Science Events

1000BC Indian Physician, Sushruta Samhita, Describes Diabetes Symptoms and Treatments
Sushruta described diabetes (madhumeha) as a disease characterized by passage of large amount of urine, sweet in taste, hence the name “madhumeha” — honey like urine. He goes on to say th...
1553 Oct 27 Michael Servetus is Burned at the Stake
Michael Servetus (Spanish: Miguel Serveto Conesa), was an Aragonese theologian, physician, cartographer, and Renaissance humanist. He was the first European to correctly describe the func...
1609 Aug 21 Galileo Demonstrates His Telescope to Venetian Lawmakers
"Galileo Galilei, a most humble servant of Your Serene Highness, being diligently attentive, with all his spirit, not only to discharging the duties pertaining to the lecturing of mathemat..." —Galileo Galilei, to the Doge of Venice
1822 Dec 27 Louis Pasteur Is Born
Louis Pasteur was born on December 27, 1822, in Dole in the Jura region of France, into the family of a poor tanner. Louis grew up in the town of Arbois. He gained degrees in Letters and ...
1845 Aug 28 Scientific American Publishes Its First Issue
Scientific American, the oldest continuously published magazine in the U.S., has been bringing its readers unique insights about developments in science and technology for more than 160 y...
1848 Louis Pasteur Discovers Molecular Chirality
There's an easy way to understand chirality. Hold out your hands, palms facing each other. Imagine that each hand is the chemical structure of a molecule. Most complex molecules are chira...
1849 May 29 Louis Pasteur Marries Marie Laurent
Arriving in Strasbourg in January of 1849, he met Marie Laurent, daughter of the university's rector. With characteristic decisiveness, Pasteur proposed marriage within a few weeks, and i...
1854 Louis Pasteur Is Named Dean of Faculty of Sciences At The University of Lille
In 1854 Pasteur, then 32 years of age, was appointed Professor of Chemistry and Dean of the newly organized Faculté des Sciences in the city of Lille, the richest center of industrial act...
1857 Oct Louis Pasteur Is Appointed Director of Scientific Studies of the Ecole Normale Superieure
In October, 1857, Pasteur returned to Pairs, having accepted appointments as Administrator of the Ecole Normale as Director of Scientific Department of the College. There he sought a plac...
1858 Aug 20 Charles Darwin Publishes 'On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties'
This famous paper originally appeared in the Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology, but has been printed in books, in part or in whole, several times since. The events and cor...
1859 Nov 24 Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species is Published
On the Origin of Species proved unexpectedly popular, with the entire stock of 1,250 copies oversubscribed when it went on sale to booksellers on 22 November 1859. In the book, Darwin set...
1861 Louis Pasteur Discovers Anaerobiosis
An anaerobic organism or anaerobe is any organism that does not require oxygen for growth, could possibly react negatively and may even die in its presence. There are three types: obligat...
1862 Apr 20 Louis Pasteur And Claude Bernard Complete The First Pasteurization Test
The process of pasteurization was named after Louis Pasteur, a French chemist / microbiologist, who discovered that spoilage organisms could be inactivated in wine by applying heat at tem...
1867 May 7 Alfred Nobel Obtains a Patent for Dynamite in England
Dynamite is an explosive material based on the explosive potential of nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth (kieselgur: United States spelling; kieselguhr: UK spelling) or ano...
1868 Aug 18 Discovery of Helium
Helium is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. It is inert, not reacting with any element, including itself, and so tiny that it is used to find microscopic leaks. How did we ever discover...
1876 Louis Pasteur Disproves The Doctrine of Spontaneous Generation
Spontaneous generation, also called abiogenesis, is the belief that some living things can arise suddenly, from inanimate matter, without the need for a living progenitor to give them lif...
1878 Louis Pasteur Inoculates Chickens Against Cholera
During the heat of the summer, Pasteur returned to Paris leaving the cholera cultures used for infection stored on the shelves of the Arbois laboratory. Upon return, Pasteur's collaborato...
1881 Jun 2 Louis Pasteur Demonstrates Anthrax Vaccine
In 1877, Louis Pasteur began his animal experiments with anthrax. After years of attempting to infect animals, he announced that he had developed a means of protecting sheep against anthr...
1885 Jul 6 Louis Pasteur Uses First Successful Rabies Vaccine
"Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: My strength lies solely in my tenacity." —Louis Pasteur
1887 Jun 4 Pasteur Institute Is Founded
The international subscription launched by the French Académie des Sciences in 1887 to allow Louis Pasteur to found his institute and thus provide rabies vaccinations, pursue the study of...
1895 Sep 28 Louis Pasteur Dies
Prof. Pasteur's condition became seriously worse on the evening of Friday last. Albuminuria was observed, the heart became very weak, and painful and violent spasms became frequent. Abo...
1928 Sep 28 Alexander Fleming Discovers Penicillin
"When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer, but I guess th..." —Sir Alexander Fleming
1934 Nov 9 Carl Sagan is Born
Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He spent most of his ca...
1942 Dec 2 First Self-Sustained Nuclear Chain Reaction Achieved
At 3:25 P.M. on December 2, 1942, the Atomic Age began inside an enormous tent on a squash court under the stands of the University of Chicago's Stagg Field. There, scientists headed by ...
1958 Jul 29 NASA Established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act
The National Aeronautics and Space Act (Pub.L. 85-568) is the United States federal statute that created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Act, which followed ...
1960 'Tesla' Defined As a Unit of Measure
The tesla (symbol T) is the SI derived unit of magnetic field B (which is also known as "magnetic flux density" and "magnetic induction"). One tesla is equal to one weber per square meter...
1962 Aug 27 Launch of Mariner 2 Space Probe
Mariner 2 was the first successful mission to another planet by any country. Launched just 36 days after the failure of its twin, Mariner 1, it flew by Venus as planned at a range of 34,7...
1967 Dec 3 First Human-to-Human Heart Transplant is Performed
I was 15 years old when Christiaan Barnard performed the first heart transplant. I still have the Life magazine cover. My dad was a cardiologist, so the drama carried out in the public's ...
1977 Aug 20
2:29PM
 NASA Launches Voyager 2
The Voyager 2 spacecraft is an unmanned interplanetary space probe launched on August 20, 1977. Both the Voyager 2 and the Voyager 1 space probes were designed, developed, and built at th...
1984 Feb First TED Conference Held
TED was founded by Richard Saul Wurman and Harry Marks in 1984, and has been held annually since 1990. Wurman left after the 2002 conference; the event is now hosted by Chris Anderson and...
1984 Nov 20 SETI Institute is Founded
Founded in November 1984, the SETI Institute began operations on February 1, 1985. Today it employs over 150 scientists, educators and support staff. Research at the Institute is anchored...
2008 Apr 30 HP Labs Develops Switching Memristor
On April 30, 2008 a team at HP Labs announced the development of a switching memristor. Based on a thin film of titanium dioxide, it has a regime of operation with an approximately linear...
2009 Feb 4
to 2009 Feb 7
 TED 2009 held in Long Beach, CA
Normally the TED Conference is held in Monterey, CA, but in 2009 (the 25th Anniversary of the conference) it moved to Long Beach to accommodate a larger number of visitors. Perhaps the m...
2009 Jul 29 The International Agency for Research on Cancer Determines Tanning Beds Are As Carcinogenic as Cigarettes
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Sunbeds pose a similar cancer risk as cigarettes and asbestos, according to an international cancer research agency. The International Agency for Research o...
2009 Nov 13 NASA's LCROSS Lunar Satellite Discovers 'Significant' Water on the Moon
(CNN) -- NASA said Friday it had discovered water on the moon, opening "a new chapter" that could allow for the development of a lunar space station. The discovery was announced by pro...
2009 Nov 29 Scientists in the Netherlands Annouce Creation of First Lab-Grown Pork
SCIENTISTS have grown meat in the laboratory for the first time. Experts in Holland used cells from a live pig to replicate growth in a petri dish. The advent of so-called “in-vitro” o...
2010 Mar 20
to 2010 May 23
 Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull
Eyjafjallajoekull, which is currently filling the sky above northern Europe with ash, is a minor player in Icelandic terms - though its last eruption lasted for more than a year, from Dec...
2010 May 20 Geneticist Craig Venter Says Team has Created First Synthetic Cell
Dr. Venter calls the result a “synthetic cell” and is presenting the research as a landmark achievement that will open the way to creating useful microbes from scratch to make products li...
2010 Oct 4 Robert G. Edwards Is Awarded The Nobel Prize For Medicine
The Nobel prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded this year to Robert G. Edwards, an English biologist who with a physician colleague, Dr. Patrick Steptoe, developed the in vitro...
2010 Oct 14 Benoit Mandelbrot Dies
Benoît B. Mandelbrot, a maverick mathematician who developed the field of fractal geometry and applied it to physics, biology, finance and many other fields, died on Thursday in Cambridge...
2010 Nov 17 Researchers at CERN Successfully Isolate 38 Atoms of Anti-Hydrogen
Scientists have captured antimatter atoms for the first time, a breakthrough that could eventually help us to understand the nature and origins of the universe. Researchers at CERN, th...
2010 Dec 2 NASA Discovers New Life Form
A new species of bacteria found in California's Mono Lake is the first known life-form that uses arsenic to make its DNA and proteins, scientists announced today. (Get a genetics overview...
2011 Sep 15 Multicolored Dinosaur Feathers Discovered in Alberta
An extraordinary collection of ancient feather fragments preserved in amber has opened a window into a lost world, one that now appears populated by dinosaurs covered in plumage as rich a...
2011 Oct 21 Giant Amoebas Discoverd Six Miles Below Ocean's Surface
Scientists plumbing the depths of the Mariana Trench -- the deepest part of the ocean on the planet -- have identified gigantic amoebas lurking miles and miles beneath the waters. The ...
2011 Oct 29 NASA Launches Earth-Observing Satellite
After a years-long delay, an Earth-observing satellite blasted into space early Friday on a dual mission to improve weather forecasts and monitor climate change.
2011 Nov 4 520 Mock Mars Mission Ends
Six men who lived in cramped, windowless compartments for more than 17 months to simulate a mission to Mars emerged Friday from their capsules, looking haggard but all smiles, and dreamin...
2011 Nov 26 NASA Launches Mars Rover Curiosity
The world's biggest extraterrestrial explorer, NASA's Curiosity rover, rocketed toward Mars on Saturday on a search for evidence that the red planet might once have been home to itsy-bits...
2012 Feb 5 Russian Exploration Team Reaches Ancient Arctic Lake
Russia said on Wednesday it had pierced through Antarctica's frozen crust to a vast, subglacial lake that has lain untouched for at least 14 million years hiding what scientists believe m...
2012 Mar 16 Neutrinos Found Not to Travel Faster Than Light
European researchers said Friday they have measured the speed of neutrinos and found the subatomic particles don't travel faster than light after all
2012 Apr 24 Swiss Scientists Demonstrate Thought-Controlled Robot
Swiss scientists have demonstrated how a partially paralyzed person can control a robot by thought alone.