Portal:History of science

The history of astronomy focuses on the efforts of civilizations to understand the universe beyond earth's atmosphere. Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences, achieving a high level of success in the second half of the first millennium. Astronomy has origins in the religious, mythological, cosmological, calendrical, and astrological beliefs and practices of prehistory. Early astronomical records date back to the Babylonians around 1000 BC. There is also astronomical evidence of interest from early Chinese, Central American and North European cultures.

Astronomy was used by early cultures for timekeeping, navigation, spiritual and religious practices, and agricultural planning. Ancient astronomers observed and charted the skies in an effort to learn about the workings of the universe. During the Renaissance Period, revolutionary ideas emerged about astronomy. One such idea was contributed in 1543 by Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who developed a heliocentric model that depicted the planets orbiting the sun. This was the start of the Copernican Revolution, with the invention of the telescope in 1608 playing a key part. Later developments included the reflecting telescope, astronomical photography, astronomical spectroscopy, radio telescopes, cosmic ray astronomy, infrared telescopes, space telescopes,ultraviolet astronomy, X-ray astronomy, gamma-ray astronomy, space probes, neutrino astronomy, and gravitational-wave astronomy. (Full article...)

The late 19th century was a period of increased tension and conflict between science and religion; the relationship is dramatized in this engraving by W. Ridgway (published in 1878) after Daniel Huntington's 1868 painting Philosophy and Christian Art. An attractive young woman attempts to persuade a wizened natural philosopher of the virtue of Christian art (in the form of an adoration scene), while he resolutely points to his book, the pages of which read "SCIENTIA" and "MECHANICA", in answer. In addition to youth and beauty, the young woman has nature itself, seen through the window, on her side. (In the original painting, the landscape is a somewhat wilder Romantic scene, meant to emphasize the power of nature.)

...that the travel narrative The Malay Archipelago, by biologist Alfred Russel Wallace, was used by the novelist Joseph Conrad as a source for his novel Lord Jim?

...that the seventeenth century philosophers René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Leibniz, along with their Empiricist contemporary Thomas Hobbes all formulated definitions of conatus, an innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself?

...that according to the controversial Hockney-Falco thesis, the rise of realism in Renaissance art, such as Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait (pictured), was largely due to the use of curved mirrors and other optical aids?

Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian-American engineer, futurist, and inventor. He is known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

Born and raised in the Austrian Empire, Tesla first studied engineering and physics in the 1870s without receiving a degree. He then gained practical experience in the early 1880s working in telephony and at Continental Edison in the new electric power industry. In 1884, he immigrated to the United States, where he became a naturalized citizen. He worked for a short time at the Edison Machine Works in New York City before he struck out on his own. With the help of partners to finance and market his ideas, Tesla set up laboratories and companies in New York to develop a range of electrical and mechanical devices. His AC induction motor and related polyphase AC patents, licensed by Westinghouse Electric in 1888, earned him a considerable amount of money and became the cornerstone of the polyphase system, which Westinghouse marketed. (Full article...)

• 1714 - Birth of John Winthrop, American astronomer (d. 1779)

• 1813 - Birth of Thomas Andrews, Irish chemist (d. 1885)

• 1814 - Death of Joseph Bramah, Inventor and Locksmith, notably invented the beer pump

• 1852 - Birth of Albert Abraham Michelson, Prussian-born American physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1931)

• 1901 - Birth of Rudolf Hell, German inventor (d. 2002)

• 1903 - Birth of George Davis Snell, American geneticist, Nobel laureate (d. 1996)

• 1915 - Death of Alois Alzheimer, German neuroscientist (b. 1864)

• 1944 - Birth of Mitchell Feigenbaum, American mathematical physicist

• 1946 - Death of Paul Langevin, French physicist (b. 1872)

• 1953 - Death of Robert Millikan, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1868)

• 1961 - Birth of Eric Allin Cornell, American physicist, Nobel laureate

• 2004 - Death of Herbert C. Brown, English-born American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1912)