Lise Meitner: Nuclear Fission and the Energy EquationLise Meitner (1878–1968) was an Austrian-Swedish physicist whose life was tragically marked by both brilliant discovery and historical injustice. She was a crucial member of the Berlin research team—alongside Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann (Article 162)—that discovered nuclear fission. While Hahn received the Nobel Prize for the chemical identification, it was Meitner who provided the essential theoretical physics explanation for the startl...

Lise Meitner: Nuclear Fission and the Energy EquationLise Meitner (1878–1968) was an Austrian-Swedish physicist whose life was tragically marked by both brilliant discovery and historical injustice. She was a crucial member of the Berlin research team—alongside Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann (Article 162)—that discovered nuclear fission. While Hahn received the Nobel Prize for the chemical identification, it was Meitner who provided the essential theoretical physics explanation for the startl...

Karl Marx: Historical Materialism and the Theory of Class ConflictKarl Marx (1818–1883) was a German philosopher, economist, and sociologist whose ideas generated one of the most powerful and transformative political movements in modern history. Alongside Émile Durkheim and Max Weber (Articles 186, 185), he is considered a principal founder of sociology. Marx's work provided a comprehensive, critical analysis of the development of capitalism, centered on two core concepts: Historical Material...

Karl Marx: Historical Materialism and the Theory of Class ConflictKarl Marx (1818–1883) was a German philosopher, economist, and sociologist whose ideas generated one of the most powerful and transformative political movements in modern history. Alongside Émile Durkheim and Max Weber (Articles 186, 185), he is considered a principal founder of sociology. Marx's work provided a comprehensive, critical analysis of the development of capitalism, centered on two core concepts: Historical Material...

Frederick Griffith and Oswald Avery: The Genetic Material is DNAIn the early $20^\text{th}$ century, biologists knew that traits were inherited, but they did not know which chemical molecule carried this genetic information. The candidates were proteins (complex and abundant) and deoxyribonucleic acid ($\text{DNA}$), which was considered too simple to encode heredity. The critical shift in understanding began with the work of Frederick Griffith and culminated in the definitive experiments of ...

Frederick Griffith and Oswald Avery: The Genetic Material is DNAIn the early $20^\text{th}$ century, biologists knew that traits were inherited, but they did not know which chemical molecule carried this genetic information. The candidates were proteins (complex and abundant) and deoxyribonucleic acid ($\text{DNA}$), which was considered too simple to encode heredity. The critical shift in understanding began with the work of Frederick Griffith and culminated in the definitive experiments of ...

Gregor Mendel: Laws of Inheritance and the Birth of GeneticsIn the mid-$19^\text{th}$ century, the mechanism of heredity was poorly understood, often assumed to be a process of blending parental characteristics. The Austrian monk Gregor Mendel (1822–1884), through meticulous, quantitative breeding experiments conducted on thousands of pea plants (Pisum sativum) in his monastery garden, discovered the fundamental principles that govern how traits are passed from one generation to the next. His...

Gregor Mendel: Laws of Inheritance and the Birth of GeneticsIn the mid-$19^\text{th}$ century, the mechanism of heredity was poorly understood, often assumed to be a process of blending parental characteristics. The Austrian monk Gregor Mendel (1822–1884), through meticulous, quantitative breeding experiments conducted on thousands of pea plants (Pisum sativum) in his monastery garden, discovered the fundamental principles that govern how traits are passed from one generation to the next. His...

Antoine Lavoisier: The Law of Conservation of Mass and the Chemical RevolutionAntoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (1743–1794) was a French nobleman and chemist whose commitment to meticulous quantitative measurement revolutionized his field, earning him the title of the Father of Modern Chemistry. His work dismantled the antiquated theories of alchemy, established a logical nomenclature, and, most importantly, rigorously proved the Law of Conservation of Mass, transforming chemistry into a precise, ...

Antoine Lavoisier: The Law of Conservation of Mass and the Chemical RevolutionAntoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (1743–1794) was a French nobleman and chemist whose commitment to meticulous quantitative measurement revolutionized his field, earning him the title of the Father of Modern Chemistry. His work dismantled the antiquated theories of alchemy, established a logical nomenclature, and, most importantly, rigorously proved the Law of Conservation of Mass, transforming chemistry into a precise, ...

Karl Marx: Historical Materialism and the Theory of Class ConflictKarl Marx (1818–1883) was a German philosopher, economist, and revolutionary sociologist whose ideas radically reshaped $20^\text{th}$-century politics and intellectual thought. As a key founder of modern sociology, Marx provided a comprehensive critique of the development and inherent contradictions of industrial capitalism. His foundational concepts are Historical Materialism (the idea that economic structures determine socie...

Karl Marx: Historical Materialism and the Theory of Class ConflictKarl Marx (1818–1883) was a German philosopher, economist, and revolutionary sociologist whose ideas radically reshaped $20^\text{th}$-century politics and intellectual thought. As a key founder of modern sociology, Marx provided a comprehensive critique of the development and inherent contradictions of industrial capitalism. His foundational concepts are Historical Materialism (the idea that economic structures determine socie...

Ferdinand de Saussure: Structuralism and the Science of SemioticsFerdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) was a Swiss linguist whose teachings, posthumously compiled and published in 1916 as the Course in General Linguistics, are considered the foundational text of modern linguistics and cultural theory. Saussure revolutionized the study of language by shifting the focus from the historical evolution of words to the internal structure of language as a self-contained system. This methodology became t...

Ferdinand de Saussure: Structuralism and the Science of SemioticsFerdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) was a Swiss linguist whose teachings, posthumously compiled and published in 1916 as the Course in General Linguistics, are considered the foundational text of modern linguistics and cultural theory. Saussure revolutionized the study of language by shifting the focus from the historical evolution of words to the internal structure of language as a self-contained system. This methodology became t...