1. Physics is the science devoted to the study of matter and energy.

2. Knowledge obtained from the study of physics is important in other sciences, in­cluding astronomy, biology, chemistry, and geology.

3. Such predictions come from laws and theories developed by another group of physicists, called theoretical physicists. 

4. One branch of mechanics, known as fluid mechanics, deals with the behaviour of liquids and gases. 

5. Physics is the science devoted to the study of matter and energy.

6. So physicists, called experimental physicists, perform the fully designed experiments and then compare the results with what was predicted to happen.

7. The subjects studied by physicists consist of two broad categories, classical physics and modern physics.

Make the nouns plural

Datum, phenomenon, erratum, memorandum, basis, addendum, crisis, formula, bacillus, medium, quantum, analysis, thesis, nucleus, index.

2.21                                   The facts:

v The word “algorithm” originated in the Middle East. Curiously enough it comes from the Latin version of the last name of the Persian scholar Abu Jafar mohammed ibn Musa al-Khowaresmi (Algorithmi).

v After I Newton, the greatest mathematician of the English –speaking people is W R Hamilton (804-1864). His fame has had curious and regular changes. During his lifetime he was celebrated but not understood, after his death his reputation declined and he came to be counted in the second rank, In the twentieth century he has become the sibject of an extraordinary revival of interest and appreciation

v Charles Lutwidge Dodgsson (better known to many by his penname, Lewis Carroll) was an English mathematician and author of immortal fantasy “Alice in Wonderland’.

v The ten symbols we use today (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) are of Hindu-Arabic origin.

Unit 3                 Famous scientists

3.1 Match the names of famous scientists with the countries:

1. Nikolay Lobachevskiy                              a) France

2. Isaac Newton                                            b) Germany

3. Franz Neumann                                        c) Russia

4. Blaise Pascal                                            d) Switzerland

5. Pierre Fermat                                            e) Great Britain

6. Eurler Leonard                                          f) France

7. Michael Faraday                                       g) Great Britain

8. Marie Curie                                                h) New Zealand

9. Ernest Rutherford                                     i) Poland

Read and translate the text.

Grammar reference: Passive Voice. Participle II.

Stephen William Hawking

Stephen William Hawking (1942- ) is a British theoretical physicist. Because of his work in the field of gravity, Hawking is considered perhaps the most brilliant theoretical physicist working today.

Hawking’s best–known work is on the nature of black holes, a phenomenon suggested by Einstein’ s equations describing what might happen should a huge star die, proposing it would crush into its own centre with such strong gravitational force that nothing could escape, not even light. Introducing his own theoretical modifications, Hawking posits the existence of mini-black holes. Created by the tremendous force of the big bang, these mini-black holes would not only emit sub-atomic particles and radiation (now called Hawking radiation), but would gradually evaporate over the space of 10 ⁶⁶ years, only to explode with the energy of millions of hydrogen bombs. At the same time, Hawking is the first to admit that there is as yet no physical evidence that black holes actually exist.

Hawking is one of a number of scientists concerned with theories linking quantum mechanics and gravitation. The premise of these so called grand unified theories is that it is scientifically possible to prove how the universe came into being.

Hawking was born in Oxford, England. After graduating from Oxford in 1962, he went on to study at Cambridge. In his first year there, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease of the nervous system. Confined to a wheelchair, he speaks through a computer synthesiser, and his movement is limited to a barely perceptible lifting of one finger and very little facial expression.

Hawking received his Ph.D. degree in 1966 from Cambridge, where he now holds the prestigious post of Lucasian professor of mathematics, a post once occupied by Sir Isaac Newton.

Hawking was among the youngest inductees into the Royal Society, one of the world’s most renowned scientific bodies. He has also received the prestigious Albert Einstein Award, has been named Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth, and has received honorary degrees from Notre Dame, the University of Chicago, Princeton, and New York University. In 1988, he published his book A Brief History of Time. He hoped the book would help non-scientists understand theories of nature, from the big band to black holes.

Notes

10 ⁶⁶ -ten to the sixty-sixth

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – болезнь Шарко, боковой амиотрофический склероз

a wheelchair – инвалидная коляска

hydrogen – водород