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archeology
Ernst Curtius and the Excavation of Olympia

Ernst Curtius and the Excavation of Olympia

Tabea Tietz
On September 2, 1814, German archaeologist and historian Ernst Curtius was born, who directed the excavation of Olympia from 1875–1881, the most opulent and sacred religious shrine of ancient Greece and site of the original Olympic Games. “It is the relationship to the Eternal that gives us strength and endurance and self-denial; it teaches us in science to distinguish the essential from the unessential; it makes knowledge a virtue and research a…
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biology
Sergei Winogradsky and the Science of Bacteriology

Sergei Winogradsky and the Science of Bacteriology

Tabea Tietz
On September 1, 1856, Ukrainian microbiologist, ecologist and soil scientist Sergei Nikolaievich Winogradsky was born, who pioneered the cycle of life concept. He helped to establish bacteriology as a major biological science. Sergei Winogradsky Background Sergei Winogradsky was born in Kiev, which belonged to the Russian Empire, into a family of a wealthy lawyer. The young man finished his secondary education with the gold medal and entered the Imperial Conservatoire of Music in…
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astronomy
Sir Bernard Lovell and the Radioastronomy

Sir Bernard Lovell and the Radioastronomy

Harald Sack
On August 31, 1913, English physicist and radio astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell was born. He was a pioneer in radar and radio telescopes and especially renowned for creating the Jodrell Bank radio telescope, the only antenna that could track rockets in space in the early years of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. “Out of all possible universes, the only one which can exist, in the sense that…
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astronomy
Fred Whipple and the Dirty Snowballs

Fred Whipple and the Dirty Snowballs

Harald Sack
On August 30, 2004, American astronomer Fred Lawrence Whipple passed away. Amongst his achievements, he discovered some asteroids and comets, came up with the “dirty snowball” cometary hypothesis, and designed the Whipple shield. A Thriving Astronomer Fred Whipple was born on November 5, 1906, in Red Oak, Iowa, as the son of a farmer. An early bout with polio ended his ambition of being a professional tennis player. Whipple studied at Occidental College…
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medical science
Werner Forssmann and the dangerous Self Experiment of Cardiac Catheterization

Werner Forssmann and the dangerous Self Experiment of Cardiac Catheterization

Tabea Tietz
On August 29, 1904, German surgeon and Nobel Laureate Werner Forssmann was born. He is best known for the development of cardiac catheterization, which was developed by him in a dangerous self experiment. Werner Forssmann – Early Years Werner Forssmann was born in Berlin as the only child of the lawyer Julius Forßmann and his wife Emmy, née Hindenberg. His father’s family originally came from Finland, his mother’s family was Prussian. His father,…
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economics
Antoine Cournot and the Mathematical Theory of Economics

Antoine Cournot and the Mathematical Theory of Economics

Tabea Tietz
On August 28, 1801, French philosopher and mathematician Antoine-Augustin Cournot was born. He is considered being the first economist who applied mathematics to the treatment of economic questions. In 1838, he published Recherches sur les principes mathématiques de la théorie des richesses (Researches into the Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth) which was a treatment of mathematical economics. “So far we have studies how, for each commodity by itself, the law…
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mathematics
Giuseppe Peano and the Axiomatization of Mathematics

Giuseppe Peano and the Axiomatization of Mathematics

Harald Sack
On August 27, 1858, Italian mathematician and philosopher Giuseppe Peano was born. He is the author of over 200 books and papers, and is considered the founder of mathematical logic and set theory. The standard axiomatization of the natural numbers is named the Peano axioms in his honor. These axioms have been used nearly unchanged in a number of metamathematical investigations, including research into fundamental questions of consistency and completeness of number…
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engineering
Enabling Radio Broadcast of Sound – Lee De Forest and the Audion

Enabling Radio Broadcast of Sound – Lee De Forest and the Audion

Tabea Tietz
On August 26, 1873, American inventor Lee de Forest was born. He is credited more than 180 patents. In 1906, de Forest invented the Audion, the first triode vacuum tube and the first electrical device which could amplify a weak electrical signal and make it stronger, making radio broadcasting, television, and long-distance telephone service possible, among many other applications. Lee De Forest – A Young Inventor Lee De Forest was born in Iowa to…
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astronomy
Voyager and the Exploration of Saturn

Voyager and the Exploration of Saturn

Harald Sack
On August 25, 1981, American space probe Voyager 2 passed Saturn and transmitted stunning pictures of the ring planet. The space probe had been launched by NASA on August 20, 1977 to study the outer Solar System and eventually to push forward into interstellar space. Until today, operating for more than 30 years the spacecraft still receives routine commands and transmits data back to the Deep Space Network, a world-wide network of large…
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philosophy
Pliny the Elder and the Destruction of Pompeii

Pliny the Elder and the Destruction of Pompeii

Harald Sack
On August 25, 79 AD, Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher Pliny the Elder died, while attempting the rescue by ship of a friend and his family from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that had just destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Unfortunately, there don’t exist contemporary pictures or portraits of Pliny the Elder. Thus, I decided to show you an also imaginary picture of the destruction of Pompeii instead. “Fortes…
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