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Monthly Archives: February 2021

aviation
Octave Chanute – One of the Fathers of Aviation

Octave Chanute – One of the Fathers of Aviation

Harald Sack
On February 18, 1832, French-born American railway engineer and aviation pioneer Octave A. Chanute was born. He provided many budding enthusiasts, including the Wright brothers [6] with help and advice, and helped to publicize their flying experiments. At his death he was hailed as the father of aviation and the heavier-than-air flying machine. “Let us hope that the advent of a successful flying machine, now only dimly foreseen and nevertheless thought to be…
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architecture
Von Knobelsdorff and the Sanssouci Palace

Von Knobelsdorff and the Sanssouci Palace

Harald Sack
On February 17, 1699, Prussian painter and architect Hans Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff was born. Influenced as an architect by French Baroque Classicism and by Palladian architecture, with his interior design and the backing of king Frederick the Great, he created the basis for the Frederician Rococo style. Von Knobelsdorff is best known as architect of Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam just outside Berlin for Frederick the Great. Actually, I lived in the direct…
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religion
Philipp Melanchton – the First Systematic Theologician of the Protestant Reformation

Philipp Melanchton – the First Systematic Theologician of the Protestant Reformation

Harald Sack
On February 16, 1497, German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther,[1] the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, and intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation Philipp Melanchton was born. Melanchthon along with Luther denounced what they believed was the exaggerated cult of the saints, asserted justification by faith, and denounced what they considered to be the coercion of the conscience in the sacrament of penance (confession and absolution), which they believed…
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engineering
Henry Steinway and the Overstrung Iron-Frame Grand Piano

Henry Steinway and the Overstrung Iron-Frame Grand Piano

Harald Sack
On February 15, 1797, German-born American inventor and entrepreneur Henry Steinway was born. He invented the overstrung iron-frame grand piano (1859) and is founder of the piano company Steinway & Sons. Henry Steinway – Early Life Steinway was born Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg in Wolfshagen im Harz, Duchy of Brunswick in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (modern Germany). His childhood was marked by many tragedies and twists of fate. He…
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philosophy
John Wilkins and the Universal Language

John Wilkins and the Universal Language

Harald Sack
On February 14, 1614, Anglican clergyman, natural philosopher and author John Wilkins was born. Wilkins was one of the founders of the Royal Society and a polymath, although not one of the most important scientific innovators of the period. He is particularly known for An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language (1668) in which, amongst other things, he proposed a universal language and a decimal system of measures which…
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economics
Robert Malthus and the Principle of Population

Robert Malthus and the Principle of Population

Tabea Tietz
On February 13, 1766, English cleric and scholar Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus was born. His An Essay on the Principle of Population observed that sooner or later population will be checked by famine and disease, leading to what is known as a Malthusian catastrophe. He thought that the dangers of population growth precluded progress towards a utopian society. Malthus placed the longer-term stability of the economy above short-term expediency. His views became…
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paleontology
Fossil Hunter Barnum Brown and the Tyrannosaurus Rex

Fossil Hunter Barnum Brown and the Tyrannosaurus Rex

Tabea Tietz
On February 12, 1873, paleontologist Barnum Brown, commonly referred to as Mr. Bones, was born. He is best known for his discovery of the first documented remains of Tyrannosaurus rex during a career that made him one of the most famous fossil hunters working from the late Victorian era into the early 20th century. Fossil Hunter Barnum Brown Brown was named after the circus entrepreneur P. T. Barnum. He was born into a farming family, but…
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mathematics
Richard Hamming and the Hamming Code

Richard Hamming and the Hamming Code

Harald Sack
On February 11, 1915, American mathematician Richard Wesley Hamming was born. Hamming’s work had many implications for computer science and telecommunications. His contributions include the Hamming code (which makes use of a Hamming matrix), the Hamming window, Hamming numbers, sphere-packing (or Hamming bound), and the Hamming distance. “The purpose of computation is insight, not numbers.” – Richard Wesley Hamming (1962) as quoted in [2] Richard Hamming – Youth and Education Richard Wesley…
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chemistry
Ira Remsen and the Discovery of Saccharin

Ira Remsen and the Discovery of Saccharin

Harald Sack
On February 10, 1846, American chemist Ira Remsen was born. Along with his student Constantin Fahlberg, Remsen discovered the artificial sweetener saccharin working on coal tar derivatives. “Be a physical chemist, an analytical chemist, an organic chemist, if you will; but above all, be a chemist.” – Ira Remsen, as quoted in [8] Ira Remsen – Early Years Ira Remsen was born in New York City. His parents were both descended from…
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engineering
Automobile Pioneer Wilhelm Maybach

Automobile Pioneer Wilhelm Maybach

Tabea Tietz
On February 9, 1846, German engine designer and industrialist Wilhelm Maybach was born. Wilhelm Maybach, together with Gottlieb Daimler, developed light, high-speed internal combustion engines suitable for land, water, and air use. [1] These were fitted to the world‘s first motorcycle, motorboat, and to a new automobile introduced in late 1902, the Mercedes model. Wilhelm Maybach’s Early Years Wilhelm Maybach was educated at a philanthropic institution at Reutlingen. His skills were detected…
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