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chemistry
Ilya Prigogine and the Irreversibility of Time

Ilya Prigogine and the Irreversibility of Time

Harald Sack
On January 25, 1917, Belgian physical chemist and Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine was born. He is noted for his work on dissipative structures, complex systems, and irreversibility. The main theme of Prigogine‘s work was the search for a better understanding of the role of time in the physical sciences and in biology. He attempted to reconcile a tendency in nature for disorder to increase with so-called “self-organisation“. “The problem of time in physics…
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engineering
Ètienne Lenoir and the Internal Combustion Engine

Ètienne Lenoir and the Internal Combustion Engine

Tabea Tietz
On January 24, 1860, Belgian engineer Étienne Lenoir was granted a patent on his newly developed internal combustion engine. Lenoir’s engine design was the first commercially successful internal combustion engine. Étienne Lenoir – Early Years Étienne Lenoir was born as the third of eight children in the 800-strong community of Mussy-la-Ville near Virton, Belgium, the son of Jean-Louis Lenoir, a “merchant”, and Margot Magdelaine, his wife. He seems to have chosen a technical…
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economics
Oskar Morgenstern and the Game Theory

Oskar Morgenstern and the Game Theory

Harald Sack
On January 24, 1902, German-American economist and mathematician Carl Friedrich Alfred Oskar Morgenstern was born. Morgenstern popularized “game theory” which mathematically analyzes behaviour of man or animals in terms of strategies to maximize gains and minimize losses. He coauthored Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1944), with John von Neumann, which extended Neumann‘s 1928 theory of games of strategy to competitive business situations.[4] “As far as the use of mathematics in economics…
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literature
The Idea of Tolerance in the Theatre and Essays of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

The Idea of Tolerance in the Theatre and Essays of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Harald Sack
On January 22, 1708, German author of the enlightenment Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was born. With his dramas and his theoretical writings, which are above all committed to the idea of tolerance, this enlightener showed the further development of the theater a significant path and had a lasting influence on the public impact of literature. Lessing is the first German dramatist whose work is still being performed in theaters without interruption. “The true…
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history
Scaliger and the Science of Chronology

Scaliger and the Science of Chronology

Harald Sack
On January 21, 1609, French religious leader and scholar Joseph Justus Scaliger passed away. He is referred to as being one of the founders of the science of chronology, expanding the notion of classical history from Greek and ancient Roman history to include Persian, Babylonian, Jewish and ancient Egyptian history. “All divisions in religion arise from ignorance of grammar.” ― Joseph Justus Scaliger [8] Justus Scaliger – Early Years Joseph Justus Scaliger was born…
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astronomy
Simon Marius and his Astronomical Discoveries

Simon Marius and his Astronomical Discoveries

Harald Sack
On January 20 (or January 10 according to the old Julian calendar), 1573, German astronomer Simon Marius was born. Marius was pupil of Tycho Brahe, one of the earliest users of the telescope and the first in print to make mention the Andromeda nebula. He studied and named the four largest moons of Jupiter that he claimed to have them discovered independently and even before Galileo. Simon Marius’ Early Years Simon Marius was…
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archeology
Auguste Mariette and the Discovery of the Serapeum

Auguste Mariette and the Discovery of the Serapeum

Harald Sack
On January 19, 1881, French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette passed away. Mariette conducted major excavations throughout Egypt, revealing much about the earlier periods of Egyptian history. Sent by the Louvre, in 1850, to purchase papyruses, at Saqqara he discovered the Serapeum, the burial place of the Apis bulls, living manifestations of the god Ptah. “The Egyptian duck is a dangerous animal: one snap of its beak and you are infected…
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engineering
Thomas Augustus Watson – Recipient of the Very First Phone Call

Thomas Augustus Watson – Recipient of the Very First Phone Call

Harald Sack
On January 18, 1854, American telephone pioneer and shipbuilder Thomas Augustus Watson was born. He is best known because, as the recipient of the first telephone call being the assistant of Alexander Graham Bell. He was one of the original organizers of the Bell Telephone Company and later turned to shipbuilding and constructed a number of vessels for the United States government. Becoming the Assistant of Alexander Graham Bell Born in Salem,…
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botany
Gaspard Bauhin and the Classification of Plants

Gaspard Bauhin and the Classification of Plants

Tabea Tietz
On January 17, 1560, Swiss botanist Gaspard Bauhin was born. He is best known for his contributions to the field of botany, and especially for his classification of plants. He was a disciple of the famous Italian physician Girolamo Mercuriale and he also worked on human anatomical nomenclature. Gaspard Bauhin – Early Years Caspar Bauhin came from the Bauhin medical family, which had fled to Basel as Huguenots from Paris and Amsterdam;…
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space
Lunokhod 2 and the Soviet Moon Programme

Lunokhod 2 and the Soviet Moon Programme

Tabea Tietz
On January 16, 1973, Soviet unmanned lunar rover Lunokhod 2 took its first TV images of the surrounding area, then rolled down a ramp to the surface of the Moon, and took first pictures of the landing site. Lunokhod 2 was the second of two unmanned lunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of the Lunokhod programme. The Lunokhods were primarily designed to support the Soviet manned moon…
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