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astronomy
Lyman Spitzer and the Space Telescope

Lyman Spitzer and the Space Telescope

Harald Sack
On June 26, 1914, American theoretical physicist, astronomer and mountaineer Lyman Strong Spitzer was born. Researching in star formation and plasma physics, he is probably best known for being the first to conceive the idea of telescopes operating in outer space. Thus, he is also the namesake of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Well mountaineer and astronomer at the same time, I guess we never had a fellow like Lyman Spitzer up to…
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chemistry
Walther Nernst and the third Law of Thermodynamics

Walther Nernst and the third Law of Thermodynamics

Tabea Tietz
On June 25, 1864, German physicist Walther Hermann Nernst was born. One of the founders of modern physical chemistry he is best known for his theories behind the calculation of chemical affinity as embodied in the third law of thermodynamics, for which he won the 1920 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Nernst contributed to electrochemistry, thermodynamics and solid state physics. He is also known for developing the Nernst equation. “No effect that requires…
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mathematics
William Penney and the British Nuclear Programme

William Penney and the British Nuclear Programme

Tabea Tietz
On June 24, 1909, English mathematician William George Penney, Baron Penney , was born. He is acknowledged as having had a leading role in the development of Britain’s nuclear programme, a clandestine programme started in 1942 during World War II which produced the first British atomic bomb in 1952. William Penney – Early Years William Penney was raised in Sheerness, Kent, and attended the local technical school in Colchester where he completed his technical…
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mathematics
Hermann Minkowski and the four-dimensional Space-Time

Hermann Minkowski and the four-dimensional Space-Time

Tabea Tietz
On June 22, 1864, German mathematician Hermann Minkowski was born. Minkowski developed the geometry of numbers and used geometrical methods to solve problems in number theory, mathematical physics, and the theory of relativity. But he is perhaps best known for his work in relativity, in which he showed in 1907 that his former student Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity can be understood geometrically as a theory of four-dimensional space–time, since known as the “Minkowski…
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physics
Aage Niels Bohr and the Understanding of the Nuclear Structure

Aage Niels Bohr and the Understanding of the Nuclear Structure

Tabea Tietz
On June 19, 1922, Danish nuclear physicist and Nobel laureate Aage Niels Bohr was born, son of the famous physicist and Nobel laureate Niels Bohr. Aage Bohr shared the 1975 Nobel Prize for Physics with Ben R. Mottelson and James Rainwater “for the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus based on this connection.” “The…
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physics
Jean de Thévenot – One of the very first Tourists

Jean de Thévenot – One of the very first Tourists

Harald Sack
On June 16, 1633, French traveller, linguist, natural scientist and botanist Jean de Thévenot was born. A curious and diligent observer Thévenot was traveling through Asia and wrote extensively about his journeys. “There are many in Christendom who believe that the Turks are great devils, barbarians, and men without faith, but those who have met them and talked with them are of quite a different opinion; for it is certain that the…
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physics
Charles Augustin de Coulomb and the Electrostatic Force

Charles Augustin de Coulomb and the Electrostatic Force

Tabea Tietz
On June 14, 1736, French physicist Charles Augustin de Coulomb was born. He is best known for developing Coulomb’s law, the definition of the electrostatic force of attraction and repulsion, but also did important work on friction. The SI unit of electric charge, the coulomb, was named after him. Charles Augustin de Coulomb – Early Years Charles Augustin de Coulomb received a good education in mathematics, astronomy, chemistry and botany since both sides of…
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physics
John Dollond – Improving the Telescope with Achromatic Lenses

John Dollond – Improving the Telescope with Achromatic Lenses

Tabea Tietz
On June 10, 1706 (10 June O.S. / 21 June N.S.), English optician John Dollond was born. He is known for his successful optics business and his patenting and commercialization of achromatic lenses. John Dollond – Biographical Background John Dollond came from a Huguenot emigrant family and initially worked as a silk weaver like everyone else in his family, but was also involved in astronomy and optics. He studied Latin, Greek, mathematics, physics,…
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physics
Karl Ferdinand Braun – inventor of the famous Braun Tube

Karl Ferdinand Braun – inventor of the famous Braun Tube

Tabea Tietz
On June 6, 1850, inventor, engineer, and Nobel laureate Karl Ferdinand Braun was born. Braun was particularly instrumental in making electromagnetic radiation, which had been experimentally proven by Heinrich Hertz [1] in 1888, usable for communications technology. Karl Ferdinand Braun – Family Background and Education Karl Ferdinand Braun was born in Fulda, Germany as the sixth of seven children of the Electoral Hessian court official Konrad Braun, he attended the Fulda Cathedral Grammar School.…
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physics
The Bose-Einstein Condensate brings Quantum Theory to the Macroscopic Scale

The Bose-Einstein Condensate brings Quantum Theory to the Macroscopic Scale

Harald Sack
On June 5, 1995, the very first Bose-Einstein condensate was experimentally produced by Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman at the University of Colorado. A Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter of a dilute gas of bosons cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero. Under such conditions, a large fraction of the bosons occupy the lowest quantum state, at which point quantum effects become apparent on a macroscopic scale. For…
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