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philosophy
Denis Pétau and the Science of Chronology

Denis Pétau and the Science of Chronology

Harald Sack
On August 21, 1583, French Jesuit scholar Denis Pétau was born. Pétau, also known as Dionysius Petavius, was one of the most brilliant scholars in a learned age. Carrying on and improving the chronological labors of Joseph Justus Scaliger,[2] he published in 1627 an Opus de doctrina temporum. Denis Pétau – Early Years Denis Pétau was born at Orléans, where he had his initial education. He attended the University of Paris, where…
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geology
Eduard Suess and the Study of Tectonics

Eduard Suess and the Study of Tectonics

Tabea Tietz
On August 20, 1831, Austrian geologist Eduard Suess was born. Suess was an expert on the geography of the Alps and helped lay the basis for paleogeography and tectonics, i.e. the study of the architecture and evolution of the Earth‘s outer rocky shell. He is responsible for hypothesising two major former geographical features, the supercontinent Gondwana (proposed in 1861) and the Tethys Ocean. An Early Interest in Geology Eduard Suess was born…
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chemistry
Julius Lothar Meyer – Inventor of the Periodic Law

Julius Lothar Meyer – Inventor of the Periodic Law

Harald Sack
On August 19, 1830, German chemist Julius Lothar Meyer was born. Meyer was one of the pioneers in developing the first periodic table of chemical elements. He discovered the Periodic Law, independently of Dmitry Mendeleev, at about the same time (1869). However, he did not develop the periodic classification of the chemical elements as thoroughly as Mendeleev. “That the as yet undivided chemical elements are absolutely irreducible substances, is currently at least…
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engineering
How the Radio became a Mass Medium – The Volksempfänger VE301

How the Radio became a Mass Medium – The Volksempfänger VE301

Tabea Tietz
On August 18, 1933, the original Volksempfänger VE 301 was presented at the 10. Große Deutsche Funkausstellung in Berlin. The purpose of the Volksempfänger-program was to make radio reception technology affordable to the general public. Nazi Propagandaminister Joseph Goebbels realized the great propaganda potential of this relatively new medium and thus considered widespread availability of receivers highly important. VE301 – First Model The first model, the Volksempfänger VE301 was developed by the…
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engineering
Matthew Boulton – Making the Steam Engine Business a Success

Matthew Boulton – Making the Steam Engine Business a Success

Harald Sack
On August 17, 1809, English manufacturer Matthew Boulton passed away. Boulton financed and introduced James Watt‘s steam engine. The partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills. Boulton applied modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with up-to-date equipment.…
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philosophy
Jean de La Bruyère and the Power of Money in a Demoralized Society

Jean de La Bruyère and the Power of Money in a Demoralized Society

Tabea Tietz
On August 16, 1645, French philosopher and moralist Jean de La Bruyère was born. La Bruyère is best known for one work, Les Caractères de Théophraste traduits du grec avec Les Caractères ou les moeurs de ce siècle (1688; The Characters, or the Manners of the Age, with The Characters of Theophrastus), which is considered to be one of the masterpieces of French literature. “Life is a tragedy for those who feel,…
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medical science
E. Morton Jellinek and the Causes of Alcoholism

E. Morton Jellinek and the Causes of Alcoholism

Harald Sack
On August 15, 1890, American biostatistician and physiologist E. Morton Jellinek was born. Jellinek was a pioneer in the scientific study of the nature and causes of alcoholism and in descriptions of its symptomatology. He was an early proponent of the disease theory of alcoholism, arguing with great persuasiveness that alcoholics should be treated as sick people. Youth and Education Born in New York City, USA, Jellinek studied biostatistics and physiology at…
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zoology
Paul Bartsch Interest in Molluscs

Paul Bartsch Interest in Molluscs

Tabea Tietz
On August 14, 1871, American malacologist and carcinologist Paul Bartsch was born, Bartsch was an authority on molluscs, but had broad interests in natural history including plants and birds. He was named the last of those belonging to the “Descriptive Age of Malacology. Paul Bartsch – Youth and Education Paul Bartsch was born in Tuntschendorf, Silesia, and emigrated with his parents to the U.S.A in 1880, first to Missouri and then to Burlington,…
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chemistry
Frederick Sanger and the Structure of Proteins

Frederick Sanger and the Structure of Proteins

Harald Sack
On August 13, 1918, British biochemist Frederick Sanger was born. In 1958, he was awarded a Nobel Prize in chemistry “for his work on the structure of proteins, especially that of insulin“. In 1980, Walter Gilbert and Sanger shared half of the chemistry prize “for their contributions concerning the determination of base sequences in nucleic acids“. “Scientific research is one of the most exciting and rewarding of occupations. It is like a…
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biology
The Fruit Breeding of Thomas Andrew Knight

The Fruit Breeding of Thomas Andrew Knight

Tabea Tietz
On August 12, 1759, English horticulturalist and botanist Thomas Andrew Knight was born. Knight initiated the field of fruit breeding, experimental horticulture while also studying plant physiology with botanical experiments. He made studies on the movement of sap in plants, the nature of the cambium, and phototropism in tendrils. To investigate the geotropism of roots and stems, he invented a machine, rotating to simulate gravity with centrifugal force in either horizontal or vertical position. The…
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