REPORT #C - Ethnicity & Science

By Marium Quraishi

Abdus Salam
James E. West
Rosalind E. Franklin
Ahmed Zewail
1st SCIENTIST - Abdus Salam

● Pakistani theoretical physicist

 What Abdus Salam is known for

● Helped developed the theory of the unified weak

and electromagnetic interaction between
elementary particles, including, inter alia, and the
prediction of the weak neutral current.
 Birth & Death Date

DOB 01/29/1926

in Jhang,
Pakistan

DOD 11/21/1996

in Oxford, United
Kingdom
 Family Information

Parents:

● Mother - Hajira Hussain

● Father - Chaudhry Muhammad Hussain

Children:

● Aziza Rahman
● Anisa B.S. Bajwa
 Education
Elementary School:

- Not specifed

High School:

- Not specified

College:

- University of Cambridge, St. Johns (Cambridge, England)

 Awards Abdus Salam acheived
★ 1979 - Nobel Prize in Physics
★ 1981 - Gold Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Physics
★ 1983 - Lomonosov Golf Medal
★ 1958 - Adams Prize
★ 1990 - Copley Medal
★ 1978 - Royal Medal
★ 1964 - Hughes Medal
★ Atoms for Peace Award
 What did Abdus Salam wanted to identify?
● the possible electromagnetic interactions
 What is electromagnetic interactions?
● the relatively long-range interaction between elementary particles resulting from their
electric and magnetic fields, responsible for molecular structure, chemical reactions,
and other electromagnetic phenomena.
4 Types of interactions:
Gravitational interaction:

- responsible for the attractive force between masses.

Electromagnetic interaction:

- responsible for the attractive or repulsive forces between charges.

- holding the molecules together.

Strong interaction:

- holds quarks together to make protons and neutrons.

- strong interaction holds protons and neutrons together to form nuclei.

Weak interaction:

- is responsible for radioactive beta decay.

- the energy generating processes of stars, including our Sun.
❖ These interactions
often manifest
themselves as
forces between
particles.
 Patents
● Blended Chitosan-latex binder for high performance nonwoven fabrics
(#20190242055)
- August 30, 2016, North Carolina State University
● Paper strength agents and methods for improving pulp prod (#2010361618)
- December 17, 2015
● Cooperative client and server logging (#9124669)
- September 1, 2015, Microsoft Tech. Licensing, LLC

Etc.
Quiz Question

What did Abdus Salam wanted to identify?

Answer:

The possible electromagnetic interactions

Abdus Salam References:
Reference #1:

https://www.physicsmasterclasses.org/exercises/keyhole/it/theory/main-5.html

Reference #2:

https://www.famousscientists.org/mohammad-abdus-salam/

Reference #3:

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1979/salam/facts/
 2nd SCIENTIST - James E. West

● African American inventor and

electrial engineer
 James West’s Invention
● West invented the foil electret microphone in 1962 while
developing instruments for human hearing research.
 Birth & Death Date

DOB 02/10/1931

in Farmville, Virginia

Still present
 Family information
Parents:

● Mother - Matilda West

● Father - Samuel Edward

Children:

● Marion West Higgins

 Education
Elementary School:

- Not specified

High School:

- Not Specified

College:

- Temple University
 Awards James West Achieved
★ 2007 - National Medal of Technology and Innovation

★ 2010 - Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering

 What was James West’s goal?

● To develop an inexpensive, highly sensitive, compact

microphone.
● Electret microphone
 Why?
● the microphone became widely used because of its high
performance, accuracy, and reliability, in addition to its low
cost, small size, and light weight.
 How does electret microphone work?
● The typical structure of an electret condenser
microphone is composed of a non-woven
cloth, a case, a polar ring, a diaphragm, a
spacer, a back plate, a base, a copper ring, and
a printed circuit board (PCB).

● The electret material is applied to the

diaphragm and shown as the polar ring.
continued:

● the diaphragm acts as one plate of a

capacitor.
● vibrations produce changes in the
distance between the diaphragm and
the back plate.
● the voltage maintained across the
diaphragm and the back plate
changes with the vibrations in the air.
 What is the electret microphone used for?
❖ Due to their proliferation, almost everyone uses this type of microphone on an
everyday basis.

Electret microphones enable communication and recording in devices including:

- telephones
- smartphones
- desktop computers
- tablets, headsets
- hearing aids, megaphones
- etc.
 Patents
● Programmable electronic stethoscope devices, algorithms, systems, and methods
(#20180317876)
- November 8, 2018, Johns Hopkins University
● PBLG based planar microphones (#20150215707)
- July 30, 2015
● Audio Display System (#20120124470)
- November 17, 2011, Johns Hopkins University

Etc.
Quiz Question

What is the electret microphone used for?

Answer:

Commonly used electric devices

James E. West References:
Reference #1:

https://www.biography.com/inventor/james-west

Reference #2:

https://www.homemade-circuits.com/how-electret-microphone-works/

Reference #3:

https://www.cuidevices.com/product-spotlight/electret-condenser-microphones
 3rd SCIENTIST - Rosalind E.
Franklin

● English chemist and X-

ray crystallographer
 What did Rosalind Franklin discover?
● The discovery of the structure of DNA
● Her work on the X-ray diffraction images of DNA
 Birth & Death Date

DOB 07/25/1920

in Notting Hill, London,

UK

DOD 04/16/1958

in Chelsea, London,
UK
 Family Information
Parents & Siblings:

● Mother - Muriel Frances Waley

● Father - Ellis Arthur Franklin
● Siblings - Jenifer Glynn, Colin Franklin, Roland Franklin and David Franklin

Children:

● None
 Education
Elementary School:

- Not specified

High School:

- St. Paul’s Girls School

College:

- Newnham College, Cambridge

 What did she learn that helped led to her discovery?

● She learned crystallography and X-ray diffraction, techniques

that she applied to DNA fibers.
How did Rosalind Franklin discover the structure of
DNA?
● By using her technique called X-ray crystallography, it revealed the helical shape of
the DNA molecule.
● Her work to make clearer X-ray patterns of DNA molecules laid the foundation for
James Watson and Francis Crick's suggestion that DNA is a double-helix polymer in
1953.
● Watson and Crick (scientists) worked together to discover DNA.
● Photo 51 was an X-ray Photo 51
diffraction image that gave
them some crucial pieces of
information.
● Watson and Crick realized
that DNA must have a
double helical structure.
● Photo 51 was actually made
by Rosalind Franklin.

Double-helix pattern
She also discovered that there’s TWO forms of DNA

● She was the one who figured out that there

were two forms of DNA, which made
solving the whole structure possible.

● She had figured out that backbone of the A

form is antiparallel. It wouldn't have been
very long before she figured out that the B
form backbone was antiparallel as well.
 Why is DNA so important?
DNA is vital for all living beings – even plants.

● It is important for inheritance, coding for proteins and the genetic instruction guide
for life and its processes.
● DNA holds the instructions for an organism's or each cell's development and
reproduction.
 How did Rosalind Franklin impact the society?
● Her research helped solve the mystery of the structure of DNA - the building blocks
of life.
● Her research enabled other scientists to build a model of DNA, and they received
credit for it.
● Franklin was a pioneer, whose valuable DNA photograph helped change the world of
genetics forever.
 How did Rosalind Franklin die?
● Franklin died on April 16, 1958, of ovarian cancer, possibly caused by her
extensive exposure to radiation while doing X-ray crystallography work.

● Because the Nobel Prize can only be shared among three living scientists,
Franklin's work was barely mentioned when it was awarded to Watson, Crick
and Wilkins in 1962.
Quiz Question

How did Rosalind Franklin die?

Answer:

Ovarian Cancer
Rosalind E. Franklin References:
Reference #1: https://www.biography.com/scientist/rosalind-franklin

Reference #2:
https://www.voanews.com/silicon-valley-technology/rosalind-franklins-research-led-disc
overy-dna-structure

Reference #3: https://www.famousscientists.org/rosalind-franklin/

 4th SCIENTIST - Ahmed Zewail

● Egyptian-American chemist,
known as the "father of
femtochemistry"
 Ahmed Zewail’s Invention

● He invented femtochemistry.
● Developed a rapid laser technique that enabled scientists to study the action of atoms
during chemical reactions.
 Birth & Death Date

DOB 02/26/1946

in Damanhour, Egypt

DOD 08/02/2016

in Pasadena, CA
 Family Information
Parents:

● Mother - Rawhia Dar

● Father - Hassan Zewail

Children:

● Maha Zewail-Foote, Amani Zewail, Hani Zewail and Nabeel Zewail

 Education

Elementary School:

- Not specified

High School:

- Not specified

College:

- University of Pennsylvania
 Awards Ahmed Zewail Achieved
★ 1999 - Nobel Prize in Chemistry
★ 1996 - NAS Award in Chemical Sciences
★ 1998 - Benjmin Franklin Medal in Chemistry
★ 2006 - Albert Einstein World Award of Science
★ 1989 - King Faisal International Prize
★ 2011 - Priestley Medal
★ 1998 - Paul Kerrer Gold Medal
★ 1993 - Wolf Prize in Chemistry
 What is femtochemistry?
● Femtochemistry is the area of physical chemistry that studies
chemical reactions on extremely short timescales in order to
study the very act of atoms within molecules rearranging
themselves to form new molecules.
● one femtosecond is a millionth of a billionth of a second.
 How did Ahmed Zewail discover it?
● This transition from one constellation
to another happens very quickly. The
process is possible because the atoms
inside a molecule vibrate.
● The time between these vibrations is
very short - 10-100 femtoseconds.
● In the late 1980s Ahmed Zewail
developed methods for studying
chemical reactions in detail.
● By using laser technology to produce
flashes of light just a few femtoseconds
long, reactions can be mapped.
 Why is femtochemistry important?
● Femtochemistry enables us to understand why certain chemical reactions take place
but not others.
● It also explain why the speed and yield of reactions depend on temperature.
● Scientists the world over are studying processes with femtosecond spectroscopy in
gases, in fluids and in solids, on surfaces and in polymers.
 Why was the work of Ahmed Zewail important to
chemistry?
❖ Contributions to Science

● Ahmed Zewail's main work was as a pioneer and a leader on femtochemistry

● an area of physical chemistry that studies the chemical reactions that occur in just a
matter of femtoseconds.
 How did Ahmed Zewail impact the society?
● Zewail's discovery enabled scientists to gain more control over the outcome of the
chemical reaction, and it was expected to have many applications.
● The characteristic spectra, or light patterns, from the molecules were then studied to
determine the structural changes of the molecules.
 Patents
● Method and system for electron microscope with multiple cathodes (#9464998)
- October 11, 2016, California Institute of Technology
● Characterization of nanoscale structures using an ultrafast electron microscope
(#9053903)
- June 9, 2015, California Institute of Technology
● Photon induced near field electron microscope and biological imaging system
(#8963085)
- February 24, 2015, California Institute of Technology
Quiz Question

What is Ahmed Zewail’s ethnicity?

Answer:

Egyptian-American
Ahmed Zewail References:
Reference #1:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ahmed-Zewail

Reference #2:

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1999/zewail/facts/

Reference #3:

https://patents.justia.com/inventor/ahmed-h-zewail