The World's Best Scientific Discoveries

Some Of The Most Fascinating Findings In Scientific History

Mar 28, 2009

Scientists over time have made incredible discoveries that have helped others understand the way the world works. Here are some of the best ones.

Whether they be astronomers, biologists, chemists, geneticists or they were in the right place at the right time, these scientists have made remarkable discoveries that have paved the way for further studies in their fields and helped unravel some of the mysteries of this great universe.

Isaac Newton Discovers Universal Gravitation (1666)

What goes up must come down. The common story is that Isaac Newton discovered gravity when an apple fell on his head, while he was sitting under a tree. He concluded that all objects have a gravitational pull on each other.

Anton Van Leeuwenhoek had no university education and was not a scientist. He was a tradesman who made microscope lenses and through this work, he discovered bacteria, sperm cells, microscopic nematodes and blood cells, which then paved the way for the scientific study of microbiology and bacteriology.

In 1796 Edward Jenner used pus from cowpox sore to infect an 8-year-old boy. He discovered that people that were infected with cowpox didn’t contract small pox and this led to the development of vaccines. Vaccines have been developed for the measles, rubella, the flu, and scientists are currently working on vaccines to inhibit viral replication in HIV and AIDS. The development of vaccines has saved many lives by preventing disease, or managing them once contracted.

Amedeo Avogadro Discovers That Atoms Combine Into Molecules (1811)

Amedeo Avogadro was a chemist who discovered that atoms combine to form molecules. He was also the creator of Avogadro's law, which states that, at the same pressure and temperature, equal volumes of gases have the same number of molecules.

Charles Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection (1858)

Charles Darwin, an amateur naturalist, spent five years on a voyage around the Pacific coast of South America, most notably, the Galapagos Islands, on the HMS Beagle collecting fossil samples. This journey inspired him to write his theory of evolution, and in 1859 The Origin of the Species was published, a book which has been the center of much debate since its publication.

Alfred Wegener's Theory Of Continental Drift (1911)

The German geologist Alfred Wegener proposed that all the continents were once one giant landmass. This theory was ridiculed at first, but evidence and fossil distributions confirmed that ‘continental drift’ or the separating of the land mass did occur.

Edwin Hubble Discovers That The Universe Is Expanding (1929)

Hubble devised a classification system to verify the distance to nearby galaxies, as well as distance, shape and brightness. In 1929 Hubble’s Law was created, showing astronomers that the farther galaxies are away from Earth, the faster they are moving away, and thus, that the universe is expanding.

Human Genome Is Sequenced (2003)

Originally it was thought that the human genome contained between 30,000 – 40,000 genes, but scientists have revised this number down to 20,000 – 25,000 genes. The benefits of this discovery will aid in the understanding and treatment of human diseases such as asthma, cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

The copyright of the article The World's Best Scientific Discoveries in Scientific Inquiry is owned by Roberta Goli. Permission to republish The World's Best Scientific Discoveries in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.