On February 19, 1473, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus [Mikołaj Kopernik] was born in Prussia [present day Poland]. He studied mathematics, optics, and canon or church law. Thanks to an interested and protective uncle, Copernicus was appointed a canon to the Frauenburg cathedral where he spent…
On February 14, 1852, Dr. Charles West opened London England’s The Hospital for Sick Children. It was the first hospital in the country to provide inpatient care only to children. West was determined to reduce the approximate 20,000 children’s deaths occurring yearly in the…
On February 2, 1997, World Wetlands Day was first celebrated. Grown from an international convention held in Ramsar, Iran, on the present and future of the world’s wetlands, the organization is headquartered in Switzerland. Each year on this date, government agencies, citizen groups, and…
On January 30, 1903, British-American zoologist George Evelyn Hutchinson was born. His growth as a preeminent ecologist was perhaps foreshadowed when the young Hutchinson set up his own aquarium “pond” with red water mites and other aquatic insects to observe their behaviour. And kept…
Thirty-four years ago on January 22, 1992, STS-42 carried the first International Microgravity Laboratory [IML-1], dozens of experiments, and seven space shuttle crew members into orbit. Over 200 scientists from 13 countries contributed to the crew’s onboard research tasks in the physical and life…
On November 23, 1898, American biochemist Rachel Fuller Brown was born. Most famously, she worked through research and production projects with microbiologist and bacteriologist Elizabeth Lee Hazen for the New York State Department of Health; Brown in Albany and Hazen in New York City.…
On November 18, 1906, Chinese ornithologist Tso-hsin Cheng [Zheng Zuoxin] was born. As a boy, he learned to identify the birds in the Fujian forests by their calls. Travelling to the United States, Cheng completed doctoral studies at University of Michigan before taking a…
On November 2, 1885, the Banff Hot Springs Preserve was established. Two years later and enlarged, it was renamed Rocky Mountains Park – Canada’s first national park – then renamed Banff National Park in 1930. The preserve’s original 26 km2 (10 mi2 ) expanded…
On November 1, 1880, astronomer, meteorologist, natural scientist, and Arctic explorer, Alfred Lothar Wegener was born in Berlin. Like many before him, Wegener was intrigued with the similarities of continental coastlines that seemed to once have fit together. Instead of merely regarding present coastlines,…
On October 28, 1853, landscape photographer Frank J. Haynes was born in Saline Michigan. At various times, he was the “Official Photographer” of the Northern Pacific Railroad, the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and Yellowstone National Park. Haynes was part of a winter expedition in 1887…