Robert Remak (1815 - 1865)

Robert Remak (26 July 1815 – 29 August 1865) was a Jewish Polish/German embryologist, physiologist, and neurologist, born in Posen, Prussia, who discovered that the origin of cells was by the division of pre-existing cells. as well as several other key discoveries. According to historian Paul Weindling, Rudolf Virchow, one of the founders of modern cell […]

Rudolf Virchow (1821 - 1902)

Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow (English /ˈvɪərkoʊ, ˈfɪərxoʊ/; German: [ˈvɪɐ̯çoː]; 13 October 1821 – 5 September 1902) was a German physician, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist, writer, editor, and politician, known for his advancement of public health. He is known as “the father of modern pathology” because his work helped to discredit humourism, bringing more science to […]

Alexander Oparin (1894 - 1980)

Alexander Oparin outlined a way he thought that basic organic chemicals might have formed into microscopic localized systems, from which primitive living things could have developed. He cited work done by de Jong on coacervates and research by others, including himself, into organic chemicals which, in solution, might spontaneously form droplets and layers. Oparin suggested […]

James Hutton (1726 - 1797)

James Hutton inherited from his father the Berwickshire farms of Slighhouses, a lowland farm which had been in the family since 1713, and the hill farm of Nether Monynut. In the early 1750s he moved to Slighhouses and set about making improvements, introducing farming practices from other parts of Britain and experimenting with plant and […]

Ronald Fisher (1890 - 1962)

Ronald Fisher gained a scholarship to study Mathematics at the University of Cambridge in 1909, gaining a First in Astronomy in 1912. In 1915 he published a paper The evolution of sexual preference on sexual selection and mate choice. He published The Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance in 1918, in which […]

Ernst Mayr (1904 - 2005)

Ernst Mayr was the second son of Helene Pusinelli and Dr. Otto Mayr. His father was a jurist (District Prosecuting Attorney at Würzburg)[4] but took an interest in natural history and took the children out on field trips. He learnt all the local birds in Würzburg from his elder brother Otto. He also had access […]

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823 - 1913)

Alfred Russel Wallace OM FRS (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection; his paper on the subject was jointly published with some of Charles Darwin’s writings in 1858. This prompted Darwin to […]

Joseph Jukes (1811 - 1869)

A Sketch of the Physical Structure of Australia … could be considered as Joseph Jukes’ finest or most important contribution to Australian geology. It contained the very first ever complete map of the continent of Australia, imperfect as it was. He designed this map based on a vast collection of notes he had gathered, and […]

Michael Foster (1836 - 1907)

Michael Foster was born in Huntingdon, Huntingdonshire, in March 1836, the son of Michael Foster, FRCS. He was educated at Huntingdon Grammar school and University College School, London. After graduating in medicine in 1859, he began to practise in his native town, but in 1867 he returned to London as teacher of practical physiology at […]

Adam Sedgwick (1785 - 1873)

Adam Sedgwick (22 March 1785 – 27 January 1873) was one of the founders of modern geology. He proposed the Devonian period of the geological timescale. Based on work which he did on Welsh rock strata, he proposed the Cambrian period in 1835, in a joint publication in which Roderick Murchison also proposed the Silurian […]

Laura Scudder (1881 - 1959)

Born in Philadelphia, Laura Scudder worked as a nurse before moving to California. While there she became the first female attorney in Ukiah, California before moving south to Monterey Park, California, where she started her food company in 1926. At first, potato chips were packaged in barrels or tins, which left chips at the bottom stale […]

Randy Shilts (1951 - 1994)

Born August 8, 1951, in Davenport, Iowa, Randy Shilts grew up in Aurora, Illinois, with five brothers in a conservative, working-class family. He majored in journalism at the University of Oregon, where he worked on the student newspaper, the Oregon Daily Emerald, becoming an award-winning managing editor. During his college days, he came out publicly […]

Gilbert Baker (1951 - 2017)

Gilbert Baker (June 2, 1951 – March 31, 2017) was an American artist and gay rights activist who designed the rainbow flag in 1978. Baker’s flag became widely associated with LGBT rights causes, a symbol of pride that became ubiquitous in the decades since its debut. Gilbert Baker was born on June 2, 1951 in Chanute, […]

Anna of Austria (1528 - 1590)

Anna of Austria (Prague, July 7, 1528 – Munich, October 16, 1590) was the daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and his wife Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547). Anna was the third of fifteen children. Her siblings included: Elizabeth, Queen of Poland, Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, Catherine, Queen […]

Ernest of Bavaria (1554 - 1612)

Ernest of Bavaria (German: Ernst von Bayern) (17 December 1554 – 17 February 1612) was Prince-elector-archbishop of the Archbishopric of Cologne from 1583 to 1612 as successor of the expelled Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg. He was also bishop of Münster, Hildesheim, Freising and Liège. Ernest of Bavaria was born in Munich, the son of Albert V, […]

Karl Joseph Schulte (1871 - 1941)

Karl Joseph Schulte (14 September 1871 – 11 March 1941), was a German Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Cologne from 1920 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1921. Karl Joseph Schulte was born in Haus Valbert (part of Lennestadt), to Oswald and Antonetta (née Schlünder) Schulte. […]

Anton Hubert Fischer (1840 - 1912)

Anton Hubert Fischer (Antonius Fischer) (30 May 1840, in Jülich, Rhine Province – 30 July 1912, in Neuenahr) was a Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cologne and Cardinal. The son of a professor, he was educated at the Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium at Cologne, making his theological studies at the University of Bonn and the Academy of Münster. […]

Paul Melchers (1813 - 1895)

Paul Melchers was born in Münster. He studied law at Bonn (1830–33), and a few years practice at Münster, took up theology at Munich under Heinrich Klee, Joseph Görres, Karl Joseph Hieronymus Windischmann and Ignaz von Döllinger. Ordained in 1841, Paul Melchers was assigned to duty in the village of Haltern. In 1844 he became […]

Chuck Berry (1926 - 2017)

Chuck Berry Chuck Berry, who with his indelible guitar licks, brash self-confidence and memorable songs about cars, girls and wild dance parties did as much as anyone to define rock ’n’ roll’s potential and attitude in its early years, died on Saturday at his home near Wentzville, Mo. He was 90. The St. Charles County […]

Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1970)

Thomas Hardy was born on 2 June 1840 in Higher Bockhampton (then Upper Bockhampton), a hamlet in the parish of Stinsford to the east of Dorchester in Dorset, England, where his father Thomas (1811–1892) worked as a stonemason and local builder, and married his mother Jemima (née Hand;[4] 1813–1904) in Beaminster, towards the end of […]

Matthew Webb (1848 - 1883)

Matthew Webb was born at Dawley, Telford, in Shropshire, one of twelve children of a Coalbrookdale doctor. He acquired his ability to swim in the River Severn at Coalbrookdale. In 1860, at the age of twelve, he joined the training ship HMS Conway for two years, then entered the merchant navy and served a three-year […]

Larry Walters (1949 - 1993)

Larry Walters had often dreamed of flying, but was unable to become a pilot in the United States Air Force because of his poor eyesight. He first thought of using weather balloons to fly at age 13 and 14, after seeing them hanging from the ceiling of a military surplus store. Twenty years later, he […]

Timothy Treadwell (1957 - 2003)

Timothy Treadwell studied grizzly bears during summer seasons for 13 years, before being killed by one of them. According to his book, Among Grizzlies: Living with Wild Bears in Alaska, his mission to protect bears began in the late 1980s after surviving a heroin overdose. He claims in his book that his drug addiction grew […]

Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 [O.S. 7 September] – 13 December 1784), often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory, and is described by the Oxford Dictionary […]

Daniel Webster (1782 - 1852)

Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American politician who twice served in the United States House of Representatives, representing New Hampshire (1813–1817) and Massachusetts (1823–1827), served as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1827–1841 and 1845–1850) and was twice the United States Secretary of State, under Presidents William Henry Harrison and […]

Noah Webster (1758 - 1843)

Noah Webster was born in the Western Division of Hartford (which became West Hartford, Connecticut) to an established family. His father Noah Sr. (1722–1813) was a descendant of Connecticut Governor John Webster; his mother Mercy (Steele) Webster (1727–1794) was a descendant of Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony. His father was primarily a farmer, though […]

William Seward Webb (1851 - 1926)

William Seward Webb (January 31, 1851 – October 29, 1926) was a businessman, and Inspector General of the Vermont militia with the rank of Colonel. He was a founder and former President of the Sons of the American Revolution. William Seward Webb was born on January 31, 1851 to James Watson Webb. He studied medicine […]

Bernice Fisher (1916 - 1966)

As an activist Bernice Fisher headed a cell with the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) in Chicago to concentrate on race relations. This small cell provided the people for the beginnings of the Committee of Racial Equality (CORE). James Farmer was among the co-founders. The founding members of CORE were James L. Farmer, Jr., Bernice Fisher, […]

George Houser (1916 - 2015)

George Houser joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation in the 1940s and worked with it until the 1950s. It sponsored education and activities related to civil rights for African Americans and the end of segregation. In 1942 with fellow staffer James Farmer and activist Bernice Fisher, and James Robinson he co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) […]

Bayard Rustin (1912 - 1987)

Bayard Rustin (/ˈbaɪərd/; March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987) was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. He was born and raised in Pennsylvania, where his family was involved in civil rights work. In 1936, he moved to Harlem, New York City, where he earned a living […]