Showing titles in Science & Technology

With only three months of formal education, Thomas Edison grew up to be one of the most successful inventors of all time. Applying scientific principles to practical use, he made scores of inventions and held over thirteen hundred patents, from improvements on the telegraph and phonograph to the development of the incandescent lamp and a whole system for distributing electricity. Edison's rise from humble beginnings and his unceasing struggle to overcome obstacles illustrate the spirit of America.

Heroes of History is a unique biography series that brings the shaping of history to life with the remarkable true stories of fascinating men and women who changed the course of history. Known during the Civil War as the "Angel of the Battlefield," remarkable Clara Barton helped to save countless lives on the frontlines of battle. She went on to find thousands of missing soldiers and to organize the American National Red Cross. An incredible story of service and sacrifice.

Alan Shepard's boyhood fascination with flight led him from constructing model airplanes in his grandfather's basement to attaining national hero status in the race to space. Rooted in hard work and education, this pioneer's dreams of flight came true as he became not only the first American launched into space but, later, one of the privileged few to walk on the moon. When he wasn't soaring above the clouds, astronaut Alan Shepard used his expertise to benefit others, raising money to fuel the dreams of science students and guiding NASA missions.

As a child growing up in Detroit, Ben Carson (1951-) has a dream of becoming a physician, a dream that rose out of struggles with poverty, racism, and poor grades. As Ben persevered and strove for academic excellence, his life became one of compassion and service. Today, Benjamin Carson, MD, is known as the American neurosurgeon with gifted hands.

Hungarian American biochemist Katalin Kati Karikó became fascinated by science as a child and grew up determined to find a way to use messenger RNA—a copy of a part of DNA that provides cells with instructions to make proteins—to help fight illness. An mRNA vaccine had never been made before, and she faced frequent criticism and was told by other scientists she would never succeed. Karikó refused to give up her research, and when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she played a critical role in developing the successful Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine faster than any other vaccine in history.

Discover some of the many contributions women, people of color, immigrants, and people with disabilities made to space exploration. From an engineer in the control room to a mission specialist that went on four space flights, these heroes are transforming how we think of space.

Tech is everywhere! Learn more about the innovators who created the technology world. These innovators are women, people of color, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community who are ready to be recognized.

The What Do We Know About? series explores the mysterious, the unknown, and the unexplained. Are there really aliens visiting Earth to observe and interact with humans? In 1961, Betty and Barney Hill claimed to have experienced a bizarre night that included extraterrestrials, flying saucers, and...

Growing up in the 1920s on a dirt-poor farm in North Dakota, Mary Sherman's life was filled with chores—until she finally began school and discovered she loved to learn. Mary excelled at science, especially chemistry, and leaped at the chance to work in a laboratory during World War II designing rocket fuels. And when the US decided to enter the space race, Mary was chosen over her male colleagues to create the fuel to launch a rocket carrying America's first satellite.

مجموعة من قصص الفيديو بجودة عالية وأسلوب ممتع، يتعرف من خلالها الأطفال على شخصية مشهورة تركت أثرها في التاريخ الإنساني، والظروف التي عاشتها وأثرت في نبوغها وعبقريتها، بالإضافة إلى أهم إنجازاتها وابتكاراتها والجوائز العلمية التي حصلت عليها، وأي مجالات أخرى برعت فيها بعيداً عن مجالها الأساسي.

Sloths spend most of their lives in trees, and until recently, scientists didn’t know very much about them. But Dr. Rebecca Cliffe was determined to discover their secrets. To find out more, she fitted sloths with special backpacks containing a device to track their activity. She learned how to climb trees in the Costa Rican jungle so she could take sloth hair samples and test their DNA. And she’s helped create sloth crossings and plant trees to ensure the sloths aren’t trapped in shrinking territories. Along the way, she earned the nickname Dr. Sloth.

Meg Lowman was always fascinated by the natural world above her head—the colors, the branches, and, most of all, the leaves and mysterious organisms living there. Meg set out to climb up and investigate the rain forest tree canopies—and to be the first scientist to do so. But she encountered challenge after challenge. Male teachers would not let her into their classrooms, the high canopy was difficult to get to, and worst of all, people were logging and clearing the forests. Meg never gave up or gave in. 

Jeanne Villepreux-Power was never expected to be a scientist. Born in 1794 in a French village more than 100 miles from the ocean, she pursued an improbable path that brought her to the island of Sicily. There, she took up natural history and solved the two-thousand-year-old mystery of how the argonaut octopus gets its shell. In an era when most research focused on dead specimens, Jeanne was determined to experiment on living animals. And to keep sea creatures alive for her studies, she had to invent a contraption to hold them: the aquarium. 

Inspired by the #1 New York Times bestseller She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger, a chapter book series about women who spoke up and rose up against the odds--including Florence Nightingale! When Florence Nightingale decided as a teenager that she wanted to become a nurse, her...

Nata in Via delle Cento Stelle a Firenze il 12 giugno 1922, Margherita hack non poteva che diventare un'astrofisica di fama mondiale. Eppure lei non ha mai creduto al destino: credeva invece nel merito, nella possibilità di realizzare i propri sogni. Lei che di sogni ne aveva tantissimi: dall'atletica, in cui sperava di conquistare una medaglia alle Olimpiadi, alla bici, con la quale fu amore a prima vista, fino alle stelle, scoperte a scuola un po' per caso e che le hanno illuminato il cammino fino ad arrivare alla guida dell'osservatorio astronomico di Trieste.

Discover the inspiring story of Marie Curie—the scientist who made more than one world-changing discovery, and the first woman to win a Nobel prize—in this fascinating kids' biography. Born to poor school teachers at a time when women could not attend university in her home country of Poland, Marie Curie sought out an underground university and worked hard to save money for further study in Paris. She made it to France, and continued to dedicate herself to science once she had graduated.

"I hope this book inspires you to overcome challenges and make a positive difference in the world," —Prominent autistic American scientist and animal behaviorist Temple Grandin, 30th hero in this New York Times bestselling picture book biography series for ages 5 to 9, adapted for audio. This...

Madam C.J. Walker wasn't just an inventor. She was also a political activist and businesswoman. Young listeners will discover that she was not only fought for civil rights, but became one of the most successful African-American business owners ever.

Explore the life and achievements of Elizabeth Blackwell, America's first woman doctor.

Inspired by the #1 New York Times bestseller She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger, a chapter book series, adapted for audio, about women who spoke up and rose up against the odds--including Rosalind Franklin! Rosalind Franklin loved science, but when she was young, there...