January 1, 1769
Midwife Marie-Louise Lachapelle is born. She was director of obstetrics at the Hôtel-Dieu, the oldest hospital in Paris. Because of her teachings, she is considered the mother of modern obstetrics
January 2, 1972
Engineer Lillian Moller Gilbreth dies. An efficiency expert, she contributed to the study of industrial engineering in fields such as movement and human factors
January 3, 1873
Botanist Mary Strong Clemens is born. She collected flora specimens diligently throughout her life, in remote parts of the Philippines, Borneo, China, Australia and New Guinea
January 4, 1883
Phytopathologist Johanna Westerdijk is born. Among others, she was responsible for maintaining the collection of some 80 mushroom cultures of the International Association of Botanists
January 5, 1943
Agronomist and botanist George Washington Carver dies. He extracted more than 300 products from peanuts for food and industrial use
January 6, 1875
Microbiologist and nutritionist Harriette Chick is born. Together with Elsie Dalyell, she discovered the nutritional factor that causes rickets and demonstrated how to cure and prevent it
January 7, 1894
Inventor William K. L. Dickson receives a patent for a motion picture film. In 1895, he founded the Biograph Company, one of the most prolific film studios of its time
January 8, 1927
Aerospace physicist and inventor Virginia Tower Norwood is born. She contributed to the Landsat program, designing the multispectral scanner first used on Landsat 1
January 9, 1869
Chemist Richard Wilhelm Heinrich Abegg is born. He was the first researcher to say that the chemical valence must be related to the electronic configuration
January 10, 1729
The naturalist Lazzaro Spallanzani is born. He was passionate about the study of digestion, demonstrating that this is a chemical process and not a mechanical one, as was believed until then
January 11, 1892
Entomologist and scientific illustrator Doris Holmes Blake is born. She was an expert on chrysomelids (leaf beetles)
January 12, 1917
Statistician Stella Vivian Cunliffe is born. She was the first woman to chair the Royal Statistical Society of the United Kingdom
January 13, 1913
Civil engineer Enedina Alves Marques is born. She worked on the use of water from the Capivari, Cachoeira and Iguazú rivers and built the Capivari-Cachoeira hydroelectric plant (Brazil).
January 14, 1901
The logician Alfred Tarski is born. That same day, but in 1978, the also logician Kurt Gödel died. In his tribute, January 14th commemorates World Logic Day
January 15, 2001
Wikipedia is officially born, a free and polyglot encyclopedia that is edited collaboratively. It is administered by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization
January 16, 2009
The Río Hortega University Hospital (Valladolid) is inaugurated. Its name recovers the figure of the neurobiologist Pío del Río Hortega, whose career and recognition were hindered by his open homosexuality
January 17, 1624
The mathematician, writer and architect Guarino Guarini is born. He wrote a series of mathematical books, including Euclides adauctus, one of the first treatises on descriptive geometry
January 18, 1779
Physicist, mathematician, doctor, philologist and lexicographer Peter Mark Roget is born. He studied the persistence of the retina, the origin of the cartoon. He published the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases
January 19, 1904
Chemist Lucy Weston Pickett is born. She is known for her investigations of organic molecules by X-ray crystallography and ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy
January 20, 1943
Cardiologist Valentín Fuster is born. He has published numerous studies on coronary artery conditions, arteriosclerosis and thrombosis. In 1996, he received the Prince of Asturias Award
January 21, 1935
Naval engineer Raye Jean Montague is born. He created the first computer design system for military ships, thus radically changing the way they were manufactured and used
January 22, 1855
The doctor Albert Neisser is born. He discovered the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the causative agent of gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted infection
January 23, 1909
Archaeologist Tatiana Proskouriakof is born. She contributed to deciphering Mayan writing and proposed a dating system for monuments based on the morphology and sculptural style of the pieces
January 24, 1809
Mariano de la Paz Graells, one of the most prominent Spanish scientists of the 19th century, is born. He directed the National Museum of Natural Sciences and undertook valuable projects in applied zoology
January 25, 1867
The doctor Adelaide Cabete is born. She educated other women in child care and feminine hygiene, and encouraged the opening of maternity hospitals
January 26, 1886
Doctor Fidel Pagés, pioneer in the development of epidural anesthesia, is born. Due to his early death and because his work was not translated, his discoveries were unknown for years
January 27, 1902
Astronomer Margaret Walton Mayall is born. She worked on photometry and spectral classes of variable stars. She also headed the American Association of Variable Star Observers
January 28, 1540
Mathematician Ludolph van Ceulen is born. An exceptional calculator, he is known primarily for having approximated the value of the number pi to 35 exact decimal places
January 29, 1881
Microbiologist Alice C. Evans is born. She discovered the transmission mechanism of brucellosis, recommending the pasteurization of cow’s milk to avoid this disease