10 Historical people who were into STEM before STEM was cool

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If you are like us and follow the latest trends in education, you might know how popular STEM is right now. STEM is an acronym for Science + Technology + Engineering + Mathematics. There has been a great deal of media press about the importance of these four core areas. We will not argue about the importance of having a strong foundation in each of these areas; we are, however, here to debunk the myth that this is a relatively new concept.

10. George Washington Carver

Born into slavery in 1864, George Washington Carver left the home of the German immigrants who raised and educated him when he was eleven. He worked to pay his way through Iowa State, eventually earning a master’s degree in agriculture and bacterial botany. Always a lover of plants, and seeking a way to help struggling farm families in the south, Carver promoted cotton alternatives designed to enrich the soil. such as soybeans and peanuts. He also invented or improved upon hundreds of products including cosmetics, bleach, instant coffee, ink and more.

9. Margaret Mead

Margaret Mead was a pioneer in anthropology who obtained degrees from both Barnard College and Columbia University. Born in 1901, Mead first focused on English in college, before switching to psychology and then, finally, anthropology. While doing fieldwork in Samoa, Mead observed both boys and girls being encouraged to value their sexuality. Her research focused on sex roles, evolution and race, issues that were not even acknowledged during those times, much less written and talked about.

8. Paul Erdos

Born in Hungary in 1913, Paul Erdos is considered by many to be one of the greatest mathematicians and problem solvers who ever lived. He entered the Peter Pazmany University at the age of 17 and graduated four years later with an undergraduate degree as well as a PhD in mathematics. A prolific publisher, with more than 1,500 math papers and 500 collaborations with other mathematicians, Erdos developed proofs for such vexing math problems as Bertrand’s conjecture and the prime number theorem.

7. Bill Lear

Though Bill Lear, born in 1902, is likely best known for founding the jet company that stills bears his name, he also invented other products, such as the eight-track cassette and the B-battery eliminator, that were precursors to popular items that we still use today. At the tender age of 20, Lear started the first of his many businesses: the Quincy Radio Laboratory. This business was contracted by a Chicago manufacturing company to design a car radio. This ‘Motorola’ became one of the first car radios that was a commercial success as well as the first major product for the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, the company which later became known as Motorola, Inc.

6. Bertrand Arthur William Russell

Often thought of as a founder of analytical philosophy, Bertrand Arthur William Russell was born in 1872 in Great Britain, and raised by his grandmother after being orphaned at a young age. Tutored at home for much of his education, Russell was also a social critic, logician, historian and philosopher whose works exerted significant influence within a wide circle of scholars. Winning the Nobel Peace Prize in literature in 1950 for his writings, Russell’s influence was noted in metaphysics, linguistics, cognitive science and artificial intelligence to name only a few areas. He was also known for his humanitarian views having protested against Hitler, Stalin, nuclear weapons and the Vietnam War.

5. Mary Breckinridge

Born in Memphis, Tennessee to a prominent family, Mary Carson Breckinridge founded the Frontier Nursing Service, an organization that offered medical services to families in rural Kentucky. It would later become the American Association of Nurse-Midwives. After the death of her first husband and two young children, Breckinridge decided to pursue nursing. Her experiences as a public health nurse lead her to conclude that the health of families rested on the nurse-midwife model. In order to serve the families that lived in the most remote areas of the state, Breckenridge and her staff rode on horseback.

4. Wilson Bentley

A lover of nature, and a master photographer, Wilson Bentley specialized in taking pictures of snowflakes. Born on the family farm in rural Vermont in 1865, Bentley, from an early age, was fascinated by the shape of snowflakes. Using a microscope given to him by his mother, 15 year old Bentley tried frantically to draw it before it melted. Even though his father initially frowned on young Bentley’s desire for a camera, his mother was able to change her husband’s mind. After working tirelessly for two years, Bentley, age 19, was able to produce the first photomicrograph of a snowflake. His work earned him the nickname of ‘Snowflake Man.’

3. Sir Frank Whittle

Ranked in 42nd place in BBC’s poll of the greatest Britons, Sir Frank Whittle was born in 1907. Though he was previously turned down twice, due to his lack of height, Whittle eventually secured a spot in the Royal Air Force with the goal of becoming an pilot. Due to his mathematical skill, he quickly realized his dream of being a fighter pilot. During his thesis writing stage, Whittle pointed out that in order to travel long distances at great speeds, planes would have to fly at higher altitudes This would allow them to take advantage of the reduction in resistance. He argued that gas turbine engines were the answer, thus ushering in a new era of air travel.

2. Erwin Schrodinger

A noted physicist known for his work in quantum theory, Erwin Schrodinger was born in 1887 in Austria. In early 1926, he introduced an original reasoning for the wave theory. This was coupled with a deep dissatisfaction with the interpretation of quantum mechanics backed by Copenhagen. His further research in the field led to him being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in Physics in 1933. Schrodinger penned many works in various branches of physics including thermodynamics and statistical mechanics as well as those in color theory, cosmology, general relativity and dielectrics. In addition, he also wrote a popular book called, “What is Life?”

1. Benoit Mandelbrot

The scientist who coined the word ‘fractals‘ to describe a geometry concept, Benoit Mandelbrot was born in Poland in 1924. Though his early life was marked by numerous changes, Mandelbrot eventually settled in the United States after obtaining a PhD in Mathematics in 1952 at the University of Paris. He began working for the research center at IBM where he made far-reaching contributions to fields as diverse as engineering, cosmology, medicine and geology. These contributions had one common thread: fractals. This was what Mandelbrot termed surfaces and objects that are irregular when viewed within certain dimensions of scale.

 

Mayimina
Mayimina has written articles on most health-related topics, including traditional medicine, alternative and naturopathic and natural treatments, wellness, medical marijuana, diets and fitness.