French novelist, memoirist and journalist George Sand died #OTD in 1876.
Sand's writing combines elements of Romanticism and early Realism, with rich descriptions, strong emotions, and detailed character studies. Her novels often critique societal norms, particularly the limitations placed on women and the injustices faced by the lower classes.
Irish mathematician Alicia Boole Stott was born #OTD in 1860.
She discovered & described many four-dimensional polytopes & coined the term “polytope” to generalize polygons & polyhedra to higher dimensions. She extensively used Schläfli symbols to categorize and describe polytopes. Later in life, Alicia worked with Harold Coxeter and their collaboration furthered the understanding of regular polytopes and three-dimensional projections of four-dimensional figures.
Italian mathematician, astronomer and engineer Giovanni Domenico Cassini was born #OTD in 1625.
His observations & calculations helped to confirm & refine Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. He formulated Cassini’s Law, describing the rotational behavior of the Moon, which was crucial for understanding the Moon's synchronous rotation with the Earth. He was involved in measuring the meridian arc of Paris, contributing to the accurate determination of the shape of the Earth.
8 June 1587: Dr Nicholas Wendon, former Archdeacon of #Suffolk, Provost of St. Géry Cambrai writes to Philip II of #Spain#otd requesting an increase in his pension to 20 crowns a month to equal those paid to "most English gentlemen of quality"
8 June 1630: John Punch of #Cork#Franciscan & Scotist philosopher becomes the governor of the Ludovisian #Irish College for secular clergy at #Rome#otd (JMcC)
Greenlandic-Danish polar explorer and anthropologist Knud Rasmussen was born #OTD in 1879.
He went on his first expedition in 1902–1904, known as The Danish Literary Expedition, with Jørgen Brønlund, Harald Moltke and Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen, to examine Inuit culture and traditions. Rasmussen is best known for leading the Thule Expeditions, a series of seven major expeditions between 1912 and 1933.
English mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing died #OTD in 1954.
During World War II, he played a crucial role in deciphering the Enigma code used by the German military, significantly contributing to the Allied war effort. In his paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," he proposed the famous Turing Test as a criterion for determining whether a machine can exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from that of a human.
"Colour! What a deep and mysterious language, the language of dreams.... Color which, like music, is a matter of vibrations, reaches what is most general and therefore most indefinable in nature: its inner power."
The writings of a savage
French painter and sculptor Paul Gauguin was born #OTD in 1848.