Category: Six-minute Summaries

Educational and entertaining overviews of the lives and achievements of historical figures (usually scientists).

Six-minute summary: Niels Bohr

Hello readers! It is time for another six-minute summary. This week, in response to a reader request, we will be learning about the life of Niels Bohr, a Danish physicist who made huge discoveries regarding quantum mechanics and the structure of atoms. Although his name will be very familiar to physicists (and Danes), it might … Continue reading Six-minute summary: Niels Bohr →

Six-minute summary: Ada Lovelace

Hello readers! It’s time for a six-minute summary. Ada Lovelace was one of the first computer programmers – an impressive achievement, given that she was born in 1815, well over a century before the modern concept of a "computer” was established. She worked with the eminent mathematician Charles Babbage, who had designed an “Analytical Engine” … Continue reading Six-minute summary: Ada Lovelace →

Six-minute summary: James Croll

Hello readers! This week, I’m summarising the life of a lesser-known scientist. James Croll was once a big name in the British scientific community, exchanging ideas with contemporaries such as Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin. He was a physicist, geologist, and mathematician – but when he published his first paper, he was employed only as … Continue reading Six-minute summary: James Croll →

Six-minute summary: Mary Shelley

Hello readers! This week’s six-minute summary is of a science fiction author rather than a scientist. Mary Shelley is most famous for writing Frankenstein, which is widely viewed as the first science fiction novel (although the definition of science fiction is up for debate). Frankenstein’s monster is one of the most famous literary characters in … Continue reading Six-minute summary: Mary Shelley →

Six-minute summary: Henry Cavendish

Hello readers! It’s time for another six-minute summary of a historical figure. This week, we’ll explore the life of Henry Cavendish, an eighteenth-century scientist best known for discovering hydrogen and measuring the density of the Earth. However, Cavendish kept many of his findings private, and much of his pioneering research only reached public attention decades … Continue reading Six-minute summary: Henry Cavendish →

Six-minute summary: Inge Lehmann

Hello readers! Today’s six-minute summary is about Inge Lehmann, the Danish scientist who discovered that our planet has a solid inner core. I thought this summary would be somewhat topical following the recent media coverage of ‘giant blobs’ in the lower mantle, now proposed to be the remnants of an ancient collision with another planet … Continue reading Six-minute summary: Inge Lehmann →

Six-minute summary: Pythagoras

Hello readers! This week we’re exploring the life of Pythagoras, an Ancient Greek philosopher best known for a theory regarding right-angled triangles. His impact on modern science is undeniable. Centuries after his death, he inspired eminent scientists such as Kepler and Newton to discover fundamental laws of physics, and even now, he has the power … Continue reading Six-minute summary: Pythagoras →

Six-minute summary: Tycho Brahe

Hello readers! It’s time for another six-minute summary. This week, we’re discussing Tycho Brahe, a 16th century Danish astronomer who revolutionised the collection of astronomical data. Wikipedia describes him as “the last major astronomer before the invention of the telescope” – and yet Brahe could have lived just long enough to see this paradigm shift … Continue reading Six-minute summary: Tycho Brahe →

Six-minute summary: Florence Nightingale

Hello readers! It’s time for the second instalment in this series of six-minute summaries. Last time, we covered Alfred Wegener, who brought about a paradigm shift in the Earth sciences with his idea of continental drift. This time, we’ll look at another revolutionary thinker: Florence Nightingale. International nurses day was on Friday 12th May, which … Continue reading Six-minute summary: Florence Nightingale →