Researcher Fanny Hesse dies. She incorporated agar as a solidifier in the culture media for the growth of microorganisms in the laboratory

At the National Museum of Natural Sciences, the Dippi exhibition is inaugurated, a replica of the skeleton of a 27 m diplodocus that has contributed to popularizing paleontology in Spain

The chemist and inventor Georges Claude presented his neon lamp at the Paris Motor Show: he exhibited two tubes of red neon, each 12 meters long

Geologist Ethel Currie is born. She researched in the field of paleontology, studying fossils of sea urchins and goniatitidae (an extinct order that evolved from nautiloids)

The botanist and doctor Caspar Bauhin dies. He introduced binomial nomenclature in the classification of organisms. The ileocecal valve is known as the Bauhin valve in his honor

Ornithologist and ethologist Margaret Morse Nice is born. She is known for her research on sparrows, being the author of the work Studies on the Life History of the Song of the Sparrow

Mathematician Mary Ellen Rudin is born. She is known for her constructions and counterexamples to famous conjectures; the best known of them is Dowker’s space

Mathematician Julia Robinson is born. She studied diophantine equations and decidability theory: she contributed to the proof of Matiyasevich’s theorem on the irresolvability of Hilbert’s tenth problem

Computer scientist Grace Murray Hopper is born. A pioneer in the world of computer science, she was the first programmer to use the Mark I computer

Oceanographer Carmen Aldecoa is born. In 1918, she was the first scientist hired by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography. After leaving her position due to illness, she dedicated her life to teaching

Nuclear physicist Toshiko Yuasa is born. In 1954, she published an article warning about the dangers of hydrogen bomb testing on Bikini Atoll

Scientist Oleg Gazenko is born. He participated in the Soviet space animals program, where he selected and trained the dog Laika, the first animal to orbit the Earth

Physicist and inventor Kristian Birkeland is born. He researched the northern lights and invented an industrial system to fix nitrogen from the air and use it for the production of fertilizers

The genome sequence of the first plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, is completed, a species that has been established as a research model

German astronomer Simon Marius makes the first observation of the Andromeda galaxy, describing it as similar to the flame of a candle seen through a horn

The engineer, inventor and poet Piet Hein is born. He designed new games, such as Soma Cube (a mechanical puzzle) or Hex (an abstract game with deep mathematical foundations)

Computer scientist Mary Kenneth Keller is born. She was co-developer of the BASIC programming language and co-founder of the Association for the Use of Computers in Education (ASCUE)

Engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo is born. He invented the chess player, the first mechanical computer capable of playing chess, and the telekino, to control devices using radio waves

Physicist Claudine Hermann is born. A specialist in solid state physics, she worked at the institutional level to improve the situation of women in science in general and in physics in particular

According to the Julian calendar, biochemistry professor and writer Isaac Asimov is born. He published well-known works of popular science and science fiction, such as the Foundation Series or I, Robot

Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium. After removing the uranium from a sample of uraninite, they observed that it was still radioactive due to the presence of radium, a new chemical element

The United Nations General Assembly approves creating an annual International Day to recognize the critical role of women and girls in science and technology: February 11

Chemist Helen Abbott Michael is born. She is known as the founder of phytochemistry, investigating the relationship between the chemical composition of plants and their growth

Canadian engineer Reginald Fessenden makes the first radio broadcast that incorporated music. Reginald himself played the Christmas carol O Holy Night on the violin

Chemist and statistician Frances Wood is born. She began working on the polymerization and fermentation of grapes, later modifying her interests towards medical statistics

The Sumatra-Andaman earthquake (Indonesia) occurs, one of the most important ever recorded (9.3 Mw or moment magnitude). A devastating tsunami followed with more than 280,000 deaths

Programmer Betty Jean Jennings Bartik is born. She was one of the original programmers of the ENIAC computer

Biologist Berthe Kolochine-Erber is born. She was a renowned specialist in leptospirosis, a zoonotic disease caused by the bacteria Leptospira interrogans

Astronomer Vera Fedorovna Gaze is born. She studied emission nebulae and minor planets

Astronomer Edwin Hubble announces the existence of galaxies other than the Milky Way. In his observations, he used the Hooker telescope (2.54 m), the most powerful in the world at that time

Mathematics teacher Jaime Escalante is born. He made students from humble origins stand out for their knowledge in this subject. The movie Stand and Deliver told his story