Template:Selected anniversaries/May 13

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  1713: Mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist Alexis Clairaut born. Clairaut's work will help to establish the validity of the principles and results that Sir Isaac Newton had outlined in the Principia of 1687.

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  1880: In Menlo Park, New Jersey, inventor Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.

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  1929: Electrical engineer and inventor Arthur Scherbius dies. Scherbius invented and patented the famous mechanical cipher Enigma machine.

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  1937: Writer Roger Zelazny born. Zelazny will win the Nebula award three times, and the Hugo award six times.

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  1974: Physicist and chemist Marguerite Perey dies. Perey discovered the element francium while purifying samples of lanthanum.