{wiki}

Chemistry is fun. Too hard for precise <physics> (pre <quantum computing>, see also <quantum chemistry>), but not too hard for some maths like <social sciences>.

And it underpins <biology>.

\Video[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSBM2SXlGC]
{title=100 Greatest Discoveries - Chemistry by the Discovery Channel (2005)}
{description=Pretty good within what you can expect from <popular science>. The discovery selection is solid, and he interviews 3 <Nobel Prize> laureates, only one about stuff they invented, so you can see their faces. The short non-precise scenes of epoch are also pleasing. Part of <100 Greatest Discoveries by the Discovery Channel (2004-2005)>.}


Chemistry

{c}
{title2=2003}
{title2=first largs scale sequencing of a human genome}
{wiki}

As mentioned by <Craig Venter> in <100 Greatest Discoveries by the Discovery Channel (2004-2005)>, the main outcomes of the project were:
* it established the ballpark number of <human genes>
* showed that human genomes are very similar across individuals.

Important predecessors:
* 1981: <Cambridge Reference Sequence>


Human Genome Project

{tag=Organic compound}
{wiki}

Vitamins are <essential nutrients> that are small <organic compounds>.

Mentioned at <100 Greatest Discoveries by the Discovery Channel (2004-2005)> medicine episode.


Vitamin

{c}

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0442715/ on <IMDb>

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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Schwann[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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Woese[Carl Woese] and the discovery of <archaea>

<Genetics>:
* Mendel. Reenactment.
* 1909 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hunt_Morgan[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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Beadle[George Beadle] and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_gene–one_enzyme_hypothesis[one gene one enzyme hypothesis] by shooting X-rays at bread mold
* 1942 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_McClintock[Barbara McClintock], at <Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory>
* 1952 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershey–Chase_experiment[Hershey–Chase experiment]. Determined that <DNA> is what transmits genetic information, not <protein>, by <radioactive decay>[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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_O._Smith[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>
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germ_theory_of_disease[germ theory of disease], with examples from Ignaz Semmelweis and Pasteur
* 1796 Edward Jenner discovery of vaccination by noticing that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowpox[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
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prontosil[Prontosil]
* diabetes and insulin


Ciro Santilli @cirosantilli 37

 Incoming links: 100 Greatest Discoveries by the Discovery Channel (2004-2005)