Notable Chemists & Physicists Posters & Prints “I...-J...-K...-”
for science classrooms, laboratories, home schoolers.

Shirley Jackson
b. 8-5-1946; Washington, DC

Physicist Shirley Jackson, the first African-American to earn a Ph.D from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, worked at Fermilab, CERN, and Bell Laboratories. She has taught at Stanford, Aspen Center for Physics, and Rutgers, currently serving as President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Jackson is also the first woman and first African-American to serve as Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Francois Jacob
b. 6-17-1920; France

Biochemist Francois Jacob was shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Jacques-Lucien Monad and Andre Lwoff “for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis”.

• The Statue Within: An Autobiography by Francois Jacob

Heike Kamerlingh-Onnes
b. 9-21-1853; The Netherlands
d. 2-21-1926

Physicist Heike Kamerlingh-Onnes was the first to liquify helium (1908), at the time the lowest temperature on Earth, and in 1911 described the new state of “superconductivity”.

Onnes was awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physics for “his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures which led, inter alia, to the production of liquid helium.”

• The galvanic circuit investigated mathematically by Georg Simon Ohm

Sir William Thomson, Lord Kelvin
b. 6-26-1824; Ireland
d. 12-17-1907

William Thomson was an engineer, inventor who was knighted given the title Lord Kelvin for his achievements which included more than 600 scientific papers, 70 patents and critical input in the laying of the transatlantic cable.

The temperature measurement (Kelvin scale) is named for him. He is also remembered for grossly underestimating the age of the Earth, that making the statements that “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible,” (1895) and the “Radio has no future,” (1897).

• Lord Kelvin and the Age of the Earth

Thomas Kuhn
b. 7-18-1922; Cincinnati, OH
d. 6-17-1996

Physicist Thomas Kuhn wrote on the history of science, bringing the idea of “paradigm shift” into popular consciousness.

Thomas Kuhn quotes ~
• “The crises of our time, it becomes increasingly clear, are the necessary impetus for the revolution now under way. And once we understand nature's transformative powers, we see that it is our powerful ally, not a force to feared our subdued.”
• “Almost always the men who achieve these fundamental inventions of a new paradigm have been either very young or very new to the field whose paradigm they change.”
• “Scientific development depends in part on a process of non-incremental or revolutionary change. Some revolutions are large, like those associated with the names of Copernicus, Newton, or Darwin, but most are much smaller, like the discovery of oxygen or the planet Uranus.”

Nicholas Kurti
b. 5-14-1908; France
d. 11-24-1998

The physicist Nicholas Kurti enthusiastically applied scientific knowledge to culinary endeavors such as his talk at the Royal Society titled “The physicist in the kitchen”. Kurti amazed the audience by using the recently invented microwave oven to make a “Frozen Florida” (cold outside, hot inside) the reverse of a “Baked Alaska”.