Every month, Pacific Science Center publishes a Calendar of Science, a compendium of science facts to add a little knowledge to your daily routine. So, read on and discover a few things you may not have known. If you would like to receive a daily dose of science, subscribe to →Calendar of Science on Twitter. We've also set up a →Google Calendar to which you may subscribe. Have a comment or question? Please →drop us a line. Remember, life's boring without discovery!
Nov. 2, 1885- Birthday of astronomer Harlow Shapley, who made the first accurate estimate of the size of the Milky Way galaxy and who located the center of the galaxy in the constellation Sagittarius.
Nov. 3, 1957- The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2 into space. It contained a Siberian husky named Laika, who was the first living creature to travel into space.
Nov. 4, 1922- Archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh King Tutankhamen. Unlike other tombs it had not been plundered, and so contained hundreds of well preserved artifacts.
Nov. 5, 1906- Birthday of astronomer Fred Whipple, who proposed that comets are "dirty snowballs," consisting of water ice and rock dust.
Nov. 6, 1572- A supernova appeared in the constellation Cassiopeia. Astronomer Tycho Brahe determined that it was very far away, like the stars, and invented the word nova (Latin for new) to refer to it.
Nov. 7, 1867- Birthday of chemist Marie Curie, who together with her husband Pierre Curie discovered radium and invented the word radioactivity.
Nov. 8, 1895- Physicist Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays.
Nov. 9, 1967- NASA conducted the first successful test flight of a Saturn 5 rocket. It was the largest rocket ever built and two years later it took people to the Moon.
Nov. 10, 1951- Direct-dial long distance telephone service using three-digit area codes began in the U.S. Previously, long distance calls had to be placed through an operator.
Nov. 11, 1862- Birthday of astronomer Vesto Slipher, who discovered that the spectra of most galaxies are red-shifted.
Nov. 12, 1842- Birthday of physicist John Strutt (later known as Lord Rayleigh), who discovered that the sky is blue because of the scattering of sunlight by nitrogen and oxygen molecules in the air (now called Rayleigh scattering).
Nov. 13, 1971- The U.S. spacecraft Mariner 9 became the first artificial satellite of another planet when it entered orbit around Mars. Eventually it sent back photographs of the entire surface of Mars.
Nov. 14, 1792- Birthday of geologist Charles Lyell, who wrote The Principles of Geology, in which he showed that the Earth must be at least several hundred million years old.
Nov. 15, 1738- Birthday of astronomer William Herschel, who discovered Uranus.
Nov. 16, 1974- The Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico broadcast the first interstellar message, consisting of 1,679 ones and zeroes. It was aimed at a star cluster in Hercules and will reach its target in about 25,000 years.
Nov. 17, 1902- Birthday of physicist Eugene Wigner, who wrote "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences."
Nov. 18, 1883- The U.S. introduced four standard time zones, a system which is still in use.
Nov. 19, 1722- Birthday of physician Leopold Auenbrugger, who developed the technique of striking the chest with short sharp taps in order to diagnose chest disorders (now called percussion).
Nov. 20, 1889- Birthday of astronomer Edwin Hubble, who showed that spiral nebulas are external galaxies outside the Milky Way, and who discovered that the universe is expanding.
Nov. 21, 1998- High school students at Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts, announced that they had discovered a Kuiper Belt object about 100 miles in diameter. It was given the name 1998 FS144.
Nov. 22, 1969- Biochemist Jonathan Beckwith announced that he had isolated a single gene from a bacterium. This was the first time a single gene had been isolated from any organism.
Nov. 23, 1869- Birthday of engineer Valdemar Poulsen, who invented a method of storing data on a magnetic wire which was the ancestor of the tape recorder and the computer hard drive.
Nov. 24, 1859- Biologist Charles Darwin's book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection was published. It sold out on the first day.
Nov. 25, 1976- As Mars passed behind the Sun, the Viking 1 spacecraft sent a radio signal to Earth which was slowed down by the Sun's gravity by 2 ten thousandths of a second, confirming Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Nov. 26, 1837- Birthday of chemist John Newlands, who discovered that when the elements are listed by atomic weight, every eighth element has similar properties. This was a precursor of the periodic table.
Nov. 27, 1701- Birthday of physicist Anders Celsius, who invented the Celsius temperature scale.
Nov. 28, 1968- Astronomer Jocelyn Bell discovered the first pulsar.
Nov. 29, 1803- Birthday of physicist Christian Doppler, who discovered that sound waves shift frequency if the source moves toward or away from the observer (now called the Doppler effect).
Nov. 30, 1974- In Hadar, Ethiopia, paleontologists Donald Johanson and Tom Gray found the 3.2 million year old skeleton of a female hominid, Australopithecus afarensis, which they named Lucy.