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astronomy
The Celestial Mechanics of Anders Johan Lexell

The Celestial Mechanics of Anders Johan Lexell

Tabea Tietz
On December 24, 1740, Finnish-Swedish astronomer, mathematician, and physicist Anders Johan Lexell was born. Lexell made important discoveries in polygonometry and celestial mechanics; the latter led to a comet named in his honour. La Grande Encyclopédie states that he was the prominent mathematician of his time who contributed to spherical trigonometry with new and interesting solutions, which he took as a basis for his research of comet and planet motion. His name…
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medical science
Niels Jerne – Explaining the Human Immune System

Niels Jerne – Explaining the Human Immune System

Harald Sack
On December 23, 1911, Danish immunologist Niels Kaj Jerne was born. Jerne shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1984 with Georges J. F. Köhler and César Milstein “for theories concerning the specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principle for production of monoclonal antibodies“. “An immune system of enormous complexity is present in all vertebrate animals. When we place a population of…
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physics
Nicholas Callan and the Induction Coil

Nicholas Callan and the Induction Coil

Tabea Tietz
On December 22, 1799, Irish priest and physicist Nicholas Callan was born. Callan invented the induction coil (1836) before that of better-known Heinrich Ruhmkorff. Callan‘s coil was built using a horseshoe shaped iron bar wound with a secondary coil of thin insulated wire under a separate winding of thick insulated wire as the “primary” coil. Each time a battery‘s current through the “primary” coil was interrupted, a high voltage current was produced in…
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engineering
George W. Fuller and the Purification of Water

George W. Fuller and the Purification of Water

Harald Sack
On December 21, 1868, American sanitary engineer George Warren Fuller was born. Fuller was also trained in bacteriology and chemistry. His career extended from 1890 to 1934 and he was responsible for important innovations in water and wastewater treatment. He designed and built the first modern water filtration plant, and he designed and built the first chlorination system that disinfected a U.S. drinking water supply. Youth and Education George W. Fuller was…
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chemistry
Jaroslav Heyrovský and the Polarography

Jaroslav Heyrovský and the Polarography

Tabea Tietz
On December 20, 1890, Czech chemist and inventor Jaroslav Heyrovský was born. Jaroslav Heyrovský received the 1959 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for his discovery and development of the polarographic methods of analysis” (1922), which is one of the most versatile analytical techniques. It applies the principle that in electrolysis the ions are discharged at an electrode and, if the electrode is small, the current may be limited by the rate of movement of…
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physics
Mileva Marić – The Theory of Relativity and Missed Opportunities

Mileva Marić – The Theory of Relativity and Missed Opportunities

Harald Sack
On December 19, 1875, Serbian physicist Mileva Marić, sometimes called Mileva Marić-Einstein, was born. Marić was the second woman to finish a full program of study of mathematics and physics at ETH Zurich, where she met her future husband Albert Einstein. When Einstein received the Nobel Prize in 1921 after their divorce, he transferred the prize money to Marić. The question whether (and if so, to what extent) Marić contributed to Einstein‘s…
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art
Walter Dorwin Teague – The Dean of US Industrial Design

Walter Dorwin Teague – The Dean of US Industrial Design

Tabea Tietz
On December 18, 1883, American industrial designer, architect, illustrator, graphic designer, writer, and entrepreneur Walter Dorwin Teague was born. Often referred to as the “Dean of Industrial Design”, Teague pioneered in the establishment of industrial design as a profession in the US. Regarded as a classicist and a traditionalist despite a later shift to modern tastes, Teague is recognized as a critical figure in the spread of mid-century modernism in America. He…
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mathematics
Sophus Lie and the Theory of Continuous Symmetry

Sophus Lie and the Theory of Continuous Symmetry

Harald Sack
On December 17, 1842, Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie was born. Lie largely created the theory of continuous symmetry and applied it to the study of geometry and differential equations. He made significant contributions to the theories of algebraic invariants, continuous groups of transformations and differential equations. Lie groups and Lie algebras are named after him. “In our century the conceptions substitution and substitution group, transformation and transformation group, operation and operation group,…
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medical science
Ernst von Bergmann – A Pioneer of Aseptical Surgery

Ernst von Bergmann – A Pioneer of Aseptical Surgery

Tabea Tietz
On December 16 1836 (greg.), Baltic German surgeon Ernst von Bergmann was born. Von Bergmann was a pioneer of aseptic surgery and must undoubtedly be attributed to the greatest surgeons of his time. His main merits are the co-foundation of brain surgery and the introduction of asepsis in wound treatment. “Nature seems to smile to us, and we overlook her secretly threatening finger.” – Ernst von Bergmann, as quoted in [6] Early Years and…
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economics
Henry Charles Carey and his Influence on U.S. Economy

Henry Charles Carey and his Influence on U.S. Economy

Tabea Tietz
On December 15, 1793, 19th-century economist of the American School of capitalism Henry Charles Carey was born. Carey was chief economic adviser to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Family Background and Life Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Henry James Carey succeeded his father Mathew Careyin his publishing company, who was an Irish influential economist, political reformer, editor, and publisher, and who had gone into exile for political reasons. In 1821 Carey took over the management…
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