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 16, 1682, English mathematician and instrument maker John Hadley was born. He developed precision mirrors to improve the accuracy and power of the reflecting telescope. Until Hadley, telescopes used mirrors that were spherical in shape. These were often blurry and/or distorted the…
On March 8, 1712, English physician and naturalist John Fothergill was born. At the University of Edinburgh, Fothergill moved from studying to become an apothecary to studying medicine, graduating as a doctor. After being licensed to practice in London, he distinguished himself during city…
On January 6, 1838, Samuel Morse gave the first public demonstration of the electric telegraph at New Jersey’s Speedwell Iron Works. The message, “a patient waiter is no loser”, tapped in code along two miles of cotton-covered wire, capped one of the most important…
On September 22, 1877, American zoologist Victor Ernest Shelford was born. He studied animal communities and correlations between changes in environment and the changes in animal populations. Looking at rivers, lakes, and forests in his first book, Animal Communities in Temperate America, Shelford outlined…
On September 16, 1921, physicist and metallurgist Ursula Franklin was born in Munich, Germany. Franklin’s view of her world formed as she grew from a young woman who suffered wartime workcamp imprisonment, through a doctorate in experimental physics, to emigration to a renewed life…
On August 6, 1881, doctor and bacteriologist Sir Alexander Fleming was born. As a doctor in the British Army Medical Corps (WWI), Fleming relied on his own skills in titration, the continuous measurement and adjustment in balancing a medication or treatment. He noticed that the…
On June 21, 1868, English zoologist Edwin Stephen Goodrich was born. As a promising student at the Slade School of Art, Goodrich became interested in zoology eventually specializing in comparative anatomy – a study that uses the data and achievements of anatomy, embryology, and…
On June 16, 1902, biologist Barbara McClintock was born. McClintock studied courses in genetics before it was accepted as a discipline. Using maize cobs as her exploratory medium, she noticed colour spots on kernels that could not be explained by Mendelian genetics. Immediately attracted…