On March 7, 1974, Swiss molecular biologist Martin Oeggerli was born. Although he was 26 when he received his first digital camera and enjoyed the clarity of its close-up detail, Oeggerli came to prefer the images available to him from the Scanning Electron Microscope.…
On March 5, 1512, Gerhard Mercator was born in Flanders. He received as fine an education as he could from church tutors and used this formal education and his selection of master craftsmen to work with to become a cross-discipline 16th century businessman –…
On March 4, 1901, Dr. Wilbur Rounding Franks was born. This Canadian scientist and cancer researcher developed anti-gravity devices in the 1940s with his colleagues at the Banting and Best Medical Research Institute at the University of Toronto. The first devices Dr. Franks developed…
On March 1, 1872, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant declared Yellowstone a National Park. Located principally in what is today Wyoming, Yellowstone was not explored until late in the 19th century. By that time, geologists and naturalists were able to help bring to the…
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 9, 1865, American photographer and pioneering weather scientist Wilson Alwyn Bentley was born. After experiencing the Vermont winter snows for almost two decades, Bentley followed his passion for capturing the beauty of snowflakes for others to share. He managed to figure out…
On February 5, 1947, American astronaut Mary L. Cleave was born. Plant and soil sciences intrigued her as she grew up. She specialized in microbial ecology then concerned herself with what might be possible if she could apply scientific and engineering principles to 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…
Twenty-eight 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 January 13, 1957, Wham-O began production of its “Pluto Platters”, the plastic flying dish today called a Frisbee™. Invented by Fred Morrison, the lightweight and elegant airfoil becomes a vehicle of remarkable precision in the hands of a skilled hurler. Inspired by pie…