Biography of David Paul Ausubel - David Ausubel… Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit… Rodolfo Neri Vela…

Biography of David Paul Ausubel - David Ausubel

(1918/10/25 - 2008/07/09)

David Ausubel
David Paul Ausubel
American psychologist

He was born on October 25, 1918 in New York, in a family of Jewish immigrants from Central Europe.
He studied at the University of New York.
Ausubel, is the creator of the theory of meaningful learning, which responds to a cognitive learning conception. The concept of significant learning was originally proposed by David Ausubel (1963-1968) as the process through which new information, new knowledge is related to non-arbitrary and substantive way the cognitive structure of the person learning. Non-arbitrary to say that the relationship is not with any area of cognitive structure information but with the specifically relevant (subsumidores) or pre-existing knowledge of cognitive structure. Which means that new ideas, concepts and proposals specifically relevant and inclusive are clear and adequately available in the cognitive structure of subject and function as the first anchor. The substantivity means that which is embodied in the cognitive structure is the substance of the new knowledge and not the words used for this purpose (the same concept can be expressed in different ways through different signs).
Meaningful learning can not rely on the exclusive use of certain signs. The difference between rote learning and meaningful learning is in the capacity of new knowledge related to the cognitive structure, if this is arbitrary and linear, then learning is mechanical, and if it is not arbitrary and substantive, then learning is significant.
In 1963 he published psychology of meaningful verbal learning and in 1968 educational psychology: a cognitive view (Mexico: Trillas, 1976). Among other notable publications listed articles in the Journal of Educational Psychology (1960, on the "previous organisers"); in the journal Psychology in the Schools (1969, on the psychology of education); and in the Review of Educational Research (1978, in defense of the "previous organizers"). Author, along with Edmund V. Sullivan, of child development (translation of José Penhos, Paidós Ibérica: Barcelona, 1983).
David Ausubel died on July 9, 2008.

Biography of Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit

(1686/05/14 - 1736/09/16)

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
German physicist

He was born 14 may 1686 in Danzig.
Once he completed his studies, he devoted himself to travel and subsequently settled by seasons in Holland and England, where he dedicated himself to the development of scientific instruments.
In the year 1714 manufactures the first thermometer with mercury instead of alcohol. He invented the thermometer scale which bears his name. Before the invention of the Mercury thermometer, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit discovered a method to purify the mercury so that it will not stick on the walls of the tube. To determine the points of his temperature scale, the physicist took the temperature of a refrigerant mixture of water and salt as the lowest point and the temperature of the human body as the highest. It then divided space at 96 degrees. Once accomplished the above, slightly adjusted the scale to avoid fractions in the freezing and boiling water points. It was 32 degrees Fahrenheit the freezing point (0 C), and boil at 212 f (100 C). He also invented a hygrometer. He discovered that in addition to water, there are more liquids having a boiling point determined with changes of atmospheric pressure.
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit died in The Hague, Netherlands, from September 16, 1736.

Biography of Rodolfo Neri Vela

(1952/02/19 - Unknown)

Rodolfo Neri Vela
First Mexican astronaut

He was born on February 19, 1952 in Chilpancingo, Guerrero.
In 1975 he received at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) the title of Mechanical engineer, specializing in communications. In 1976 and 1979 he studied master's degree and doctorate at the universities of Essex and Birmingham, England, in the fields of telecommunications and electromagnetic radiation.
He worked at the Instituto de Investigaciones Eléctricas, the Secretariat of communications and transport (SCT), and the UNAM where he was Professor for 19 years in the Faculty of engineering teaching courses of math, electromagnetic theory, electrical circuits, analysis of signals, antennas and satellite communication.
In 1985 he joined the crew of the NASA (National Air Space of America) Mission 61-B , staying for 7 days in space and becoming the first spaceman from Mexico. During the period 1989-1990 participated in the Columbus European programme related to the future space station Alpha in the technical ESTEC Centre of the European Space Agency, in the Netherlands.
Professor of telecommunications at the Faculty of engineering. Among his works are: The blue planet, small astronaut, build and install your own satellite dish, Satellite communications, the exploration and use of space, The engineer in electricity and electronics, the Eclipses and the movement of the universe, and Inhabited space stations.