On May 20, 1570, the world’s first true modern atlas, was published in Antwerp. Compiled by Flemish geographer and cartographer Abraham Ortelius (Ortels), Theatrum Orbis Terrarum [Theatre of the World] was a bound collection of maps and explanatory text. The maps could be bound…
On May 18, 1980, in Washington state, Mount St. Helens volcano exploded leaving 57 people dead or missing. This was a Plinian eruption. It validated Pliny the Younger’s eyewitness description, often regarded as exaggeration, of the Vesuvius explosion that buried Pompeii and Heraculaneum. Mount…
On February 21, 1849, Canadian inventor and surveyor, Édouard Gaston Daniel Deville was born in France. A naval school graduate who served in the French navy, he conducted marine surveys around Peru and South Pacific islands, using sounding lines, to measure and describe features…
On February 17, 1858, educator, illustrator, biologist, photographer, and writer Margaret Warner Morley was born. After graduating as a teacher in New York City, she studied at what is now the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods…
On January 28, 1884, Belgian physicist, inventor, and extremes explorer Auguste Piccard was born in Switzerland… a few minutes after his physicist-chemist brother Jean-Felix. Auguste conducted atmospheric research using balloon flight and was well into the public eye when the University of Brussels offered…
On January 25, 1627, chemist, physicist, and inventor Robert Boyle was born in Ireland. He was one of the shakers and movers of the 17th century. It was helpful that he was moneyed and could pursue his interests as he chose. Thankfully for humankind,…
On November 29, 1803, mathematician Christian Andreas Doppler was born in Austria. Although primarily a teacher of mathematics, he also studied astronomy and eventually became the Director of the Institute of Physics at the University of Vienna. The years in between were filled with…
On November 17, 1865, Canadian astronomer and astrophysicist John Stanley Plaskett was born in Hickson, Ontario. A trained mechanic and electrician, he accepted a position at University of Toronto where he was employed to apply his skills to the design, construction, and maintenance of…
On October 29, 1831, American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh was born. As a professor of paleontology at Yale, Marsh led student expeditions to the West aboard the recently completed Union Pacific Railway to find fossils. Full of energy and passion for his subject, Marsh…
On October 27, 1986, Nevada’s Great Basin National Park was established, incorporating the Lehman Caves National Monument. Rather than being one actual great basin, the area is a collection of many small basins. The park, with its deserts, mountains, and caves, ranges in elevation…