Galileo’s main work, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, was published 380 years ago. Download it here: http://goo.gl/iwdnn.

Heinrich Hertz would be 155 years old today.

He was a german physicist who clarified and expanded the electromagnetic theory of light that had been put forth by James Clerk Maxwell. He was the first to conclusively prove the existence of electromagnetic waves by engineering instruments to transmit and receive radio pulses using experimental procedures that ruled out all other known wireless phenomena. The scientific unit of frequency—one cycle per second—was named the “hertz” in his honor… (more)

Forensic reconstruction of Nicolaus Copernicus.

Nicolaus Copernicus, one of the greatest renaissance astronomers, would be 539 years old today… (more)

412 years ago the philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned alive at Campo de’ Fiori in Rome for heresy.

He was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. His cosmological theories went beyond the Copernican model in proposing that the Sun was essentially a star, and moreover, that the universe contained an infinite number of inhabited worlds populated by other intelligent beings. He was burned at the stake by civil authorities in 1600 after the Roman Inquisition found him guilty of heresy for his pantheism and turned him over to the state, which at that time considered heresy illegal. After his death he gained considerable fame, particularly among 19th and early 20th century commentators who, focusing on his astronomical beliefs, regarded him as a martyr for free thought and modern scientific ideas… (more)

Charles Darwin with his son William, 1842.

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.

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)

Oscar Klein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, George Gamow, Lev Landau and Hans Kramers in a conference in Copenhagen, 1930.