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FAMOUS WORLD SCIENTISTS

SIMO JELAČA, Ph.D.

HOMER (800-750 BC), Greek poet

The details of Homer's life are considered a great mystery, due to the lack of original documents about his birthplace and years of life. There are scholars who even claim that Homer, as a person, did not even exist, and that the works considered Homer's are in reality the works of several authors created over several centuries. However, everyone agrees that Homer was blind.

The most famous works of Homer are: The Iliad and The Odyssey. According to legend, Homer sang Greek history in his works. In the Iliad, he sang about the Trojan War, and in the Odyssey, about the return from the war. Both of these works are considered the leading ideas of human civilization, and Homer, as a person, is taken as the starting point of European literature and historical tradition. Many authors claim that Homer presented himself in the Odyssey through the person of Demodocus, who was revered by the whole world at that time.

However, there are authors who state that the Iliad and the Odyssey are not the works of the same author. Among Homer's other works, 23 short hymns dedicated to individual gods are mentioned.

HIPPOCRATES (460-377 BC), Greek physician

60-70 written texts by Hippocrates in the field of medicine have been preserved, many of which were written after his death. Aristotle called him the "Great Physician", and he is still considered the father of medicine today. He certainly laid the first foundations of scientific medicine and left his mark on them to this day. He considered all kinds of diseases to be commonplace and rejected superstition, and personally sought to find the causes and symptoms of diseases and treated them with natural methods. He advocated rest, healthy eating, exercise, hygiene, and clean air. Hippocrates himself said that walking was the best medicine. To this day, in all universities around the world, doctors take the Hippocratic oath as their ethical responsibility to their patients.

LEONARDO DA VINCI (1452-1519), Italian inventor, scientist, and artist

Leonardo da Vinci is considered the most brilliant mind in the history of human civilization. Unfortunately for him and for all of us, he lived at a time when any progress was completely forbidden. Because of this, almost all of his works remained unpublished for centuries after his death. As an artist, he left us unsurpassed works of the Renaissance: The Last Supper (1495-1497) and the Mona Lisa (1503-1506). He dealt with astronomy, geography, paleontology, geology, botany, zoology, hydrodynamics, optics, aerodynamics and anatomy. In all these disciplines he was a genius, in a word unsurpassed. As a painter, he left behind numerous paintings and sketches of the human body, with phenomenally accurate proportions. After centuries of superstition, he introduced a rational and systematic approach to the study of nature. He observed things in nature for a long time, made sketches and notes, repeated experiments several times to ensure accuracy before drawing conclusions. He left nothing to chance. Only then did he offer his conclusions for human use. He studied the flight of birds with great precision and subsequently designed numerous flying machines. He designed the helicopter, five centuries before its actual creation. He also constructed the parachute in 1485, three hundred years before its creation. In doing so, he precisely calculated the size of the parachute and determined the type of material for its safe descent. He studied the principles of levers and gears extremely well, based on which he constructed the first bicycle and crane. In the field of hydrodynamics, he constructed numerous water-powered machines, also several centuries before the industrial revolution. He even sketched an apparatus for measuring humidity, and even a diving suit with an air supply underwater. While working for the Duke of Milan (1482-1499), he designed a missile-launching weapon, a machine gun, the first tank and the first submarine. He designed numerous bridges and irrigation systems. However, above all, he is remembered as an unsurpassed painter and architect. It seems that a genius, like Leonardo da Vinci, is truly born only once every millennium.

BLAISE PASCAL (1623-1662), French scientist

Pascal created the first digital computer in 1642-1644, and in 1647 he proved that atmospheric pressure decreases with increasing altitude. Before him, the Italian Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647) had come to the same conclusion. Pascal established the law according to which the pressure in liquids in a closed container is transmitted equally in all directions. The first hydrostatic press was built on this principle in 1650. Despite this, Pascal is also remembered as a mathematician, having built the first calculating machine at the age of nineteen. In 1654, he made a mathematical discovery that would have a huge impact on future generations: he began calculating the probability of winning on dice and, with Pierre de Fermat, he derived the first theory of probability.

The international system of measurements introduced the unit of pressure, the Pascal, and more recently the Pascal language, as a sign of Pascal's exceptional scientific achievements. In his book "Thoughts", on the theory of mathematical probability, he highlighted the eternal philosophical question of the existence of God. Pascal, on the same issue, says: "A wise man will choose to believe, and if he is right, he will gain his recognition, and if he is wrong, he will lose nothing."

CHRISTIAN HUYGENS (1629–1695), Dutch mathematician and physicist

Huygens was born in The Hague, studied law in Leiden and mathematics. He received his doctorate in Anzer in 1655. In 1655, together with his brother Constantin, he constructed a 3-meter telescope, with which he discovered Saturn's largest satellite, Titan, on March 25, 1655. A little later, he also explained Saturn's rings as solid companions of the planet.

As a physicist, he believed that light behaved like a wave, which he published in 1690 in his work "Traite de la Lumiere" (Treatise on Light), which deals with the reflection and refraction of light. His opinion was ignored for a century, until it was confirmed by Thomas Young (1773-1829). Huygens is also remembered for his pendulum clock from 1657-1658, described in his work "Horologium". Huygens' clock became monumental for the advancement of research in the field of physics. The mathematical description of the pendulum was presented in the work "Horologium Oscillatorium" (Pendulum Clock) in 1673. In this work, Huygens first mentioned the concept of inertia. Huygens worked closely with Leibniz, whom he supported in his controversial conflict with Newton in the field of gravity. There are indications that Newton appropriated Huygens's discoveries in the field of light, as well as some of Robert Hooke's discoveries in the field of vacuum. Huygens is considered a founder of the French Academy of Sciences, to which he was elected a member in 1665 and whose reputation he raised with his works. Before that, he had become a member of the Royal Society of England in 1663.

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