People
Stephen Hawking: The Greatest Scientist Since Einstein
Written by Eleanor Pugh
Early in the morning on March 14, 201, Stephen Hawking, possibly the most brilliant physicist to ever live, passed away. March 14 is also Pi day, celebrating the famous circular ratio that goes on forever, starting with 3.14, and Einstein’s birthday. Stephen Hawking is most famous for pondering the origins of the universe, gravity, and other physical forces, becoming the human embodiment of curiosity. He came up with many theories and laws of physics, including some that shape humanity's understanding of black holes. He wrote many books on his theories and findings, most famously A Brief History of Time: From The Big Bang to Black Holes. Hawking also co-authored a trilogy of children’s adventure stories about space, starting with George and the Big Bang. His life is told in the documentary The Theory of Everything. Hawking defied medical opinion, as he had ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which affected his motor neurons and confined him to a wheelchair. He lived to an average age to die, while most people who have this disease only live two to three years after diagnosis, and served as a role model to raise the hopes of handicapped people. As Hawking said when discussing his video, “I never expected to reach 75, so I feel very fortunate to be able to reflect on my legacy. I think my greatest achievement will be my discovery that black holes are not at all black… The results were not at all expected, and show that there is a deep relationship between gravity and thermodynamics.” Here is a list of some of his other quotes that capture humanity very well:
Rather than saying “Rest in Peace” to Stephen Hawking many people are saying “Rest in Power.” On the day of his funeral, he paid for a three-course meal for the homeless. Hawking will be buried in Westminster Abbey, near Sir Isaac Newton.
Written by Eleanor Pugh
Early in the morning on March 14, 201, Stephen Hawking, possibly the most brilliant physicist to ever live, passed away. March 14 is also Pi day, celebrating the famous circular ratio that goes on forever, starting with 3.14, and Einstein’s birthday. Stephen Hawking is most famous for pondering the origins of the universe, gravity, and other physical forces, becoming the human embodiment of curiosity. He came up with many theories and laws of physics, including some that shape humanity's understanding of black holes. He wrote many books on his theories and findings, most famously A Brief History of Time: From The Big Bang to Black Holes. Hawking also co-authored a trilogy of children’s adventure stories about space, starting with George and the Big Bang. His life is told in the documentary The Theory of Everything. Hawking defied medical opinion, as he had ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which affected his motor neurons and confined him to a wheelchair. He lived to an average age to die, while most people who have this disease only live two to three years after diagnosis, and served as a role model to raise the hopes of handicapped people. As Hawking said when discussing his video, “I never expected to reach 75, so I feel very fortunate to be able to reflect on my legacy. I think my greatest achievement will be my discovery that black holes are not at all black… The results were not at all expected, and show that there is a deep relationship between gravity and thermodynamics.” Here is a list of some of his other quotes that capture humanity very well:
- We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.
- Life would be tragic if it weren't funny.
- Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.
- To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.
Rather than saying “Rest in Peace” to Stephen Hawking many people are saying “Rest in Power.” On the day of his funeral, he paid for a three-course meal for the homeless. Hawking will be buried in Westminster Abbey, near Sir Isaac Newton.
Booker remains an icon of education and equality even in our society today.
Booker T. Washington
Written by Samantha Wu
This month is African American History Month. In honor of that, we are celebrating famous African American leaders.
Booker T. Washington was an African American writer and racial leader in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
He founded Tuskegee Institute, which grew into an African American university in his lifetime.
He was born as a slave, but rose in status as an educator/teacher and speaker until he was respected by people of all color. After working as a slave, he left to go to the mines. The crowded and dirty conditions were terrible. He learned his numbers from the sides of the salt packaging and started attending night school, educating himself.
He gave the "Atlanta Compromise" speech in 1895, addressing racial inequality.
https://www.thoughtco.com/booker-t-washington-1779859
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington
Written by Samantha Wu
This month is African American History Month. In honor of that, we are celebrating famous African American leaders.
Booker T. Washington was an African American writer and racial leader in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
He founded Tuskegee Institute, which grew into an African American university in his lifetime.
He was born as a slave, but rose in status as an educator/teacher and speaker until he was respected by people of all color. After working as a slave, he left to go to the mines. The crowded and dirty conditions were terrible. He learned his numbers from the sides of the salt packaging and started attending night school, educating himself.
He gave the "Atlanta Compromise" speech in 1895, addressing racial inequality.
https://www.thoughtco.com/booker-t-washington-1779859
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington
Image Citation: National Geographic
Paul Salopek, the Man Walking Across the World
Written by Ellie Pugh
Paul Salopek is on a walk unlike anyone you’ve ever been on. Paul Salopek is a two-time pulitzer prize winning journalist that loves traveling. He decided that walking around the world will help him discover deeper insights on humanity. He set out with three walking partners in 2013 to walk around the globe--a 30,000,000 step journey. He started in Ethiopia’s Great Spring Valley where scientists think that humanity might have began. He plans to model how humanity spread out of Africa during the stone age. His trip will end in about 2023 at the southern tip of South America.
Along his trip he stays in many small villages, taken in by native families from all different cultures. Most of the time he has no idea where he will sleep that night. To him, it is truly just strolling across the globe and seeing how far he gets before nightfall and then finding a place to sleep.
When he is preparing to walk across the desert, his crew drives out ahead of time and buries gallons of water in the sand so that they can have water on their journey. They then record the GPS coordinates to help them find it while they are walking.
And at the end of the day he can’t just get rest. He is a journalist and needs to write, take pictures and interview people, then rest and the next day continue on.
So what keeps him going? As he says, It’s wanting to know what’s over the next hill. So what hills are you going to explore this summer? What new places will you go to?
Written by Ellie Pugh
Paul Salopek is on a walk unlike anyone you’ve ever been on. Paul Salopek is a two-time pulitzer prize winning journalist that loves traveling. He decided that walking around the world will help him discover deeper insights on humanity. He set out with three walking partners in 2013 to walk around the globe--a 30,000,000 step journey. He started in Ethiopia’s Great Spring Valley where scientists think that humanity might have began. He plans to model how humanity spread out of Africa during the stone age. His trip will end in about 2023 at the southern tip of South America.
Along his trip he stays in many small villages, taken in by native families from all different cultures. Most of the time he has no idea where he will sleep that night. To him, it is truly just strolling across the globe and seeing how far he gets before nightfall and then finding a place to sleep.
When he is preparing to walk across the desert, his crew drives out ahead of time and buries gallons of water in the sand so that they can have water on their journey. They then record the GPS coordinates to help them find it while they are walking.
And at the end of the day he can’t just get rest. He is a journalist and needs to write, take pictures and interview people, then rest and the next day continue on.
So what keeps him going? As he says, It’s wanting to know what’s over the next hill. So what hills are you going to explore this summer? What new places will you go to?
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Michel Lotito: Metal Mouth
Written by Lillian Wall Frenchmen Michel Lotito was diagnosed with pica, a condition that causes him to crave non-nutritious items, such as clay, drywall, or sand. Lotito possesses a stomach and intestine with walls twice the thickness of a normal human, allowing him to eat anything, including glass, metal, and toxic material. He put two and two together, and Lotito realized he could get famous. Through this, he earned the nickname “Monsieur Mangetout”, or “Mr. Eats Everything”. He cut up and consumed an incredible variety of of objects during his life, like bicycles, lightbulbs, shopping carts, and even TV’s. Loltito is not actually “Mr. Eat All”, as he refuses to eat bananas because they give him heartburn. He can’t eat bananas, yet he ate an entire plane. Over his lifespan, Lotito ate 9 tons of metal. |
David Bowie
Written by Christopher Poulson
Sadness. Grief. Devastation. This is what the world felt when superstar David Bowie passed away on Sunday, January 10th. He died after a eighteen month struggle with cancer. Producer Brian Eno said he believed Bowie knew his death was coming, after he received an email a week ago. "It was signed 'Dawn,'" he said. "I realize now he was saying goodbye." Other stars such as Kanye West, Madonna, Pharrell Williams, and Lorde, shared their feelings about David Bowie's death on social media.
Written by Christopher Poulson
Sadness. Grief. Devastation. This is what the world felt when superstar David Bowie passed away on Sunday, January 10th. He died after a eighteen month struggle with cancer. Producer Brian Eno said he believed Bowie knew his death was coming, after he received an email a week ago. "It was signed 'Dawn,'" he said. "I realize now he was saying goodbye." Other stars such as Kanye West, Madonna, Pharrell Williams, and Lorde, shared their feelings about David Bowie's death on social media.
Edward Brooke, First African-American Senator Popularly Elected, Dies
Credit: The BurtonWire
Written by Hunter Walterman
Washington (CNN)- Edward Brooke, a man known far and wide as a trailblazer, by both Democrats and Republicans, for being the only African-American ever to have served two terms in the senate, and was also the first African-American Republican senator, to be voted as a senator since the Reconstruction (The time of rebuilding in America after the Civil War, mainly in the south). According to family, Mr. Brooke passed away Saturday, in his Miami home, at the age of 95, because of natural causes. He served in the senate from 1969 to 1979, and in 2009, received the Congressional Gold Metal, an award given by the U.S. Congress and is one of the highest civilian awards in the United State’s, along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Mr. Brooke was described highly by president Barack Obama as a man who had “an extraordinary life of public service”. Edward Brooke grew up right here in Washington D.C., and served in World War 2. After his service, for which he was awarded, he moved to Massachusetts, where he served as its attorney general, his first political position. He did represent Massachusetts during his time as a senator. He is thought highly of in the political community, as many, including John Lewis (Democrat-Georgia), who stated Saturday that “He was a champion for whatever he believed was right. He was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and added an important open-housing requirement to the act…” among his many other great accomplishments, that don’t go unmentioned. He will be missed. –Hunter Walterman
Credit: The BurtonWire
Written by Hunter Walterman
Washington (CNN)- Edward Brooke, a man known far and wide as a trailblazer, by both Democrats and Republicans, for being the only African-American ever to have served two terms in the senate, and was also the first African-American Republican senator, to be voted as a senator since the Reconstruction (The time of rebuilding in America after the Civil War, mainly in the south). According to family, Mr. Brooke passed away Saturday, in his Miami home, at the age of 95, because of natural causes. He served in the senate from 1969 to 1979, and in 2009, received the Congressional Gold Metal, an award given by the U.S. Congress and is one of the highest civilian awards in the United State’s, along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Mr. Brooke was described highly by president Barack Obama as a man who had “an extraordinary life of public service”. Edward Brooke grew up right here in Washington D.C., and served in World War 2. After his service, for which he was awarded, he moved to Massachusetts, where he served as its attorney general, his first political position. He did represent Massachusetts during his time as a senator. He is thought highly of in the political community, as many, including John Lewis (Democrat-Georgia), who stated Saturday that “He was a champion for whatever he believed was right. He was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and added an important open-housing requirement to the act…” among his many other great accomplishments, that don’t go unmentioned. He will be missed. –Hunter Walterman
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Helen Keller
Written By Mary Shawhan A girl growing up with no sight or hearing, Helen Keller was an inspiration to us all. Helen Adams Keller (born 1880) was not actually born blind and deaf. However, in 1882, she got a fever that changed her life forever. Her childhood was hard for her because of this, and she threw very many tantrums. Not being able to communicate easily was really frustrating. Her parents stressed in trying to find a teacher for her. Thankfully, the perfect educator was finally found: Anne Sullivan. Anne Sullivan was Helen’s savior. Besides teaching her how to communicate, Anne taught Helen good manners and temper control. Anne and Helen went on to be companions for a very long time. Helen eventually got into college and began to advocate for the lives of other blind and deaf people. Today we honor her, and many people know about her through books or even plays and movies like the Miracle Worker. To find out more about her, check out some of her books, like the Story of my Life, her first book. |
