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space
Michael Collins – Command Module Pilot of Apollo 11

Michael Collins – Command Module Pilot of Apollo 11

Tabea Tietz
On October 31, 1930, American astronaut and test pilot Michael Collins was born. Collins’ second spaceflight was as the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 11. While he stayed in orbit around the Moon, Neil Armstrong [4] and Buzz Aldrin left in the Lunar Module to make the first manned landing on its surface. Michael Collings – Family Background and Education Michael Collins was born in Rome, Italy, where his father, Army Officer James Lawton Collins, was a…
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aviation
Hans Grade – The forgotten German Aviation Pioneer

Hans Grade – The forgotten German Aviation Pioneer

Harald Sack
On October 30, 1909, German aviation pioneer Hans Grade won the 40.000 Reichsmark “Lanz-Preis der Lüfte“, flying a new monoplane design, the ‘Libelle’ (Dragon Fly), the first really airworthy motor plane of Germany. Most probably, you have never heard of Hans Grade, who is also scarcely known in his home country. Nevertheless, he is one of the early pioneers of aviation and today, we will tell his story. Early Life and first Aviation…
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physics
Laura Bassi – the first Woman with a University Chair

Laura Bassi – the first Woman with a University Chair

Harald Sack
Between October 20 and October 29, 1711, Italian physicist and academic Laura Maria Caterina Bassi was born. Bassi is referred to as being the first woman to earn a professorship in physics at a university in Europe and is recognized as the first woman in the world to earn a university chair in a scientific field of studies. She contributed immensely to the field of science while also helping to spread the…
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explorer
Around the World with the Amazing Ida Pfeiffer – the First Female Tourist

Around the World with the Amazing Ida Pfeiffer – the First Female Tourist

Tabea Tietz
On October 28, 1858, Austrian traveler and travel book author Ida Laura Pfeiffer passed away. Pfeiffer was one of the first female explorers, whose popular books were translated into seven languages. On her voyages, she travelled more than 240.000 km by sea and 32.000 km on land over four continents. During her travels Ida Pfeiffer collected plants, insects, mollusks, marine life and mineral specimens. The Childhood of a Future Explorer Ida Pfeiffer was…
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astronomy
Hipparchus of Nicaea and the Precession of the Equinoxes

Hipparchus of Nicaea and the Precession of the Equinoxes

Harald Sack
Hipparchus of Nicaea was a Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician in the second century BC. He is considered the founder of trigonometry but is most famous for his incidental discovery of precession of the equinoxes. His other reputed achievements include the discovery and measurement of Earth‘s precession, the compilation of the first comprehensive star catalog of the western world, and possibly the invention of the astrolabe, also of the armillary sphere, which…
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geology
Vasily Dokuchaev and Foundations of Soil Science

Vasily Dokuchaev and Foundations of Soil Science

Tabea Tietz
On October 26, 1903, (Julian Calendar) Russian Geologist and Geographer Vasily Dokuchaev passed away. Dokuchaev is commonly regarded as the father of Soil science, the study of soils in its natural setting. He developed soil science in Russia, and was, perhaps the first person to make wide geographical investigations of different soil types. “The scientific basis of soil science as a natural science was established by the classical works of Dokuchaev. Previously, soil…
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physics
Robert Stirling and the Stirling Engine

Robert Stirling and the Stirling Engine

Harald Sack
On October 25, 1790, Scottish clergyman Reverend Dr Robert Stirling was born. Stirling is best known for his invention of the Stirling engine, a heat engine that operates by cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas (the working fluid) at different temperatures, such that there is a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical work. Robert Stirling Youth and Education Robert Stirling was born at Cloag Farm near Methven, Perthshire,…
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chemistry
Nathaniel Wyeth and the Invention of the PET Bottle

Nathaniel Wyeth and the Invention of the PET Bottle

Tabea Tietz
On October 24, 1911, American mechanical engineer and inventor Nathaniel C. Wyeth was born. Wyeth is best known for creating polyethylene terephthalate that could withstand the pressure of carbonated liquids. Made of recyclable PET plastic, lighter than glass and virtually unbreakable, Wyeth’s invention is used widely today for both carbonated and non-carbonated drinks. Nathaniel Wyeth – Background Information Nathaniel C. Wyeth was born into America’s foremost family of artists: both of his sisters…
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explorer
Ludwig Leichhardt’s Australian Expeditions

Ludwig Leichhardt’s Australian Expeditions

Tabea Tietz
On October 23, 1813, Prussian explorer and naturalist Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt was born. He is most famous for his exploration of northern and central Australia. Leichhardt went to Australia in 1842 to study the rocks and wildlife in Queensland and the Northern Territory. In 1848 he left on an expedition with nine men to find a route from Moreton Bay (Brisbane) to Perth, rather poorly equipped. The party disappeared, leaving a mystery as to its…
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chemistry
Georg Ernst Stahl and the Phlogiston Theory

Georg Ernst Stahl and the Phlogiston Theory

Tabea Tietz
On October 22, 1659, German chemist, physician and philosopher Georg Ernst Stahl was born. Stahl developed the phlogiston theory of combustion and of such related biological processes as respiration, fermentation, and decay. Combustible objects, he said, were rich in phlogiston, and during combustion is lost. The remaining ash, now having no phlogiston, could no longer burn. Until the late 18th century his works on phlogiston were accepted as an explanation for chemical…
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