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The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

Harald Sack
On March 6, 1665, the very first issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society was published. The journal published by the Royal Society was the first journal in the world exclusively devoted to science. Moreover, it is also the world’s longest-running scientific journal. “Had I been a literary man I might, perhaps, have moralised upon the futility of all ambition. But as it was, the thing that struck me with…
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mathematics
William Oughtred invented the Slide Rule

William Oughtred invented the Slide Rule

Tabea Tietz
On March 5, 1574, English mathematician and Anglican minister William Oughtred was born. After John Napier [3] invented logarithms, and Edmund Gunter [6] created the logarithmic scales (lines, or rules) upon which slide rules are based, it was Oughtred who first used two such scales sliding by one another to perform direct multiplication and division; and he is credited as the inventor of the slide rule in 1622. William Oughtred – Early Years William Oughtred born at Eton,…
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communication
Alexander Popov and his Radio Receiver

Alexander Popov and his Radio Receiver

Tabea Tietz
On March 4, 1859, Russian physicist Alexander Stepanovich Popov was born. Alexander Popov is acclaimed in his homeland and eastern European countries as the inventor of radio. In 1895 he presented a paper on a wireless lightning detector he had built that worked via using a coherer to detect radio noise from lightning strikes. “I can express my hope that my apparatus will be applied for signaling at great distances by electric vibrations…
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literature
The Literary Decadence of Arthur Machen

The Literary Decadence of Arthur Machen

Harald Sack
On March 3, 1863, Welsh author and mystic Arthur Machen was born. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan (1890) has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror. Stephen King has called it “Maybe the best horror story in the English language“. “For, usually and fitly, the presence of an introduction is held to imply that there is something of…
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space
To Jupiter and Beyond – The Pioneer 10 Mission

To Jupiter and Beyond – The Pioneer 10 Mission

Harald Sack
On March 2, 1972, American space probe Pioneer 10 was launched. Pioneer 10 was the first spaceprobe that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter. Thereafter, Pioneer 10 became the first of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System. As a child, I remember how much i was impressed and amazed by the very first pictures of the colorful clouds of the gas giant.…
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philosophy
Rudolf Goclenius the Elder and the Philosophical Discipline of Ontology

Rudolf Goclenius the Elder and the Philosophical Discipline of Ontology

Harald Sack
On March 1, 1547, German scholastic philosopher Rudolph Goclenius the Elder was born. Goclenius made significant contributions to the field of ontology. Since he introduced the term “ontology” in German language, he is also referred to in my lectures on ontologies in computer science [13]. Goclenius extended the development of many ideas from Aristotle and is often credited with coining the term “psychology” in 1590. Rudolph Goclenius – Early Years He was born…
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engineering
Herman Hollerith and the Mechanical Tabulator

Herman Hollerith and the Mechanical Tabulator

Harald Sack
On February 29, 1860, American statistician and inventor Herman Hollerith was born. He is best known for his invention of the mechanical tabulator based on punchcards to rapidly tabulate statistics from millions of pieces of data. He was the founder of the Tabulating Machine Company that later merged to become IBM. Hollerith is widely regarded as the father of modern automatic computation. Herman Hollerith  and the Idea for the Punchcard Herman Hollerith…
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literature
The Lyric Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Lyric Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Harald Sack
On February 27, 1807, American poet and educator Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born. He was the first American to translate Dante Alighieri‘s Divine Comedy.[1] Longfellow wrote many lyric poems known for their musicality and often presenting stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of his day and had success overseas. “It was the schooner Hesperus, That sailed the wintry sea; And the skipper had taken his little…
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astronomy
Scientist and Politician François Arago

Scientist and Politician François Arago

Tabea Tietz
On February 26, 1786, French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer François Arago was born. Arago discovered the principle of the production of magnetism by rotation of a nonmagnetic conductor. He also devised an experiment that proved the wave theory of light and engaged with others in research that led to the discovery of the laws of light polarization. “Connaître, découvrir, communiquer—telle est, au fond, notre honorable destinée. To get to know, to discover, to…
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literature
Entangled in his own Legend – Karl May’s Fantastic Adventures

Entangled in his own Legend – Karl May’s Fantastic Adventures

Harald Sack
On February 25, 1842, German writer of adventure novels Karl May was born. He is probably best known for his novels set in the American Old West with their main protagonists Winnetou and Old Shatterhand. Likewise he wrote similar popular adventures set in the Orient and Middle East in which the main protagonists were Kara Ben Nemsi and Hadschi Halef Omar. Being an efficient author and salesman, he often staged himself as…
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