Blog Archives

Max Planck, Nobel-prize winning physicist who originated quantum theory, was born this day in 1858. The theory is a way to reach a mathematical description of the relationship between energy and matter. Planck also made many other contributions that advanced scientific understanding of atomic and subatomic processes. His contemporary and fellow faculty member at Berlin University, Albert Einstein, often worked with — and played music with — Max Planck.

Robert Bunsen chemist who invented the Bunsen burner and pioneered photo analytical techniques, born this day in 1811 in Göttingen, Germany.

Mario Molina born this day in 1943, is a Mexican-American chemist whose work on the impact of chloroflurocarbons on earth’s upper atmosphere was acknowledged with the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1995. Molina shared the prize with Paul J. Crutzen and F. Sherwood Rowland. The warnings from these scientists that CFCs were catalytically destroying earth’s protective ozone shield led directly to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, a highly successful international environmental treaty prohibiting most use of CFCs.

Wind turbine inventor American electrical inventor who built the first wind turbine to generate electricity in 1888, Charles Brush was born on this day in 1849. The 12 kilowatt windmill operated at Brush’s home in Cleveland Ohio for 20 years. Brush’s company also built one of the first hydroelectric plants in a dam in 1882. The electric manufacturing company was eventually merged with General Electric.

Joseph Priestly English scientist and naturalist, born this day in 1733.

Garrett Morgan inventor of the gas mask born this day in 1877.

Cyrus McCormick Inventor whose mechanical reaper changed agriculture was born in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, USA, on this day in 1809.

Galileo Italian astronomer and scientist who played a major role in the scientific revolution of the late Renaissance, Galileo Galilei was born on this day in 1564. Persecuted by the church, although not burned at the stake like fellow Italian scientist Giordano Bruno, Galieo has became a symbol of the great struggle between world views leaning towards religious faith or scientific reason. Stephen Hawking once caid that Galileo influenced the birth of modern science more than anyone else, while Albert Einstein once called him the father of modern science.

First internal combustion engine Samuel Morey of Connecticut patents the world’s first internal combustion engine on this day in 1826.

Dmitri Mendeleev A chemist who discovered relationships between elements and created the Periodic Table, Mendeleev was born this day in 1834.
He also helped design the first oil refinery in Russia and recognized the importance of petroleum as a feedstock for chemicals rather than fuel. He once said that burning petroleum simply as a fuel “would be akin to firing up a kitchen stove with bank notes.”