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Monthly Archives: May 2021

printing
The very first Printed Book – The Diamond Sutra

The very first Printed Book – The Diamond Sutra

Harald Sack
On May 11, 868, the earliest dated printed book was issued, a Chinese copy of the so-called Diamond Sutra, one of the most important textbooks of Buddhism, originally written in the 1st c. AD. You might think the it was Johannes Gutenberg who invented modern printing. But, he didn’t. Sure, printing with metal movable types including a printing press and a suitable ink, but mostover a way to produce movable types in sufficient…
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astronomy
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and the Composition of Stars

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and the Composition of Stars

Tabea Tietz
On May 10, 1900, British–American astronomer and astrophysicist Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin was born. She was the first to apply laws of atomic physics to the study of the temperature and density of stellar bodies, and the first to conclude that hydrogen and helium are the two most common elements in the universe. It was another 20 years before Payne’s original claim was confirmed, by Fred Hoyle. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin – Early Years Cecilia…
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meteorology
James Pollard Espy – the Storm King

James Pollard Espy – the Storm King

Harald Sack
On May 9, 1785, U.S. Meteorologist James Pollard Espy was born. Espy developed a convection theory of storms and developed the use of the telegraph in assembling weather observation data by which he studied the progress of storms and laid the basis for scientific weather forecasting. James Pollard Espy – Early Years The youngest of ten children, James Espy was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, USA. He had an ardent desire for…
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broadcasting
David Attenborough and Life on Planet Earth

David Attenborough and Life on Planet Earth

Tabea Tietz
On May 8, 1926, English broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Frederick Attenborough was born. He is best known for writing and presenting the nine Life series, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, which collectively form a comprehensive survey of all life on the planet. “If we [humans] disappeared overnight, the world would probably be better off [making the point that the reverse is not true].” – Sir David Attenborough, The…
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engineering
Oskar von Miller and the Deutsches Museum

Oskar von Miller and the Deutsches Museum

Harald Sack
On May 7, 1855, German engineer Oskar von Miller was born. He is best remembered for being the founder of the Deutsches Museum, a large museum of technology and science. The Deutsches Museum is the world’s largest museum of science and technology, with approximately 1.5 million visitors per year and about 28,000 exhibited objects from 50 fields of science and technology. A long time ago, I have studied in Munich. And for…
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chemistry
Johann Joachim Becher and the Phlogiston Theory of Combustion

Johann Joachim Becher and the Phlogiston Theory of Combustion

Harald Sack
On May 6, 1636, German physician, alchemist, precursor of chemistry, scholar and adventurer Johann Joachim Becher was born. He is best known for his development of the phlogiston theory of combustion, in which all flammable objects were supposed to contain a substance which was released when the object burned, and his advancement of Austrian cameralism. “The chemists are a strange class of mortals, impelled by an almost insane impulse to seek their…
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photography
John William Draper – Chemist and Photo Pioneer

John William Draper – Chemist and Photo Pioneer

Harald Sack
On May 5, 1811, American philosopher, physician, chemist, historian and photographer John William Draper was born. He is credited with producing the first clear photograph of a female face (1839–40) and the first detailed photograph of the Moon (1840). He was also the first president of the American Chemical Society (1876–77) [14] and a founder of the New York University School of Medicine. John William Draper – Early Years John William Draper…
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biology
Thomas Henry Huxley – Darwin’s Bulldog

Thomas Henry Huxley – Darwin’s Bulldog

Harald Sack
On May 4, 1825, English biologist and anthropologist Thomas Henry Huxley was born. A specialist in comparative anatomy he is known as “Darwin’s Bulldog” for his advocacy of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution[8,9]. “If the question is put to me would I rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather or a man highly endowed by nature and possessed of great means of influence and yet who employs these faculties and that…
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mathematics
Vito Volterra and Functional Analysis

Vito Volterra and Functional Analysis

Harald Sack
On May 3, 1860, Italian mathematician and physicist Vito Volterra was born. He is known for his contributions to mathematical biology and integral equations. Moreover, he is considered as one of the founders of functional analysis. “Empires die, but Euclid’s theorems keep their youth forever” — Vito Volterra Youth and Education Vito Volterra was born in Ancona, then part of the Papal States, as son of Abramo Volterra, a cloth merchant, into…
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communication
Johann Carolus and the First Newspaper

Johann Carolus and the First Newspaper

Tabea Tietz
Most likely in late September 1605, the very first weekly printed newspaper was published by Johann Carolus in Straßburg, the contemporary boomtown of printing. Johann Carolus – Background Not much is known about Johann Carolus’ life or his way of becoming a publisher. Carolus was probably born on 26 March, 1575 and was taught mostly by private teachers in Straßbourg. The well young educated man was then apprenticed as a bookbinder. Carolus’ career basically started with…
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