100 Greatest Discoveries by the Discovery Channel (2004-2005) by
Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16
Hosted by Bill Nye.
Physics topics:
- Galileo: objects of different masses fall at the same speed, hammer and feather experiment
- Newton: gravity, linking locally observed falls and the movement of celestial bodies
- TODO a few more
- superconductivity, talk only at Fermilab accelerator, no re-enactment even...
- quark, interview with Murray Gell-Mann, mentions it was "an off-beat field, one wasn't encouraged to work on that". High level blablabla obviously.
- fundamental interactions, notably weak interaction and strong interaction, interview with Michio Kaku. When asked "How do we know that the weak force is there?" the answer is: "We observe radioactive decay with a Geiger counter". Oh, come on!
biology topics:
- Leeuwenhoek microscope and the discovery of microorganisms, and how pond water is not dead, but teeming with life. No sample of course.
- 1831 Robert Brown cell nucleus in plants, and later Theodor Schwann in tadpoles. This prepared the path for the idea that "all cells come from other cells", and the there seemed to be an unifying theme to all life: the precursor to DNA discoveries. Re-enactment, yay.
- 1971 Carl Woese and the discovery of archaea
Genetics:
- Mendel. Reenactment.
- 1909 Thomas Hunt Morgan with Drosophila melanogaster. Reenactment. Genes are in Chromosomes. He observed that a trait was linked to sex, and it was already known that sex was related to chromosomes.
- 1935 George Beadle and the one gene one enzyme hypothesis by shooting X-rays at bread mold
- 1942 Barbara McClintock, at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
- 1952 Hershey–Chase experiment. Determined that DNA is what transmits genetic information, not protein, by radioactive labelling both protein and DNA in two sets of bacteriophages. They observed that only the DNA radioactive material was passed forward.
- Crick Watson
- messenger RNA, no specific scientist, too many people worked on it, done partially with bacteriophage experiments
- 1968 Nirenberg genetic code
- 1972 Hamilton O. Smith and the discovery of restriction enzymes by observing that they were part of anti bacteriophage immune-system present in bacteria
- alternative splicing
- RNA interference
- Human Genome Project, interview with Craig Venter.
Medicine:
- blood circulation
- anesthesia
- X-ray
- germ theory of disease, with examples from Ignaz Semmelweis and Pasteur
- 1796 Edward Jenner discovery of vaccination by noticing that cowpox cowpox infected subjects were immune
- vitamin by observing scurvy and beriberi in sailors, confirmed by Frederick Gowland Hopkins on mice experiments
- Fleming, Florey and Chain and the discovery of penicillin
- Prontosil
- diabetes and insulin
If there is one thing that makes Ciro Santilli learn German, this is it (the Romance language are all the same, so reading them is basically covered for Ciro already).
Ship abandonment refers to the situation where a vessel is left by its crew, typically due to dangerous conditions or the ship becoming unmanageable. This can occur in various circumstances, such as severe weather, mechanical failures, or after a ship has run aground. When a ship is abandoned, it may pose environmental hazards, particularly if it is left in navigable waters or if it contains hazardous cargo or materials.
"Tap tap" can refer to a few different things depending on the context: 1. **Tap Tap (App)**: In the context of mobile applications, "Tap Tap" often refers to the app store for Android devices, particularly in regions where Google's Play Store is restricted or unavailable. Tap Tap allows users to download and share apps, games, and other digital content.
Transmetro is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Barranquilla, Colombia. It was inaugurated in 2010 and serves as an essential part of the city's public transportation infrastructure. The system is designed to provide efficient, rapid, and reliable transit options for residents and visitors, helping to alleviate traffic congestion and improve air quality in the area. The Transmetro network includes dedicated bus lanes, modern vehicles, and integrated stops that allow for quick boarding and transferring between routes.
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Global Travel Consolidation refers to the process of consolidating travel services, data, and resources across various regions and markets into a unified system or strategy. This concept is often relevant in the context of corporate travel management, where companies seek to streamline their travel operations and achieve efficiency and cost savings.
MP3 SX is not a widely recognized standard or technology as of my last update in October 2023. However, it could potentially refer to a variation or application of the MP3 audio compression format, which is a popular method for compressing audio files to reduce their size while maintaining a reasonable audio quality.
The term "international zone" can refer to different contexts depending on its usage, but it generally describes areas that are not confined to the jurisdiction of any single country and often have special legal statuses. Here are a few common interpretations: 1. **International Zones in Cities**: Some cities might designate an area as an "international zone," often related to specific diplomatic missions or international organizations. An example is the International Zone in Baghdad, which housed embassies and foreign missions in a secure area.
Tefilat HaDerech, or the "Wayfarer's Prayer," is a Jewish prayer recited by travelers before embarking on a journey. This prayer is traditionally said to seek God's protection and guidance during travel, asking for safe passage and a successful trip. It is typically recited when one is about to travel a significant distance, whether by land or sea.
In the context of travel, "transfer" typically refers to the transportation services that move passengers from one location to another, often as part of a travel itinerary. This can include various types of ground transportation between airports, hotels, train stations, and other destinations. Common types of transfers in travel include: 1. **Airport Transfers**: Services that transport travelers between airports and their accommodation (hotels, rental properties, etc.).
Travel behavior refers to the patterns and choices individuals and groups make regarding their travel activities. This encompasses a wide range of factors, including how often and why people travel, the modes of transportation they use, the distances they cover, their destination choices, and the times of day they travel. Key components of travel behavior include: 1. **Travel Purpose**: The reasons for travel, such as commuting to work, leisure, education, shopping, or visiting friends and family.
Travel photography is a genre of photography that focuses on capturing the essence of a location, its culture, people, landscapes, and experiences associated with travel. It aims to tell a story about a place and evoke a sense of wanderlust, showcasing not just the sights but also the emotional and cultural context of the destination.
Pitteway triangulation is a method used in mathematics and computer graphics for the triangulation of polyhedral surfaces, which involves breaking down a complex surface into simpler triangular components. This technique is particularly useful in computer graphics for rendering 3D models, as it simplifies the geometry and allows for easier manipulation and computation. The method typically involves defining a set of points on the surface and then systematically creating triangles that connect these points, ensuring that the entire surface is covered without overlaps or gaps.
A "lustrum" is a term that historically refers to a period of five years. The word has its origins in ancient Rome, where it denoted a ceremonial purification conducted every five years, which involved a census of the population and a ritual to appease the gods. In modern usage, "lustrum" can simply denote any five-year span, particularly in contexts such as academic or financial reporting, anniversaries, or other periodic evaluations.
Motor oil, also known as engine oil, is a lubricating oil used in internal combustion engines to reduce friction and wear between moving parts, facilitate heat dissipation, and help keep the engine clean by preventing sludge buildup. It comes in various formulations, typically classified by their viscosity grades, which indicate how thick or thin the oil is at specific temperatures.
Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project
Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
Intro to OurBigBook
. Source. We have two killer features:
- topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculusArticles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
- a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
- a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.Figure 1. Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page. View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivativeVideo 2. OurBigBook Web topics demo. Source. - local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
- to OurBigBook.com to get awesome multi-user features like topics and likes
- as HTML files to a static website, which you can host yourself for free on many external providers like GitHub Pages, and remain in full control
Figure 3. Visual Studio Code extension installation.Figure 4. Visual Studio Code extension tree navigation.Figure 5. Web editor. You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally.Video 3. Edit locally and publish demo. Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension.Video 4. OurBigBook Visual Studio Code extension editing and navigation demo. Source. - Infinitely deep tables of contents:
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact





