Joseph Lister
Joseph Lister was a British physician who introduced antiseptics into surgery in 1867. He started using carbolic acid dressings in his own surgery work and so cut down the incidence of sepsis which had been shown by Louis Pasteur to be caused by germs. Three years later he claimed that death from surgery had dropped from over 40% to under 15%.
He also replaced the original silk thread which was used to stitch wounds with cat gut. The cat gut could be sterilised and was readily absorbed into the body and this improved recovery rates from surgery even more.
Thanks to Lister, infection during surgery is unusual rather being the norm as it was in the mid eighteen hundreds.
Robert Oppenheimer
John Robert Oppenheimer is know as the father of the atomic bomb. He was an American, theoretical physicist and widely known for his part as scientific director of the Manhattan Project which was the World War 11 attempt to develop nuclear weapons. His team first tested the atomic bomb in New Mexico, and Oppenheimer is said to have quoted from the Bhagavad Gita:
'If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. Now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.'
Clarence Birdseye
Clarence Birdseye is the American inventor who is considered to be the founder of the frozen food industry. In 1922 Birdseye started a series of experiment to see which methods of freezing produced the best fish. As a result of this Birdseye Seafoods Inc was formed. Basically, he has seen how the Inuit in the north had air frozen their fish in seconds in temperatures of -43C and noted how fresh it tasted on thawing. It was his quick freeze machine that really started the modern frozen food industry in 1924.
Hippocrates
Hippocrates (460-370BC) was a Greek physician who was said to be the father of medicine as we know it today. He was the founder of the Hippocratic School of Medicine. It was this school that first saw the study of medicine as a discipline of its own instead of part of theurgy a philosophy. He is credited with advanced a system for the systematic study of medicine.
Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier was the father of modern chemistry. He was the first to recognise oxygen and hydrogen as elements in their own right and worked and wrote the very first list of elements. Unfortunately, because he was such a prominent French citizen, he was beheaded during the French Revolution.
Sir Alexander Fleming
Alexander Fleming was the Scottish biologist and pharmacologist who discovered the antibiotic, penicillin, in 1928. He made this discovery by accident when he noticed that fungus, in the laboratory, would not grow around a particular kind of mould. He isolated this as being from the penicillium genus.
William Caxton
William Caxton was an English engineer who had his own textile business and translated a popular French romance story into English. He printed it as the Recuyell of Historyes of Troye and it became the book ever to be printed in English. He set up a printing press and published over a hundred different titles, including works by Chaucer and Gower.
George Stephenson
George Stephenson was an English engineer who built the first railway line in the world to use steam locomotives. His rail gauge which is the distance between the rails is four feet and eight and a half inches and this is still a standard size worldwide.
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell is credited with the invention of the telephone. In 1876 he was awarded the first US patent for the telephone. He is also known for pioneering work on hydrofoils and aeronautics. On his death on 2nd August 1922, all telephones in the US were silenced for one minute in tribute to the man who made them possible.
John Logie Baird
John Baird was a Scottish engineer who was credited with building the first working television in 1926. He used an electromechanical device to show black and white and color pictures on screen.
The first color TV transmission was made on July 3rd 1928.
译文:
是这些奇异的发明，改变了世界
约瑟夫·李斯特
约瑟夫·李斯特是一位英国医生，他于1867年，将防腐剂的使用应用于手术中。他在自己主刀的手术过程中，使用了碳酸粉敷料剂，切断了脓毒病的感染，而这一细菌引起的病症，则是路易斯·巴斯特发现的。三年后，约瑟夫·李斯特声称，手术过程中所导致的死亡率，已从高于40%，降为了低于15%。
他还将用于缝合伤口的线，由原来的丝线，换成了猫的肠子做成的线。这种线，可以进行消毒处理，并很容易被人体吸收，因此，更加提高了手术的愈合率。
幸而有了李斯特的发明，在十八世纪中叶的手术过程中，发生感染的情形已经是极其罕见了。
罗伯特·奥本海默
约翰·罗伯特·奥本海默，作为原子弹之父，被众人所熟知。他是一位美国统计物理学家，众所周知的是，他曾在二战时期，担任研究“曼哈顿计划”的实验室主任，负责研制核武器。他所率领的研究小组，在美国的新墨西哥州，进行了首次原子弹试验，据说，对此，奥本海默曾引用了《博伽梵歌》里的话，说：
“如果天空中，一千颗太阳同时爆炸，发出的灼灼光辉，便如同造物主耀眼的光芒。那么，如今，我就是死神，世界将会在我手中毁灭。”
克拉伦斯·伯宰
克拉伦斯·伯宰是位美国发明家，他被视为速冻食品行业的奠基人。伯宰于1922年开始，进行了一系列实验，想找出能保持鱼肉鲜美的冷冻法。正因为有了这些试验，诞生了“伯宰海产冷冻公司”。最终，试验之所以获得了成功，是因为他曾观察，北方的因纽特人，是如何在零下43℃的温度下，瞬间便将鱼冰冻了起来，并且，他还注意到，这些鱼解冻的时候，味道竟如此的鲜美。他于1924年，发明了食品速冻机器，正是这一发明，引领了现代速冻食品行业的发展。
希波克拉底
希波克拉底（公元前460-370）是位希腊医生，他被视为医药之父。他是希波克拉底医药大学的奠基人。这所学校，首次将医学作为一个独立的学科进行研究，而不是将其视为哲学的神力。他之所以有着崇高的声望，是由于他改进了系统研究医学的方法。
安托方·拉瓦锡
安托方·拉瓦锡，是现代化学之父。他是第一个正确地识别了氧元素和氢元素的人，也是他，研究、并且列出了元素表中、第一列的元素名单。不幸的是，由于他是一个著名的法国人，因而在法国大革命时期，残遭斩首。
亚厉山大·费莱明爵士
亚厉山大·费莱明是位苏格兰生物学家，也是药理学家，他于1928年，发现了一种抗生素，即青霉素。这一发现是偶然的，有一次，他在实验室里，偶然注意到，在一种特殊类型的霉的周围，并没有细菌生长。他将这种菌，从青霉菌的诸多种类中，单独隔离了出来。
威廉·卡克斯顿
威廉·卡克斯顿，是位英国工程师，他经营着自己的纺织品贸易，并且将一部著名的法国传奇小说译为英文。这本书出版的时候，命名为《特洛伊历史》，这本书，也就成为了第一部用英文出版发行的小说。此后，他建立了一家印刷厂，出版发行了一百多部各式各样的书，其中也包括乔叟和高尔的作品。
乔治·斯蒂芬森
乔治·斯蒂芬森是位英国工程师，他建造了世界上第一条、供蒸汽机车使用的铁路。他设定的铁轨间的距离为，4英尺又8.5英寸，至今，这一标准，仍然为全世界统一使用。
亚历山大·格雷厄姆·贝尔
亚历山大·格雷厄姆·贝尔的成就，在于他发明了电话。1876年，由于电话的发明，他获得了美国第一个专利奖项。而他在水翼学、航空学领域，也颇有建竖。1922年8月2日，他去世的那一天，为了纪念这个发明了电话机的人，美国所有的电话机，都停用了一分钟。
约翰·洛吉·贝尔德
约翰·贝尔德是位苏格兰工程师，他于1926年建立了第一个电视传输系统。他用机电装置，将黑白两色的画面，在屏幕上呈现出来。
第一部彩色电视传输系统，则发明于1928年7月3日。