This Day in Science History

yevaud · Feb 24, 2006

February 24 People Edward Williams Morley c. 1887, Died 24 Feb 1923 (born 29 Jan 1838) American chemist who is best known for his collaboration with the physicist A.A. Michelson in an attempt to measure the relative motion of the Earth through a hypothetical ether (1887). He also studied the variations of atmospheric oxygen content. He specialized in accurate quantitative measurements, such as those of the vapour tension of mercury, thermal expansion of gases, or the combining weights of hydrogen and oxygen. Morley assisted Michelson in the latter's persuit of measurements of the greatest possible accuracy to detect a difference in the speed of light through an omnipresent ether. Yet the ether could not be detected and the physicists had seriously to consider that the ether did not exist, even questioning much orthodox physical theory. Events Pulsar In 1968, Nature carried the announcement of the discovery of pulsars (pulsating radio sources). The first pulsar was discovered by a graduate student, Jocelyn Bell, on 28 Nov 1967, then working under the direction of Prof. A. Hewish. This extraterrestrial pulsating radio source was observed at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, Cambridge University, England. They were using a special radio telescope, a large array of 2,048 aerials covering an area of 4.4 acres. The discovery of these fascinating objects opened new horizons in studies as diverse as quantum- degenerate fluids, relativistic gravity and interstellar magnetic fields. Under extraordinary physical conditions, radiation is generated and appears pulsed with a clock-like precision. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Feb 25, 2006

February 25 People Glenn T. Seaborg Died 25 Feb 1999 (born 19 Apr 1912) American nuclear chemist. During 1940-58, Seaborg and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, produced nine of the transuranic elements (plutonium to nobelium) by bombarding uranium and other elements with nuclei in a cyclotron. He coined the term actinide for the elements in this series. The work on elements was directly relevant to the WW II effort to develop an atomic bomb. It is said that he was influential in determining the choice of plutonium rather than uranium in the first atomic-bomb experiments. Seaborg and his early collaborator Edwin McMillan shared the 1951 Nobel Prize for chemistry. Seaborg was chairman of the US Atomic Energy Commission 1962-71. Element 106, seaborgium (1974), was named in his honour. Events British A-bomb In 1952, At Sellafield on the Irish Sea coast in Cumberland, the Windscale plutonium plant began operation. That Britain was developing nuclear weapons was not made public until, a few days earlier, Prime Minister Winston Churchill had announced on 17 Feb 1952, plans to test the first British-made atomic bomb at the Monte Bello Islands off the northwest coast of Australia. There, on 3 Oct 1952, the first British atomic weapons test, called Hurricane, was successfully conducted aboard the frigate HMS Plym. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

mikeemmert · Feb 25, 2006

Must not have been much left of the Plym. RIP.

alokmohan · Feb 25, 2006

Dont understand.Sorry.

yevaud · Feb 25, 2006

February 26 People John Evershed Born 26 Feb 1864; died 17 Nov 1956. English astronomer who discovered (1909) the Evershed effect - the horizontal motion of gases outward from the centres of sunspots. While photographing solar prominences and sunspot spectra, he noticed that many of the Fraunhofer lines in the sunspot spectra were shifted to the red. By showing that these were Doppler shifts, he proved the motion of the source gases. This discovery came to be known as the Evershed effect. He also gave his name to a spectroheliograph, the Evershed spectroscope. Events First Saturn rocket flight In 1966, the first Saturn 1B rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on an unmanned suborbital test flight in the Apollo moon program. The AS-201 mission demonstrated the structural integrity of the Saturn 1B rocket and the compatibility of the launch vehicle to carry Apollo loads. It successfully tested the separation of the first and second stages of the rocket and tested the operations of Saturn's propulsion, guidance and control, and electrical subsystems. There were several malfunctions, but it did fly for about 37-min travelling 5264 miles (8472 km) and reaching a sub-orbital altitude of 303 miles (488 km). The massive Saturn rocket combined five F-1 rocket engines to yield more than 7.5 million pounds of thrust. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

alokmohan · Feb 26, 2006

Feb 28 is significant for India.C.V.RAMAN finished reseach work on this day which ultimately led him to get nobel prize.

yevaud · Feb 27, 2006

February 27 people Kelly Johnson Born 27 Feb 1910; died 21 Dec 1990. (Clarence Leonard) "Kelly" Johnson was a American aeronautical engineer who introduced innovative designs. While managing Lockheed's secret project division, known as the "Skunk Works," he contributed to more than 40 airplanes. His early work included the P-38 Lightning fighter (1938) and the Hudson bomber. Later, he developed the fastest supersonic and highest-flying airplanes in the world. The U-2 (1954) was the first plane designed for routine flight above 60,000 feet. The F-104 Starfighter interceptor (1954) was capable of flying at twice the speed of sound, setting world records of 1,400 mph and 103,000 ft altitude. Events Extrasolar Planets In 1994, planets of a star 1300 light-years away from earth have been confirmed by Alexander Wolszczan of Penn. State University. The period of their orbits are measured as 66.6 days and 98.2 days (as compared to earth's 365 days). The report was made public by wire services. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Feb 28, 2006

February 28 People Leon N. Cooper Born 28 Feb 1930 American physicist and winner of the 1972 Nobel Prize for Physics, along with John Bardeen and John Robert Schrieffer, for his role in developing the BCS (for their initials) theory of superconductivity. The concept of Cooper electron pairs was named after him. Events Clementine USA Lunar Orbiter Clementine - launched January 25, 1994 - spent 70 days (between February 6 and May 5, 1994) in lunar orbit. The official name for Clementine is Deep Space Probe Science Experiment (DSPSE). It was a Department of Defense program used to test new space technology. Clementine was a new design using lightweight structure and propellant systems. Its four cameras mapped the surface of the Moon at 125-250 meters/pixel resolution. Clementine also used a laser to gather altimeter data which will make it possible to generate the first lunar topographic map. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Mar 1, 2006

March 1 People Sir Isaac Shoenberg Born 1 Mar 1880; died 25 Jan 1963. Russian-Born British electrical engineer and principal inventor of the first high-definition television system, as used by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for the world's first public high-definition telecast (from London, 1936). He had installed the first radio stations in Russia before moving to England in 1914. He was head of a research group for Electrical and Musical Industries (EMI) that developed (1931-35) an advanced kind of camera tube (the Emitron) and a relatively efficient hard-vacuum cathode-ray tube for the television receiver. Until 1964 the BBC used his technical standard proposal - 405 scanning lines and 25 pictures a second. He was director of EMI from 1955. His youngest son, David Shoenberg, became a noted physicist. Events Soviet Venus landing In 1966, the Soviet unmanned spacecraft Venus 3 touched down on Venus. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Mar 2, 2006

March 2 People Owen Chamberlain Owen Chamberlain, who shared a Nobel Prize for discovering the antiproton, opening a glimpse into the strange world of antimatter, whose mysteries tantalize scientists to this day, died Tuesday at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was 85. Wilhelm Olbers Died 2 Mar 1840 (born 11 Oct 1758) (Heinrich) Wilhelm (Matthäus) Olbers was a German astronomer and physician, born in Arbergen, Germany. While practising medicine at Bremen, he calculated the orbit of the comet of 1779, discovered the minor planets (asteroids) Pallas (1802) and Vesta (1807), and discovered five comets (all but one already observed at Paris). He also invented a method for calculating the velocity of falling stars. He is also known for Olber's paradox which asks "why is the night sky dark if there are so many bright stars all around to light it?" Events Pioneer 10 In 1972, U.S. spacecraft Pioneer 10 was launched. It passed close by Jupiter and Neptune before leaving the solar system. It is now more than six billion miles from Earth. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

eosophobiac · Mar 2, 2006

Thanks, Yevaud! These are great tidbits of info! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

yevaud · Mar 2, 2006

Thank you. This will be a daily recurring thread, so stay tuned... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

alokmohan · Mar 3, 2006

It may be ready reckoner for writng history of science

yevaud · Mar 3, 2006

March 3 People George William Hill Born 3 Mar 1838; died 16 Apr 1914. U.S. mathematical astronomer considered by many of his peers to be the greatest master of celestial mechanics of his time. Hill joined the Nautical Almanac Office in 1861. He computed the orbit of the moon while making original contributions to the three body problem. He introduced infinite determinants, a concept which later found application in many fields of mathematics and physics. When Simon Newcomb took over the Nautical Almanac in 1877 and began a complete recomputation of all solar system motions, Hill was assigned the difficult problem of the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. After completing the enormous labor in ten years, he returned to his farm, where he continued his research in celestial mechanics. Gerhard Herzberg Died 3 Mar 1999 (born 25 Dec 1904) German-Canadian physicist and winner of the 1971 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work in determining the electronic structure and geometry of molecules, especially free radicals: groups of atoms that contain odd numbers of electrons. Herzberg is noted for his extensive work on the technique and interpretation of the spectra of molecules. He elucidated the properties of many molecules, ions, and radicals and also contributed to the use of spectroscopy in astronomy (e.g., in detecting hydrogen in space). His work included the first measurements of the Lamb shifts (important in quantum electrodynamics) in deuterium, helium, and the positive lithium ion. William Penny Died 3 Mar 1991 (born 24 Jun 1909) (Baron Penney of East Hendred) British nuclear physicist who led Britain's development of the atomic bomb. Penney was to Britain as Oppenheimer was to the U.S. He was a prominent part of the British Mission at Los Alamos during WW II, where his principal assignment was <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Mar 4, 2006

March 5 People Claude Mathieu Died 5 Mar 1875 (born 25 Nov 1783) French astronomer and mathematician who worked particularly on the determination of the distances of the stars. He began his career as an engineer, but soon became a mathematician at the Bureau des Longitudes in 1817 and later professor of astronomy in Paris. For many years Claude Mathieu edited the work on population statistics L'Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes produced by the Bureau des Longitudes. His work in astronomy focussed on determining the distances to stars. He published L'Histoire de l'astronomie au XVIII siècle in 1827. Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace Died 5 Mar 1827 (born 23 Mar 1749) French mathematician, astronomer, and physicist who is best known for his investigations into the stability of the solar system. Events Copernican System Declared False In 1616, Copernican theory is declared "false and erroneous" in a decree written by Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, and issued by the Catholic Church in Rome. Further, no person was to be permitted to hold or teach the theory that the earth revolves around the sun. When Galileo subsequently violated the decree, he was put on trial and held under house arrest for the final eight years of his life. Tycho Brahe In 1590, Tycho Brahe discovers a comet in the constellation Pisces. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Mar 6, 2006

March 6 People Valentina Tereshkova Born 6 Mar 1937 Soviet cosmonaut who was the first woman to fly in space, and is the only solo woman. She had worked in tyre and textile factories. She was selected (1961) as a cosmonaut for her expert skill in parachuting. She trained in a special woman-in-space program, and was the only one of the four women participants to complete a space mission. She was launched in Vostok 6 on 16 Jun 1963, two days after Valery F. Bykovsky in Vostok 5. Tereshkova made 48 orbits of Earth in 71 hours. The two cosmonauts landed on the same day, 19 Jun. Tereshkova left the program shortly after her return. She was honored with the title Hero of the Soviet Union. She went into space two decades before America's first woman astronaut, Sally Ride.« Joseph Von Fraunhofer Born 6 Mar 1787; died 7 Jun 1826. German physicist who was the first to study the dark lines in the solar spectrum, which were seen by Wollaston in 1802, but are called Fraunhofer lines. Fraunhofer was not able to explain them, but measured 576 lines. Over 25,000 have now been found in the solar spectrum. These are caused by selective absorption of those wavelengths by atoms of elements, and their relative positions are the same whether the light is produced by heated metals in the laboratory or seen from those gaseous elements in the sun or viewed from other heavenly bodies. Before other scientists so widely adopted the technique, he used a diffraction grating instead of a prism to disperse the spectrum. He also invented a heliometer. Hans Albrecht Bethe Died 6 Mar 2005 (born 2 Jul 1906) German-born American theoretical physicist who helped to shape classical physics into quantum physics and increased the understanding of the atomic processes responsible for the properties of matter and of the forces gov <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Mar 7, 2006

March 7 People Sir John F. W. Herschel Born 7 Mar 1792; died 11 May 1871. (1st Baronet) Sir John (Frederick William) Herschel was an English astronomer. As successor to his father, Sir William Herschel, he discovered another 525 nebulae and clusters. John Herschel was a pioneer in celestial photography, and as a chemist contributed to the development of sensitized photographic paper (independently of Talbot). In 1819, he discovered that sodium thiosulphate dissolved silver salts, as used in developing photographs. He introduced the terms positive image and negative image. Being diverse in his research, he also studied physical and geometrical optics, birefringence of crystals, spectrum analysis, and the interference of light and sound waves. To compare the brightness of stars, he invented the astrometer. Henry Draper Born 7 Mar 1837; died 20 Nov 1882. American physician and amateur astronomer who made the first photograph of the spectrum of a star (Vega), in 1872. He was also the first to photograph a nebula, the Orion Nebula, in 1880. For his photography of the transit of Venus in 1874, Congress ordered a gold medal struck in his honour. His father, John William Draper, in 1840 had made the first photograph of the Moon. William Draper Harkins Died 7 Mar 1951 (born 28 Dec 1873) American nuclear chemist who was one of the first to investigate the structure and fusion reactions of the nucleus. In 1920, Harkins predicted the existence of the neutron, subsequently discovered by Chadwick's experiment. He made pioneering studies of nuclear reactions with Wilson cloud chambers. In the early 1930's, (with M. D.Kamen) he built a cyclotron. Harkins demonstrated that in neutron bombardment reactions the first step in neutron capture is the formation of an "excited nucleus" of measurable lifetime, whi <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Mar 8, 2006

March 8 People Otto Hahn Born 8 Mar 1879; died 28 Jul 1968. German chemist who, with the radiochemist Fritz Strassmann, is credited with the discovery of nuclear fission. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1944 and shared the Enrico Fermi Award in 1966 with Strassmann and Lise Meitner. Element 105 carries the name hahnium in recognition of his work. Pyotr Nickolayevich Lebedev Born 8 Mar 1866; died 14 Mar 1912. Russian physicist who demonstrated experimentally the minute pressure that light exerts on bodies (1910). Alvan Clark Born 8 Mar 1804; died 19 Aug 1887 Father of an American family of telescope makers and astronomers who supplied unexcelled lenses to many observatories in the United States and Europe during the heyday of the refracting telescope. Events Volcanoes on Io In 1979, volcanoes on Io were discovered by Voyager 1. Huge Meteorite In 1976, the largest recovered single stony meteorite (1,774 kg) fell in Jilin, China, during a meteor shower that dropped more than 4,000 kg of extra-terrestrial rock. Kepler’s Third Law In 1618, Johann Kepler formulates his Third Law of Planetary Motion. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Mar 9, 2006

March 9 People Yury Alekseyevich Gagarin Born 9 Mar 1934; died 27 Mar 1968. Soviet cosmonaut who on 12 Apr 1961 became the first man to travel into space when he was 27 years old. He graduated from the Soviet Air Force cadet school in 1957. He volunteered to become a cosmonaut and joined a group of test pilots for training. Three days before the launch, he was informed he had been selected to pilot the Vostok 1 spacecraft. He orbited the Earth once in 1 hour 29 minutes at a maximum altitude of 187 miles (301 km). He never went into space again but trained other cosmonauts and toured several other nations. Gagarin was killed with another pilot in the crash of a two-seat jet aircraft while on what was described as a routine training flight. His ashes were placed in a niche in the Kremlin wall. David Fabricius Born 9 Mar 1564; died 7 May 1617. A German astronomer, friend of Tycho Brahe and Kepler, and one of the first to follow Galileo in telescope observation of the skies. He is best known for a naked-eye observation of a star in Aug 1596, subsequently named Omicron Ceti, the first variable star to be discovered, and now known as Mira. Its existence with variable brightness contradicted the Aristotelian dogma that the heavens were both perfect and constant. With his son, Johannes Fabricius, he observed the sun and noted sunspots. For further observations they invented the use of a camera obscura and recorded sun-spot motion indicating the rotation of the Sun. David Fabricius, a Protestant minister, was killed by a parishioner angered upon being accused by him as a thief. Johannes Diederik van der Waals Died 9 Mar 1923 (born 23 Nov 1837) Dutch physicist, winner of the 1910 Nobel Prize for Physics for his research on the gaseous and liquid states of matter. His work made the study of temperatu <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

eosophobiac · Mar 9, 2006

Interesting. Especially the 'Fabricius' father-son team being cited on the same date. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

yevaud · Mar 10, 2006

March 10 People Val Logsdon Fitch Born 10 Mar 1923 American particle physicist who was corecipient with James Watson Cronin of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1980 for an experiment conducted in 1964 that disproved the long-held theory that particle interaction should be indifferent to the direction of time. Working with Leo James Rainwater, Fitch had been the first to observe radiation from muonic atoms; i.e., from species in which a muon is orbiting a nucleus rather than an electron. This work indicated that the sizes of atomic nuclei were smaller than had been supposed. He went on to study kaons and in 1964 began his collaboration with James Cronin, James Christenson, and René Turley which led to the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons. John Fillmore Hayford Died 10 Mar 1925 (born 19 May 1868) American civil engineer and early geodesist who established the modern science of geodesy, the precise determination of the shape of the earth. His theory of isostasy gave that the pressure exerted by the earth's crust is approximately the same over the entire globe, regardless of the nature of the surface (for example, lowlands or mountains). With modification, this theory is now used to explain phenomena within the crust. At the time of his death he was a research associate of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and while under a grant from that institution he was investigating the problems connected with evaporation and the water level of the Great Lakes. George James Symons Died 10 Mar 1900 (born 16 Aug 1838) British meteorologist who strove to provide reliable observational data by imposing standards of accuracy and uniformity on meteorological measurements and by substantially increasing the number of reporting stations from 168 to 3 <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Mar 11, 2006

March 11 People Nicolaas Bloembergen Born 11 Mar 1920 Dutch-born American physicist, corecipient with Arthur Leonard Schawlow of the United States and Kai Manne Börje Siegbahn of Sweden of the 1981 Nobel Prize for Physics for their revolutionary spectroscopic studies of the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter. Bloembergen made a pioneering use of lasers in these investigations and developed three-level pumps used in both masers and lasers. Vannevar Bush Born 11 Mar 1890; died 28 Jun 1974. American electrical engineer and administrator who and oversaw government mobilization of scientific research during World War II. At the age of 35, in 1925, he developed the differential analyzer, the world's first analog computer. It was capable of solving differential equations. He put into concrete form that which began 50 years earlier with the incomplete efforts of Babbage, and the theoretical details developed by Kelvin. This machine filled a 20 x 30 foot room. He innovated one of the largest growing media in our time, namely hypermedia as fulfilled in the Internet with hypertext links. Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier Born 11 Mar 1811; died 23 Sep 1877. French astronomer who predicted by mathematical means the existence of the planet Neptune. He switched from his first subject of chemistry to to teach astronomy at the Ecole Polytechnique in 1837 and worked at the Paris Observatory for most of his life. His main activity was in celestial mechanics. Independently of Adams, Le Verrier calculated the position of Neptune from irregularities in Uranus's orbit. As one of his colleagues said, " ... he discovered a star with the tip of his pen, without any instruments other than the strength of his calculations alone. Incorrectly, he predicted a planet, Vulcan, or asteroid belt, within the o <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Mar 12, 2006

March 12 People Leo Esaki Born 12 Mar 1925 Japanese physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (1973) in recognition of his pioneering work on electron tunneling in solids. From some deceptively simple experiments published in 1958, he was able to lay bare the tunneling processes in solids, a phenomena which had been clouded by questions for decades. Tunneling is a quantum mechanical effect in which an electron passes through a potential barrier even though classical theory predicted that it could not. Dr. Esaki's discovery led to the creation of the Esaki diode, an important component of solid state physics with practical applications in high-speed circuits found in computers and communications networks. Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky Born 12 Mar 1863; died 6 Jan 1945. Russian geochemist and mineralogist who is considered to be one of the founders of geochemistry and biogeochemistry. His great contribution was his his research on silicates and aluminosilicate minerals. He was one of the first to recognize radioactivity as a powerful source of energy. Within the last 200 years, humanity has been a powerful geologic force, moving more mass upon the earth than the biosphere. Two of the laws detailed by Vernadsky are that the number and kinds of chemical elements and compounds entering the cycling organization of living matter increase with time, and that as we move toward the present the pace of cycling increases. Simon Newcomb Born 12 Mar 1835; died 11 Jul 1909. Canadian-American astronomer and and mathematician who prepared ephemerides (tables of computed places of celestial bodies over a period of time) and tables of astronomical constants. He was an astronomer (1861-77) before becoming Superintendent of the U.S. Nautical Almanac Office (1877-97). During this time he undertook nu <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Mar 13, 2006

March 13 People Dayton Clarence Miller Born 13 Mar 1866; died 22 Feb 1941 American physicist. Author of The Science of Musical Sounds (1916). Miller's collection of nearly 1,650 flutes and other instruments, and other materials mostly related to the flute, is now at the Library of Congress. To provide a mechanical means of recording sound waves photographically, he invented the phonodeik (1908). He became expert in architectural ecoustics. During WW I, he was consulted concerning using his photodeik to help locate enemy guns. Miller spent considerable research effort on repeating the Michelson and Morley experiment, proposed by Maxwell, to detect a stationary aether. He spent some time working with Morley (1902-4), then more time at Mt. Wilson, recording results favoring the presence of the aether. Percivell Lowell Born 13 Mar 1855; died 12 Nov 1916. American astronomer who predicted the existence of the planet Pluto and initiated the search that ended in its discovery. Lowell was also passionately committed to finding proof of intelligent life on Mars. In 1894, he founded the Lowell Observatory, atop Mars Hill, at Flagstaff as Arizona's first astronomical observatory. Studying Mars, Lowell drew in intricate detail, the network of several hundred fine, straight lines and their intersection in a number of "oases." Lowell concluded that the bright areas were deserts and the dark ones were patches of vegetation. He believed further, that water from the melting polar cap flowed down the canals toward the equatorial region to revive the vegetation. Joseph Priestly Born 13 Mar 1733; died 6 Feb 1804. English clergyman, political theorist, and physical scientist whose work contributed to advances in liberal political and religious thought and in experimental science. He is best remembered as one o <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Mar 14, 2006

March 14 People Eugene Cernan Born 14 Mar 1934 American astronaut who left his spacecraft for more than two hours of extravehicular activity during the Gemini 9 mission (1966). As a member of Apollo 10 (1969), he piloted the lunar module to within 10 miles of the lunar surface. Frank Borman Born 14 Mar 1928 American astronaut, who was a member of the Apollo 8 mission (1968) as it took the first manned flight around the moon. Albert Einstein Born 14 Mar 1879; died 18 Apr 1955. German-American physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity and won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 for his explanation of the photoelectric effect. Recognized in his own time as one of the most creative intellects in human history, in the first 15 years of the 20th century Einstein advanced a series of theories that proposed entirely new ways of thinking about space, time, and gravitation. His theories of relativity and gravitation were a profound advance over the old Newtonian physics and revolutionized scientific and philosophic inquiry. Vilhelm Bjerknes Born 14 Mar 1862; died 9 Apr 1951. Vilhelm F(riman) K(oren) Bjerknes was a Norwegian meteorologist and physicist, one of the founders of the modern science of weather forecasting. As a young boy, Bjerknes assisted his father, Carl Bjerknes (a professor of mathematics) in carrying out experiments to verify the theoretical predictions that resulted from his father's hydrodynamic research. After graduating from university, Bjerknes moved on to his own work applying hydrodynamic and thermodynamic theories to atmospheric and hydrospheric conditions in order to predict future weather conditions. His work in meteorology and on electric waves was important in the early development of wireless telegrap <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

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