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June 6 in Physics History

Physics history will help you to develop a better understanding of the physics world!

birthdays & deaths

Explore all birthdays & deaths of physicists occurred on this day with their short biography!

physics Events

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June 6 in Physics History - Births – Physicists born on June 6

David Scott (Born On 6 Jun 1932)

He was an American astronaut who drove a wheeled vehicle on the moon on 31st July 1971. His crew was Neil Armstrong in Gemini 8, which was launched on 16 March 1966. They conducted the first docking in space. He flew on the Apollo 9 mission that was launched on 3 March 1969 for a 10 day Earth orbit test of the first complete set of Apollo hardware. He was in command of the Apollo 15 mission which made the fourth lunar landing. He became the seventh person to walk on the moon.

Heinrich Rohrer (6 Jun 1933 - 16 May 2013)

He was a Swiss physicist who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with Gerd Binnig in 1986 for inventing the scanning tunneling microscope. The electron microscope of Ruska of the 1930’s was unable to show surface structure at the atomic level. They begin work on the scanning tunneling microscope in 1978 which used a fine probe within a few angstroms of the surface of the sample. A positive voltage on the probe enables electrons to move from the sample to the probe by the tunnel effect. The detected current can be used to keep the probe at a constant distance from the surface. 3D images of the surface can be traced as the probe moves in parallel lines.

Ferdinand Braun (6 Jun 1850 - 20 Apr 1918)

He was a Canadian physicist who was the founding director of the Institute of Applied Optics at the University of Rochester. He secured photographic recordings of cosmic rays and the disintegration of Radium atoms. He announced the perfection of a camera that was able to record the footprints of invisible atoms after they collide in April 1939. He received a medal from the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain because of his work on the use of photographic emulsion in the study of Radium emissions. He also developed a camera that could determine the energy levels inside the nuclei of stable chemical elements. He died of a heart attack.

T. Russell Wilkins (6 Jun 1891 - 10 Dec 1940)

He was a German physicist who developed the wireless telegraphy with Guglielmo Marconi. He got the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909. He also demonstrated the first cathode-ray oscilloscope in 1897 when he worked on high-frequency alternating currents. He wrote papers on the deviations from ohm’s law and also on the calculations of electromotive force from thermal sources. He produced a narrow stream of electrons that had previously been characterized by uncontrolled rays.

Godegroy Wendelin (6 Jun 1580 - 24 Oct 1667)

He was a Flemish astronomer who was known as the Ptolemy of his time. Even though the church was against him, he was an audacious proponent of the Copernican theory. He believed that the planets orbit the sun. He calculated more accurate measurements of the distance to the sun from the geometrical relationships at the exact time of a half-moon. He noted the temperature effect on the period of a pendulum and also observed that as the amplitude is increased, the period of the swings also increases. Newton mentioned him in his Principia.

Regiomontanus (6 Jun 1436 - 6 Jul 1476)

He was a German astronomer and mathematician who helped revive and advance trigonometry in Europe. He made observations of a comet that were accurate enough to allow it to be identified with Halley’s Comet in 1472. He observed several eclipses of the Moon and his interest in the motion of the Moon let him to understand that the method of lunar distances could be used to determine longitude at sea.

June 6 in Physics History - Deaths – Physicists died on June 6

No Physicist Died On This Day

June 6 in Physics History - Events – Physics Events of June 6

Thomas Edison's Patent Was Issued

On thi day, Thomas Alva Edison was issued a patent for his filament for incandescent lamps and the process of manufacturing the same in 1899.

April 12 in Physics History

Physics history will help you to develop a better understanding of the physics world!

birthdays & deaths

Explore all birthdays & deaths of physicists occurred on this day with their short biography!

physics Events

Know all important discoveries made by physicists & events happened on this day with complete information!

April 12 in Physics History - Births – Physicists born on April 12

Edward Walter Maunder (12 Apr 1851 - 21 Mar 1928)

He was an English astronomer who first started the British Civil Services Commission examination for the post of photographic and spectroscopic assistant at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. He worked at the observatory for the next forty years measuring the sunspots and checking historic records. He found a lack of reports on sunspots from 1645 to 1715. Instead of questioning this, he started researching and found that there are indeed decades-long times when the sun has very few sunspots. Now we call these periods as Maunder minima.

Ferdinand von Lindemann (12 Apr 1852 - 6 Mar 1939)

He was a German mathematician who proved that π is not a solution to any algebraic equation with a rational coefficient. This explained the insoluble natural or classical Greek mathematical problem of constructing a square with the same area as a given circle using a ruler and compasses alone. He discussed Hermite’s methods that he used to prove that ‘e’ is transcendental. He extended Hermite’s results in 1882 to show that π was also transcendental.

April 12 in Physics History - Deaths – Physicists died on April 12

Charles Messier (26 Jun 1730 - 12 Apr 1817)

He was a French astronomer who first compiled a systematic catalog of “M objects” and discovered 15 comets. His catalog contained nebulae, 103-star clusters, and galaxies. He concluded the alphanumeric names for objects like M1, M2, etc.

Geoffrey F. Chew (5 Jun 1924 - 12 Apr 2019)

He was an American physicist who led the group of S-matrix theorists researching the strong interaction and the bootstrap principle. He was a graduate student of Enrico Fermi. His group calculated the interactions of bound-states without assuming that there is a point-particle field theory underneath.

Igor Tamm (8 Jul 1895 - 12 Apr 1971)

He was a Soviet physicist who shared the Noble Prize with Pavel A  Cherenkov, and Ilya M. Frank for physics for his works in explaining Cherenkov radiation. He developed the theoretical interpretation of the Cherenkov effect which states that the radiation of electrons moves faster than the speed of light through matter. He also developed a method for studying the interaction of nuclear particles and contributed towards the methods for the control of thermonuclear reactions.

April 12 in Physics History - Events – Physics Events of April 12

First Man To Orbit The Earth

On this day, Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth in 1961. The control of the spacecraft was locked to prevent him from taking control of the ship. It had a radio, television, and life-supporting equipment. He ejected and made a planned descent landing with his parachute but the Soviet Union denied this to save its reputation. After 7 years, he died in a plane crash.

The First Yo-Yo Toy In Space

The first yo-yo toy was taken into space in the Space Shuttle Discovery mission 51-D in 1985. With this yellow plastic Duncan Imperial yo-yo, other toys were exhibited during a time in orbit. Astronauts did the tricks with toys but the yo-yo sleeper trick couldn’t work without normal gravity. While spinning, the gyroscope showed exceptional stability. The flywheel slowed without normal gravity.

Space Shuttle Columbia Was Launched

Columbia, the American Space Shuttle was launched into space in 1981. John W. Young was the mission commander.