Mathematician physicist and philosopher Blaise Pascal was born today in 1623. By his teens he was already making significant contributions to geometry and probability. He firmly disagreed with the popular wisdom that ‘nature abhors a vacuum.’
On this day in 1963, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space, orbiting the Earth 48 times in the Vostok 6 space capsule. 🚀 Tereshkova remains the youngest woman to reach space, and the only woman to fly a solo space mission.
Geneticist Barbara McClintock, who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her work on genetics, was born on this day in 1902. Ottoline Leyser spoke with Brian Cox about McClintock's legacy. 🎥 https://youtu.be/z4rx5q0WakE
Rachel Carson was born today in 1907. 🦅 She wrote a powerful book about the decline of nature called Silent Spring, in which she said: “Man is a part of nature and his war against nature is, inevitably, a war against himself.’
Mary Anning, born on this day in 1799, was a pioneering palaeontologist who helped revolutionise our understanding of prehistoric life and the history of Earth. She was already ground-breaking aged 12, discovering the first correctly identified ichthyosaur skeleton. Here she is pictured with her dog, Tray. 🐶
“A discovery is like falling in love and reaching the top of a mountain after a hard climb all in one...” Max Perutz, pioneering molecular biologist, was born on this day in 1914. Watch our film with Professor Brian Cox here 🎥 https://youtu.be/IMnbB1jttCI
Edward Jenner, an early pioneer of vaccination, was born on this day in 1749. 💉 Inoculation had a long history in African and Asian medicine, and was brought to Britain by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, but Jenner's extensive research popularised vaccination against smallpox.
Mary Seacole is one of the most famous figures of the Crimean War. Inspired by her mother, a Jamaican ‘doctress’ skilled in traditional medicine, she arrived in Crimea in 1855. ,She treated soldiers in army hospitals and provided food, medicine and rest at her ‘British Hotel’ She was known as Mother Seacole to the troops. She died on this day in 1881.
Florence Nightingale was born on this day in 1820. She was a founder of modern nursing & a pioneer statistician, using data to show that most war deaths occurred from disease. Of her diagram she said: ‘It should affect through the eyes what we fail to convey to the… public through their word-proof ears.’ 📊
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin was born on this day in 1910. She is the only British woman to win a Nobel Prize for science. Watch our video about her remarkable life here 🎥 https://youtu.be/PraybTdD_9I
The Royal Society is a Fellowship of the world's most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.
We aim to recognise, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.