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physics
Charles Francis Richter and the Richter Scale

Charles Francis Richter and the Richter Scale

Harald Sack
On April 26, 1900, American seismologist and physicist Charles Francis Richter was born. Richter is most famous as the creator of the Richter magnitude scale, which, until the development of the moment magnitude scale in 1979, quantified the size of earthquakes. Inspired by Kiyoo Wadati‘s 1928 paper on shallow and deep earthquakes, Richter first used the scale in 1935 after developing it in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg; both worked at the California Institute of…
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archeology
Ramesses II – King of Kings am I

Ramesses II – King of Kings am I

Harald Sack
Ramesses II was born 1303 BC, third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Ramesses II often is regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire. His successors often referred to him as “the Great ancestor”. The reason, why we include this ancient Egytian ruler in SciHi Blog is not only his historical relevance. Recently we have been invited to join the Ramesses II exhibition at…
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philosophy
Garrett Hardin and the Tragedy of the Commons

Garrett Hardin and the Tragedy of the Commons

Tabea Tietz
On April 21, 1915, American ecologist and philosopher Garrett James Hardin was born. Hardin warned of the dangers of overpopulation. His exposition of the tragedy of the commons, in a famous 1968 paper in Science, called attention to “the damage that innocent actions by individuals can inflict on the environment“. He is also known for Hardin’s First Law of Human Ecology: “We can never do merely one thing. Any intrusion into nature…
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biology
Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg – Father of Micropaleontology

Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg – Father of Micropaleontology

Tabea Tietz
On April 19, 1795, German naturalist, zoologist, comparative anatomist, geologist, and microscopist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg was born. Ehrenberg was one of the most famous and productive scientists of his time. He has been called the founder of micropaleontology (the study of fossil microorganisms). He held that animals, of any size down to the tiniest, have organ systems in common, including muscles, reproductive organs, and stomachs. Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg – Early Years Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg…
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mathematics
Jerzy Neyman – Architect of Modern Theoretical Statistics

Jerzy Neyman – Architect of Modern Theoretical Statistics

Harald Sack
On April 16, 1894, Polish mathematician and statistician Jerzy Neyman was born. Neyman was one of the principal architects of modern theoretical statistics. He first introduced the modern concept of a confidence interval into statistical hypothesis testing and co-devised null hypothesis testing in collaboration with Egon Pearson. “Statistics is the servant to all sciences.”, Jerzy Neyman Youth and Education Jerzy Neyman was born into a Polish family in Bendery, in the Bessarabia…
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archeology
Édouard Lartet – a pioneer of Paleolithic archaeology

Édouard Lartet – a pioneer of Paleolithic archaeology

Tabea Tietz
On April 15, 1801, French geologist and paleontologist Édouard Lartet was born. Lartet was a pioneer of Paleolithic archaeology, who is chiefly credited with discovering man’s earliest art and with establishing a date for the Upper Paleolithic Period of the Stone Age. His most striking discovery was a mammoth tooth, found in a cave, upon which was a drawing of a mammoth. This was clear proof that man lived at the same time as…
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engineering
Harold Stephen Black and the Negative-Feedback Principle

Harold Stephen Black and the Negative-Feedback Principle

Harald Sack
On April 14, 1898, American electrical engineer Harold Stephen Black was born. Black discovered and developed the negative-feedback principle, in which amplification output is fed back into the input, thus producing nearly distortionless and steady amplification. His invention is considered the most important breakthrough of the twentieth century in the field of electronics, since it has a wide area of application. “The answer scrawled on a blank page in a daily newspaper, was…
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astronomy
Donald Howard Menzel and the UFOs

Donald Howard Menzel and the UFOs

Tabea Tietz
On April 11, 1901, theoretical astronomer and astrophysicist Donald Howard Menzel was born. Menzel discovered the physical properties of the solar chromosphere, the chemistry of stars, the atmosphere of Mars, and the nature of gaseous nebulae. Moreover, he was best known for his arguments against the existence of extraterrestrial UFOs. Early Years Donald Howard Menzel already collected rocks as a child and built a chemistry laboratory in the cellar of his family’s…
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engineering
John Leslie’s Research in Heat and Capillary Action

John Leslie’s Research in Heat and Capillary Action

Tabea Tietz
On April 10, 1766, Scottish mathematician and physicist Sir John Leslie was born. Leslie is best remembered for his research into heat. He gave the first modern account of capillary action in 1802 and froze water using an air-pump in 1810, the first artificial production of ice. “The true business of the philosopher, though not flattering to his vanity, is merely to ascertain, arrange and condense the facts. “ — Sir John…
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computer games
Heinz Nixdorf and his Microcomputers

Heinz Nixdorf and his Microcomputers

Harald Sack
On April 9, 1925, German computing pioneer, businessman and founder of Nixdorf Computer AG Heinz Nixdorf was born. Nixdorf founded his first computer company in 1952. He would lead this company as its owner to an international electronic concern that would make almost 4 billion D-Mark. His microcomputer could stand up to the mainframes and because of that, Nixdorf was known as one of the founders who were a symbol for the…
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