SciHi Blog

biology
Rembert Dodoens and the Love for Botanical Science

Rembert Dodoens and the Love for Botanical Science

Harald Sack
On June 29, 1516, Flemish physician and botanist Rembert Dodoens (Dodonaeus) was born. His seminal work Stirpium historiae pemptades sex sive libri XXX (1583) is considered one of the foremost botanical works of the late 16th century. He divided plants into 26 groups and introduced many new families. Rembert Dodoens Background Rembert Dodoens was born under the name Rembert Van Joenckema in Mechelen, Spanish Netherlands, today Flanders, Belgium. Later, he changed it…
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art
Peter Paul Rubens and the Baroque Extravaganza

Peter Paul Rubens and the Baroque Extravaganza

Harald Sack
On June 28, 1577, German-born Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens was born. He is best known for his extravagant Baroque style that emphasised movement, colour, and sensuality. “The light falls so unfavorably on the altar that one can hardly discern the figures or enjoy the beauty of color and the delicacy of the heads and draperies which I executed with great care from nature and completely successfully according to the judgement…
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mathematics
Sophie Germain and the Chladni Experiment

Sophie Germain and the Chladni Experiment

Tabea Tietz
On June 27, 1831, French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher Marie-Sophie Germain passed away. She is best known for her work in number theory and contributions to the applied mathematics of acoustics and elasticity. Her work on Fermat’s Last Theorem provided a foundation for mathematicians exploring the subject for hundreds of years after. Because of prejudice against her gender, she was unable to make a career out of mathematics, but she worked independently throughout her…
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astronomy
Charles Messier and the Discovery of Nebulae

Charles Messier and the Discovery of Nebulae

Tabea Tietz
On June 26, 1730, French astronomer Charles Messier was born. He is best known for his publication of an astronomical catalogue consisting of nebulae and star clusters that came to be known as the 110 “Messier objects”. The purpose of the catalogue was to help astronomical observers, in particular comet hunters such as himself, distinguish between permanent and transient visually diffuse objects in the sky. “What caused me to undertake the catalog was…
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engineering
Hermann Oberth’s Dream of Space Travel

Hermann Oberth’s Dream of Space Travel

Tabea Tietz
On June 25, 1894, Austro-Hungarian-born German physicist and engineer Hermann Oberth was born. He was the first, who when thinking about the possibility of spaceships grabbed a slide-rule and presented mathematically analyzed concepts and designs. Hermann Oberth Background Maybe you have already heard of the ‘Oberth Effect‘. In interplanetary spaceflight, the Oberth effect is used in a powered flyby where the application of an impulse, typically from a rocket engine, close to a…
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physics
Martin Perl and the Tau Particle

Martin Perl and the Tau Particle

Harald Sack
On June 24, 1927, American physicist and Nobel Laureate Martin Lewis Perl was born. He is best known for his discovery of the tau lepton, a subatomic massive particle with a negative charge. The tau, which he found in the mid-1970s, was the first evidence of a third “generation” of fundamental particles. Tau Lepton The tau lepton (τ, also called the tau particle, tauon or simply tau) is an elementary particle similar…
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geology
Deodat de Dolomieu and the Love for Rocks

Deodat de Dolomieu and the Love for Rocks

Tabea Tietz
On June 23, 1750, French geologist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu was born. He is best known for his field research in mineralogy. The mineral and the rock dolomite and the largest summital crater on the Piton de la Fournaise volcano were named after him. Déodat de Dolomieu, a Non-Actualistic Catastrophist Déodat de Dolomieu grew up in the Alps of southeastern France and showed early interest in his surrounding nature. However, he started a…
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astronomy
The Discovery of Charon, Pluto’s largest Moon

The Discovery of Charon, Pluto’s largest Moon

Tabea Tietz
On June 22, 1978, US astronomer James Christie discovered Charon, the largest moon of Pluto. Although there was a discussion after the reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf, Charon is not in the list of dwarf planets currently recognized by the IAU. A Bulge on Pluto On June 22, 1978,  James Christy had examined the magnified images of the former planet Pluto, taken with the 61-inch Flagstaff telescope two months prior. He noticed a…
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history

Widukind of Corvey and his Saxon Chronicles

Harald Sack
Approximately around 925, medieval Saxon chronicler Widukind of Corvey was born. His three-volume Res gestae saxonicae sive annalium libri tres is an important chronicle of 10th-century Germany during the rule of the Ottonian dynasty. Widukind’s Life Possibly Widukind was a descendant of the Saxon Duke Widukind, the opponent of Charlemagne, because of the similarity of names.[1] Widukind entered the Benedictine monastery Corvey before 942, still under Abbot Volkmar I. According to older…
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archeology
Gerald Hawkins and the Secret of Stonehenge

Gerald Hawkins and the Secret of Stonehenge

Harald Sack
On June 20, 1928, English astronomer and author Gerald Stanley Hawkins was born. He is best known for his work in the field of archaeoastronomy. In 1965 he published an analysis of Stonehenge in which he was the first to propose its purpose as an ancient astronomical observatory used to predict movements of sun and stars. Background Gerald Hawkins Gerald Hawkins was born in Great Yarmouth and studied physics and mathematics at…
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