On August 31, 1821, German physician and physicist Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz was born. He became a universal scholar – natural science, medicine, physiology, physics, chemistry, music, acoustics, electromagnetics, meteorology, and their related technologies. He explored current theories, performed his own experimental research,…
On December 27, 1822, French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur was born. His skill grew as he followed each successful investigative step to reach greater insight and result. Pasteur based his work in observation and the understanding of that observation. He first solved a…
On December 21, 1773, Scottish botanist Robert Brown was born. He studied medicine, then botany. He met Sir Joseph Banks, Royal Society president, who offered Brown access to his books and plant specimens. Banks further recommended Brown for the naturalist post aboard HMS Investigator,…
On November 25, 1913, American physician, researcher, and essayist Lewis Thomas was born. A man of intriguing insights, he added to his wisdom from views, opinions, and related experiences in science and medicine at Princeton, Harvard, and Tulane. He served as Dean of Yale…
On November 15, 1738, musician, composer, optics pioneer, and astronomer Frederick William Herschel was born. An oboe (cello, violin, harpsichord, organ…) player so passionate about astronomy when he discovered the discipline that he hooked his sister and brother into a suite of activities that…
On September 23, 1791, German astronomer Johann Franz Encke was born in Hamburg. He studied mathematics and astronomy. The orbits of comets held great fascination for Encke. These couldn’t be seen for many decades at a time before they returned. Because these orbital periods…
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 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…