2005 - Hans Albrecht Bethe died.
Bethe was a German-American physicist who was awarded the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physics for describing how stars produce energy. He was also head of the Theoretical Physics department during the Manhattan Project.
1937 - Valentina Tereshkova was born.
Tereshkova was a Soviet cosmonaut who was the first woman in space. She was a textile worker and avid amatuer parachutists when she applied to join the Soviet space program and was one of five women to be selected for training. Tereshkova was selected to pilot the Vostok 6 rocket that launched on June 16, 1963. The mission lasted three days where she performed various tests to determine the effects and reactions of spaceflight on the female body.
1869 - Mendeleev introduces his periodic table.
from 1st English ed. of Mendeleev's Principles of Chemistry (1891, from the Russian 5th ed.)
Mendeleev presents his periodic table arranging elements by atomic mass and valence to the Russian Chemical Society. This arrangement was based on the atomic weights of the elements and would eventually lead to the modern periodic table.
1866 - William Whewell died.
Whewell was an influential English philosopher, scientist and historian. He is credited with creating the word scientist to replace the term natural philosopher for man of science. Many other scientists of the time went to him to come up with new terms to describe their discoveries.
1787 - Joseph von Fraunhofer was born.
Fraunhofer was a German physicist who discovered the dark lines on the Sun's spectrum. These lines were found to be caused by the absorption of energy by the elements in the Sun. The dark lines in absorption spectra are now known as Fraunhofer lines.
