Scientist of the Day

Erasmus Darwin, English physician, poet, and paternal grandfather of Charles Darwin, was born at Elston Hall, the Darwin family estate...

Henry Bryant Bigelow, an American marine biologist and science administrator, was born Oct. 3, 1879, in Boston and died on this day, Dec. 11, 1967...

Johannes Stöffler, a German mathematician and astronomer, was born Dec. 10, 1452, in the town of Justingen in southern Germany.

Archimedes was perhaps the greatest scientist, and certainly the greatest mathematician, of the ancient world...

The Clifton Suspension Bridge, one of England's most scenic spans, opened for traffic on Dec. 8, 1864. It crosses the River Avon at Avon Gorge ...

Pope Julius II, known as Giuliano della Rovere until ascending to the papacy, was born Dec. 5, 1443, in a town in the Republic of Genoa.

On Dec. 4, 1998, the Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched from the Kennedy Space center on a mission known as STS-88. In its cargo bay was ...

James Challis, an English astronomer, died Dec. 3, 1882, just shy of his 79th birthday. Challis was clearly a bright fellow, for he attended...

When the 100-inch Hooker telescope went into operation in 1917 on Mount Wilson in Pasadena, California, it was the largest light-gathering...

Martin Heinrich Klaproth, a German apothecary and chemist, was born on Dec. 1, 1743, in Wernigerode, a small town in central Germany.

The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, carrying the Llangollen Canal over the River Dee in northeastern Wales, opened to its first canal boat on Nov. 26, 1805.

Daniel Sennert, a German physician and chemist, was born Nov. 25, 1572, in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland).  He studied at the University of...