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 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 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 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 November 27, 1701,, Swedish astronomer and mathematician Anders Celsius was born. He has become most famous outside of his native Sweden for the temperature scale he created. There were a number of temperature scales in use in different countries and regions during his…
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.…