House System
Attenborough (Green)
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Sir David Attenborough was born in 1926 near to London. After leaving school, he went to Cambridge University and then served for two years in the Royal Navy.
He worked for the BBC in the 1950s and 1960s which led to him producing his first natural history show 'Zoo Quest'. It was a huge success and therefore Attenborough decided to leave the BBC and focus on making nature documentaries. He made internationally renowned series like 'Life' and 'Blue Planet'.
Attenborough was knighted in 1985 and has received numerous other awards and honorary degrees for the work he has done to preserve the planet and educate millions about all the species that live on it with us.
Curie (Blue)
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Marie Curie was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was born in Warsaw on November 7, 1867, the daughter of a secondary-school teacher and she received a general education in local schools and some scientific training from her father.
Following studies in Paris, Curie succeeded her husband to become the Head of the Physics Laboratory at the Sorbonne, she gained her Doctor of Science degree in 1903, and became Professor of General Physics in the Faculty of Sciences - the first time a woman had held this position.
Marie Curie is celebrated world-wide for her research and work on radioactive substances –particularly radium - and she worked alongside her daughter during WW1 to alleviate the suffering of soldiers. The importance of her work is clear from her legacy and the many honorary science, medicine and law degrees and honorary memberships of learned societies throughout the world. Together with her husband, she was awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 and in 1911 she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, in recognition of her work in radioactivity.
Lovelace (Yellow)
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Ada Lovelace was born December 10, 1815, in Piccadilly Terrace, Middlesex, England, to Lord and Lady Byron. Her father was a poet and her mother a mathematician. Ada was brought up by her mother, who encouraged her to study maths and science. Ada demonstrated a natural talent for the subjects. Ada met a young mathematician and engineer named Charles Babbage when she was 17. Ada was fascinated by Babbage’s ideas, especially his plans for a machine to handle complex calculations named the analytical engine. Babbage was so impressed by Ada he asked her to translate an article about the analytical engine written by an Italian engineer.
Ada translated the article and also added pages of her own notes. Ada’s work was published in 1843. The analytical engine was nothing like the computers of today. It was a large clunky machine programmed using punched cards! Ada is thought to have written the world’s first computer program 100 years before the first computer was made. She also correctly predicted the future possibilities of computers, including for creating music and graphics.
Ada Lovelace is chosen as the inspirational figurehead for women in science for very good reason – she remains an exemplary role model. To this day, she continues to inspire young women to enter STEM subjects. Ada Lovelace Day (October 12th) was founded by Suw Charman-Anderson in 2009 and aims to raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering and maths.
Mozart (Red)
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27th January 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. At age 4 Mozart began playing a keyboard instrument called a harpsichord and by the age of 5 he was composing his own pieces.
Mozart mastered the styles of music that were popular in different cities in Europe. His first opera was performed in Salzburg in 1769, when he was just 13. He wrote his first serious opera just after his 25th birthday. Some of his most famous operas include The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute.
Mozart demonstrates the power of loving an art form like music and dedicating your time and energy into something that you love. Mozart’s love of music shines through his pieces, which are still loved around the world today.