Theodore Gray | |
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| Born | 18 November 1964 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois |
| Known for | Co-founder of Wolfram Research prominent science author co-founder of Touch Press |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics, chemistry, computing, publishing |
| Institutions | Wolfram Research, Touch Press |
Theodore W. "Theo" Gray is a co-founder of Wolfram Research, science author, and co-founder of app developer Touch Press.
Theodore Gray was educated at the University of Illinois Laboratory High School. He would later graduate with a B.S. in chemistry from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1986. [1] [ self-published source? ] [2]
In 1987, Gray left a PhD program in theoretical chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley to work with Stephen Wolfram. In that same year, he co-founded Wolfram Research. [3] His initial work for the company involved creating the influential notebook user interface for Mathematica. [4] [5] Gray would eventually leave Wolfram Research to become a writer and publisher full-time. [6]
After amassing thousands of samples of elements, he assembled them into a four-legged physical table representing the periodic table. The finished table was awarded the 2011 ACS Grady Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public, as well as the 2002 Ig Nobel Award for Chemistry. [7] [8] Gray's love of the periodic table would lead him to team up with photographer Nick Mann in creating The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe and Elements Vault. [9]
For many years, Gray wrote a regular column for Popular Science entitled "Gray Matter". [10] The column was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for Best Column in 2010. [11] In 2009, a collection of articles by Gray was published under the title Mad Science: Experiments You Can Do at Home—But Probably Shouldn't. [12] [13] A sequel to the book, Mad Science 2: Experiments You Can Do At Home, But STILL Probably Shouldn't was published in 2013. [14]
In 2010, Gray founded Touch Press together with Max Whitby, John Cromie and Stephen Wolfram shortly after the announcement of the launch of the iPad. [15] [16] The company was created to develop innovative educational apps using the technology of the iPad to its full potential. The first published app was "The Elements," [17] and in 2014 Gray released "Molecules", which allows users to touch and discover the basic building blocks of the world. [18] Of Touch Press's "Disney Animated," which was named the best iPad app of 2013 worldwide by Apple, iTunes's App Editor noted, "We’re absolutely spellbound". [19] The app won a BAFTA award in 2014. [20]
Gray also co-founded Pale Gray Labs with Nina Paley.
Gray has developed a range of acrylic model kits, which he named "Mechanical GIFs" (as a nod to animated drawings on the internet), to show "how common and uncommon machines, mechanisms, gadgets, and devices work". [21]
In July 2018, Gray was invited to Beijing on behalf of The Newton Project by its founder, Jizhe Xu, to serve as a consulting advisor. [22]
Throughout his career, Gray has been an advocate for a broader engagement between the scientific community and the public at large. [23] [24]
A chemical element is a chemical substance that cannot be broken down into other substances by chemical reactions. The basic particle that constitutes a chemical element is the atom. Elements are identified by the number of protons in their nucleus, known as the element's atomic number. For example, oxygen has an atomic number of 8, meaning each oxygen atom has 8 protons in its nucleus. Atoms of the same element can have different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei, known as isotopes of the element. Two or more atoms can combine to form molecules. Chemical compounds are molecules made of atoms of different elements, while mixtures contain atoms of different elements not necessarily combined as molecules. Atoms can be transformed into different elements in nuclear reactions, which change an atom's atomic number.
The lanthanide or lanthanoid series of chemical elements comprises at least the 14 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers 57–70, from lanthanum through ytterbium. In the periodic table, they fill the 4f orbitals. Lutetium is also sometimes considered a lanthanide, despite being a d-block element and a transition metal.
The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of the elements, is an ordered arrangement of the chemical elements into rows ("periods") and columns ("groups"). It is an icon of chemistry and is widely used in physics and other sciences. It is a depiction of the periodic law, which states that when the elements are arranged in order of their atomic numbers an approximate recurrence of their properties is evident. The table is divided into four roughly rectangular areas called blocks. Elements in the same group tend to show similar chemical characteristics.
Stephen Wolfram is a British-American computer scientist, physicist, and businessman. He is known for his work in computer algebra, and theoretical physics. In 2012, he was named a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.
Chemical symbols are the abbreviations used in chemistry, mainly for chemical elements; but also for functional groups, chemical compounds, and other entities. Element symbols for chemical elements, also known as atomic symbols, normally consist of one or two letters from the Latin alphabet and are written with the first letter capitalised.
A period 5 element is one of the chemical elements in the fifth row of the periodic table of the chemical elements. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring (periodic) trends in the chemical behaviour of the elements as their atomic number increases: a new row is begun when chemical behaviour begins to repeat, meaning that elements with similar behaviour fall into the same vertical columns. The fifth period contains 18 elements, beginning with rubidium and ending with xenon. As a rule, period 5 elements fill their 5s shells first, then their 4d, and 5p shells, in that order; however, there are exceptions, such as rhodium.
A period 4 element is one of the chemical elements in the fourth row of the periodic table of the chemical elements. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring (periodic) trends in the chemical behaviour of the elements as their atomic number increases: a new row is begun when chemical behaviour begins to repeat, meaning that elements with similar behaviour fall into the same vertical columns. The fourth period contains 18 elements beginning with potassium and ending with krypton – one element for each of the eighteen groups. It sees the first appearance of d-block in the table.
A period 6 element is one of the chemical elements in the sixth row (or period) of the periodic table of the chemical elements, including the lanthanides. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring (periodic) trends in the chemical behaviour of the elements as their atomic number increases: a new row is begun when chemical behaviour begins to repeat, meaning that elements with similar behaviour fall into the same vertical columns. The sixth period contains 32 elements, tied for the most with period 7, beginning with caesium and ending with radon. Lead is currently the last stable element; all subsequent elements are radioactive. For bismuth, however, its only primordial isotope, 209Bi, has a half-life of more than 1019 years, over a billion times longer than the current age of the universe. As a rule, period 6 elements fill their 6s shells first, then their 4f, 5d, and 6p shells, in that order; however, there are exceptions, such as gold.
A period 2 element is one of the chemical elements in the second row of the periodic table of the chemical elements. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring (periodic) trends in the chemical behavior of the elements as their atomic number increases; a new row is started when chemical behavior begins to repeat, creating columns of elements with similar properties.
A period 1 element is one of the chemical elements in the first row of the periodic table of the chemical elements. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate periodic (recurring) trends in the chemical behaviour of the elements as their atomic number increases: a new row is begun when chemical behaviour begins to repeat, meaning that analog elements fall into the same vertical columns. The first period contains fewer elements than any other row in the table, with only two: hydrogen and helium. This situation can be explained by modern theories of atomic structure. In a quantum mechanical description of atomic structure, this period corresponds to the filling of the 1s orbital. Period 1 elements obey the duet rule in that they need two electrons to complete their valence shell.
A period 7 element is one of the chemical elements in the seventh row of the periodic table of the chemical elements. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring (periodic) trends in the chemical behavior of the elements as their atomic number increases: a new row is begun when chemical behavior begins to repeat, meaning that elements with similar behavior fall into the same vertical columns. The seventh period contains 32 elements, tied for the most with period 6, beginning with francium and ending with oganesson, the heaviest element currently discovered. As a rule, period 7 elements fill their 7s shells first, then their 5f, 6d, and 7p shells in that order, but there are exceptions, such as uranium.
The Periodic Table of Science Fiction is a collection of 118 very short stories by science fiction author Michael Swanwick. Each story is named after an element in the periodic table, including the then-undiscovered element 117.
Sir Martyn Poliakoff, is a British chemist, working on fundamental chemistry, and on developing environmentally acceptable processes and materials. The core themes of his work are supercritical fluids, infrared spectroscopy and lasers. He is a research professor in chemistry at the University of Nottingham. As well as carrying out research at the University of Nottingham, he is a lecturer, teaching a number of modules including green chemistry.
Element collecting is the hobby of collecting the chemical elements. Many element collectors simply enjoy finding peculiar uses of chemical elements. Others enjoy studying the properties of the elements, possibly engaging in amateur chemistry, and some simply collect elements for no practical reason. Some element collectors invest in elements, while some amateur chemists have amassed a large collection of elements—Oliver Sacks, for example. In recent years, the hobby has gained popularity with media attention brought by element collectors like Theodore Gray. Sagar Jamane describes element collecting as “more a discipline than a hobby.” “It’s a reminder of the enormous effort of all the beautiful minds behind the periodic table and element discovery,” he says, adding that it’s thrilling to see the elements that make up the universe at such close quarters.
Periodic Videos is a video project and YouTube channel on chemistry. It consists of a series of videos about chemical elements and the periodic table, with additional videos on other topics in chemistry and related fields. They are published on YouTube and produced by Brady Haran, a former BBC video journalist, mainly featuring Sir Martyn Poliakoff, Peter Licence, Stephen Liddle, Debbie Kays, Neil Barnes, Sam Tang, and other scientists at the University of Nottingham.
Touchpress was an app developer and publisher based in Central London. The company specialised in creating apps on educational subjects including the Periodic Table, Beethoven, the Solar System, T.S. Eliot, Shakespeare, and others.
Chemical elements may be named from various sources: sometimes based on the person who discovered it, or the place it was discovered. Some have Latin or Greek roots deriving from something related to the element, for example some use to which it may have been put.
Actinide chemistry is one of the main branches of nuclear chemistry that investigates the processes and molecular systems of the actinides. The actinides derive their name from the group 3 element actinium. The informal chemical symbol An is used in general discussions of actinide chemistry to refer to any actinide. All but one of the actinides are f-block elements, corresponding to the filling of the 5f electron shell; lawrencium, a d-block element, is also generally considered an actinide. In comparison with the lanthanides, also mostly f-block elements, the actinides show much more variable valence. The actinide series encompasses the 15 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers from 89 to 103, actinium through lawrencium.
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