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law
The Origins of Copyright Law

The Origins of Copyright Law

Harald Sack
On April 10, 1710, the Statute of Anne, an act of the Parliament of Great Britain, was introduced. It was the first statute to provide for copyright regulated by the government and courts, rather than by private parties. Literary Works under Richard III With the introduction of the printing press to Britain by William Caxton in 1476, printed works became more and more important as an economic asset. As early as 1483,…
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art
Eadweard Muybridge and the Photography of Motion

Eadweard Muybridge and the Photography of Motion

Tabea Tietz
On April 9, 1830, English photographer Eadweard James Muybridge was born. Muybridge is best known for his pioneering work on animal locomotion in 1877 and 1878, which used multiple cameras to capture motion in stop-motion photographs, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible perforated film strip used in cinematography. Eadweard Muybridge Background Eadweard Muybridge was born as Edward Muggeridge in in Kingston upon Thames. He emigrated to the…
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astronomy
David Rittenhouse and the Transit of Venus

David Rittenhouse and the Transit of Venus

Harald Sack
On April 8, 1732, American astronomer David Rittenhouse was born. He was an early observer of the atmosphere of Venus. For observations for the transit of Venus on 3 June 1769, he constructed a high precision pendulum clock, an astronomical quadrant, an equal altitude instrument, and an astronomical transit. Besides being an astronomer, he was also inventor, clockmaker, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrument craftsman and public official as first director of the United States Mint.…
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explorer
Robert Cavelier de La Salle and his Mississippi Expedition

Robert Cavelier de La Salle and his Mississippi Expedition

Tabea Tietz
On April 7, 1682, French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi river at the end of his great expedition, claiming the region watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries for France, and naming it Louisiana after King Louis XIV. His last expedition was to invade and conquer part of the Spanish province of Mexico, which failed and cost La Salle his life. Robert Cavelier de…
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photography
Harold Eugene Edgerton and the High Speed Photography

Harold Eugene Edgerton and the High Speed Photography

Harald Sack
On April 6, 1903, Harold Eugene “Doc” Edgerton, professor for electrical engineering at the Massachussetts Institut of Technology was born.He is largely credited with transforming the stroboscope from an obscure laboratory instrument into a common device. He also was deeply involved with the development of sonar and deep-sea photography, and his equipment was used by Jacques Cousteau in searches for shipwrecks and even the Loch Ness monster. Harold Eugene Edgerton  – Early…
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politics
The Sugar Act and the American Revolution

The Sugar Act and the American Revolution

Tabea Tietz
On April 5, 1764, the Sugar Act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain. The Sugar Act, also known as the American Revenue Act or the American Duties Act, was a revenue-raising act superseeding the earlier Molasses Act of 1733, which had imposed a tax of six pence per gallon of molasses, had never been effectively collected due to colonial evasion. By reducing the rate by half and increasing measures to enforce…
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philosophy
The Encyclopaedia of Saint Isidore of Seville

The Encyclopaedia of Saint Isidore of Seville

Harald Sack
On April 4, 636, Saint Isidore of Seville, Archbishop of Seville, passed away. He is referred to as “the last scholar of the ancient world. In his Encyclopaedia Etymologiarum sive originum libri XX he compiled the knowledge of antiquity still existing in the west of the Mediterranean around 600 CE, combined it with patristics and made it available to his time. Isidor was one of the most widely read authors of the…
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architecture
Living as a Work of Art – Henry van de Velde and Art Nouveau

Living as a Work of Art – Henry van de Velde and Art Nouveau

Harald Sack
On April 3, 1863, Belgian painter, architect, and interior designer Henry van de Velde was born. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium. Van de Velde spent the most important part of his career in Germany and became a major figure in the German Jugendstil. He had a decisive influence on German architecture and design at the beginning of the…
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astronomy
Fizeau, Foucault and Astronomical Photography

Fizeau, Foucault and Astronomical Photography

Tabea Tietz
On April 2, 1845, Armand Hippolyte Louis Fizeau and Jean Bernard Léon Foucault manage to make the very first photography of the Sun. Thereby, they both initiated astronomical photography. “To contribute usefully to the advance of science, one must sometimes not disdain from undertaking simple verifications.” – Léon Foucault (in The Life and Science of Léon Foucault : The Man Who Proved the Earth Rotates, 2003) Before Astronomical Photography From a previous blog…
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psychology
Abraham Maslow and the Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow and the Hierarchy of Needs

Harald Sack
On April 1, 1908, American psychologist Abraham Harold Maslow was born. He is best known for creating Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization. He stressed the importance of focusing on the positive qualities in people, as opposed to treating them as a “bag of symptoms.” “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a…
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