the movements of the planets and the moon. Brahe went to many colleges and got interested in astronomy. He even bought some astronomy instruments. He wanted to teach people more about astronomy and he believed he could do it by using accurate observations. King Frederick II gave him money to start an observatory. In a dual with a student while he was at college, in Wittenberg in 1566, Brahe lost part of his nose. For the rest of his life, he wore a metal insert over the missing part. ^tàx ZÄxtáÉÇ By Allison Keenan Kate Gleason was born November 25, 1865 in New York. She also did her work in New York. She studied mechanical arts at Cornell University in 1884. Kate helped her father invent and improve a machine that made gears. Henry Ford said it was "the most remarkable machine work ever done by a woman." She also was the first woman president of the First National Bank in Rochester, New York. Kate began working in her father's tool company when she was just 12 years old. She went around the world selling the tools. She was very smart and got along well with people. Thomas Alva Edison By Chandler Hamilton Thomas Edison, known as the Wizard of Menlo Park, was born in 1847 and started inventing in 1868. He died in 1931. He was known as the Wizard of Menlo Park because he was born in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Edison invented the light bulb, phonograph, and the mimeograph. That is what made Edison famous. Edison made lots of stuff. I will tell you about the light bulb. He tried lots of substances and failed until he tried carbonated cotton. Edison was very curious so he made much much more! Alexander Graham Bell by Alyssa Carroll Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in the 1870s on March 3rd. He died in Canada. He invented the telephone, photo phone, and the telegraph. He did it by connecting two wires, one for the sound and one for receiving. He liked to invent things. He was very interested in communication and wanted to help deaf people. Jane Goodall By Brandon Wiseman I did my research about Jane Goodall. Jane was born in 1934 in England. She currently lives in Nobory, Kenya. In 1985, she observed chimps. She watched them nurse their babies, eat, and catch food. She was awarded the J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation prize. She wanted to help us all better understand the relationship between all creatures. William Ryan and Walter Pitman by Brittany Murphy William Ryan does research at Columbia University. Walter Pitman does research at Colombia University. During the 1990’s they did research and in 1997, they published a book about Noah’s flood. They discovered Noah’s flood was real by studying the earth’s surface and other clues. They looked at everything from the past like pottery and they discovered that there had to be a flood. They studied sediments in the rock from the bottom of the Black Sea. They discovered as the climate got warmer, the seas started to rise. The water rose quickly and homes were washed away. Scared people told their story to others. They were curious about the flood. They wanted to know if it was it real and when did it happen. Francis William Aston By Cage Lambert Francis William Aston researched in Birmingham, England. He was born on September 1, 1877 and died on November 20, 1945. Francis researched chemistry and then turned to physics. He won the Forster scholarship in 1898. That allowed him to work on the optical properties of tartaric acid derivatives. Francis developed mass spectrograph, a device that separates atoms or molecular fragments. He went to collage and was trained as a chemist. He was a chemist when he evolved into a psychologist. Thomas Jefferson By Chloe Herring Thomas Jefferson lived in Shadwell and Charlottesville, Va and Paris, France between 1743-1826. He was an inventor, astronomer, a man of science, a paleontologist, and an expert on anatomy. He was an architect. He designed “Monticello”. He liked farming and was an observer of nature. He invented the polygraph, a machine that copied each letter as he was writing. He always wanted to learn about science and study a lot of things. Benjamin Franklin by Cody Herring Ben Franklin was born on Milk Street in Boston Massachusetts on January 17, 1706. He died April 17, 1789. Franklin wanted to answer the question “Are lightning and electricity the same thing?” He made a strange looking kite – it had a rod at the top and a key on a silk cord at the end. On a stormy day, he and his son, Billy went outside with the kite. When lightning hit the rod, Mr. Franklin was holding the key. He got a “tingle” in his hand and figured out that lightning and electricity were the same thing. Mr. Franklin wanted to be able to control electricity. By taking a metal rod and putting it on top of a house he could help prevent homes from catching on fire caused by lightning. He had invented the “lightning rod”. People weren’t so afraid of lightning. Jacques Cousteau By: Cole Dickerson Jacques Cousteau was born in St. Andre- Cubzac, France on June 11th, 1910. He died on June 25th, 1997 in Paris, France.