My scrapbook of

SCIENCES
Professor Genius

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Extrait de la publication
My Scrapbook
of Science
by Professor Genius

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As you open this scrapbook...
The earliest clues about the existence of science are some small bones,
several thousand years old, with notches cut into them. The scientists
who found them during excavations confirm that the notches were
used for counting. Interesting, isn't it? Since then, people who are
fascinated by nature have never stopped trying to understand how our
world works. They have developed a number of theories as well as
increasingly sophisticated instruments for measuring and observing—all to
help them answer questions that continue to probe deeper.
I have always been fascinated by the world of science. Over the
years, I've collected newspaper clippings, excerpts from books,
magazines and photographs that are witnesses to the curiosity,
imagination and determination that scientists around the world have in
common. I present all this information in "My Scrapbook of Science."
Besides revealing the incredible secrets of the world around us, this
scrapbook takes you on a trip through history, introducing you to the
geniuses who have helped science progress and the ways they have
found to solve scientific riddles.
As you already know, science is a vast universe that brings together
many different fields. They include physics, mathematics, chemistry,
geology and biology, as well as the sciences that study humans and their
behavior (the "human sciences," as they are called). Unfortunately, it is
impossible to present them all in a single scrapbook. So this time, I've
chosen to take you on a tour of mathematics, chemistry and physics.
Happy reading! And don't forget: imagination and curiosity are the
most important qualities of the scientific mind!

Professor Genius

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 Quebec City, April 2, 20
07 CANADA

Dear Genius,

What a superb scrapbook

—and what an original an
us to the world of mathe d entertaining way to int
matics, physics and chem roduce
images that really bring istry! You’ve chosen striki
to life a world that’s often ng
thought of as a dry, barre
n place.
All through the scrapbook
, the reader is invited to
mathematics plays in the see the important role tha
development of all the sci t
What is more, the reade ences, and indeed the art
r becomes conscious of s.
everyday life. You’ve set how mathematics is presen
yourself quite a challenge t in
!
In other respects, the co
nsideration you show by
who are at the origin of highlighting the people
scientific discoveries ma
and captivating. kes your book both ende
aring

While encouraging us to
discover the useful quali
demonstrate that learning ties of science, you also
science can be an endless
for giving us a taste of the source of pleasure. Than
sciences… that will have k you
us coming back for more!

Cordially,

My friend Jea n-Marie De

Koninck is a professor of
mathematics at Université
La va l in Quebec City.. He
Jean-Marie De Koninck likes nothing better tha n to
sha re his love of numbers
with the genera l public. His
talents as a popularizer
earned him the title of
"Scientist of the Year "
for 2005 by the French-
language broadcaster
Radio-Canada!

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 CANADA

Professor Genius
329 De la Commune West
You can write to
3rd Floor
Professor Genius and send
Montreal, Quebec H2Y 2E1
your letter to the following
Canada
address:

ated by:
s was designed and cre
nce by Professor Geniu
My Scrapbook of Scie

in Publication Data QA Kids

Canadian Cataloguing an imprint of
QA International
329 De la Commune
West
3rd Floor
Professor Genius Montreal, Quebec H2Y
2E1
e
My Scrapbook of Scienc
Canada

r.
For ages 10 and ove T 514.499.3000 F 514.499.3010

06-0
ISBN: 978-2-7644-09
www.qa-international.com
© QA International, 2007. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing by QA International.

Printed and bound in Singapore.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 12 11 10 09 08 07

The characters in Professor Genius’s universe, except for Jean-Marie De Koninck and those mentioned in the Acknowledgements,
are pure fantasy. Any resemblance to actual living persons is entirely coincidental. Although the facts they contain are accurate, the
newspaper articles, old letters, books, and magazines drawn from the Professor’s personal collection are all products of the imagination
of the creators of this scrapbook.
 Contents 5 2 4
1 2 4
1 3 2
1 3
SCIENCE 6 2 4 1 3
History, main areas,
scientific method

MATHEMATICS 8
History, numbers, mathematical forms and logic

CHEMISTRY 26
History, the elements of matter,
physical and chemical transformations

PHYSICS 42
History, the forces of the universe,
different forms of energy,
the infinitely great and the infinitesimal

CONCLUSION 60
The future of science

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Discovering the world’s mysteries…
Why do objects fall? How does water turn to ice? Where do colors come
from? People have been trying to explain the phenomena that surround
t
them for a very long time by watching, listening, touching, feeling and tasting. o know]): Se
m th e L at in scientia [t rimentation
(fro , expe
That’s how science was invented! Science tries to understand how our world SCIENCE observation matics, physics,
es in which
of disciplin tion play a part. Mathe iences.
works and to know exactly what it is made of. It’s a fine quest that is stra sc
and demon geology are
em is tr y, biology and
ch
both ambitious and fascinating!

In order for their theories to be known by the rest of the scientific community, every scientist must
follow a very strict set of procedures. Read this comic strip that I found in a science magazine for
young readers. It presents the different stages of scientific research in an amusing way..

A researcher makes an observation.

To explain it, he tries to understand The researcher then needs to check this theory.
the cause of this fact: the researcher To do so, he observes, measures and calculates.
establishes a theory.
Oh! All these fish
I will test the
are dead! What
water and this
happened?
fish’s blood.
Maybe the waste
that this factory is
spilling into the river
is toxic to fish?

After analyzing the results, the researcher makes a conclusion. The researcher must then find a new theory to explain the fact
he observed.

My theory is wrong!
The water is polluted, but
there is no toxic element in
the fish’s blood. The fish
did not die because of the
factory’s waste.

Once his theory is proven, the researcher publishes

his results in a scientific journal.

My theory is right!
The water is polluted. The same
toxic elements are in the
fish’s blood!

6 Extrait de la publication
 Don’t worry, the great geniuses throughout the
history of science have been people just like you
and me! You would probably be surprised to learn
Dear Professor, lik e to invent a vaccine that some of them were even poor students. That
d er , I w ou ld
When I’m ol no t th e top student in was the case with the celebrated physicist Albert
. B ut I’ m
against cancer
s. C ou ld I st ill b ecome a scientist? Einstein and the famous chemist and biologist Louis
my clas Pasteur. It was their great curiosity, their thirst to
understand and also their determination that made
reply,
Thank you for your them brilliant. Who knows? Even you may be
Vincent, age 10 one of the scientific geniuses of tomorrow! All you
need is to be curious, attentive to what’s going on
around you and, most of all, perseverant.

Studying the world is an important job, my friend! To be

more efficient, scientists have divided science into several
different areas. There are too many for me to describe in
detail in this scrapbook, so I’ll just explain three of the
most important ones here:

MATHEMATICS works with numbers. Math

helps us solve problems and put the theories that
rule the universe into an equation. Thanks to math,
we can predict tomorrow’s weather, for example,
or calculate a planet’s path (pages 8 to 25).

CHEMISTRY studies the elements that make

up matter. It tries to understand how elements
combine and react together. Thanks to chemistry,
we can make perfumes and understand why a
boat can rust (pages 26 to 41).

PHYSICS dea ls with the nat of matter. Ready to join me in

It studies the forces, movementure
and different exploring the secrets
forms of energy that rule the univ of science? Turn the
to it, we can ma ke an airplane fly erse
and
. Tha nks
page! We’ll start
why a pebble falls when we let go of itunderstand
(pages 42 to 59). with mathematics.

7
 Date: End of fall but not yet winter
Price: As much as these stars
****
What would the world be without numbers?
Television listing on the page following the one in the middle.

All the hockey scores

by Ann Aichell I had so much fun imagining excerpts from a
newspaper in a world without numbers. Interesting,
Last night, the Montreal Captains set the
rink on fire! Once again, they’ve taken
isn’t it? In this way, I hope I have succeeded in
the golden cup after beating the Toronto
proving to you how important numbers are in our
Gorillas. Steve Slyde was noticed after everyday life! Everything we do has a connection
scoring a goal, and then another, and yet to numbers. We use them for counting, buying,
another still during the starting period. measuring, making predictions, constructing buildings
The other goal was scored during the and machines, and so many other things…
middle period by Patrick Puck, the new
young player on the team. The public,
who filled the arena to capacity, cheered
him for a long time. Great game, guys!

The latest results People throughout history

Vancouver many points have needed mathematics.
Prehistoric men and women, Vanishing point
Regina less than Vancouver
for example, kept track of their
Ottawa a certain number of points
possessions by cutting notches into
Edmonton no points bones. Much later, when trade
Montreal even more points than Vancouver was flourishing, more sophisticated
mathematical tools were needed.
That’s how basic operations like
Weather around the world addition and subtraction appeared.
by I.C. Blizzard
Each time day-to-day living showed the
Montreal
limits of a mathematical tool, a new
Sunny; hat and gloves a must tool was created. That’s
Paris
how mathematics was
Some clearing; cool but not too bad perfected over time.
London
Rainy but not too cold
Rio de Janeiro
Hot; bring your bathing suit
New Delhi
Humid and hotter than Rio; drink a lot

8
Mathematics is present in every
field of science. Physicists, for
example, use math to measure
The Artist’s corner
| Letters | Info
the thickness that a submarine Home | Music | Arts
wall must have so that it will
resist the pressure of the water.
arts
Chemists calculate the composition Mathematics and the ple, we find
by ma th em ati cs . In paintings, for exam
of sugar, fat and minerals in a inspired ich gives the impress
ion
The arts are greatly s from geometry, wh
a no tio n th at co me gt h of th e str ings
piece of chocolate. Mathematics is perspective, -di me ns ion al. In music, the len
e is th ree
that the painted imag e note must play:
also present in a field you would nt s is ca lcu lated according to th s to draw
think was far removed from the in string ins tru me
ec t me as ure s len gt hs, heights and angle
An archit
C, D, E, F, G, A, B...
sciences. Any idea which area a bu ild ing .
the plan of
that is? The arts!

I used perspective to draw this landscape. It’s a technique

that consists of drawing lines from a spot that we call the
“vanishing point.” Artists follow these lines to construct their
drawings. Perspective gives drawings a sense of depth.

the Greek mathêmaticos,

MATHEMATICS (from
thêma [that which is
which comes from ma
]): Fiel d of scie nce that studies numbers,
learned
geo me tric sha pes by means of the
sizes and
deductive method .

Get ready to travel into a very varied world! In the

pages that follow, you’ll see that mathematics is closely
related to the FORMS that make up our universe
(pages 18 to 21)! You’ll also see that it is a matter of
LOGIC (pages 22 to 25), an essential dimension for
solving the problems that mathematicians face. First and
foremost, as you have probably guessed, mathematics is a
world of NUMBERS (pages 10 to 17). I invite you to visit
it now!

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Once there was mathematics…
Numbers and numera ls
1, 2,
Buckle my shoe,
3, 4,
This rhyme helped me to learn numbers. Have you
Knock at the door, noticed how these little signs are everywhere? On the
5, 6, TV remote control, in newspapers, on road signs… We live
Pick up sticks, in a world of numbers! But do you know where they come
7, 8, from? I asked my friend Ea Ping Kor (my neighborhood
Lay them straight... librarian) to find me some information on the first numbers in
9, 10, history.. Here’s her reply:
A big fat hen!

Some civilizations used letters of

Subject: Numb
ers and nume
rals the alphabet for numbers. Roman
20 07
Date: Januar
y 15 ,
r Genius
numerals, for example, were adopted
To: Professo
throughout Europe under the Roman
irm that
Dear friend, er ie s ha ve made it poss
ible to conf
yt hi ng st arted in
Empire. Here are a few numbers in
ny ar ch ae ol ogical discov r a very long time. Ever s or wood to this ancient system:
Ma fo ne
been counting tches into bo 000 years ago,
people have wh en hu nt ers carved no . Ab ou t 6,
times, killed
prehistoric als they had g shapes and
how many anim all clay tokens of varyin u should know
keep track of th sm . Yo I=1 VIII = 8
s counted wi the subject) the
the Sumerian ch ed an il lustration on th e pl ai ns of Mexico),
size s (I ’v e at ta
ya (w ho li ve d on
viliza ti on s al l II = 2 IX = 9
tians, the Ma ese and other ancient ci we use
that the Egyp e Ch in th e nu me ra ls III = 3 X = 10
Romans, th By the way,
Greeks, the numeration.
d th ei r ow n system of di a. IV = 4 L = 50
ha In
iginally from
today are or V=5 C = 100
Best regards, Ping VI = 6 D = 500
Ea
Your friend
VII = 7 M = 1,000

These numerals weren’t

very practical. The number
2,338, for example, counted
3,600 36,000 no fewer than 12 symbols!
600
1 10 60 MMCCCXXXVIII

yo u kn ow th e diffe re nce between numbers and

D o ols. They are ou r 0, 1, 2,
numerals? Numerals are sy7,mb8 and 9. Numbers represent
3, 4, 5, 6, 215 is made
quantities. And so, the numbd er5. Numbers are
up of the numerals 2, 1 an way words are
composed of numerals—the
composed of letters!

10 Extrait de la publication
 We count using our 10 numerals.
Before z
ero
For this reason, our counting system
As Ea Ping explainsve , ou r was inv
ented, it is based on the number 10. Why 10
nted by was rep
10 numerals were in 200 BC. r
a space esented by
. At tha
and not 8 or 14? Probably because
the India ns around proved was ver
y
t time, it when human beings started counting,
“5 1” (50 easy to confus
Over time, they im . In in the 4
1) with
“5
e
they used their 10 fingers. It’s
their number systeme marked
th centu 1”! Starting
ry, the In
possible, you see, to write numbers
the 4th century, th o dot, and
these sp
ac
dians differently from the base 10 way..
a little la es with a
India ns invented tw a circle. ter
The base 2 system, for example,
Watch o on, with
ingeniou s concepts: n does no ut
t always ! Zero
only uses two digits: 0 and 1.
place-va lue notatio o stand fo It’s used a lot in computer

p. 59
nothing r
: if we p
and zero. These tw u a the righ
t of
lace it t
o programs. Here is a table that
excerpts will gi ve yo it is the a number, shows numbers in the base 10 and

tics,
n multip
lied

a
brief explanation. base 2 systems. Have fun re-

em
by 10!

ath
M inventing your telephone number
i ng using base 2—but don’t forget to
A maz
ts… give this table to your friends, or you
a c e t hat coun ber is very may find yourself waiting a long time
a pl its in a num
sition of dig e po de up of the le, are ma for them to call you back!
ticed that th 2, for examp unt.
Have you no u m b e rs 2 5 a n d 5
d ic a te th e same amo
Th e n ll in
important? do not at a f units, tens,
hundreds,
it s. N e ve rt heless, they a ve va lu e s o
same dig n, digits h
o rd in g to their positio ce -value notati
on.
A cc ll th e p la
hat we ca
etc. That’s w

Base 10 Base 2
s, Ma rch 2007
Science for Kid 0 0
1 1
2 10
3 11
4 100
When the Arabs settled in the West starting in 5 101
the year 632, they adopted Indian numeration 6 110
system and improved on it. Thanks to the Arabs, 7 111
Europe learned about this system of numeration in 8 1000
the 12th century. (before that, Europeans counted 9 1001
using Roman numerals). 10 1010
11 1011
12 1100
13 1101
14 1110

11
 Counting
As you can see by reading the “Did you
Did you know ?
know?” column, calculation was born
om the Latin long before numerals appeared!
lation” comes fr
The word “calcu on e. ” This comes The earliest basic operations,
wh ich me ans “small st d
calcu lus, e, people counte
om th e fact that for a long tim sh ep he rd s like addition and subtraction,
fr time,
les. Once upon a
using little pebb pebb le s, on e fo r appeared 10,000 years ago.
uch filled with
were given a po me ev en ing , wh en
had to watch. Co By the way, do you know the
each animal they took a pebble
t ba ck their flock, they story behind the symbols that
th ey br ou gh al went into the
each time an anim
out of the pouch ved from the ba
g, identify these operations? Here is an article and a few
pebble was remo
stable. If every we re mi ss in g.
ne of the animals notes that explain the origin of +, -, x and ÷.
it meant that no
06
Know It All, May 20

The equal sign = wa s invented by

Welshman Robert Recorde in 1557. The story of + and –
Before then, it wa s written as The ancient Egyptians drew a pair of legs turned to the left to
“aequalis,” which means “equal ” in Latin. show an addition and another turned to the right to indicate
a subtraction. Until the 15th century, mathematicians wrote
The x multiplication sign was suggested piu (for “I add”) and minus (for “I subtract”). These words were
by Englishman William Oughtred in replaced by the letters p and m at the end of the 15th century.
1631. In Latin, it was written as “in.” The + and – signs made their first appearance in 1489 in a book
And so, 3 x 2 was written as 3 in 2. by German mathematician Johannes Widmann, but it was only
during the 16th century that they came into general use.

The division sign ÷ was the work of Amazing Mathematics, p. 32

Swiss mathematician Johannes Heinrich
Rahn in 1659. Before then, it was
written with a horizontal bar separating
the two numbers ( 3 ).
4

Other mathematical operations appeared over time.

Often ingenious, they were used to simplify calculations
that were becoming increasingly complex. Here’s a
little example:
The powers of 10 are really practical
because they make it possible to write
POWER is a shortcut to signify that a number is multiplied by itself several
times. Thus, 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 16 is also written as 2 (it is said as “2 to the power
4 very large or very small numbers. Notice
of 4”). The inverse operation of power is called “root.” It is symbolized by the how much space is saved when we use
√ sign. For example, the root of 9 is 3 (√9 = 3) for 3 = 9.
2
powers! (Here, 1090 means that 10 is
multiplied 90 times by itself!)
Sciences, p. 63

1 0 90 = 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
12
 Mea suring
Feet, inches... Scientists were often inspired by
Numbers have always been at the heart of our the human body to create the earliest units
measu ring systems. The excerpt below is an of measurement. The Egyptians, for example,
interesting example! measured distances with their palms, thumbs,
hair, etc.
rement!
12, the “star” in measu ancient times,
urement, inherited from
Many systems of meas e it is a
HAIR
se d on the nu mb er 12 . Why 12? Simply becaus (the smallest unit)
are ba ry practical
ided by 2, 3 and 4. It’s ve FINGER
number that can be div am ple, are
Feet and inches, for ex
for making calculations! mber 12:
that are based on the nu
Anglo-Saxon linear units THU
MB
12 inches = 1 foot
e. See for
er 12 is als o kin g in the measurement of tim
The numb (5 × 12) minutes
× 12) hours in a day, 60
yourself! There are 24 (2
nds in a minute.
in an hour and 60 seco
CUBIT

Amazing Mathematics, p. 28

All these measurements varied from one country to PALM

another—and even according to the nature of the
object being measured. You can imagine that this
could create a lot of confusion. More than 200 years
ago, a commission from the Academy of Sciences in
France, made up of well-known mathematicians, had the
ingenious idea of creating a universal system. That’s how
the metric system, based on the number 10, was born.

1 meter (m) = 10 decimeters (dm) FOOT

1 dm = 10 centimeters (cm)
1 cm = 10 millimeters (mm) d into
Mathematics are divide ncerned
e co
1,000 m = 1 kilometer (km) severa l area s. The on mbers
with ca lcu lation , nu
ca lled
and their properties is .
Since this was invented, the foot and inch have ARITHMETIC
almost disappeared. Only people with Anglo-Saxon
roots still use this system of measurement.

000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
13

Mathematical quirks…
The study of numbers and their
properties is fascinating, isn’t it?
It reveals numbers to us that are
unusual, mysterious and sometimes
simply bizarre! Here’s a look at the
most famous ones...
ME
2, 3, 5, 7 or 22,091… These numbers are allyPRI only be
NUMBERS. What ma kes them special? Theingcan any amount
divided by 1 and by themselves without hav ticia ns because
left over. Prime numbers fascinate mathemabuilding blocks
they represent nothing less tha n the basic other whole
in the universe of numbers. That’s right, anyserve careful ly:
number is a product of prime numbers! Ob est prime
4 = 2 × 2; 6 = 3 × 2 or 249 = 83 x 3. The larg
32, 582, 657 - 1, which contains
number we know today is 2
9,808,358 digits!

To find the prime numbers, write the

numbers 1 to 100 in a grid with
10 numbers per line. Note that 1 is not a
prime number. Because a prime number
Eratosthenes
only divides by 1 and by itself, color the 2 (from about 276 to
and run a line through all its multiples (in 194 BC).
green). Do the same with the numbers 3 (in
pink), 5 (in orange) and 7 (in yellow). The tician,
multiples of 4, 6, 8, 9 and 10 disappeared It wa s a sly Greek mathemaingenious
Eratosthenes, who found this bers
when you eliminated the multiples of 2 and way to identify the prime num
3. All the remaining numbers are prime between 1 and 100.
numbers (here, they are colored blue!).
Amazing Mathematics, p. 26
$100,000 REWARD!
There is another number that especially tier Foundation
fascinates me! Mathematicians call it PHI The Electronic Fron
a $1 00 ,0 00
(E FF ) is offe ri ng
(represented by the Greek letter ), but it’s t person who
reward to the firs
more commonly called “the golden number.” This mber with 10
can find a prime nu
number has been known since ancient times. It was only note: you can
million digits! Take
during the Renaissance, however, around the 16th century, r program that
install a compute
that phi was nicknamed “golden number.” Why? Because research. For
will carry out this
ntact the EFF.
artists thought that the forms in which it played a part in more information, co
computer!
measurement were the most elegant ones. Oh, I almost Everyone to their
forgot: Phi, as a matter of fact, corresponds to 1.61803…
This rascal has some strange properties.Take out your
calculator and see for yourself! The Sunday Jou rnal, February 18, 2007

1÷ = -1 x = +1 You’ll notice sometimes that digits after the point in

some numbers are followed by “…”. It simply means
that the number has an infinite amount of digits after
the point!
14 Extrait de la publication
 Like phi, PI (represented by the Greek
letter π) is certainly remarkable. First, it is
closely linked to the circle. When we divide
the circumference of a circle by its diameter,
we always find pi! Check this yourself by measu ring
cups, plates or anything round that you find at home!
(Use a string to take your measu rements.)
pi = circumference ÷ diameter
Just like phi, pi has an infinite number of
decimals! Mathematicians have fun continuing
to find more digits after its decimal point.
They look for a formula likely to find these
decimals and introduce it into powerful
computers that will make the calculations for
them. Today, they have managed to calculate
more than 1,240,000,000 digits after the
decimal point! Here is a fun trick for helping
you to remember the first 20 digits. (The
number of letters in each word corresponds to
a digit of pi. All you have to do is memorize
these few sentences and amaze your friends!)

π = 3.141 592 653 589 793 238 46…

Sir(3), I(1) send(4) a(1) rhyme(5) excelling(9)

In(2) sacred(6) truth(5) and(3) rigid(5) spelling(8)
Circumference Diameter Numerical(9) sprites(7) elucidate(9)
For(3) me(2) the(3) lexicon’s(8) dull(4) weight(6).

Some numbers, like 13, seem to have a curse on them!

Of course, who hasn’t heard about the bad reputation
of Friday the 13th or a
meal for 13 guests? I asked
my mathematician friend,
Cal Cughlater, where these
beliefs might have come
from. Here’s his reply:
Dear friend,
Thenumber13doesindeedhaveareputationforbringingbadluck...Itseem
stobelongto
theJudeo-Christiantradition.Letmeexplain:shortlybeforehisdeath ,Jesussharedameal
withhiscompanions.Theynumbered12.WithJesus,theywere13atthe
table.Onthat
evening,Jesuswasbetrayedbyoneofhis12friends,theapostleJudas,thusthrea
teninghim
withdeath.Eversincethen,13hasbeenthesignofbadlucktosomepeople.This
superstition
issopowerfulthatinsomehotels,thereisno13thfloorandnoroomnumber
13.Andso,some
sportsteamsdon’thavenumber“13”shirtsandairlinecompaniesneverhave
aflightNo.13!
It’sbeenalongtimesincewehaddinnertogether.Shallwechooseadate?
Whynotnext
Friday the 13th, if you’re not superstitious!

Regards,
Cal

Elevator panel without a 13th floor

Extrait de la publication 15
 What are your chances?
Calculating chance…
You have…
I enjoy shivering at the sound of thunder
and admiring the lightning that streaks
the sky on a stormy night. Lots of people 1 in 300 chances 1 in 4,000 chances 1 in 16,000 chances
are afraid of lightning. Are you? Don’t worry, the of dying of a
heart attack
of being killed
in a road accident
of dying from a fall

chances being struck by lightning are very small.

There could be more danger from a single banana peel!
You’ll understand once you take a look at this excerpt
on the right. It shows a few estimates calculated
according to what mathematicians call
1 in 100,000 chances 1 in 10 million chances 1 in 1 billion chances
“PROBABILITY THEORY.” of being of being struck of seeing a meteorite
a murder victim by lightning fall to Earth

Mad Math, March 2006

Unl ike the history of numbers and

calculation, the history of probabilities Pierre de Fermat
(1601–1665)
is very recent. Here’s an article that
explains how it all began.

Did you know?

in the
loped by scientists
Before it was deve ba bil ity the ory was
ries, pro
18th and 19th centu Bla ise
Probability calculations
ench mathematicians,
thought of by two Fr y am use d are often used in games
rmat. In 1654, the
Pascal and Pierre de Fe r to a pro ble m
the answe of chance. A casino, for
themselves looking for w
cin ate d ge ntl emen dice players: ho example, never loses
that had fas e is
nings when a dice gam
to fairly divide the win all money.. Don’t worry,
? Together they tested
suddenly interrupted en rol led if the
t could have be it’s not cheating! It’s
the combinations tha rting
tin ued . Th eir results were the sta
game had con just putting the laws of
ory.
point of probability the probability on its own side!
Let’s play a game to give
Know It All, May 2007 you a better idea of this.
Imagine I’m holding the
13 cards in the suit of hearts,
and that I ask you to choose
a card at random. If you pull
the ace, I’ll give you... 10 chips!
If the card you pulled is not the ace,
you’ll have to give me one chip!
So, if we play this game often, I
Blaise Pascal
(1623–1662) guarantee you I will always be the
winner. Why?
16 Extrait de la publication
 cient times. Long
Statistics ha ve existed sincerran
ied out censuses in
ago, certa in civilizations ca po wer they held.
Probabililty is essential order to find out how muchyear, I took pa rt in
in another branch of mathematics: This reminds me that, last had sent everybody
statistics. This branch collects and analyzes the data a census. The government nefits of this kind of
about a group, such as people, animals, plants or a ma nual expla ining the be cerpt from it below.
planets. It brings out their important characteristics to exercise. I’ve pa sted an ex
then make predictions, notably by calculating probability..
Statistics tell us, for example, how many blue whales are
in the world, from one year to the next. In this way,
we can figure out if they are or are not on the road
to extinction.
2006Year!
It’s Census
What is it for?
has
the information that
If you correctly fill in en t wi ll be ab le
governm
been asked of you, the rag e ag e of the
on the ave
to calculate statistics ent
pu lation , the division of the sexes, the differ
po ho usi ng be ing
the kind of
professions exercised, ort ati on be ing
of tra nsp
lived in and the mode use d for ? Using
sta tist ics
used. What are these ts
to define what projec
them, we will be able ty of life , lik e the
r quali
are needed for a bette
Let me explain: With each uct ion of sch oo ls, daycare centers and
constr ke
nsit. They will also ma
try, you have 1 chance in apartments or public tra to the are as tha t
subsidies
13 of pulling the ace. As it possible to distribute
need them the most.
for me, I have 12 chances lp
all the questions, you he
in 13 that you will not. Are By correctly answering ay life !
ve your everyd
the government impro
you following this? In 13
tries, you will probably win 10
chips one time, but as for me, I
will win 12 chips in total (12 x 1 chip),
or 2 chips more than you! The casino
simply uses the same strategy to
ensure they never lose money..
In fact, if I had offered
You Me
you 12 chips each time you
pulled the ace, both of On 1 try 1 cha nce in 13 12 cha nces in 13
us would have had the of winning of winning
chance to pocket the On 13 tries Probability of Probability of
winning 1 try winning 12 tries
same amount! 12 x 1 chip
1 x 10 chip s

Extrait de la publication 17
 SOLUTIONS TO GAMES ON PAGES 24 AND 25
reaction, chemical 27, 29, 34, 39, thermometer 55
40, 49 thunder 47, 53 Latin square:
reaction, physical 34, 38 tide 45
Recorde, Robert 12 transformation, chemical 27, 38 3 5 2 4 1
rectangle 18 transformation, physical 27, 34,
reflection (of a wave) 51, 53 35, 36 1 3 5 2 4
refraction 51 trapezoid 18 4 1 3 5 2
repulsion 48 triangle 18, 19, 20, 21
resonance 53 triangle, rectangular 20 2 4 1 3 5
root 12 ultrasound 53 5 2 4 1 3
ruler 20 ultraviolet 56
rust 38 VWXYZ
STU vaporization 35 Logic grid:
salt 32, 35, 37, 39, 40 volume 20, 42
soap 39 water 32, 35, 38 F C I
sodium hydroxyde 39 wave 50, 52, 53, 55, 56 A H B
solid 34, 35, 36, 37, 52, 54 wave, sound 53
solidification 35 wavelength 50, 52 E D G
sound 43, 46, 52, 53 waves, radio 56
space probe 56, 57 weight 42, 44
speed of light 50, 53 Widmann, Johannes, 12 Riddles:
square 18, 19, 20 wind turbine 49
star 34, 50, 56, 57 X-rays 56, 57 - MIX = 1009 in Roman numerals
statistics 17 zero 11 - All the months have 28 days.
straight plane 18 - The age of the captain is the same as the age of the person
sublimation 35 who reads the problem!
subtraction 8, 12, 24 - The missing dollar: the calculation given is wrong! In the amount
Sun 34, 35, 44, 55, 57 of $27, the $2 tip is already included ($25 for the room and
symmetry 21 $2 for the tip). To find the $30, all you have to do is add the
telescope 51, 56, 57 $3 the friends collected. Try it with $1 bills or coins and you'll
temperature 35, 55 see that there is no money missing!
tetrahedron 19
Thales 22

Photo credits
p. 3 br: Jean-Marie De Koninck © Matilde Matkovic / p. 11 c: Laboratory © 2007 Jupiter Corporation / p. 11 bc: Border © 2007 Jupiter Corporation /
p. 15 bl: Elevator © Oleksandr Gumerov/iStockPhoto.com / p. 18 tr: Landscape © Dan Cooper/iStockPhoto.com / p. 19 c: Nile © Todd Bingham/
iStockPhoto.com / p. 21 tl: Tiger © Stephen Meese/iStockPhoto.com / p. 21 br: Fern © Matthew Scherf/iStockPhoto.com / p. 22 br: Magnifying glass © 2007
Jupiter Corporation / p. 27 tr: Antoine de Lavoisier © The Hundred Greatest Men. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1885 / p. 29 br: IBM initials © IBM
Research, Almaden Research Center/ p. 34 cl: Bottle and glass © 2007 Jupiter Corporation / p. 36 br: Salt shaker © 2007 Jupiter Corporation /
p. 39 tr: Acid rain, Copyright free / p. 40 bl: Shoelaces © Josée Noiseux / p. 41 tr: Nylon © 2007 Jupiter Corporation / p. 42 bc: Archimedes © Archimedes
by Domenico Fetti, 1620 / p. 43 tr: Tower of Pisa © Lawrence Sawyer/iStockPhoto.com / p. 44 bl: Astronaut © NASA / p. 45 tl: Hopewell Rocks at low tide ©
New Brunswick Department of Tourism and Parks / p. 45 tl: Hopewell Rocks at high tide © New Brunswick Department of Tourism and Parks / p. 45 bc: Isaac
Newton © Shuster, Arthur and Arthur E. Shipley. Britain's Heritage of Science. London: Constable & Co. Ltd., 1917 / p. 47 br: Electric hair © Josée Noiseux /
p. 52 bl: Explosion © Björn Kindler/iStockPhoto.com / p. 56 c: Very Large Telescope © European Southern Observatory / p. 57 tr: Spiral galaxy © NASA/JPL-
Caltech/K. Gordon (University of Arizona) & S. Willner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) / p. 57 cr: Elliptical galaxy © NASA, ESA, and The Hubble
Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)/ p. 57 cl: Lenticular galaxy © Dr. Elinor Gates, courtesy of University of California / p. 57 c: Irregular galaxy © NASA, ESA, and
The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) / p. 57 br: Crab pulsar © NASA/CXC/HST/ASU/J. Hester et al. / p. 59 tr: Border © 2007 Jupiter Corporation /
p. 59 bl: Collision of particles © CERN.

In the absence of supplementary information, the photographs are situated as follows : t top b bottom c center r right l left

Extrait de la publication 63
 Acknowledgements
Many thanks to everyone who helped put together this scrapbook that is so
dear to me…
To Martine Podesto, for her confidence, support and dedicated work, as always.
To Claire de Guillebon, for her choice of words that expressed my thoughts
so well.
To Josée Noiseux, for suggesting an appealing and original layout and for her
precious artistic advice.
To Alain Lemire, Pascale Dupré and Daniel Games, for their skill and grace
with a drawing pencil. To Jean Morin, for his wonderful cartoon drawings.
To Émilie Bellemare, for her creativity and her assistance to Josée.
To Mathieu Douville, for his precious help.
To Anne Tremblay, for her sharp eye.
To Gilles Vézina, for gathering all the photos I needed.
To Nathalie Fréchette, for her magnificent management of the production of
this scrapbook.
To Donna Vekteris, for translating my text into English.
To Veronica Schami and Jo Howard, for proofreading the English text.
To Michel Lyons, co-founder of the "Défi mathématique" manuals, for his
enlightened advice and for validating this scrapbook's mathematics content.
To Vincent-Xavier Saint-Laurent, mathematics, science and music teacher at
École Secondaire Monseigneur-Richard, for his help and for validating the
chemistry content.
To André de Bellefeuille, physics professor at Cégep Édouard-Montpetit, for
validating the physics content.
I would also especially like to thank the people who shared their sensible
advice with me on how to present these fields of science in an attractive way:
Patrice Baril, pedagogical counsellor at the Commission scolaire du
Val-des-Cerfs in Granby.;
and Louis Taillefer, director of the Regroupement québécois sur les
matériaux de pointe and the Quantum Materials Program of the
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
To my friend, Jean-Marie De Koninck, who did me the great honor of
writing the preface to this scrapbook.
To my friends, Jacques Fortin, François Fortin and Caroline Fortin, who
have given me their constant support from the very beginning.
Finally, many thanks to all the kids at École Les Marguerite in Varennes
for their marvelous masterpieces.

Let's meet again on the next scrapbook!

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 My scrapbook of
SCIENCES
Professor Genius
WHEN DID NUMBERS FIRST APPEAR?
WHAT IS GRAVITY?
WHO WERE ARCHIMEDES, NEWTON, GALILEO?
WHAT IS THE LINK BETWEEN THE MOON AND THE TIDES?
DOES ANTIMATTER EXIST?

Professor Genius invites us to discover his brand new scrapbook

about the sciences. This cultured scholar shares with young readers
his knowledge of mathematics, chemistry, and physics, telling the
story of these scientific domains, describing their applications in
daily life, and presenting the scientists behind the breakthroughs.
Through a lively assortment of personal thoughts, stories,
explanations of historic and scientific facts, newspaper clippings, and
illustrations, Professor Genius unveils to children ages 10 and over
the most bewildering secrets of our world.

In the same collection:

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