On August 23, 2003, Ukkusiksalik, became Nunavut’s 4th and Canada’s 41st national park. Pronounced /ooo koo SIK sa lik/, the name Ukkusiksalik refers to the carvable stone found in the area from which an ukkusik [pot] is made. Just south of the Arctic Circle…
On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel into space. He made a 108-minute orbital flight in the fully automated Vostok 1 space capsule. Gagarin did not land in his space capsule. Vostok 1’s reentry into the atmosphere…
On February 22, 1857, German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was born. He was a student and protégé of the great Hermann von Helmholtz. Hertz began his career as a university lecturer and quickly established himself as an accomplished speaker. In his lab, Hertz demonstrated…
On February 9, 1865, American photographer and pioneering weather scientist Wilson Alwyn Bentley was born. After experiencing the Vermont winter snows for almost two decades, Bentley followed his passion for capturing the beauty of snowflakes for others to share. He managed to figure out…
On October 16, 1975, NASA launched GOES-1 – the first Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite. Over the Indian Ocean, GOES-1 achieved a specific geostationary orbit, approximately 35,785 km (22,236 mi) above the equator, following the direction of Earth’s rotation, matching its rotation period, and appearing…
On June 5, 2020, World Environment Day celebrates its 46th anniversary. This year, the focus – For Nature – calls our attention to the increasing instability of natural systems like climate and fresh water, advising us to take action to protect the Earth that…
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…