The science of blood

George Gabriel Stokes

<P> Stokes (1819 1903) was born in Co Sligo and came from a noted Irish scientific family. He went on to become one of the towering figures of 19th-century science and held the same job at Cambridge University as Isaac Newton before him, and Stephen Hawking today: Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. </P> <P> A measure of Stokes's importance is the many things named after him: Stokes's conjecture, Stokes's phenomenon, Stokes's layer, Stokes's line, Stokes's law of hydrodynamics and his law of fluorescence, the Navier-Stokes equations... there is even a unit named after him: the stokes, the standard unit of kinematic viscosity, is equal to 1cm^2/second. And if you prove the Navier Stokes equations describing how a viscous fluid flows, you can claim a $1 million prize from the Clay Mathematics Institute. </P> <P> <EM>Image: Portrait, widely used and not credited, but may have originated with the Royal Society</EM> </P>

George Gabriel Stokes

George Gabriel Stokes

<P> Stokes (1819 1903) was born in Co Sligo and came from a noted Irish scientific family. He went on to become one of the towering figures of 19th-century science and held the same job at Cambridge University as Isaac Newton before him, and Stephen Hawking today: Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. </P> <P> A measure of Stokes's importance is the many things named after him: Stokes's conjecture, Stokes's phenomenon, Stokes's layer, Stokes's line, Stokes's law of hydrodynamics and his law of fluorescence, the Navier-Stokes equations... there is even a unit named after him: the stokes, the standard unit of kinematic viscosity, is equal to 1cm^2/second. And if you prove the Navier Stokes equations describing how a viscous fluid flows, you can claim a $1 million prize from the Clay Mathematics Institute. </P> <P> <EM>Image: Portrait, widely used and not credited, but may have originated with the Royal Society</EM> </P>

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Scientists have long been fascinated by blood and blood flow. They knew blood was important, but it was centuries before they understood how and why. Several Irish scientists have contributed to our understanding of this vital fluid.

The great Irish physicist George Gabriel Stokes studied the red pigment in blood, haemoglobin. He analysed the spectrum of light from haemoglobin and revealed its vital function: carrying oxygen to the body's tissues, and taking carbon dioxide away.

Almroth Wright made a breakthrough that paved the way for blood banks. He discovered that calcium is important in clotting, and by preventing blood from clotting, it could be kept 'fresh' for three weeks.

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