January
February
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April
May
June
July
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September
October
November
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- Carl Sagan‘s birthday
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- 1861, Robert Innes born. Robert Innes was a Scottish astronomer who discovered Proxima Centauri (1915), the closest star to earth after the Sun.
- In 1983, U.S. student Fred Cohen presented to a security seminar the results of his test – the first documented virus, created as an experiment in computer security.
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- In 1925, the discovery of cosmic rays was announced in Madison, Wisconsin by Robert A. Millikan who coined their name.
- In 1572, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe began his meticulous observations of the supernova discovered in the W-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia.
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- Percival Lowell died in 1916, American astronomer who predicted the existence of the planet Pluto and initiated the search that ended in its discovery.
- In 1980, the space probe Voyager I travelled under the rings and within 77,000 miles of Saturn.
- In 1941, the first heredity clinic in the U.S. was opened by the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Data on human heredity was collected, and family counselling was offered.
- In 1927, the Holland Tunnel connecting N.Y. and N.J., the world’s first underwater vehicular tunnel, officially opened.
- In 1971, Mariner-9, the first man-made object to orbit another planet, entered Martian orbit. The mission of the unmanned craft was to return photographs mapping 70% of the surface, and to study the planet’s thin atmosphere, clouds, and hazes, together with its surface chemistry and seasonal changes.
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- 1930, Ed White born. First U.S. astronaut to walk in space. With James A. McDivitt he manned the four-day orbital flight of Gemini 4, launched on 3 Jun 1965.
- 1807, Auguste Laurent born. French chemist who developed organic chemistry as a distinct science.
- 1716, Gottfried Leibniz died. German philosopher, mathematician and political adviser, important both as a metaphysician and as a logician, and also distinguished for his independent invention of the differential and integral calculus.
- In 1985, the first discovery of a fullerene was published in the journal Nature.
- In 1967, a U.S. patent for “Ruby Laser Systems” was issued to Theodore Maiman (No. 3,353,115).
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- 1738, Sir William Herschel born. German-born British astronomer, the founder of sidereal astronomy for the systematic observation of the heavens.
- 1819, Daniel Rutherford died. Scottish chemist and photographer who discovered the portion of air that does not support combustion, now known to be nitrogen.
- In 1988, the Soviet Union launched its first space shuttle, Buran (“Snowstorm”), unmanned, on its first and only orbital flight.
- In 1960, a U.S. patent was issued for an alkaline dry-cell to P.A. Marsal, Karl Kordesch and Lewis F. Urry who assigned it to the Union Carbide Corporation, the manufacturer of Eveready batteries (No. 2,960,558).
- In 1887, German scientist, Dr. Carl Gassner, was issued a U.S. patent (No. 373,064) for the first “dry” cell. The sealed zinc shell which contained all the chemicals was also the negative electrode.
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- 1943, James Mitchell born. Black American chemist who is best known for advancing the accuracy of trace element analyses.
- In 1972, Skylab III, carrying a crew of three astronauts, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on an 84-day mission that remained the longest American space flight for over two decades.
- In 1945, two newly discovered elements were announced: americium (atomic number 95) and curium (atomic number 96).