Step by Step 3000 第2册 Unit5:Creative Minds(2)

Part 2. Scientists of the millennium(1).

Keywords. discovery, invention, founder, idea, describe, theory, accept, develop, method, the first, start, base... on, secret.

Vocabulary. type, mould, astronomer, condemn, withdraw, anatomical, vessel, artery,

vein, conflict, influential, calculus, gravitation, principle, philosophy, unify, the Roman Catholic Church.

A. Listen to the first half of a passage about the discoveries and inventions of ten important scientists of the millennium.

Complete the following chart with key words.

Today we tell about the discoveries of ten important scientists of the past one thousand years.

The earliest of these important scientists was Johannes Gutenberg.

He lived in Germany from about 1395 until about 1468.

Johannes Gutenberg invented the type mould and the first successful system of movable type used in Europe.

This made printing books faster and easier.

Johannes Gutenberg and others used his invention to produce books in the city of Mainz during the 1400's.

The system he invented remained unchanged for 350 years.

Nicolaus Copernicus was another important scientist.

He is considered the founder of the modern science of astronomy, the study of the planets and stars in the universe.

Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Poland in 1473.

At that time, most scientists accepted the idea that the earth was at the center of the universe and did not move.

The Greek astronomer Ptolemy had developed this idea more than 1000 years earlier.

Ptolemy also said that all the other objects in the space moved around the earth.

Copernicus believed that every planet, including the earth, moved around the sun.

He also believed the earth moved around its center once every day.

He described these theories in 1543.

These theories were not accepted in his lifetime.

But by the earlier 1600's, other scientists began to develop the methods that would prove Copernicus correct.

One of these scientists was Galileo Galilei. He was born in Italy in 1564.

Galileo was the first to use the telescope to discover new information about the planets and stars.

He decided that the theory that all plants circled the sun was correct.

The Roman Catholic Church condemned Galileo for saying Copernicus was right.

For centuries, the church had taught that the sun, the planets and the stars moved around the earth.

350 years passed before the Roman Catholic Church had admitted officially it was wrong and withdrew its condemnation of Galileo.

Our fourth scientist of the millennium is William Harvey. He was born in England in 1578.

He discovered how blood moves in animals and people.

Dr. Harvey described this in 1628 in the book An anatomical study of the motion of the heart and of the blood in animals.

This work was the start of all modern research on the heart and blood vessels.

Dr. Harvey based his discoveries on observations and by cutting open dead animals and humans.

Dr. Harvey's experiments showed that the heart forces blood through the arteries to the body, he showed that the blood returns to the heart through the veins.

His idea conflicted with the widely accepted ideas of the time, it has been called one of the most important medical discoveries of the millennium.

Isaac Newtown was another influential scientist of the past 1000 years.

Many experts say he was the most important scientist of them all.

He was born in England in 1642.

Isaac Newtown invented a new kind of mathematics called calculus.

He discovered the secrets of light and color.

And his theory of gravitation showed how the universe is held together.

Isaac Newtown published his discoveries on the laws of motion and the theory of gravitation in 1687 in his book The mathematical principles of natural philosophy.

It was the first book to describe a unified system of scientific rules explaining what happens on earth and in the universe.

It is considered one of the greatest works in the history of science.

B. Now listen again and answer the questions with key words.