On This Day in Fact and Fiction
December 25, 2024
1642: Isaac Newton born. He will be widely recognized as one of the most influential scientists of all time and a key figure in the scientific revolution.
1730: Physician and activist Filippo Mazzei born. Mazzei will act as an agent to purchase arms for Virginia during the American Revolutionary War.
1763: Inventor Claude Chappe born. Chappe will invent and develop a practical semaphore system that will span all of France -- the first practical telecommunications system of the industrial age.
2016: Astronomer and academic Vera Rubin dies. She discovered the discrepancy between the predicted angular motion of galaxies and the observed motion, by studying galactic rotation curves.
"On This Day in Fact and Fiction" is sponsored by Gnomon Chronicles Industries.