A date in history of medicine, science, environmental study, space exploration of benefit to our knowledge of earth and life sciences of interest.
On March 27, 1905, aeronautical engineer Elizabeth Muriel Gregory “Elsie” MacGill was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. Attracted first to the red-hot field of radio, she became the first woman electrical engineering graduate from the University of Toronto. Working her first job at the…
On March 23, 1950, the World Meteorological Organization was created as a specialized agency of the United Nations. The WMO speaks on the state of Earth’s atmosphere and reports its interaction with oceans, the climate it produces, and the resulting distribution of water resources.…
On March 22, 2022, we celebrate World Water Day, a special day for focusing upon the most vital food for life on Earth. Each year, the United Nations Organization chooses a special water focus that has included water for cities, groundwater, health, disasters, scarcity,…
On March 21, 1971, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization declared this as World Forestry Day to share information, research, and project updates on forests and forestry around the world. This day was chosen because it is the vernal equinox in the Northern…
On this day in Sault Ste Marie Ontario, future neuro-ophthalmologist and payload specialist Roberta Lynn Bondar was born. Of course, no one knew all that at the time. Or even what those words meant. She had to learn to walk first! And to prefer…
On August 25, 1916, the United States National Park Service was created by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act to care for all national parks, historic battlefields, and monuments throughout the country. More than 400 National Parks later… the USNPS celebrates its…
On August 24, 79, the first recorded explosion of Mount Vesuvius, Italy, was witnessed by the 18-year-old nephew of the Commander of the Roman Fleet. His uncle sailed with ships to rescue survivors, leaving the teen to observe the eruption from home across the…
On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel into space. He made a 108-minute orbital flight in the fully automated Vostok 1 space capsule. Gagarin did not land in his space capsule. Vostok 1’s reentry into the atmosphere…
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…
On October 16, 1975, NASA launched GOES-1 – the first Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite. Over the Indian Ocean, GOES-1 achieved a specific geostationary orbit, approximately 35,785 km (22,236 mi) above the equator, following the direction of Earth’s rotation, matching its rotation period, and appearing…