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astronomy
Williamina Fleming – Harvard Computer and Astronomer

Williamina Fleming – Harvard Computer and Astronomer

Tabea Tietz
On May 15, 1857, Scottish astronomer Williamina Paton Fleming was born. She helped develop a common designation system for stars and catalogued thousands of stars and other astronomical phenomena. Fleming is especially noted for her discovery of the Horsehead Nebula in 1888. Williamina Fleming – Early Years Williamina Paton Fleming was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1857. She attended a public school and became a pupil-teacher when she was 14. She entered…
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mathematics
John Charles Fields and the Fields Medal

John Charles Fields and the Fields Medal

Harald Sack
On May 14, 1863, Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields was born. He is the founder of the Fields Medal for outstanding achievement in mathematics. First awarded in 1936, the medal has been awarded since 1950 every four years at the International Congress of Mathematicians to two to four recipients under the age of 40. John Charles Fields – Early Years Born in Hamilton, Ontario to Harriet Bowes and John Charles Field, a leather…
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explorer
Arthur Phillip – Commander of the First Fleet

Arthur Phillip – Commander of the First Fleet

Tabea Tietz
On May 13, 1787, the First Fleet commanded by Captain (later Admiral) Arthur Phillip, left Portsmouth, England, to found a penal colony that became the first European settlement in Australia. Arthur Phillip – Early Years Arthur Phillip was born in the parish of London in 1738 and enrolled at Greenwich School for the sons of seamen. After two years at sea his apprenticeship in the mercantile service was completed and afterwards, he…
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art
Gabriel Dante Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Gabriel Dante Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Harald Sack
On May 12, 1828, English poet, illustrator, painter and translator Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, generally known as Gabriel Dante Rossetti, was born. Rossetti founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. Later he became the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement, most notably William Morris [1] and Edward Burne-Jones. “I am not as these are, the poet saith…
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printing
The very first Printed Book – The Diamond Sutra

The very first Printed Book – The Diamond Sutra

Harald Sack
On May 11, 868, the earliest dated printed book was issued, a Chinese copy of the so-called Diamond Sutra, one of the most important textbooks of Buddhism, originally written in the 1st c. AD. You might think the it was Johannes Gutenberg who invented modern printing. But, he didn’t. Sure, printing with metal movable types including a printing press and a suitable ink, but mostover a way to produce movable types in sufficient…
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astronomy
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and the Composition of Stars

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and the Composition of Stars

Tabea Tietz
On May 10, 1900, British–American astronomer and astrophysicist Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin was born. She was the first to apply laws of atomic physics to the study of the temperature and density of stellar bodies, and the first to conclude that hydrogen and helium are the two most common elements in the universe. It was another 20 years before Payne’s original claim was confirmed, by Fred Hoyle. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin – Early Years Cecilia…
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meteorology
James Pollard Espy – the Storm King

James Pollard Espy – the Storm King

Harald Sack
On May 9, 1785, U.S. Meteorologist James Pollard Espy was born. Espy developed a convection theory of storms and developed the use of the telegraph in assembling weather observation data by which he studied the progress of storms and laid the basis for scientific weather forecasting. James Pollard Espy – Early Years The youngest of ten children, James Espy was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, USA. He had an ardent desire for…
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broadcasting
David Attenborough and Life on Planet Earth

David Attenborough and Life on Planet Earth

Tabea Tietz
On May 8, 1926, English broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Frederick Attenborough was born. He is best known for writing and presenting the nine Life series, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, which collectively form a comprehensive survey of all life on the planet. “If we [humans] disappeared overnight, the world would probably be better off [making the point that the reverse is not true].” – Sir David Attenborough, The…
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engineering
Oskar von Miller and the Deutsches Museum

Oskar von Miller and the Deutsches Museum

Harald Sack
On May 7, 1855, German engineer Oskar von Miller was born. He is best remembered for being the founder of the Deutsches Museum, a large museum of technology and science. The Deutsches Museum is the world’s largest museum of science and technology, with approximately 1.5 million visitors per year and about 28,000 exhibited objects from 50 fields of science and technology. A long time ago, I have studied in Munich. And for…
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chemistry
Johann Joachim Becher and the Phlogiston Theory of Combustion

Johann Joachim Becher and the Phlogiston Theory of Combustion

Harald Sack
On May 6, 1636, German physician, alchemist, precursor of chemistry, scholar and adventurer Johann Joachim Becher was born. He is best known for his development of the phlogiston theory of combustion, in which all flammable objects were supposed to contain a substance which was released when the object burned, and his advancement of Austrian cameralism. “The chemists are a strange class of mortals, impelled by an almost insane impulse to seek their…
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