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physics
Claude Debussy – More than just the Link between Romanticism and Modernity

Claude Debussy – More than just the Link between Romanticism and Modernity

Harald Sack
On August 22, 1862, French composer Claude Debussy was born. Debussy’s music is regarded as a link between romanticism and modernity. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For me, his Claire de Lune is one of the most beautiful pieces for piano I have ever played. “The colour of my soul is iron-grey and sad bats wheel about the steeple of my dreams.” — Claude…
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physics
Sir Fred Hoyle – How Big Bang Theory’s Most Eager Opponent was Responsible for its Popularity

Sir Fred Hoyle – How Big Bang Theory’s Most Eager Opponent was Responsible for its Popularity

Harald Sack
On August 20, 2001, famous astronomer, mathematician, and author Sir Fred Hoyle passed away. The scientist was the first to coin the term “Big Bang” for the now prevailing theory of the early development of the universe in 1949, even though he happened to be a strong opponent of this theory. “We now come to the question of applying the observational tests to earlier theories. These theories were based on the hypothesis that all…
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economics
Eureka! – California and the 1848 Gold Rush

Eureka! – California and the 1848 Gold Rush

Harald Sack
On August 19, 1848, the the New York Herald, a major newspaper of the American East Coast printed the exciting news that gold has been found on the West Coast, which caused thousands of immigrants from all over the world to travel to California hoping to to find wealth and glory. The 1848 Gold Rush and How it all began The story began some months earlier, in January 1848. James Marshall constructed…
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explorer
How High/Low Can You Go? – The Explorer Auguste Piccard

How High/Low Can You Go? – The Explorer Auguste Piccard

Harald Sack
On 18 August 1932, launched from Dübendorf, Switzerland, August Piccard and Max Cosyns made a record-breaking ascent to 16,200 m. Scientists and explorers we are, to boldly go where no man has gone before. If there is one scientist, who might serve as the prototype of a bold explorer, then we have to consider Auguste Piccard, who tried to explore the deepest depths of the sea as well as the extreme stratosphere of the earth.…
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physics
Mies van der Rohe – the expression of constructive logic and spatial freedom in a classical form

Mies van der Rohe – the expression of constructive logic and spatial freedom in a classical form

Harald Sack
On August 17, 1969, German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe passed away. Along with Le Corbusier,[6] Walter Gropius [4] and Frank Lloyd Wright,[7] he is regarded as one of the pioneers of modernist architecture. “God is in the details.” — Mies can der Rohe, “On restraint in Design” in The New York Herald Tribune (28 June 1959) Bricklayer and Draughtsman Maria Ludwig Michael was born on March 27, 1886, the youngest son of…
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mathematics
How to Calculate Fortune – Jakob Bernoulli

How to Calculate Fortune – Jakob Bernoulli

Harald Sack
On August 16, 1705, Swiss mathematician Jakob Bernoulli passed away. The Swiss Bernoulli family is well known for their many offsprings who gained prominent merits in mathematics and physics in the 18th century. Jakob Bernoulli, born in 1654 (or 1655 according to the new Gregorian calendar), is best known for his work Ars Conjectandi (The Art of Conjecture). In this work, published 8 years after his death in 1713 by his nephew Nicholas,…
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engineering
The Opening of the Panama Canal

The Opening of the Panama Canal

Harald Sack
On August 15, 1914, the very first ship, the cargo ship SS Ancon passed the newly built Panama Canal. Unfortunately, in the same month, World War I started fighting in Europe and the official opening ceremony had to be postponed until 1920. Connecting Atlantic and Pacific The Panama Canal is an 82 km long ship canal in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean (via the Caribbean Sea) to the Pacific Ocean and therefore…
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history
Macbeth – the Tragedy and its Historical Background

Macbeth – the Tragedy and its Historical Background

Harald Sack
On August 14, 1040 AD, Mac Bethad mac Findlaích, Mormaer of Moray, today better known as Macbeth, killed the Scottish King Duncan I. to become the new King of Scotland. But, he has to commit further murder to maintain his power. So far the story goes. Most of the rest we know from Shakespeare‘s adaptation of the historical events is merely pure fiction.[2,3] Shakespeare’s Macbeth Macbeth’s life, like that of his predecessor…
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literature
H. G. Wells and the Shape of Things to Come

H. G. Wells and the Shape of Things to Come

Harald Sack
For sure you have seen the classic movie ‘The Time Machine‘, where the Victorian epoch time traveler went to a future far, far away into the world, where the old struggle of good against evil continued. Then, you also might have heard about the story, where aliens from Mars started war against Earth, but finally are going to die because of Earth’s microbes. Or maybe also the story, when famous actor and…
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computer science
IBM and the Success Story of the Personal Computer

IBM and the Success Story of the Personal Computer

Harald Sack
On August 12, 1981, IBM presented the IBM 5150, the very first IBM personal computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It was created by a team of engineers and designers under the direction of Philip Donald Estridge of the IBM Entry Systems Division in Boca Raton, Florida. Actually, it were his decisions that dramatically changed the computer industry,…
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