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 18, 1616, English botanist and herbalist physician Nicholas Culpeper was born. Receiving early lessons in Latin and Greek, he read widely in his grandfather’s library. He learned about the application of medical plants from his grandmother. Culpeper attended Cambridge but discovered sports…
On September 1, 1854, American scientific illustrator, conservationist, and educator Anna Botsford Comstock was born. She mastered wood engraving to illustrate articles on insects written by her husband, John Henry Comstock, an entomologist who taught at Cornell. She illustrated many books, some of which…
On July 30, 1920, Marie Tharp was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan. A pioneering oceanographic cartographer, she mapped the ocean floor and co-discovered the Mid-Oceanic Ridges, along with her colleague Bruce Heezen, Columbia University’s team leader of ocean ridge mapping. As they worked down the…
On July 28, 1635, microscopist, astronomer, architect, Robert Hooke was born. As a student, Hooke was at ease in his studies of art, languages, music, and mathematics. At Oxford, he met and entered into creative friendships with his professors and peers in various sciences.…
On May 27, 1907, Rachel Louise Carson was born. She spent her entire life loving the natural world, particularly the ocean. She studied English and marine biology and wrote copy for weekly education broadcasts for U.S. Bureau of Fisheries [later named the U.S. Fish…
April 22, Earth Day, is celebrated around the world as tens of millions of people make time to attend their environment. The United Nations calls this International Mother Earth Day because “Mother Earth” is a multi-national common expression used in most cultural references to…
On April 17, 1899, English entomologist Sir Vincent Brian Wigglesworth was born. He created a new science – the study of Insect Physiology – and researched extensively into the role of hormones in insect growth, metamorphosis, and reproduction. Wigglesworth detailed many physical mechanisms and…
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,…
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…