The Men Who Left Their Marks In History: Guillermo Haro Barraza, Neil Armstrong, And Stephen Hawking

The world continues to evolve as well as technology advances throughout time. Humans see this as a great tool to seek new discoveries about the great beyond. With todays’ technology it is much easier for humans to seek scientific answers. Humans have performed missions to seek answers in different planets, different stars and scientist continue to introduce new theories that can explain the greatness that is all around us. There have been many scientific accomplishments that were achieved as a group as well as a single person alone achieved greatness. People such as Guillermo Haro Barraza, Neil Armstrong, and Stephen Hawking left their marks in history by achieving accomplishments that go beyond any human being.

Guillermo Haro Barraza was once a Mexican journalist but soon later when he discovered astronomy he instantly fell in love with it. In the 1930’s, Guillermo devoted his time to learning observational techniques at the Harvard College Observatory. Guillermo Haro greatest achievement was Herbie-Haro object. The term refers to planetary matter formed by the birth of a new star. Vladimir Escalante-Ramírez said in “Astronomers in Mexico Doing Science from Scratch” “One piece of the HH puzzle is the star that makes the effect happen. Stars are born in cold clouds by collapse. Gas in space tends to spread apart, but if the gas is dense enough, its force of gravity can overcome the tendency of the gas to spread, and the gas collapses into a ball of matter. As more matter falls onto the ball, its center heats up under the weight of the outer layers. Eventually nuclear reactions start up at the center, and a star is born. The newborn star remains surrounded by matter that did not fall onto the star. That matter blocks visible light, but there are other kinds of light that make it perceptible. Infrared light and radio waves can traverse more interstellar matter than visible light and reach earth, and the matter surrounding newborn stars produces bright infrared light and radio waves. Therefore, the location of the star producing the HH object can be pinpointed by using telescopes that can detect infrared light and radio waves.” The way Guillermo Haro was able to achieve this type of discovery was by using The Tonantzintla telescope which was a telescope in the municipality of San Andrés Cholula in the Mexican state of Puebla. Guillermo continued to devote his time and influencing the people around him with his main passion which was astronomy. One of the greatest contributions Guillermo was able to do was help advance science in Mexico. In “Why Google Doodle Celebrates Astronomer Guillermo Haro Today” by Jaime Ducharme, it says” In 1960, Guillermo Haro became the first president of the brand-new Mexican Academy of Sciences, an organization which he helped found, according to the Royal Astronomical Society. Haro also founded the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics, and Electronics, in 1971, to help support science students as they advance professionally”. He was Guillermo founded the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics, and Electronics, in 1971, to help support students with the passion for science.” Guillermo Haro Barraza saw how important it was to spread astronomy and curiosity among his country and for that Mexico will forever be grateful.

In the late 1960’s, a historic moment happened and was a success which was the Apollo 11 mission. Apollo 11 mission was the space flight that landed the first two people on the moon. Neil Armstrong was chosen to be mission commander for this mission. He contributed by leading his home country and conquering the moon landing and achieving the title to be called the first person on the moon. Neil Armstrong was born on august 5, 1930. He was born in the state of Ohio. Neil Armstrong always had a passion for airplanes. “Neil’s passion for aviation and flight was kindled when he took his first airplane ride at age 6.” He was so passionate about planes that he received his pilot license at the age of 16 which allowed him to fly a plane all on his own. He attended Purdue University but had to put his study on hold because he was called to fight for his country during the Korean War. When the war was over; he later returned to college where he graduated with an aeronautical engineering degree. Right after college he began working for this NACA which later turned to NASA. He would test pilots for NASA. After flying for NASA for a great period; Neil joined the space program which was right around the time that NASA was planning Apollo 11 mission. Neil later achieved which was at the time the unachievable and leaving his footprint in history when he took the first step on the moon. One of most historic sayings “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Apollo 11 returned on July 24, 1969 and the whole crew was expected with a great parade for their achievements. Neil Armstrong in particular received numerous awards for his efforts, including the “Medal of Freedom” and the “Congressional Space Medal of Honor”.

One of the greatest scientists to recently pass away was Stephen Hawking. Stephen Hawking from his time in his 20’s till his later days, he continued to stun the world over and over with his scientific contributions. Stephen Hawking was born on January 8, 1942, which just so happens to be the 300th anniversary death of Galileo. In his later years, he became a world-renowned British theoretical physicist. He worked on ground-breaking theorems regarding singularities and made a theoretical prediction that black holes should emit radiation know today as the hawking radiation. Although, he was always devoting his time to his studies, Stephen Hawking came into some trouble when he was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) at the age of 21. This type of news would have distracted any other person but not Stephen Hawking. He continued to defy all odds against him and later graduated with a PhD. In Physics of the Universe” it says “In 1968, he joined the staff of the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, where he remained until 1973, and began to apply the laws of thermodynamics to black holes by means of very complicated mathematics. He continued to devote his time and effort to his research”. Over the years, Stephen Hawking manage to write or co-write a total of 15 books Such as “A Brief History of Time”, “The Universe in a Nutshell” as well as “A Briefer History of Time”.

Humans over the period continued to leave their marks in the science world whether it’s through science discoveries such as theories, planets, stars, galaxies, or accomplishing missions for example first person to visit the moon. Today, technology is well advanced and is playing a huge role in our discovery findings. Telescopes in particular; They are very technologically advanced that they help provide imaging of certain parts of the sky. Human continue to pursue their curiosity and continue to find new discoveries about the wonders of the world. Its people like Neil Armstrong, Guillermo Haro Barraza, and Stephen hawking that motivate the younger generation to continue to pursue their levels of curiosity and wisdom that led these great human beings to contributing to mankind with their achievements.

References

• Ducharme, Jaime. 'Who Is Guillermo Haro? Google Honors Legendary Mexican Astronomer'. Ajc, 2019, https://www.ajc.com/news/national/who-guillermo-haro-google-honors-legendary-mexican-astronomer/6FOBpz5eLoxsav1ioIwbtO/. Accessed 28 May 2019.
• 'Neil Armstrong | Biography & Facts'. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Neil-Armstrong.
• Escalante-Ramirez, Vladimir. 'Astronomers In Mexico'. Revista.Drclas.Harvard.Edu, 2019, https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/book/astronomers-mexico.
• 'Stephen Hawking - Important Scientists - The Physics Of The Universe'. Physicsoftheuniverse.Com, 2019, https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/scientists_hawking.html.