"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:

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Books by Johnson, Samuel

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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 @npub1kvnp...hm73 #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.

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Books by Humboldt, Alexander von

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"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:

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Books by Service, Robert W. (Robert William)

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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.

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Chance, Love, and Logic: Philosophical Essays by Charles S. Peirce

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"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.

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Books by Wollstonecraft, Mary

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"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 @npub1kvnp...hm73 Books by John Whittier at PG:

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Books by Whittier, John Greenleaf

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“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:

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Books by Comte, Auguste

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"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:

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Books by Field, Eugene

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"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 @npub1kvnp...hm73 Books by Edgar Rice Burroughs at PG:

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Books by Burroughs, Edgar Rice

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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 @npub1kvnp...hm73 #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:

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Books by Baudelaire, Charles

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"I can see no escape from the conclusion that they are charges of negative electricity carried by particles of matter." "Cathode rays" Philosophical Magazine, 44, 293 (1897). J. J. Thomson died #OTD in 1940. He is credited with the discovery and identification of the electron, the discovery of the first subatomic particle, isotopes, and the invention of the mass spectrometer. via @npub1kvnp...hm73 Books by J. J. Thomson at PG:

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Books by Thomson, J. J. (Joseph John)

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"All of physics is either impossible or trivial. It is impossible until you understand it, and then it becomes trivial." Ernest Rutherford was born #OTD in 1871. Rutherford is known as "the father of nuclear physics" because his research, and work done under him as laboratory director, established the nuclear structure of the atom & the essential nature of radioactive decay as a nuclear process. via @npub1kvnp...hm73 Books by Ernest Rutherford at PG:

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Books by Rutherford, Ernest

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"Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose — a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye..." Frankenstein, 1818 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born #OTD in 1797. She met the young Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1812 and eloped with him to France in July 1814. After her husband’s death in 1822, she returned to England and devoted herself to publicizing his writings and to educating their only surviving child, Percy.

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Books by Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft

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The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is approved by the National Constituent Assembly of France #OTD in 1789. The Declaration was initially drafted by the Marquis de Lafayette, but the majority of the final draft came from the Abbé Sieyès. Influenced by the doctrine of natural right, human rights are held to be universal: valid at all times and in every place. It became the basis for a nation of free individuals protected equally by the law. via @npub1kvnp...hm73 #constitution

"I don't know a better preparation for life than a love of poetry and a good digestion." The Loves of Pelleas and Etarre, 1907 Zona Gale was born #OTD in 1874. She became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1921. Her books based upon her home town were found to be charming and had an intimate sense of realism, in which she captures the underlying feelings and motivations of her characters. via @npub1kvnp...hm73 Books by Zona Gale at PG:

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Books by Gale, Zona

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James Franck was born #OTD in 1882. He won the 1925 Nobel Prize for Physics with Gustav Hertz "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom". His work included the Franck–Hertz experiment, an important confirmation of the Bohr model of the atom. He promoted the careers of women in physics, notably Lise Meitner, Hertha Sponer and Hilde Levi. via @npub1kvnp...hm73 #science #physics

Johann Heinrich Lambert was born #OTD (or 28) in 1728. Lambert was the first to introduce hyperbolic functions into trigonometry. He invented the first practical hygrometer. In 1760, he published a book on photometry. In Neues Organon, he studied the rules for distinguishing subjective from objective appearances, connecting with his work in optics. And he published his version of the nebular hypothesis of the origin of the Solar System. #books #science #mathematics #physics #astronomy