John James Audubon – American naturalist

John James Audubon was an America’s greatest naturalist, ornithologist and animal artist, author of Birds of America (1827-1838). The first environmental organization in the world National Audubon Society was named in his honor.
John James Audubon was born on April 26, 1785 in Les Cayes, Haiti. He was the illegitimate son of a French adventurer. His mother died soon after her son’s birth. John and his father came to France in 1794.
In 1803, John came to America to become the manager of his father’s lead mines in Pennsylvania. However, he was interested in drawing and decided to become an artist.
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Birute Galdikas – Canadian primatologist

Birute Galdikas is a Canadian anthropologist, primatologist, ethologist and ecologist of Lithuanian origin.
Birute Marija Filomena Galdikas was born on May 10, 1948 in Wiesbaden. She was born in a family of refugees from Soviet Lithuania. She was the first of four children. In 1949, her family moved to Canada and obtained citizenship. The girl spent her childhood in Toronto.
She studied psychology and biology, and in 1966 Birute received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and zoology at the University of British Columbia and the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1969 she became Master of Anthropology.
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Rachel Carson – American biologist and writer

Rachel Carson was an American biologist, writer and environmentalist. In her book The Sea Around Us (1951), the scientific accuracy is combined with a wonderful description of nature. In 1962 the book Silent spring brought Carson worldwide popularity. It is dedicated to the harmful effects of pesticides on living organisms, especially birds.
Rachel Louise Carson was born on May 27, 1907 in Pennsylvania. In her childhood she spent long hours learning of field, pond, and forest from her mother.
In 1928, she graduated from Pennsylvania College for Women with a degree in zoology and went on to earn a master’s degree at Johns Hopkins University.
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Sir Sandford Fleming – railway engineer

Sir Sandford Fleming was a railway engineer who became a widely recognized publicist for various scientific, imperial, and public causes.
Sandford Fleming was born on January 7, 1827 in Scotland. In 1845 he went to Canada and qualified as a civil engineer.
In 1849 Fleming was engaged in founding the Canadian Institute at Toronto. In 1851 he designed the first Canadian postage stamp, the threepenny beaver.
In 1855 Sandford married Ann Jean Hall of Peterborough. They had six children.
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Philippe Nizier – genius doctor or charlatan?

He was one of the most famous magicians of all time, the adviser of the Russian tsar, who treated the most distinguished people of Europe. He predicted the birth of the heir to Nicholas II and his own death.
Philippe Nizier was born in 1849. He was considered a genius from an early age, some people even proclaimed him returned Jesus. And after his death in 1905 he became known as maestro Philippe. He never studied anything and said he received a gift from God: “I was six years old, when I gained the ability to heal.” The boy was obviously gifted, but none of the adults around him advised him to get the medical profession. At the age of fourteen he became a butcher’s apprentice in Lyon where he demonstrated his healing ability for the first time. Later he began healing people. However, he didn’t believe in medicine. Nizier was closer to the shamans. His methods of treatment were not traditional, therefore aroused the protests of scientists and doctors, envy colleagues who unsuccessfully treated serious illnesses.
Some people believed he was only a hypnotist, able to convince the patient that the pain had gone. But it wasn’t so. He helped many people and even saved from amputation – when the surgeons claimed that gangrene had begun! How could it be? Probably with the help of the Lord and talent to diagnosis and treatment. But soon there were rumors that he was a true charlatan and practiced occult medicine. He felt uncomfortable in Lyon. He had to look for a new home…
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Alan Turing – Father of computer science

Alan Turing was an English mathematician, logician, cryptographer, who had a significant impact on the development of computer science. He was a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1945), a member of the Royal Society of London (1951). Turing machine, which can be considered a computer model, is still used in a variety of theoretical and practical studies. During World War II Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School. He developed a series of hacking techniques, including the theoretical basis for the Bombe – the machine used for breaking German coder Enigma.
In 1948, the scientist joined Max Newman’s Computing Laboratory at the University of Manchester, where the assisted in creating computers and later became interested in mathematical biology.
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Ben Carson – neurosurgeon and author

Ben Carson is American neurosurgeon and author. He was the first doctor who successfully performed an operation to separate Siamese twins who were born joined at the head. In 2008 the 43rd US President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was a candidate for the US presidency in 2016.
Benjamin Solomon “Ben” Carson Sr. was born on September 18, 1951 in Detroit, Michigan. His parents divorced when Ben was eight years old. His mother had only a third-grade education and worked as a maid, sometimes holding two or even three jobs to support her family. The family was poor.
While studying in secondary school, Ben had a dream – to become a doctor.
He graduated from Yale University (Department of Psychology), and then the medical department of the University of Michigan.
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