Science
Katherine Johnson was a very talented African American mathematician. After she graduated from college at age 18, she worked as a teacher before joining NASA. Johnson was known for making careful and accurate calculations, and became known as “the computer.” She was responsible for analyzing the flight trajectory of the Freedom 7 mission, which sent…
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George Washington Carver was born an African American slave a year before slavery was outlawed. He left home at a young age to pursue education and would eventually earn a master’s degree in agricultural science from Iowa State University. He would go on to teach and conduct research at Tuskegee University for decades. Carver’s early…
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Quarantine isn’t new Quarantine has become a common word in our 2020 vocabulary. Did you know this is a long-established practice for helping stop the spread of illness and disease? Ibn Sina, also known as Avicenna, was a highly influential Persian scientist who lived during the Middle Ages. He was what is known as a…
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Chimpanzees are closely related to humans, and British primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall is best known for her research of wild chimpanzees. Learn more about Dr. Goodall on this printable coloring page. Dr. Goodall is a primatologist and anthropologist who studied the social interactions among groups of wild chimpanzees. She first started her 60 year studies…
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Dr. Lonnie Johnson is a mechanical and nuclear engineer. After graduate school, he joined the US Air Force, and later worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dr. Johnson won multiple awards in spacecraft system design, and contributed to the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Mars Observer projects. His most famous invention was the Super…
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Smoke from wildfires and dust in the air can make it difficult to breathe sometimes. If you live in a place with lots of particulates (small pieces of matter like smoke, ash, dust, pollen) in the air, you might want a way to remove some of those things from your home. Earlier this week, Ash…
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Why Filter the Air? ScienceWorks is located in Oregon, where we are having some wildfires right now. There is quite a bit of smoke, dust, and soot in the air. Due to the high levels of particulates (small pieces of solids in the atmosphere) outdoors, most people are trying to stay inside. Breathing too many…
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What is a camera obscura? While it might have “camera” in its name, a camera obscura is actually more like a projector. It is a device used by using a dark room or box and adding a small hole in one wall which will let light in. The light that travels through the aperture (the…
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DNA Photographer: Spotlight Scientist Rosalind Franklin was born in London in 1920, and decided by age 15 that she wanted to be a scientist. Rosalind was known for her logic, intellectual debate, and keen sense of humor. She studied at Newnham College, one of two schools for women at Cambridge University. Even during World War…
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Welcome, Mars fans! Later this summer, NASA will launch the Mars Rover Perseverance. Since ancient times, humans have been fascinated with Mars. It has earned the nickname of The Red Planet, and has been the setting for countless science fiction stories. Why Explore Mars? Mars is thought to be the most Earth-like planet in our…
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