this is not publish in any news paper but i got it from one of blind friend send it to me he might have got it from blind news mailing group firoz ----- Original Message ----- From: "Subramani L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 12:42 PM Subject: Re: [AI] blind scientists
> Hello Firoz: > > Kindly let me know the source of this message. Is it published in a > newspaper or is it taken from a blog? > > Subramani > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of firoz > pathan > Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 12:14 PM > To: [email protected]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Pathan, > Firdosh; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [AI] blind scientists > > Question: Have there been, or are there currently, any > successful blind > scientists ? If so, what kind of research do they do ? > Answer: Dr D. Kent Cullers, the NASA scientist who > developed the > computer > software radio astronomers use to hunt for alien > microwave signals in > the > SETI project (Search for Extraterrestrial > Intelligence), has been blind > since birth. Cullers heads the SETI Institute's > Project Phoenix search > of > nearby Sun-like stars and has devoted most of his > professional life to > seeking evidence of life elsewhere in the Universe. > George Maestri > Los Angeles, California > Answer: Cullers was the inspiration for the blind > radio astronomer Kent > Clark in the film "Contact" directed by Robert > Zemeckis, and based on > Carl > Sagan's novel. It starred Jodie Foster and William > Fichtner as Kent > Clark. > Derek Bell > Electronic and Engineering Department > University College Dublin, Ireland > Answer: In mathematics, being blind is less of a > disability than in > most > other branches of science. > Nicholas Saunderson FRS (1682-1739) lost both eyes > following smallpox > at the > age of 12. From 1711 until his death he was the > Lucasian professor of > mathematics at Cambridge University, where he was an > effective and > popular > teacher. Three mathematical books by him were > published after his > death, > with his text on algebra becoming very widely read. > Leonhard Euler (1707-1783), one of the greatest > mathematicians, lost > the > sight in his right eye in 1738, and was totally blind > from 1771. > Thereafter > Euler kept a team of colleagues and secretaries very > busy with his > continuous work on mathematics, and he published more > than any other > mathematician has ever done. > W. G. Bickley, professor of mathematics at Imperial > College, became > blind in > about 1960, but he quickly learned Braille and > continued to work in his > field. > In 1959, Stephen Smale astonished mathematicians by > proving a sphere > could > be turned inside-out in a smooth manner - but he did > not find a way of > actually performing the eversion. The blind > mathematician Bernard Morin > soon > constructed his renowned sequence of about 20 smooth > transformations, > which > shows how a sphere can be turned inside out. > Garry Tee > Department of Mathematics > University of Auckland > New Zealand > Answer: Your correspondent asks whether there have > been any successful > blind > scientists. There certainly have. One of the most > famous was the > Belgian > physicist Joseph Plateau (1801-1883), who was the > inventor of the > stroboscope. > At the age of 28 he gazed at the midday sun for 20 > seconds, with a view > to > studying the after-effects. The effects turned out to > be temporary > blindness > for several days, followed by a gradual deterioration > of vision and > permanent blindness at the age of 42. Despite this > calamity, he > continued > his research on subjective visual phenomena for the > next forty years. > His > wife and son (and later his son-in-law G. L. van der > Mensbrugghe) > performed > the experiments, which he devised and interpreted. > Even more remarkably, Plateau began to do experiments > on the shapes of > soap > films after he became blind. With the help of a > sighted assistant, he > measured the angles between soap bubbles in a foam > (the connecting > edges are > now called Plateau borders in his memory), and > performed hundreds of > other > original experiments on the shapes and colours of soap > films. He > interpreted > the results in a great work "Statique experimentale et > theoretique des > liquides soumis aux seules forces moleculaires", where > he was the first > to > enunciate the role of intermolecular forces in film > stability. > Len Fisher > Nunney, Somerset > Answer: Louis Braille, who was totally blind, invented > the Braille > system of > raised dots in the early 1800s to enable those with > sight impairment to > read > and write. From 1839 he worked with colleagues to make > the first device > for > printing Braille and his story is told in "Triumph > Over Darkness: The > life > of Louis Braille" by Lennard Bickel (1988, Allen and > Unwin). > Joyce Sumner > > Anstey, Leicestershire > Answer: You should consider Georg Everhard Rumpf or > Rumphius > (1627-1702), > who was also known as "Plinius indicus" or the "blind > seer of Ambon". >>From 1653 he was a merchant in Ambon, Indonesia, with > the Dutch East > Indian > Company, but he also wrote extensive treatises on > plants and animals. > In 1670 he became incurably blind because of glaucoma, > in 1674 an > earthquake > killed his wife and two daughters, and in 1687 his > house was razed by > fire. > Yet he overcame these obstacles and, from memory, he > dictated his > manuscripts again. He described about 1200 plants, > including where they > grew > and critical accounts of their uses. You will also > find amusing > anecdotes in > his writing which has an inimitable style with a dry > sense of humour. > Even > now reading them is a great pleasure. > Rumpf also wrote instructions on how to build > fortifications, advised > on > sermons in the local language and started a dictionary > which, > unfortunately, > was stolen. He didn't stop there. In 1679 he prepared > a land > description of > Ambon and its surroundings with detailed descriptions > of the geography, > geology, ethnology and anything that might be of > interest to a wide > public. > Simultaneously he wrote a history of Ambon and its > surrounding islands. > Another scientist for your list is Geerat J. Vermeij > (who appeared in a > " > New Scientist" supplement, 2 November 1996, p 10) > professor of geology > at > the University of California in Davis, who studies > marine molluscs by > touch. > He became blind when he was six. He has written > several scientific > books and > a biography, "Privileged Hands" published in 1997. He > has received > several > awards for his scientific work. > J. F. Veldkamp > Nationaal Herbarium Nederland > The Netherlands > > --- > To view an archive of BlindNews messages (not complete > yet) go to: > http://www.snowbeast.net/blind/ > > To view an archive of BlindNews messages go to: > http://www.snowbeast.net/blind/ > > > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, > please visit the list home page at > > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.i > n > > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, > please visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.17.14/658 - Release Date: 1/29/2007 > 2:49 PM > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. 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