Galileo Galilei’s telescope.

Galileo Galilei would be 448 years old.

He was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism. Galileo has been called the “father of modern observational astronomy”, the “father of modern physics”, the “father of science”, and “the Father of Modern Science”… (more)

45 years ago, american researchers discovered the Madrid Codices by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Library of Spain… (more)

Take a look at them:

• Treatise on Statics and Mechanics: http://goo.gl/p9Wmu.
• Treatise on Static Fortification and Geometry: http://goo.gl/hwBRj.

Jules Verne, the father of science fiction, would be 188 years old today.

He was a french author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before air travel and practical submarines were invented, and before practical means of space travel had been devised. He is the second most translated author in the world (after Agatha Christie). Some of his books have also been made into live-action and animated films and television shows… (more)

The inventor Samuel Morse presented in public the electric telegraph 179 years ago.

The first telegram in the United States was sent by Morse on 6 January 1838, across two miles (3 km) of wire at Speedwell Ironworks near Morristown, New Jersey. The message read “A patient waiter is no loser.” On 24 May 1844, he sent the message “WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT” from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the Capitol in Washington to the old Mt. Clare Depot in Baltimore. This message (quoting Numbers 23:23) was chosen by Annie Ellsworth of Lafayette, Indiana, the daughter of Patent Commissioner Henry Leavitt Ellsworth. The message was all capital letters because the original Morse code alphabet had no question mark or lower case… (more)

Dmitri Mendeleev’s elements system, 1869.

Dmitri Mendeleev passed away 105 years ago.

He was a Russian chemist and inventor. He is credited as being the creator of the first version of the periodic table of elements. Using the table, he predicted the properties of elements yet to be discovered… (more)

Download “Franklin: The Autobiography and other Writings on Politics, Economics and Virtue” here: http://goo.gl/hMRJD.

Benjamin Franklin would be 306 years old today.

He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass ‘armonica’. He formed both the first public lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania… (more)

Download the book here: http://goo.gl/jTAA8