1625 – GTiovanni Domenico Cassini was born in Italy. Cassini discovered four of Saturn’s moons and also the division in its rings (later named in his honor). He also determined the rotation rates for Mars and Jupiter, as well as being the first to determine the distance to Mars and, by extension, the scale of the solar system. To celebrate he ordered a special wig the size of Saturn. 🙂
1903 – Professors Marie and Pierre Curie published a paper announcing the discovery of Polonium. It was named after Marie’s homeland, Poland, to raise awareness of the plight of that country which was at the time partitioned by Russia, Germany and Austro-Hungary. Marie was not impressed when he husband suggested the new ele,emt might be a cure for her headaches 🙂
1918 – Nova Aquilae (V603 Aquilae) was discovered. It was the brightest nova since Kepler’s nova in 1604, and the brightest recorded during the era of the telescope. The world is so stunned by the discovery that World War One ends…
1965 – Gemini 4 completes 62 orbits, making it at the time the longest orbiting U.S. space mission and featured the first U.S. space walk. It also inspired smogs by both David Bowie and Elton John (but only one was any good…)
1967 – The USSR launched the Venera 4 space probe, the first to directly analyze the atmosphere of another planet (Venus). Eight years later, Venera 9 was also launched. This was the first spacecraft to orbit Venus and carried a lander that was the first to return pictures from the surface of another planet. Men have been exploring Venus ever since… 🙂1
983 – U.S. space probe Pioneer 10 crossed the orbit of Neptune and became the first spacecraft to leave the solar system. Pioneer 10 was the first space craft to pass through the asteroid belt, the first to provide close images Jupiter and the first to achieve solar escape velocity. The probe carried a message of peace to the universe and later passed into Klingon territory, where it was destroyed by a Bird-of-Prey…
983 – U.S. space probe Pioneer 10 crossed the orbit of Neptune and became the first spacecraft to leave the solar system. Pioneer 10 was the first space craft to pass through the asteroid belt, the first to provide close images Jupiter and the first to achieve solar escape velocity. The probe carried a message of peace to the universe and later passed into Klingon territory, where it was destroyed by a Bird-of-Prey…
1993 – A team, led by Dr. George Poinar, Jr, announced they had successfully extracted genetic material from an insect that lived in the age of dinosaurs. The announcement came the day before the release of the movie “Jurassic Park“. DNA doesn’t look very interesting so I used a dinosaur…
2002 – Kevin Warwick as part of “Project Cyborg” carried out the first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans. The second participant was his wife. Now he has no excuse to say he doesn’t understand how his wife is feeling.
2011 – In Sweden, the first artificial organ transplant was performed. During the operation an artificial windpipe coated with stem cells was implanted in to a patient suffering from cancer of the trachea. I think we know how this all ends…
2012 – A chemical compound known as NOTT-202, was created. The compound has a framework structure like an “organic metal” sponge and can absorb and retain carbon dioxide.
