Learn about the history of science by reading about the significant scientific events that took place on this day in history.
2002 - George Porter died.
Porter was an British chemist who shares half the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Ronald Norrish for their research into very fast chemical reactions. They used pulses of light to increase the number of free radicals in some organic compounds to determine the intermediate steps to perform these reactions.1985 - Frank Macfarlane Burnet died.
Wikimedia Commons
Burnet was an Australian virologist who shares the 1960 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Peter Medawar for their work in immunology and discovery of acquired immunological tolerance. This occurs when the body adapts to external antigens without causing an immune system response.
1949 - Hugh David Politzer was born.
Politzer is an American physicist who shares the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics with Frank Wilczek and David J. Gross for their discovery of asymptotic freedom in strong interaction theory. He described how the strong nuclear force got weaker the closer quarks got to each other.1821 - Hermann von Helmholtz was born.
Practical Physics, 1914/Macmillan and Company
Helmholtz was a German physicist and physician who introduced the conservation of energy to thermodynamics. He related mechanical work, heat, light, electricity and magnetism by considering them as a single pervasive force, or energy. He made contributions to the understanding of the physiology of vision and hearing and invented the ophthalmoscope to examine the inner eye.
1786 - Michel-Eugene Chevreul was born.
Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Chevereul was a French chemist who made many discoveries in the chemistry of fats. He discovered glycerol and described fats as glycerides of organic acids. His discovery of oleic acid led to his invention of margarine. In his later years, he turned his attention to the study of color. He found that colors can complement each other in contrast and tone. He arranged the visible colors in a circle with thousands of tints with their complement directly across the circle. His book, The Laws of Contrast of Color was translated to English and German and was the handbook for many 19th Century artists.
