Candid Science Index of Scientists Interviewed by Dr. Hargittai
Women in Science
The European Research Commission has compiled a collection of brief mp3 segments discussing European women in science through history. I found the narrators
to be quite pleasing to listen to and I appreciate learning more about women who made significant contributions to science.
You can also download a pdf book with the same information.
Awesome!
From Women in Science.org, you can hear radio broadcasts about Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics ON THE AIR!
And finally, an extensive list (4,000 years worth) of women
in the sciences can be found here.
From Make:Technology on Your Time comes The Elements of Humanity: a Fascination with Science and Technology. Make Magazine interviewed great minds in science and technology to find out what
intrigues them and find out more about what the work they do. The videos are absolutely delightful!
Histological Eponyms
Have you ever wondered who the Eustachian tube is named after?
What about something more obtuse like the Node of Ranvier?
These powerpoints take a special view of histology (viewing tissues of the
body with a microscope) and the men, all European and mostly sporting facial whiskers of some sort or another, who made the
discovery of the structures named after them. (Eponyms).
I discuss both the men and the structures with pictures of both as available!
Please enjoy! I had a fantastic time putting this together. I have a running joke throughout
and a few other random facts that could make this enjoyable to those who might not normally want to view this material. Hold
out to the end if you can....
I might do
anatomical structures next time, followed by diseases, followed by medical tests. Please don't hold your breath, though!!
Eponymously yours part 1microsoft 2007
Eponymously yours 97-2003
Eponymously yours, part 2, the increase of facial hair microsoft 2007
Eponymously yours part 2 97-2003
Some
Famous French Scientists (in slightly poor French)
If you can read French and are interested in the
presentation I made about
famous French
Scientists for an oral French class in the
Fall of 2007, check out this powerpoint presentation.
Don't worry if you are not very good at reading
French as I am still learning this myself.
If
you are fluent in French, then please don't laugh!
I
had a great time putting this together!
French scientist powerpoint
I expect many of you have heard the phrase "The Butterfly Effect"
and maybe you learned it from the movie starring Ashton Kutcher. This phrase actually came from a paper written by meteorologist
Edward Lorenz entitled "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?"
It demonstrated that even "very small changes in a system can have very large and unexpected consequences." (LA
Times), meaning he had stumbled upon chaos theory. As a bit of trivia, this paper, published in 1972, has been cited
in more than 4,000 subsequent papers, making it one of the most referenced scientific studies in modern history. 
Robert Langer has been chosen as the winner of the 2008 Millenium Technology
Prize! When I started hearing about "tissue engineering", his was the first name associated with it.
He is quite a prolific worker, with nearly 400 patents to his name. He is primarily known for his work in polymer based
controlled drug delivery systems. I remember meeting him when he came to the U of I in 2000 to give a talk (I was co-teaching
a biomaterials course at the time with Russ Jamison). I was fascinated because he was also thinking of creating polymers
to "seed" into hurricanes to reduce their intensity. I have no idea where that idea is now, but it was cool
that he was "branching out".
I have previously discussed Judah Folkman and his discovery's implications
for tissue engineering in a recent stem cell/tissue engineering newsletter and you can certainly read more about him at his
hospital's 
A swiss chemist who accidentally discovered the hallucinogenic
properties of lysergic acid, or LSD,five years after he synthesized it. 