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May 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!

May 12 In Physics History - Births – Physicists born on May 12

William Francis Giauque (12 May 1895 - 28 Mar 1982)

He was a Canadian-American physical chemist who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry for his achievements in the field of chemical thermodynamics and his work on the behavior of matter at very low temperatures, in 1949. He discovered adiabatic demagnetization as a means to achieve temperatures close to absolute zero. He studied and researched thermodynamics for most of his life and also developed a large body of evidence for the validity of the third law of thermodynamics.

Maurice Ewing (12 May 1906 - 4 May 1974)

He was an American geologist and geophysicist who worked in a range of subjects and made contributions to earthquake seismology, sedimentology, marine acoustics, and tectonics. He used seismic exploration methods in the oceans. He did studies of Earth’s free oscillations and explained the dispersion of sound in seawater. He also greatly renovated the bathythermograph, Sonar, hydrophones, and deep-sea cameras.

May 12 In Physics History - Deaths – Physicists died on May 12

Gerbert d'Aurillac (945 - 12 May 1003)

He was a French scholar who popularised the topics of astronomy and mechanics so that the public would appreciate the benefits of science. He was one of the earliest learned men in his time. He also built clocks, astronomical instruments, and the hydraulic organ. He became the first French pope and was recognized as the most important of his century.

Edme Mariotte (1620 -12 May 1684)

He was a French physicist and plant physiologist who discovered the famous Boyle’s law. Independent of Robert Boyle, he discovered this law that states that the volume of a gas varies inversely with its pressure. He coined the term barometer and stated Boyle’s law in his “Discourse on the Nature of Air” in 1676.

Sir William Huggins (7 Feb 1824 - 12 May 1910)

He was an English astronomer who made structural observations of Nova in 1866. He measured the star’s radial velocity for the very first time. He explored the spectra of stars, nebula, and comets and interpreted their chemical composition. He showed that some nebulae are a cluster of stars whereas some nebulae are uniformly gaseous. He also built his private observatory at Tulse hill when he was 30 years old.

May 12 In Physics History - Events – Physics Events of May 12

Alfred Wegener Body

A search party in Greenland found the frozen body of Alfred Wegener in 1931, on this day. He had been on his fourth expedition since 1906 to study the scrap and its climate. He was a German meteorologist and geophysicist. He concluded that the two continents, South America and Africa were once joined.

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.