When you’re taught the scientific method, you think of a neat procedure you can follow to gain insight into some natural phenomenon about the Universe. Start with an idea, perform an experiment, and either validate or falsify the idea, depending on the outcome. Only, the real world is a lot messier than that. Sometimes, you perform an experiment, and you get a result that’s entirely different from what you were expecting. And sometimes, the correct explanation requires a leap of imagination that goes far beyond what any reasonable person would logically conclude. Today, the biological Universe is very well understood, but the story of how we got here is full of surprises. If we want to progress further, there are likely even more in store. Here are a look back at five of the greatest ones in history.
Over the course of ages, we have made countless discoveries that have improved the quality of our life and helped us to understand the world around us. It is very difficult (if not impossible) to rank the importance of the discoveries we have made, but one thing is for sure – some of them have literally changed our life. From penicillin and the screw pump to X-rays and electricity, here are 8 Biggest Scientific Discoveries in History of Mankind who changed the world.
Researchers and scientists around the globe have worked tirelessly to bring us this future, so it’s worthwhile to take a step back and applaud their tremendous efforts. The world of tomorrow is being shaped as you read this, so let’s have a look at ten of the biggest stories in life science, biological science, bioscience so far.
1. Penicillin discovery
Everybody knows the story of penicillin discovery should the brilliant yet notoriously absent-minded biologist Sir Alexander Fleming was work on a strain of bacteria called staphylococci. During his researching he noticed that one of the glass culture dishes he had accidentally left out had become contaminated with a fungus, and so threw it away. It wasn’t until later that he noticed that the staphylococcus bacteria seemed unable to grow in the area surrounding the fungal mould. Fleming didn’t even hold out much hope for his discovery: it wasn’t given much attention when he published his findings the following year, it was difficult to cultivate, and it was slow-acting it wasn’t until 1945 after further research by several other scientists that penicillin was able to be produced on an industrial scale, changing the way doctors treated bacterial infections forever.
Incident: He independently discovered healing properties of P. glaucum, during the cure process infected guinea pigs from typhoid. It is not known, however, whether the active chemical in these studies was in fact penicillin. He used the term "penicillin" to depict the filtrate of a broth culture of the Penicillium mould.
2. DNA fingerprinting :
The discovery that fingerprints are unique to each individual, are left behind on objects a person touches and can be lifted off those items is nothing short of miraculous. This discovery completely changed the way that law enforcement conducted investigations. Alec Jeffreys, while studying how inherited illnesses pass through families, made an accidental discovery. Alec Jeffreys was studying how inherited illnesses pass through families. As part of this experiment, cells were broken open, their DNA extracted and this DNA was attached to photographic films. Radioactive probes were added to identify the repeated sections of DNA and the entire set-up was placed in a photographic developing tank.
In today’s modern age, Jack the Ripper would eventually be caught. Even though it was 1823 when Jan Evangelista Purkinje noticed how unique our fingerprints are, it took some time for law enforcement to figure out ways to use this knowledge. Today, this discovery is used in everyday police work.
3. DNA double Helix :
The discovery of the DNA was made by the Swiss physician Friedrich Miescher. It was first called as a “nuclein” because it resides in the nuclei of a cell. The discovery of the structure of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953 is one of the most famous scientific discoveries of all time. Crick and Watson used model building to reveal the now famous double helix of DNA, but the X-ray crystallographic data of Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins at King’s College, London, were crucial to the discovery. The breakthrough also owed much to advances in biochemical techniques, microscopy, chemical analysis and theories of chemical bonding that had developed from the mid-19th century.
Their breakthrough made it possible to finally understand both how organisms pass on their genes, and how the workings of cells are governed. This now-familiar structure is still at the heart of huge scientific endeavours. And with genome sequencing becoming ever cheaper, we’re only going to become more familiar with it.
4. Photosynthesis:
It was Joseph Priestley who first established ‘indirectly’ through a series of experiments that animals consumed the gas which is produced by plants. It was Jan I., an Austrian scientist, who later defined the process of photosynthesis. It was a discovery that made people all over the world aware of how plants were restoring the balance by converting carbon dioxide into oxygen. We could have, otherwise, wiped out all forests by now!
5. Vaccination:
Vaccination is perhaps one of the greatest and most amazing discoveries that changed the world forever largely because it has helped saving the lives of millions ever since it was tried as an experiment in 1796.
Edward Jenner made pioneering work into the potential for immunisation against fatal illness such as smallpox. In 1796, Jenner had successfully shown, that people could be inoculated against smallpox through a much milder cowpox vaccine. In the nineteenth century, this knowledge would be used to save the lives of countless millions
Had it not been for the sustained efforts of Edward Jenner, many would have lost their lives even in their infancy to diseases like small pox. Jenner inoculated a young boy using matter from the cowpox lesions of a dairymaid and then introduced the smallpox virus to the boy but he was not infected. The word vaccination traces its origin to the Latin word ‘vacca’ meaning cow.
7. Pasteurisation
Discovered by the French scientist Louis Pasteur in the 1860’s, pasteurization is a heat-treatment process that destroys pathogenic microorganisms in certain foods and beverages such as wine, beer, and milk. This discovery has had tremendous effects on public health.
The first successful test of pasteurisation occurred on April 20th, 1864 by Louis Pasteur. It has been used in wine-making and milk production – reducing bacterial infections.
7. Mutation :
Researchers found that an ancient molecule, GK-PID, is the reason single-celled organisms started to evolve into multicellular organisms approximately 800 million years ago. The molecule has been found to be like a molecular carabiner able to pull chromosomes together to latch them onto the inner wall of a cell membrane when division occurs. This allows cells to copy properly and avoid becoming cancerous.
The fascinating discovery indicates that the ancient version of GK-PID did not behave in the same way it does currently. The only reason it became capable of working like a genetic carabiner is due to a single mutation that copied itself, suggesting that multicellular life is the result of a single, identifiable mutation.
8. Creation of Human Organs
The Stem Cell research has paved the way to greater access to organs, instead of waiting for donors or taking harsh medications. Scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School have discovered how to regenerate the function of human heart tissue through adult skin cells. Through stem cells, humans can grow another organ. This is associated with the regenerative nature of living organisms. Recently, various research all around the world enables growing fallopian tubes, heart, brain, lung, and kidney, among others through stem cells.