- 1551 English historian William Camden born; wrote Britannia, advancing the art of writing history by first-person examination of primary sources rather than relying on the accounts of other writers.
- 1667 German painter and engraver Jacob Le Blon born; invented the four-color printing process (using cyan, magenta, yellow and black -- CMYK).
- 1775 Benjamin Franklin completes the first scientific study of the Gulf Stream.
- 1797 Canadian chemist Abraham Gesner born; discovered kerosene by distilling crude oil, which replaced whale oil in lamps, thereby helping to "save the whales".
- 1800 English chemist William Nicholson discovers that electricity can dissociate water into hydrogen and oxygen gases.
- 1890 American chemist and writer E. E. Smith ("Doc" Smith) born; father of the Space Opera; wrote the Skylark and the Lensmen series of novels; his imaginative science fiction technologies influenced military technologies such as SDI, stealth, frequency-hopping spread spectrum, the CIC (combat information center), C3 (command, control and communications), AWACS, and the OODA Loop. Close friend of Robert Heinlein, who wrote a brief biography of Doc Smith.
- 1903 American pediatrician Benjamin Spock (Dr. Spock) born; wrote Baby and Child Care, influencing millions of parents.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Today in History: May 2
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And remember, Dr. Spock is not "Mr. Spock" of Star Trek.
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