Who discovered ytterbium?
Ytterbium was discovered in 1878 by the famous Swiss chemist Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac. He had recently discovered a new component in a type of Earth that was known as Erbia. He named this component ytterbia and hypothesized that it was a compound of a new element, which he named ytterbium. This hypothesis wasn’t confirmed until 1907 when French chemist Georges Urbain was able to separate ytterbia into two elements ytterbium and lutetium. It is thought that Austrian scientist Carl Auer von Welsbach also did this around the same time. The physical and chemical properties of the element were not discovered until the mid 1950′s when the first almost pure ytterbium metal was produced.

Did you know?
Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac also discovered gadolinium, 2 years after his discovery of Ytterbium.

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The theory
The existence of the Kuiper belt was theorized long before its discovery. Astronomers such as Frederick C. Leonard, Kenneth Edgeworth, Gerard Kuiper (after whom this region is named), Fred Whipple and physicist Al G.W. Cameron, all hypothesized about a region beyond Neptune. In 1977, astronomer Charles Kowal discovered a planetoid between Saturn and Uranus and in 1992 another similar object was found. These discoveries, along with the study of the finite lifespan of comets, led astronomers to theorize that these objects must come from an outer region.

Who discovered the Kuiper belt?
The discovery of the Kuiper belt can be traced back to 1987 when astronomer David Jewitt was surprised that the outer Solar System was so empty. He worked with graduate student Jane Luu to discover an object beyond the orbit of Pluto. After 5 years of searching they announced the discovery of the first object in the Kuiper belt. They nicknamed the object “Smiley,” but this was already used for the name of an asteroid. Today the object is known as (15760) 1992 QB1 and it remains unnamed. Six months later they discovered another object in the region.

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Who discovered the Oregon Caves?
The Oregon Caves were discovered in 1874 by Elijah Jones Davidson. He came across the caves during a hunting trip in the area and although Native American had probably known of the caves at an earlier date, he is credited with the first official documented discovery of the caves. Davidson lived in the community of Williams, which is only 19 km (12mi.) northeast of the Oregon Caves.

Surprisingly only a handful of people made a visit to the cave in the decade after the discovery. However, after this time a number of private investors attempted to establish a tourist site in the area. These attempts were all unsuccessful and some actually led to the damage of the caves. In 1903 the area surrounding the caves was designated the Siskiyou National Forest and in 1909 President William Howard Taft established the Oregon Caves National Monument. However, this did little to improve visitor numbers and it wasn’t until the automobile became more popular that visitor numbers increased.

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Who identified dyslexia?
Dyslexia was first identified by German doctor Oswald Berkhan in 1881. 6 years later it was given the name dyslexia by Rudolf Berlin. It comes from the Greek words “dus,” which means hard or difficult and “lexis,” which means speech or word.

Did you know?
Most people are under the impression that dyslexic readers mix up letters when reading or write words backwards. However, this is only seen a small percentage of those who have dyslexia. The most common sign is a level of writing that doesn’t match the intelligence of the person and substituting similar, but unrelated, words in their writing.

There are many famous people that have been diagnosed with, or were believed to suffer, dyslexia including; Albert Einstein, Tom Cruise, Jay Leno, Hans Christian Andersen and Orlando Bloom.

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Who discovered Machu Picchu
The man credited with discovering Machu Picchu is American professor and explorer Hiram Bingham. He first heard about the ruins during a trip to South America in 1908 and returned in 1911 with the goal of finding the lost city. He led a team from YALE University along the Urubamba Valley and was met by a local farmer, Melchor Arteaga, who told him about the Incan ruins on a mountain ridge. The following day he discovered Machu Picchu and news of the exciting discovery quickly spread throughout the world.

Controversies
Many other people have claimed to have found Machu Picchu before Bingham.

In 1916 German mining engineer Carl Haenel claimed to have discovered the site in 1910, but no evidence of his claim was ever given.

Some people also claim that Baptist missionary Thomas Payne visited the site in 1906 after they were spotted in the distance by an engineer who told Payne about them. However, no evidence exists that this claim was never made by Payne himself.

Another claim is that 3 men (Enrique Palma, Gabino Sánchez, and Agustín Lizárraga) carved their names in a rock at the site in 1901.

Recent evidence also suggests that the site may have been discovered much earlier in 1867 by German businessman Augusto R. Berns. It is claimed that he setup a sawmill business as a cover for looting the Incan relics and gold.

YALE University still holds many of the excavated treasures from the site. It is hoped that they will eventually be returned to Peru and put on public display.

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Who discovered penicillin?
The person credited with the discovery of penicillin is Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming. He made the discovery by accident on September 28, 1928. He had accidentally left a Petri dish containing the staphylococcus bacteria open and it had been contaminated by mold. The part of the dish containing the mold had a distinct area of inhibited bacteria growth around it. He hypothesized that the mold was releasing something that was preventing the bacteria from growing. Further investigation of the mold showed it to be Penicillium mold. He discontinued study on penicillin in 1931 because he didn’t think it would last inside the body long enough to treat infection. However, he restarted clinical trials in 1934 and actively searched for someone to purify the substance.

Medical use
In 1930, a pathologist called Cecil George Paine was the first to record a cure with penicillin. He treated eye infection in 4 babies and 1 adult, but failed to treat 1 other. Even with these early successes, it took some time for penicillin to be widely used to treat infections. It wasn’t until the early 1940′s that a research team, led by Australian Howard Florey, developed a method for mass producing the drug. By the end of World War II, penicillin production was an industrial process and the drug was widely available. In 1945 Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain (a member of the research team) shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine with Alexander Fleming.

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Who discovered cholesterol?
It was approximately 1758 when French doctor and chemist, François Poulletier de la Salle, isolated the crystals from cholesterol in gallstones. We don’t know the exact date of his discovery because his work was never published. In fact, we only know about his discovery because of the people that were working with him.

The current name for cholesterol wasn’t used until 1815 when another French Chemist, Michel Eugène Chevreul, named the substance “cholesterine.” The word cholesterol is made of the greek words for bile (chole) and solid (stereos).

Did you know?
It is the recommendation of the American Heart Association that all adults over 20 years of age have their cholesterol levels checked every 5 years.

Phytosterols are plant based compounds that are similar to cholesterol. They have the unique ability of lowering cholesterol levels in humans.

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Who discovered restriction enzymes?
The discovery of restriction enzymes is credited to Swiss scientist Werner Arber in the 1960′s. He proposed the idea for how these enzymes work, which was verified by American microbiologist Hamilton Smith. In 1970 Smith published two papers detailing the discovery of the first restriction enzyme and explained how they worked. In 1971 another American microbiologist Dan Nathans was the first to apply the use of restriction enzymes to genetics. In 1978 the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Werner Arber, Hamilton Smith and Dan Nathans for their discovery and application of restriction enzymes.

Did you know?
The first restriction enzyme to be isolated is called HindII. This enzyme was discovered while working with the Haemophilus influenzae bacteria.

The discovery of restriction enzymes has led to many important medical breakthroughs such as, the mass production of insulin for diabetics.

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Who discovered the Rosetta Stone?
In 1798 Napoleon launched a military campaign into Egypt and Syria. On July 15, 1799, some French soldiers were extending Fort Julien in the town of Rosetta by removing the ancient walls. During this work Pierre-François Bouchard discovered the large piece of Granite with three different languages inscribed on it. Fortunately, he recognized that it may be important and notified the general Jacques-François Menou of his discovery. It quickly gained the name la Pierre de Rosette (the Rosetta Stone) and was recognized very quickly to be a very important discovery. The first person to provide a translation of the stone was Jean-François Champollion in 1822.

When the French were defeated by British forces in 1801 the stone became a possession of the British and it remains in Britain today. It can be seen today, in a protective case, in the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery at the British Museum.

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Who discovered ringworm?
Ringworm has been known for many years, but the cause wasn’t discovered until 1843. A Hungarian doctor named David Gruby discovered a fungi the he called Microsporum audouinii. This fungi can cause infection of the hair and nails. It was once commonly associated with a form of ringworm called tinea capitis, but other forms of tinea are now usually responsible for this. David Gruby is now recognized for his pioneering research in the areas of medical microbiology and fungal infection.

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