Focus on Language

1 . In the texts find as many noun phrases as possible to do with research. Translate them into Russian. Follow the examples:

Example: a method of transmitting telegraphic signals

метод передачи сигналов по телеграфу

Example: probability theory Example: modern science

теория вероятности современная наука

2. Go back to the texts and pick out all the words and phrases to do with research. Translate them into Russian.

Example:

Text 1: scientific accomplishments, …, …

Text 2: to experiment, …, …

Text 3: to do calculations, …, …

3. Look at the diagram with the words invention and discovery. See how many collocations you can make with these words.

Scientific Archaeological Medical

Latest New Recent Accidental Chance

Great Brilliant Amazing World-shaking Significant Unexpected

Invention /discovery

4. Work with a partner. Match the verbs on the left with their complements on the

right. Some verbs may go with more than one noun. Go back to the texts if necessary.

to lead to to make(3) to lay to conduct to patent(2) to develop to write to determine

a method a paper the foundations principles a discovery an experiment a contribution an invention the probability of something

5. Consult an English-English dictionary and write out the collocations with

the words: investigation, contribution and observation. Compare your results as a class.

6 . Divide into 5 teams. Each team completes mind maps for the words: experiment, accomplishment, development, laboratory and technology. Check your results as a class.

Reading

1. Work with a partner. Name any accidental discoveries or inventions you have ever heard about. How did people benefit from them? Did they cause any problems?

2. The words in column A are all from the text you are going to read. Match them with the words in column B which are similar in meaning.

A	B
1 wire	a) mix
2 spark	b) silhouette
3 to jerk	c) to vaccinate
4 screen	d) flash
5 virulent	e) covered
6 prevention	f) display
7 compound	g) cable
8 coated	h) dangerous
9 to inoculate	i) avoidance
10 shadow	j) to move suddenly

3. Read the text about 4 unexpected scientific discoveries. How did they change the world?

Let's review just a few of the important discoveries of the past couple of centuries that were made entirely by chance.

In 1791 Luigi Galvani was an anatomist at the University of Bologna. Galvani

was investigating the nerves in frog legs, and had threaded* some legs on copper wire hanging from a balcony in such a way that a puff of wind caused the legs to touch the iron railing. A spark snapped and the legs jerked violently (even today, we speak of being "galvanized" into action). In one unintentional step, Galvani had observed a closed electrical circuit**, and related electricity to nerve impulses. So he is typically credited with the discovery of bioelectricity.

In 1879, Louis Pasteur inoculated some chickens with cholera bacteria. It was supposed to kill them, but Pasteur or one of his assistants had accidentally used a culture from an old jar and the chickens merely got sick and recovered. Later, Pasteur inoculated them again with a fresh culture that he knew to be virulent, and the chickens didn't even get sick. Chance had led him to discover the principle of vaccination for disease prevention.

Wilhelm Roentgen was experimenting with electrical discharges one evening at the University of Wurzburg in 1895. There was a screen coated with a barium compound lying to one side, and Roentgen noticed that it would fluoresce when an electrical discharge would occur in the tube he was watching. On reaching for the screen, Roentgen got his hand between the discharge tube and the screen and saw the bones of his own hand through the shadow of his skin. In 1901, Roentgen received the Nobel Prize for his accidental discovery of X-rays.

Alexander Fleming was a young bacteriologist at St. Mary's Hospital in London in 1928. One day in his cluttered laboratory, he noticed that a culture dish of bacteria had been invaded by a mould*** whose spore must have drifted in through an open window. Under the microscope, he saw that, all around the mould, the individual bacteria that he had been growing had burst. He saved the mould, and from it produced the first penicillin.

Although the mad scientists or eccentric inventors so often portrayed in old movies are still good for laughs, that's not what we're talking about here. Surely the need still exists for the imaginative and inventive experimenter.

(Adapted from “Unexpected scientific discoveries are often the most important” by Larry

Gedney. Alaska Science Forum, 1985)

---------------------------------------

*нанизывать

**замкнутая электрическая цепь

***плесень

Comprehension check

1. Give questions for these answers:

Example:_____When and where was Luigi Galvani doing his investigations?____

In 1791 at the University of Bologna.

a) _______________________________________________________________?

A puff of wind.

b) _______________________________________________________________?

To nerve impulses.

c) _______________________________________________________________?

Louis Pasteur.

d) _______________________________________________________________?

Principle of vaccination.

e) _______________________________________________________________?

With electrical discharges.

f) _______________________________________________________________?

Barium compound.

g) _______________________________________________________________?

The bones of his own hand.

h) _______________________________________________________________?

The Nobel Prize.

i) ________________________________________________________________?

Bacteriologist.

j) ________________________________________________________________?

The first penicillin.

2. Sum up in your own words how the following discoveries were made.

1. bioelectricity

2. vaccination

3. X-rays

4. penicillin

Discuss

• Do you think these discoveries were absolutely unexpected? Why?/Why not?

• Why are scientists often portrayed as mad or eccentric experimenters?

• Comment on the saying “The fortune likes those that are prepared”.

Focus on language

1. Read the sentences below. What grammar tenses are used?

• We were tired because we had been experimenting all day.

• After I had worked in the lab for a few weeks, I felt I knew the equipment

pretty well.

• They were making observations of the night sky for several years hoping to discover the planet they had calculated.

• First students had a short talk with a lab instructor about safety in the lab and then they were allowed to work with some chemicals.

• The lecture finished before we got there.

• The lecture had already finished before we got there.

2. Look back in the text. Find examples of the past tenses and match them with the rules below:

Past Simple, Past Progressive, Past Perfect and Past Perfect Progressive We use … talk about an activity or situation that began and ended at a particular time in the past. We use … to say that something was going on around a particular time in the past or a longer background action or situation which was interrupted by a shorter action. We use … to speak about an action which happened before another past action. We use … to talk about an action or event continuing up to a specific time in the past. We put the emphasis on ‘how long’.

Practice

1. List each time expression under the correct tense heading. Some expressions can be used more than once. Check as a class.

Past Past Past Past

Simple Progressive Perfect Perfect Progressive

……….. ………… …………

……….. ………… ………. …………

……….. ………… ………. …………

for	before	already	first,	by the time
since	after	ago	until	yesterday
when	while	as soon as	at this time last year	during

2. Fill in the gaps with the correct Past tenses:

a) Class (begin, already) ---------------- by the time I (get) -------------- there,

so I (take, quietly) ----------------- a seat in the back.

b) My group mate (discuss) ----------------- something with professor when I (walk)

------------- into the room.

c) It was midnight. I (study) ---------------- for five straight hours. No wonder I

(get tired).

d) Millions of years ago, dinosaurs (roam) ------------------ the earth, but they

(become) ---------------- extinct by the time humankind first (appear) -------------

e) I (call) Kate at nine last night, but she (be, not) -------------- at home. She (study)

------------- at the library.

f) Kevin suddenly realized that the teacher (ask) him a question. He couldn’t

answer because he (daydream) --------------- for the last ten minutes.

g) I (see, never) ----------------- any of Picasso’s paintings before I (visit) --------

the art museum.

h) The anthropologists (leave) ------------ the village when they (collect) --------

enough data.

i) While Roger (write) ------------ an essay his roommate (clean) ----------- the

room, so Roger (cannot) ------------- concentrate and (get) ----------- angry.

j) As I (pass) --------------- the hardest exam and (get) --------------- an excellent

mark I (feel) --------------- a know-it-all.

D iscuss

• How many joint

• discoveries or inventions

• can you name?

• Who made them?

• Did they find

application?

• Which would you prefer: working in collaboration with other scientists and making a joint discovery or competing with others and working on your own? Why? Give reasons.

Get real

Search the Internet or look in popular science magazines and books for the information about an accidental or joint discovery / invention made before the 20^th

century. Report your findings to the class. Follow the outline below:

• discovery/ invention

• discoverer(s)/inventor(s)

• circumstances

Speaking

Work in teams. Hold a “balloon debate”. Each team chooses the name of the inventor or discoverer they have learnt about. Explain why his/her invention / discovery is so important that the inventor/discoverer should be the last one left in the falling balloon, while the others jump out to save him / her.

Functional language: Agreeing and disagreeing
Opinions	I think (that)… In my opinion… As for me…
Agreeing	Absolutely; Right / That right; I agree/ You’re right
Disagreeing	I know, but… I take/see your point, but… I’m not sure… That’s not true…

Writing

A competition was announced at your department to write a short article for a university newspaper on the subject: “Great Events in Science.” Your task is to focus on inventions and discoveries made before the 20^th century. Choose to write about a scientist who you think made the most significant contribution to the development of your field of science or science in general.

Write about 150 words. Make use of the texts about Lomonosov, Pascal and Edison as a model. Follow the outline below:

• Give the article a title

• Introduce the subject

• Give some factual information

• Give your opinion and some supporting information

In the Realm of Science

1. Words like volt and watt have become part of our language, e.g. a volt is the unit of electrical potential, or difference in electrical pressure, expressing the difference between two electrical charges.

A watt is a unit of electrical power. However, we sometimes forget that these are the names of famous scientists. A volt is named after Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), the Italian physicist. A watt is named after James Watt (1736-1819), the English inventor of a steam engine.

Do you know what the following terms and what they mean?

ampere ['æmpɛə]	kelvin ['kelvin]	Fahrenheit ['fær(ə)nhait]
bel [bel]	curie ['kju(ə)ri]	pascal [pæ'skæl]
coulomb ['ku:lɔm]	Celsius ['selsiəs]	hertz [hə:ts]
roentgen ['rʌntjən; 'rʌntgən]	farad ['færəd]	ohm [əum]
weber ['webər; 'veibər]	newton ['nju:t(ə)n]

2. Remember how to say the names of some well-known scientists:

Babbage ['bæbiʤ]	Avogadro [,ævə'ga:drəu]	Isaac Newton ['aizək 'nju:t(ə)n]
Curie ['kju(ə)ri]	Descartes [dei'ka:t]	Pythagoras [pə'θægərəs; pai-]
Bohr [bɔ:r]	Aristotle ['æri,stɔt(ə)l]	Hippocrates [hi'pa:krə,ti:z]
Plato ['pleitəu]	Aristarchus [,æri'sta:rkəs]	Archimedes [,a:kə'mi:diz]
Einstein ['ainstain]	Euclid ['ju:klid]	Roentgen ['rʌntjən; 'rʌntgən]

3. Arithmetic operation is a mathematical expression involving numbers.

Division (:) ” twenty one divided by three is/equals seven”.

Multiplication (×) or times: “the multiplication of four by three gives twelve"; "four times three equals twelve".

Subtraction (–) or Minus: "the subtraction of three from four leaves one", "four minus three equals one".

Summation, addition or Plus (+): "the summation of four and three gives even", "four plus three equals seven".

Equality (=) twenty five divided by five is/equals five”

4. Read the following mathematical symbols:

	is not equal to
<	is less than
>	is greater than
	is less than or equal to
	is greater than or equal to
(     )	Parentheses (grouping symbol)
[     ]	Brackets (grouping symbol)
{     }	Braces (grouping symbol)
|     |	Absolute Value Bars
	is an element of
	is not an element of
or	is a subset of
or	is not a subset
	the set of
	the intersection of
	angle
	perpendicular
	degree(s)
	triangle
	is approximately equal to
	is similar to
	is parallel to
	infinity
	pi, 3.14159
	is congruent to
	therefore
	square root
	right angle
!	factorial
	the sum of
e	numeric constant 2.71828
	line AB
	segment AB
	ray AB
AB	the length of

(http://www.gomath.com/formulatogo.html)

5. Read the formulas:

E  =  Ek + Ep + heat	e = mc2	(f - g)(x) = f(x) - g(x)
a(b + c) = ab + ac	32°F° = C°	logb(1) = 0
(a + b) + c = a + (b + c)	v=S:t	2 × pi × r
x | > a, then x < -a or x > a	y=mx+b	E = hv

Unit 1 Progress Monitoring In this unit you have worked on the following vocabulary related to the topic: “ Evolution of Natural Sciences” to make a discovery achievements in physics/chemistry/etc. to measure time/distance/mass scientific accomplishments to examine/study/investigate sth. theoretical/experimental science to determine/observe sth. to explain a physical phenomenon to count/calculate/compute sth. to lead to a discovery of sth. addition/summation/plus accidental/joint/shared/independent discovery invention/ subtraction/minus to be a great step forward to sth. multiplication to conduct/make experiments division to patent an invention/method to equal sth./to be equal to sth. to make a contribution to science to do research to develop an idea/theory/principle Tick (V) the points you are confident about and cross (X) the ones you need to revise.

U nit 2 “A Giant Leap”

Lead In

1. The most revolutionary and important discoveries

in science are often called breakthroughs.

Work with a partner. Make a list of breakthroughs

and inventions made in the 20^th century.

2. Discuss your lists as a class and agree on five

breakthroughs and inventions that you think have

changed the world we live in?

Reading

1. Match the words from the text on the left with the words that are similar in meaning on the right. Consult the dictionary if necessary.

unprecedented	in a way that has a very great effect on sb/sth:
insight	a possible effect or result of an action or a decision
profoundly	suddenly and often surprisingly
dramatically	that has never happened, been done or been known before
to redefine	to go into or through sth
impact	the ability to see and understand the truth about people or situations
to penetrate	to consider sth in a new way
susceptibility	a person or thing that comes before sb/sth similar and that leads to or influences its development
sequence	the powerful effect that sth has on sb/sth
sophisticated	very great or extremely good
implication	a set of events, actions, numbers, etc. which have a particular order and which lead to a particular result
precursor	the state of being very likely to be influenced, harmed or affected by sth
tremendous	clever and complicated in the way that it works or is presented

4. Read the text about the breakthroughs of the 20^th century. Find out what changes they have brought about. Complete the chart below:

Breakthrough	Implication