SciHi Blog

biology
Ernst Boris Chain and his Research on Antibiotics

Ernst Boris Chain and his Research on Antibiotics

Harald Sack
On June 19, 1906, German-born British biochemist and Nobel Laureate Sir Ernst Boris Chain was born. He is best known for being one of the founders of chemical and medical research on antibiotics, esp. on Penicillinum. “Science, as long as it limits itself to the descriptive study of the laws of nature, has no moral or ethical quality and this applies to the physical as well as the biological sciences.” (Sir Ernst Boris Chain,…
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philosophy
Jürgen Habermas and Communicative Rationality

Jürgen Habermas and Communicative Rationality

Tabea Tietz
On June 18, 1929, German sociologist and philosopher Jürgen Habermas was born. Widely recognized as one of the world’s leading intellectuals, Habermas is perhaps best known for his theories on communicative rationality and the public sphere. “Subjects who reciprocally recognize each other as such, must consider each other as identical, insofar as they both take up the position of subject; they must at all times subsume themselves and the other under the…
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explorer
Sir Francis Drake’s discovery of Nova Albion

Sir Francis Drake’s discovery of Nova Albion

Tabea Tietz
On June 17, 1579, English explorer Sir Francis Drake raised a claim for a new land that he thought he had discovered during his circumnavigation of the world and named it “Nova Albion“. But he was not the first. Already in 1542, Spanish conquistador Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo had landed there and raised a claim for the Spanish crown. He founded a place he called San Miguel, later renamed to San Diego. But,…
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biology
Barbara McClintock and Cytogenetics

Barbara McClintock and Cytogenetics

Harald Sack
On June 16, 1902, American cytogeneticist Barbara McClintock was born. She is one of the world’s most distinguished cytogeneticists and received the 1983 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine. “If chromosomes are broken by various means, the broken ends appear to be adhesive and tend to fuse with one another 2-by-2. This has been abundantly illustrated in the studies of chromosomal aberrations induced by X-ray treatment. It also occurs after mechanical rupture…
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politics
Niemand hat die Absicht eine Mauer zu bauen!

Niemand hat die Absicht eine Mauer zu bauen!

Harald Sack
You might wonder, why we have a German headline today. But, this is an original quote, and also a very famous one about the Berlin Wall… On June 15, 1961, first Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party and German Democratic Republic State Council chairman Walter Ulbricht stated in an international press conference, “Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten!” (No one has the intention of erecting a wall!) Of course you…
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medical science
Karl Landsteiner and the Blood Classification System

Karl Landsteiner and the Blood Classification System

Harald Sack
On June 14, 1868, Austrian biologist, physician, and immunologist Karl Landsteiner was born. Landsteiner distinguished the main blood groups in 1900, having developed the modern system of classification of blood groups from his identification of the presence of agglutinins in the blood, and identified, with Alexander S. Wiener, the Rhesus factor, in 1937, thus enabling physicians to transfuse blood without endangering the patient’s life. “A single kind of red cell is supposed…
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physics
James Clerk Maxwell and the Electromagnetic Fields

James Clerk Maxwell and the Electromagnetic Fields

Tabea Tietz
On June 13, 1831, Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell was born. His most prominent achievement was formulating a set of equations that united previously unrelated observations, experiments, and equations of electricity, magnetism, and optics into a consistent theory. According to his theory he has demonstrated that electricity, magnetism and light are all manifestations of the same phenomenon, namely the electromagnetic field. This has been called the “second great unification in physics”, after the…
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literature
The Diary of a Young Girl – the Story of Anne Frank

The Diary of a Young Girl – the Story of Anne Frank

Harald Sack
On June 12, 1929, Annelies “Anne” Marie Frank was born. She is one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Her wartime diary The Diary of a Young Girl gained international fame posthumously when published in 1947. The diary documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. “For someone like me, it is a very strange habit to write in a diary. Not only…
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history
Glienicke Bridge – The Bridge of Spies and the biggest Agent Swap in History

Glienicke Bridge – The Bridge of Spies and the biggest Agent Swap in History

Tabea Tietz
On June 11, 1985, the biggest agent swap known in history occurred at the Glienicke Bridge in Potsdam. There was a swap of 23 American agents held in Eastern Europe for Polish agent Marian Zacharski and another three Soviet agents arrested in the West. The exchange was the result of three years of negotiation. The History of the Glienicke Bridge The Glienicke Bridge became very famous during the Cold War, not only…
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history
Life and Legend of Frederick Barbarossa

Life and Legend of Frederick Barbarossa

Harald Sack
On June 10, 1190, Frederick I, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and better known as Frederick Barbarossa passed away. He died by drowning in the river Saleph during the Third Crusade. He got the name Barbarossa from the northern Italian cities he attempted to rule: Barbarossa means “red beard” in Italian; in German, he was known as ‘Kaiser Rotbart‘, which has the same meaning. There was a time, when every German…
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