The document provides information about several key scientific and technological events in Europe between 1945-2015, including the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA by James Watson, Francis Crick, and Rosalind Franklin in 1953; the founding and work of CERN, the European research organization for nuclear physics; the development of the Galileo satellite navigation system by the European Union and European Space Agency; research into nuclear fusion and Spain's role; and the European Space Agency and its Ariane rocket program.

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Scientific and
technological
events in
Europe
1945-2015

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Index
Severo Ochoa, by Natalia Naranjo Moreno Arrones and María José Rodríguez Rabadán
León………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3
Nucleic Acid Double Helix, by Antonio Romero de Ávila Ruiz Poveda and Antonio García
de Mateos Díaz Cacho……………………………………………………………………………………………… 5
CERN, by Ángela Uriel, Susana Velasco and Eva Montoya…………………………………………. 8
Galileo System of Global Navigation, by Benito Candelas, Carlos Díaz Mayordomo and
Pedro Serrano…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 13
Nuclear Fusion, by Belén Márquez Alhambra, Gloria Obregón Lara and Almudena
Mateos-Aparicio Candelas……………………………………………………………………………………… 16
The European Space Agency and the Ariane Rocket, by María José González Albo and
Juani García Cervigón…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 18

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SEVERO OCHOA
Who was Severo Ochoa?
Severo Ochoa was an international Spanish scientific who won a Nobel Prize of
Physiology and Medicine.
He was born the 24th of September of 1905 in Luarca, Spain and he died the first of
November of 1993 in Madrid, Spain.
-Career:
He started his studies in Malaga in 1912. His interest for the Biology began when he
started to read some books of Ramón y Cajal. In Madrid he studied Medicine but he
never practiced as a doctor.
He helped to his professor Juan Negrín and he achieved scholarships. In 1932 he made
important investigations of enzymology in the university of London and in 1935 he
became the new director of the Physiology department
in the university of Medical Investigations in Madrid. In
1936 he studied the enzymes, the glucose and the
fermentations.
From 1938 to 1941 he studied the biological function of
the B1 vitamin and other aspects of the oxidative
metabolism of the enzymes in the Oxford University.
Severo Ochoa was professor of biochemistry in New
York. From 1946 to 1954 he was professor and director
of the Pharmacology's department.
From 1954 to his retirement he was biochemical
professor and boss of the biochemical department.

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Investigations:
Severo Ochoa did important investigations along his life in different fields of Biology and
Biochemistry:
-He found two unknown enzymes which allowed find out the Krebs cycle, that represents
an important biologycal process in the metabolism of living beings.
-He also studied the photosynthesis and the metabolism of the oily acids.
-He did some works that led to the synthesis of the ribonucleic acid after the discovery of
an importatn enzyme. This research allowed him to won the Nobel Prize with Arthur
Kornberg in 1956.
The scientific contribution of Severo Ochoa was associated with the decodification of the
genetic code, the biosynthesis of the proteins and important aspects of the biology of
the virus.
A famous sentence of him:
''The love, is the foundry of the physics and chemistry''

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NUCLEIC ACID
DOUBLE HELIX
Francis Crick was a British molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, most
noted for being a co-discoverer of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953 with James
Watson. Together with Watson and Maurice Wilkins, he was jointly awarded the 1962
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular
structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material".
James Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist and zoologist. He met Crick
and discovered their common interest in solving the DNA structure. They thought it
should be possible to correctly guess its structure, given both the experimental evidence
at King's College plus careful examination of the possible stereo chemical configurations
of polynucleotide chains. Their first serious effort, in the late fall of 1951, was
unsatisfactory. Their second effort based upon more experimental evidence and better
appreciation of the nucleic acid literature, resulted, early in March 1953, in the proposal
of the complementary double-helical configuration.

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Rosalind Franklin was an English chemist and X-ray crystallographer who made
contributions to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA
(deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, coal, and graphite. Although her
works on coal and viruses were appreciated in her lifetime, her contributions to the
discovery of DNA were largely recognized posthumously.
In molecular biology, the term double helix refers to the structure formed by double-
stranded molecules of nucleic acids such as DNA. The double helical structure of a
nucleic acid complex arises as a consequence of its secondary structure, and is a
fundamental component in determining its tertiary structure. It was discover by James
Watson and Francis Crick, with the collaboration of Rosalind Franklin.

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CERN
HISTORY
- The European Organization for Nuclear Research, is
one of the largest and most highly regarded centers in
the world for scientific research.
- The creation of CERN can be considered as the first-
European initiative since the end of World War II.
- What was wanted was to integrate science in Europe,
and thus CERN was born with the aim to "establish a
reference center in Europe to promote scientific study in
European countries" in 1949.
- The Second World War had just
ended a terrible toll in loss of life and
cities that were completely or partially
destroyed.
- Moreover, many scientists fleeing
Nazi, had taken refuge in the United
States, and this was also an objective of
CERN: "back to reinstate European
science scientists who years ago had to
leave their countries."
RESEARCHES
- The first big scientist success of CERN came in 1984, when Carlo Rubbia and Simon van
der Meer were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the W and Z
bosons in 1992
- It was the turn of Georges Charpak "for the invention and development of particle
detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber."

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MEMBER STATES
-CERN is an international laboratory with 20 member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,
the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
and the United Kingdom), a candidate country (Romania) and 8 observers (the European
Commission, India, Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, Turkey, UNESCO and the US).

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ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION

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INSTALLATIONS
-The most spectacular CERN facility is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It covers an area
approximately 600 hectares next to Geneva, in the Franco-Swiss border region.
- The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle
accelerator.
- It first started up on 10 September 2008, and remains the latest addition to CERN’s
accelerator complex.
- The LHC consists of a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets with a number of
accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way.

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- Inside the accelerator, two high-energy particle beams travel at close to the speed of
light before they are made to collide.

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GALILEO SYSTEM
INDEX
-What is it?
- History
- Main objectives
- Funding
- Tension with EEUU
- Applications and impact
WHAT IS IT?
Galileo is the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) that has been created by the
European Union and European Space Agency (ESA), headquartered in Prague, with two
ground operations centers, Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich, and Fucino (Italy). The €5
billion project is named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei.

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HISTORY
MAIN OBJECTIVES
In 1999, the different concepts (from Germany, France and the United Kingdom) for
Galileo were compared and reduced to one by a joint team of engineers from all three
countries. The first stage of the Galileo program was agreed upon officially in 2003 by
the European Union and the European Space Agency.
The system is intended primarily for civilian use. The European system will only be subject
to shutdown for military purposes in extreme circumstances (like armed conflict). It will
be available at its full precision to both civil and military users.
FUNDING
The European Union and the European Space Agency agreed in 2002 to fund the project,
pending a review in 2003. The starting cost for the period ending in 2005 is estimated at
€1.1 billion. The required satellites (the planned number is 30) were to be launched
between 2011 and 2014, with the system up and running and under civilian control from
2019. The final cost is estimated at €3 billion, including the infrastructure on Earth,
constructed in 2006 and 2007. The plan was for private companies and investors to invest
at least two-thirds of the cost of implementation, with the EU and ESA dividing the
remaining cost.
The German Aerospace Center (DLR) contributes the largest portion of the Galileo funds,
and is crucial in the development and application of the system with its facilities of the
Earth Observation Center, and the Institute for Communication and Navigation in
Neustrelitz.

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TENSION WITH EEUU
Galileo is intended to be an EU civilian GNSS that allows all users access to it. GPS is a US
military GNSS that provides location signals that have high precision to US military users,
while also providing less precise location signals to others. The GPS had the capability to
block the "civilian" signals while still being able to use the "military" signal (M-band). A
primary motivation for the Galileo project was the EU concern that the US could deny
others access to GPS during political disagreements.
Since Galileo was designed to provide the highest possible precision (greater than GPS)
to anyone, the US was concerned that an enemy could use Galileo signals in military
strikes against the US and its allies (some weapons like missiles use GNSS systems for
guidance). The frequency initially chosen for Galileo would have made it impossible for
the US to block the Galileo signals without also interfering with its own GPS signals. The
US did not want to lose their GNSS capability with GPS while denying enemies the use of
GNSS. Some US officials became especially concerned when Chinese interest in Galileo
was reported.
An EU official claimed that the US officials implied that they might consider shooting
down Galileo satellites in the event of a major conflict in which Galileo was used in
attacks against American forces. The EU's stance is that Galileo is a neutral technology,
available to all countries and everyone. At first, EU officials did not want to change their
original plans for Galileo, but have since reached a compromise, that Galileo was to use a
different frequency. This allowed the blocking or jamming of either GNSS system
without affecting the other (jam Galileo without affecting GPS, or jam GPS but not
Galileo), giving the US a greater advantage in conflicts in which it has the electronic
warfare upper hand.

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NUCLEAR FUSION
WHAT IS NUCLEAR FUSION?
Nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei come very close
and then collide at a very high speed and join to form a new nucleus. If the nuclei that
are going to join have less matter than iron, the process releases energy. But, if the nuclei
have more matter than iron, the process absorbs energy.
PROCESS
Fusion reactions are high energy reactions in which two lighter atomic nuclei fuse to
form a heavier nucleus. When they combine, some of the mass is converted into energy
in accordance with Einstein's formula E=mc.2
To get the fusion it is necessary to subject the Tritium or Deuterium to pressures and
temperatures similar to the ones occur in the inner stars.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NUCLEAR FISSION AND FUSION
In nuclear fission the heavy nuclei of the atom is divided, while in the nuclear fusion the
nucleus of the atoms are joined.
The nuclear fission is produced with elements like: uranium, strontium or krypton.
However, if we’re talking about the nuclear fusion, the elements that usually intervene
are helium and hydrogen.
ITER
ITER is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject, which will
be the world's largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment.
The aims is to make the long-awaited transition from experimental studies of plasma
physics to full-scale electricity-producing fusion power plants. There by the machine
aims to demonstrate the principle of producing more energy from the fusion process
than is used to initiate it, something that has not yet been achieved in any fusion reactor.

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ITER PARTICIPANS
SPANISH NATIONAL FUSION LABORATORY
The main activity of the National Fusion Laboratory of Spain is related to the scientific
exploitation of the Heliac Flexible TJ-II inside the European Nuclear Fusion Program.
The NFL centralizes in Spain the investigation in fusion, leading the Spanish participation
in the building of the first ITER thermonuclear reactor and it has been the main part to
obtain the localization of the European Agency in Spain.
If finally the fusion is got in an industrial scale and in a profitable way the problems of
energy could finish for the mankind because we could have energy in huge amounts,
enough for any purpose

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THE EUROPEAN
SPACE AGENCY AND
THE ARIANE ROCKET
INDEX
-What is the European Space Agency (ESA)?
-The Ariane rocket.
-Members of the ESA.
-Investigations.
-Space explorations.
-Facilities around the World.
What is the European Space Agency (ESA)?
 It’s an European organization created in 1975, that is the gateway to the space of
the European continent.
 Its mission consist of configuring the development of the European space
capacity and to ensure that the investment in the space activities continues to
deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe.

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THE ARIANE ROCKET
 It’s a family of launch vehicles desin¡gned and made in Europe.
 It has some versions:
-Ariane 1: first takeoff successfully in December, 1979.
-Ariane 2: first takeoff successfully in November, 1987.
-Ariane 3: first takeoff successfully in August, 1984.
-Ariane 4: first takeoff successfully in June, 1988.
-Ariane 5: first takeoff successfully in October, 1997.
-Ariane 6: actually in development, provided the first
takeoff for 2021-2022.
MEMBERS OF THE ESA
Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece,
Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, Norway, Netherland, Poland, Portugal,
United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland.
Canada takes part in some projects under a cooperation agreement.
INVESTIGATIONS
Some of its projects are:
-Artemis: It’s an European experimental satellite of communication that belongs to ESA,
launched for trying new technologies of communication, forming part of the EGNOS
system.
-Double star: It was a Chinese-European mission and managed by ESA and the CNSA
(China Space Agency) for the studie of the Earth’s magnetosphere, complemented the

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Cluster mission. In 1997 the CNSA invited ESA to participate in it and in July of 2001 they
signed an agreement to develop the mission together.
-Rosetta: It’s a spacecraft that was launched on March 2004. Its mission is to orbit around
the comet 67P/Churiumov-Guerasimenko in 2014 and 2015.
SPACE EXPLORATIONS
-In 1957, the Soviet Union took its first step in space with the launch of a small satellite
called Sputnik. In this moment began the space age.
In the last 60 years, have been sent probes to all planets of the Solar System and to large
number of satellites, asteroids and comets. Many of these satellites have posed in a
controlled way in half a dozen worlds; and robots have traveled to the Moon and Mars
surfaces. Sun has also been explored by a fleet of satellites.

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 Many space laboratories installed in rockets and satellites, such as the space
telescope Hubble, have been launched to study the distant universe. They have
sent stunning images in visible light. They have also observed stars and galaxies at
wavelengths invisible to the human eye, such as the radio, infrared, ultraviolet, x-
rays and gamma rays. The flood of discoveries have changed our way of looking
at the universe.
INSTALLATIONS AROUND THE WORLD
 HQ: Headquarters (Paris, France)
 CSG: Centre Spatial Guiana (Kourou, French Guinea)
 ESOC: European Centre of space operations (Darmstadt, Germany)
 ESTEC: European Centre of research and space technology (Noordwijk,
Netherlands)
 ESRIN: Centre of ESA for Earth observation (Frascati, Italy)
 EAC: European Centre of astronauts (Cologne, Germany)
 ESAC: European Centre of Space Astronomy (Madrid, Spain) 5
 ECSAT: European Centre for space applications and telecommunications
(Oxfordshire, United Kingdom)