nostr:npub1qx3y2l8q66pdxhtwxeunvcnsx7e7re0mxf0mnnstds788ujjrzxqh8aqnd Thanks for sharing!
Hans Geiger died #OTD in 1945.
He is best known as the co-inventor of the detector component of the Geiger counter and for the Geiger–Marsden experiment which discovered the atomic nucleus. He was the brother of meteorologist and climatologist Rudolf Geiger. via nostr:npub1kvnpp3m60derhwpqwc09zhk3ehk48tr6agc6dk9z2vggu9sga28qpxhm73
#science #physics
"The world is a comedy to those that think; a tragedy to those that feel– a solution of why Democritus laughed and Heraclitus wept."
Letter to Lady Anne (1776)
Horace Walpole was born #OTD in 1717. English writer, connoisseur, and collector known for his novel The Castle of Otranto (1764), the first Gothic novel in the English language and one of the earliest literary horror stories. via @Britannica
Books by Horace Walpole at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/358
#books #literature
"Let us redeem our great words from base uses. Let that no longer call itself Love, which knows that it is not free!"
Love's Pilgrimage (1911)
Upton Sinclair was born #OTD in 1878. He was a prolific American author who wrote in many genres, often advocating Socialist views, and achieved considerable popularity in the first half of the twentieth century. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. via nostr:npub1kvnpp3m60derhwpqwc09zhk3ehk48tr6agc6dk9z2vggu9sga28qpxhm73
Books by Upton Sinclair at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/88
#books #literature
nostr:npub1qyg8p87g2ygujhafqcs0yvqv53qq8nllc0rkmr699e4pdxx5p4xqmuuf04 very true, thanks for reminding me…
"Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed."
The Rambler (1750–1752)
Samuel Johnson was born #OTD in 1709. English critic, biographer, essayist, poet, and lexicographer, regarded as one of the greatest figures of 18th-century life and letters. Johnson once characterized literary biographies as “mournful narratives,” and he believed that he lived “a life radically wretched.” via @Briatannica
Books by Samuel Johnson at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/297
#books #literature
Joseph Plateau died #OTD in 1883.
He was one of the first people to demonstrate the illusion of a moving image. To do this, he used counterrotating disks with repeating drawn images in small increments of motion on one and regularly spaced slits in the other. He called this device of 1832 the phenakistiscope. via nostr:npub1kvnpp3m60derhwpqwc09zhk3ehk48tr6agc6dk9z2vggu9sga28qpxhm73
#art #AnimationHistory
"A physical delineation of nature terminates at the point where the sphere of intellect begins, and a new world of mind is opened to our view. It marks the limit, but does not pass it."
Kosmos
Alexander von Humboldt was born #OTD in 1769. His quantitative work on botanical geography laid the foundation for the field of biogeography, while his advocacy of long-term systematic geophysical measurement pioneered modern geomagnetic & meteorological monitoring.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1995
#science
"The waves have a story to tell me,
As I lie on the lonely beach;
Chanting aloft in the pine-tops,
The wind has a lesson to teach;
But the stars sing an anthem of glory I cannot put into speech."
The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses
Robert W. Service died #OTD in 1958. He was a popular verse writer called “the Canadian Kipling” for rollicking ballads of the “frozen North,” notably “The Shooting of Dan McGrew.”
Books by Robert W. Service at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/117
#books #literature
The benefits of science are not only material ones. The truths that science teaches are of common interest the world over. The language of science is universal, and is a powerful force in bringing the peoples of the world closer together.
Banquet speech for his Nobel Prize, 1927.
Arthur Holly Compton was born #OTD in 1892. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927 for his discovery of the Compton effect, which demonstrated the particle nature of electromagnetic radiation.
#science #physics
Charles Sanders Peirce was born #OTD in 1839. Scientist, logician, & philosopher who is noted for his work on the logic of relations & on pragmatism as a method of research.
His reputation rests largely on academic papers published in American scientific & scholarly journals such as Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Popular Science Monthly, the American Journal of Mathematics, & others.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65274
#books #mathematics
"It is time to effect a revolution in female manners - time to restore to them their lost dignity. It is time to separate unchangeable morals from local manners."
Vindication of the rights of woman
Mary Wollstonecraft died #OTD in 1797. She is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), considered a classic of feminism, in which she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men but appear to be only because they lack education.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/84
#books #literature
"The windows of my soul I throw
Wide open to the sun."
My Psalm
John Greenleaf Whittier died #OTD in 1892. American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Whittier is remembered particularly for his anti-slavery writings, as well as his 1866 book Snow-Bound. via nostr:npub1kvnpp3m60derhwpqwc09zhk3ehk48tr6agc6dk9z2vggu9sga28qpxhm73
Books by John Whittier at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/455
#books #literature #poetry
“On ne connaît pas complètement une science tant qu'on n'en sait pas l'histoire.”
Cours de philosophie positive
Auguste Comte died #OTD in 1857.
French philosopher known as the founder of sociology and of positivism. Comte gave the science of sociology its name and established the new subject in a systematic fashion. via @Britannica
Books by Auguste Comte at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/35532
#books #literature
"No book can be appreciated until it has been slept with and dreamed over."
The love affairs of a biliomaniac
Eugene Field was born #OTD in 1850. Field first started publishing poetry in 1879, when his poem "Christmas Treasures" appeared in A Little Book of Western Verse. Over a dozen volumes of poetry followed & he became well known for his light-hearted poems for children. Field also published a number of short stories.
Books by Eugene Field at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/238
#books #literature
nostr:npub1ks70cf3wt30sn2gqjnw4zjtd7ztwnnaq4fy0azpdvtlthg7eqrpqlteg5u nostr:npub1kvnpp3m60derhwpqwc09zhk3ehk48tr6agc6dk9z2vggu9sga28qpxhm73 I am currently reading “The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet's Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence” by David Waldstreicher, after one English professor described her as the true originator of the Romantic movement in poetry. I think more people should know about her work!
nostr:npub18ztxjwhh6kxgj6ztqajlj436jza4ylrzllp3zlhxv6tdgsc9fj8s0n3eka thanks for sharing!
"Anger and hate against one we love steels our hearts, but contempt or pity leaves us silent and ashamed."
Tarzan of the Apes
Edgar Rice Burroughs was born #OTD in 1875. Best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he also wrote the Pellucidar series, the Amtor series, and the Caspak trilogy. via nostr:npub1kvnpp3m60derhwpqwc09zhk3ehk48tr6agc6dk9z2vggu9sga28qpxhm73
Books by Edgar Rice Burroughs at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/48
#books #literature
Mary Ward died #OTD in 1869.
Ward was a keen amateur astronomer and she built the Leviathan of Parsonstown, a reflecting telescope with a six-foot mirror which remained the world's largest until 1917. Ward was a frequent visitor to Birr Castle, producing sketches of each stage of the process. Along with photographs made by Parson's wife Mary Rosse, Ward's sketches were used to aid in the restoration of the telescope. via nostr:npub1kvnpp3m60derhwpqwc09zhk3ehk48tr6agc6dk9z2vggu9sga28qpxhm73
#science #astronomy
"L'étude du beau est un duel où l'artiste crie de frayeur avant d'être vaincu."
Petits Poèmes en prose
Charles Baudelaire died #OTD in 1867. French poet, translator, and literary and art critic whose reputation rests primarily on Les Fleurs du mal, which was perhaps the most important and influential poetry collection published in Europe in the 19th century. via @Britannica
Books translated/or by Charles Baudelaire at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1947
#books #literature #poetry
At the heart of the debates on the function of literature in his day, Baudelaire detached poetry from morality, proclaiming it entirely destined for Beauty and not Truth. As the title of his collection suggests, he attempted to weave links between evil and beauty, fleeting happiness and the unattainable ideal, violence and voluptuousness, but also between the poet and his reader and even between artists through the ages.
"L'étude du beau est un duel où l'artiste crie de frayeur avant d'être vaincu."
Petits Poèmes en prose
Charles Baudelaire died #OTD in 1867. French poet, translator, and literary and art critic whose reputation rests primarily on Les Fleurs du mal, which was perhaps the most important and influential poetry collection published in Europe in the 19th century. via @Britannica
Books translated/or by Charles Baudelaire at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1947
#books #literature #poetry