On April 11, 1924, oceanographer and marine geologist, Bruce Charles Heezen was born. He became an expert on continental drift and the undersea landslides that reshape ocean floors. A pioneer in plate tectonics, he was leader of the team from Columbia University that discovered…
On April 4, 1947, the largest sunspot group known was being recorded, often referred to as the “Great Sunspot of 1947”. Sunspots are counted in groups rather than individually. That April, this largest group of sunspots eventually covered a total area of the sun’s…
On March 31, 1839, Russian military explorer Nikolai Przewalski was born. A curious boy who wanted to travel, he realized early that his best chances for this were increased if he joined the army; the army travelled! When he finally became a commissioned officer,…
On March 29, 1910, Prince Albert I inaugurated the Musée Océanographique de Monaco / Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. He stocked it with specimens he collected over his 30 years of sea exploration and expeditions. Some of these specimens had not been seen before. The…
On March 24, 1693, English clockmaker John Harrison was born. As England’s maritime exploits, explorations, and economy grew, the country’s mariners had run smack up against a seemingly impenetrable wall. They required convenient and accurate measure of their positions at sea, specifically their longitude,…
On March 16, 1750, astronomer Caroline Lucretia Herschel was born in Germany. She had a bad health childhood that included smallpox and Typhus that left her with a slightly scarred face and shorter than a parking meter. Her parents kept her at home as…
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 11, 1916, Bandelier National Monument was designated in New Mexico. Its 13,355 ha ( 33,000 acres) were set aside for the cultural conservation of archaeological and anthropological sites and materials and to provide recreational trail access to mountain, canyon, and mesa scenery.…
On February 3, 1821, Anglo-American physician Elizabeth Blackwell was born. Encouraged to pursue a degree in medicine, Blackwell turned to teaching to earn money. Arranging to live in a physician’s house, she also acquired some medical training and introduction to Greek and Latin. Although…
On January 19, 2006, on a bright afternoon, NASA launched New Horizons, a sophisticated space probe to make flyby studies of the mysterious planet Pluto and its moon. Now en route to the Kuiper belt in which Pluto lives, New Horizons began its close…