Today in Science Blog Posts

Happy Birthday, Leonhard Euler
His last name is pronounced “oiler” and he is considered one of the greatest mathematical scientists of all time. Learn about the life and work of Leonhard Euler.

Coastal Erosion Uncovers Buried Tracks from Throughout History
In 2018, a series of winter storms caused severe erosion along a U.S. coastline, uncovering footprints and horse-and-buggy tracks from centuries earlier.

Happy Birthday, Pierre-Simon Laplace
Pierre-Simon Laplace contributed to celestial mechanics and helped develop an equation for pressure across a curved surface. He also had his demons. The Laplace demon thought experiment, that is.

Happy Birthday, Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein, Nobel prize winner and “Person of the Century”, is known for developing the special and general theories of relativity and the law of the photoelectric effect.

Happy Birthday, Joseph von Fraunhofer
Joseph von Fraunhofer is known for developing the spectroscope and discovering a set of spectral lines that are now known as Fraunhofer lines.

Happy Birthday, Frances Spence
Frances Spence worked on the first digital computer, Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), during WWII. Learn more about her dedication to computer programming and STEM.

Happy Birthday, Alessandro Volta
Alessandro Volta started out by studying how static electricity generates a physical response in frog legs. The unit of electric potential and electromotive force, the “volt”, is his namesake.

Happy Birthday, Robert Maillart
Balancing structural engineering and artistic capabilities, civil engineer Robert Maillart designed some of the world’s most impressive bridges, including the Salginatobel and Schwandbach.

Studying the Safety of Tattoos with Mass Spectrometry and X-Rays
When you get a tattoo, what happens to the ink once it enters your skin? In an attempt to answer these questions, researchers turned to mass spectrometry and X-ray fluorescence.

Happy Birthday, Ernst Ruska
Ernst Ruska is an optical engineer from Germany who is known for developing the first electron microscope, earning him a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986.

Happy Birthday, Christian Doppler
The Doppler effect is observed both on Earth (such as the change in pitch when a siren passes you) and in space (such as the red shift of a planet). Learn about this phenomenon’s namesake.

Happy Birthday, Johannes Diderik van der Waals
Johannes Diderik van der Waals made many groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of liquids and gases, but his greatest passion was for education.