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medical science
Avicenna – The Most Significant Polymath of the Islamic Golden Age

Avicenna – The Most Significant Polymath of the Islamic Golden Age

Harald Sack
At about 980, Persian polymath bū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Sīnā, also known as Avicenna, was born. Avicenna is regarded as one of the most significant thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age. His most famous works are The Book of Healing – a philosophical and scientific encyclopedia, and The Canon of Medicine – a medical encyclopedia, which became a standard medical text at many medieval…
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geology
Alexander Ross Clarke and the true Shape of the Earth

Alexander Ross Clarke and the true Shape of the Earth

Tabea Tietz
On December 16, 1828, British geodesist Alexander Ross Clarke was born. He is best known for his calculation of the Principal Triangulation of Britain (1858), the calculation of the Figure of the Earth (1858, 1860, 1866, 1880) and one of the most important text books of Geodesy (1880). The figures from his second determination became a standard reference for U.S. geodesy for most of the twentieth century until satellites could improve accuracy.…
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mathematics
Omar Khayyam – Mathematics and Poetry

Omar Khayyam – Mathematics and Poetry

Harald Sack
On December 4, 1131, Persian mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet, Omar Khayyam; born Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Abu’l-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm al-Khayyām Nīshāpūrī, passed away. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential scientists of the middle ages. He wrote numerous treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy and astronomy. “Whoever thinks algebra is a trick in obtaining unknowns has thought it in vain. No attention should be paid to the fact that…
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physics
Ernst Chladni – The Father of Acoustics

Ernst Chladni – The Father of Acoustics

Harald Sack
On November 30, 1756, German physicist and musician Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni was born. His most important work, for which he is sometimes labeled the father of acoustics, included research on vibrating plates and the calculation of the speed of sound for different gases. He also undertook pioneering work in the study of meteorites and so is also regarded by some as the father of meteoritics. Ernst Chladni – Early Years Although…
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history
Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof and Esperanto, the Universal International Language

Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof and Esperanto, the Universal International Language

Tabea Tietz
On November 24, 1887, the first German translation of Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof‘s ‘Unua Libro‘, the first book to describe the artificial universal language esperanto was published. Esperanto is a constructed international auxiliary language. It is the most widely spoken constructed language in the world. “Esperanto was a very useful language, because wherever you went, you found someone to speak with.” — George Soros “How Do You Say ‘Billionaire’ in Esperanto?” [5]  Ludwig…
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philosophy
Albertus Magnus and the Merit of Personal Observation

Albertus Magnus and the Merit of Personal Observation

Harald Sack
On November 15, 1280, German scholar, Dominican friar, Catholic bishop, and Catholic Saint, Albert, Count von Bollstädt a.k.a Abertus Magnus, Albert the Great passed away. As a philosopher Albertus Magnus championed Aristotle‘s philosophy, but adapted it to the medieval outlook, and held that there was merit in the addition of personal observation. He often is referred to as the greatest German philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages. Even more so than…
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physics
Edmond Halley besides the Eponymous Comet

Edmond Halley besides the Eponymous Comet

Harald Sack
On November 8, 1656, English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist Sir Edmond Halley was born. Of course everybody has heard of Halley’s comet. We too already had an article on that topic [1]. But, Edmond Halley did much more than calculating the orbit of the eponymous comet. He compiled a catalogue of the stars of the Southern hemisphere, he also improved the sextant, and made observations about the ocean and the…
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cinematography
Godzilla – The Most Recognizable Icon of Post War Japanese Culture

Godzilla – The Most Recognizable Icon of Post War Japanese Culture

Tabea Tietz
On November 3, 1954, the very first of a series of 28 Godzilla films premiered. The film focuses on Godzilla, a prehistoric monster resurrected by repeated nuclear tests in the Pacific, who ravages Japan and reignites the horrors of nuclear devastation to the very nation that experienced it first-hand. Since his debut, Godzilla has morphed into a worldwide cultural icon. The Most Recognizable Symbol of Japanese Culture Godzilla belongs to the most recognizable…
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computer science
The Pentium FDIV Bug

The Pentium FDIV Bug

Harald Sack
On October 30, 1994, Thomas Nicely, a professor of mathematics at Lynchburg College, published his findings about a serious bug in the arithmetic unit of Intel’s latest Pentium processor, known as the Pentium FDIV Bug. Because of the bug, the processor can return incorrect decimal results, an issue troublesome for the precise calculations needed in fields like math and science. How the FDIV Bug was discovered The Pentium FDIV bug is the…
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engineering
Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot and the Automobile

Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot and the Automobile

Tabea Tietz
On September 25, 1725, French inventor Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot was born. He is known to have built the first working self-propelled mechanical vehicle, the world’s first automobile. Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot’s Self Driving Vehicle Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot was born in Void-Vacon, Lorraine in 1725 and was trained as a military engineer. Cugnot was commissioned by the French War Ministry to develop a means of transport for the artillery. The steam engine based transport car developed by…
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