Catching the Wave
On February 22, 1857, German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was born. He was a student and protégé of the great Hermann von Helmholtz. Hertz began his career as a university lecturer and quickly established himself as an accomplished speaker. In his lab, Hertz demonstrated…
Nature Whisperer
On February 17, 1858, educator, illustrator, biologist, photographer, and writer Margaret Warner Morley was born. After graduating as a teacher in New York City, she studied at what is now the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods…
Wave Warp
On November 29, 1803, mathematician Christian Andreas Doppler was born in Austria. Although primarily a teacher of mathematics, he also studied astronomy and eventually became the Director of the Institute of Physics at the University of Vienna. The years in between were filled with…
As the Earth Moves
On October 24, 1908, Canadian geologist and geophysicist John Tuzo Wilson, CC, OBE, FRS, FRSC, FRSE was born. After academic studies on three continents, a stint with the Geological Survey of Canada, and the Royal Canadian (Army) Engineers, he taught geophysics at the University…
Major Motion
On September 9, 1953, Canadian military officer Major Deanna (Dee) Marie Brasseur was born. Brasseur and corps colleague Captain Jane Foster were the first two female fighter pilots in the Canadian Armed Forces. This also made them the first two female fighter pilots in…
Endless Star Party
From August 22 through 25, 2019, it’s another week of night sights in the Wood Buffalo National Park Dark Sky Preserve at the Dark Sky Festival [DSF]. The park’s 44,807 km2 (17,300 mi2) sit on the border of Canada’s Northwest Territories and the province…
An Earth Mover
On April 18, 1906, the most destructive earthquake in US history devastated much of San Francisco. This event, approximately 8.0 on the yet-to-be-invented Richter scale, occurred along the San Andreas Fault, a tectonic plate boundary from which the Earth’s crust spreads horizontally as the…
The Renaissance Man
On April 15, 1452, Leonardo da Vinci was born. Without formal education, he recorded much of his interest in every facet of life and study. He was an observational scientist who tried to understand something by illustrating and describing it, taking joy in quiet,…
The GRACE Twins
On March 17, 2002, NASA launched the GRACE twins, two Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites. They flew about 220 km ( 137 mi ) apart in a polar orbit at 485 km (300 mi) above Earth, measuring regional areas of its gravity field,…
No Grass Grew Under These Feet!
On February 23, 1879, British botanist Agnes Arber was born. From her mid-teens through early career, she was able to spend time assisting plant morphologist Ethel Sargant from whom she acquired her research interest and style of investigation. Arber taught at University College, London,…