Beyond Earth History Blog

 Isaac Asimov   Isaac Asimov Prolific science fiction writer Isaac Asimov was born in Petrovichi, Russian SFSR, on an unknown date between October 4, 1919, and January 2, 1920, inclusive. He celebrated his birthday on January 2. Asimov was brought to the United States with his family in 1923, and became a US citizen in 1928. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Columbia University in 1939, and took a Doctor of Philosophy degree in chemistry in 1948. In 1949 he joined the Boston University School of Medicine, where he became associate professor of biochemistry. He left the position in 1958 and became a full-time writer.    Asimov was central to science fiction’s Golden Age. Across a prolific career spanning five decades, he produced nearly 500 books, but it is his science fiction — particularly the "Foundation" series and his robot stories — that secured his place in literary history.     Asimov's robot stories, collected primarily in "I, Robot" (1...

 New Horizons Arrokoth flyby Color composite image of Arrokoth compiled from data obtained by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute//Roman Tkachenko  The New Horizons spacecraft flew by the Kuiper belt object (KBO) (486958) Arrokoth on January 1, 2019. The closest approach, being 3,538 km, occurred at 05:33 UTC. At 43.4 au from the Sun, it was the farthest object in the Solar System ever to be visited by a spacecraft.    Shortly after the Pluto flyby, in August 2015, the New Horizons team chose a Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 (officially named "Arrokoth" in November 2019) as the next flyby target. In early November 2015 New Horizons fired its thrusters to alter the direction of its trajectory by 1/4 of a degree, to set a course toward a close flyby of Arrokoth.    The approach to Arrokoth began in August 2018, when the spacecraft took its first pictures of its ...

Ceres  The first asteroid  A view of Ceres in natural colour, pictured by the Dawn spacecraft. Images were acquired by Dawn at 04:13 UT May 4, 2015, at a distance of 13,641 km. At the time, Dawn was over Ceres' northern hemisphere. The prominent, bright crater at right is Haulani. The smaller bright spot to its left is exposed on the floor of Oxo. Ejecta from these impacts appears to have exposed high albedo material similar to deposits found on the floor of Occator Crater. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/Justin Cowart On January 1, 1801, Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi (1746–1826)  from the observatory in Palermo, Sicily, discovered the first known asteroid, a dwarf planet (1) Ceres. Originally considered a planet, it was reclassified as an asteroid in the 1850s after the discovery of dozens of other objects in similar orbits. In 2006, it was reclassified again as a dwarf planet. ...

 Johannes Kepler Portrait of Johannes Kepler by Jacob van der Heyden; between 1601 and 1633.  Credit: Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg. Wikimedia Commons Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer, astrologer and mathematician, was born in Weil der Stadt, Württemberg, on December 27, 1571. He was one of the most significant representatives of the so-called Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, and was committed to heliocentric astronomy. Kepler is best known for his three laws of planetary motion, and his books Astronomia nova , Harmonice Mundi , and Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae . These works also provided one of the foundations for Newton's theory of universal gravitation.    Kepler attended Tübingen University from 1591 to 1594. There, he became a convinced follower of the heliocentric astronomy created by Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543). Kepler was pursuin...

 Ariane 1 maiden flight   The launch of the Ariane 1 on its maiden flight from the Guiana Space Centre on December 24, 1979. Credit: ESA The maiden flight of the Ariane 1 launch vehicle, flight L-01, was launched from the ELA-1 complex at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, on December 24, 1979, at 17:14:38 UTC. The payload consisted of a test instrumentation system, known as CAT (Capsule Ariane Technologique), for the purpose of measuring all key stages of the ascent in great detail, such as noise, stress, acceleration, temperature, and pressure. This unit was also designed to simulate a real satellite payload. CAT was successfully placed into an orbit of 202 by 35,753 km.    Ariane 1 was the first rocket in the Ariane family of expendable launch systems. It was developed and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). Development of the Ariane 1 was authorised in July 1973, took eight years, and cost 2 billion 1986 Euros. Ariane 1 was the first launc...

Wright Flyer    The first airplane   First successful flight of the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903. Orville Wright was at the controls of the machine, lying prone on the lower wing with his hips in the cradle which operated the wing-warping mechanism. Wilbur Wright ran alongside to balance the machine, and just released his hold on the forward upright of the right wing in the photo. The starting rail, the wing-rest, a coil box, and other items needed for flight preparation are visible behind the machine. Credit: John T. Daniels/Wikimedia Commons   The first controlled, sustained flight in a powered airplane was made by Orville Wright (1871–1948) in the Wright Flyer (also known as the Kitty Hawk  or Flyer I ) on December 17, 1903. The machine traveled 37 m (120 ft) in 12 seconds at 10:35 a.m. at Kill Devil Hills, south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The aircraft made a total of four flights that day.    The last flight, by Wilbur Wright (1867–1912)...

Arthur C. Clarke Arthur C. Clarke in 1976. Credit: Charles Adams Arthur C. Clarke, an English science fiction writer, science writer, and futurist, is considered one of the most influential science fiction writers of the 20th century, known for combining rigorous scientific accuracy with visionary imagination.     Clarke was born on December 16, 1917, in Minehead, Somerset. He developed a passion for science fiction and space exploration at a young age and was active in fan circles before World War Two. In 1934, he joined the British Interplanetary Society. From 1941 to 1946 he served in the Royal Air Force, becoming a radar instructor, rising to the rank of flight-lieutenant.     In 1945, in an article entitled "Extra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage?", Clarke proposed a satellite communication system using geostationary orbits. It was the first proposal of this type published in English. In 1948, he secured a bachelor...

 Tycho Brahe Tycho Brahe framed by the family shields of his noble ancestors, in a 1586 portrait by Jacques de Gheyn. Credit: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston/Wikimedia Commons Tycho Brahe (born Tyge Ottesen Brahe), Danish astronomer, astrologer, and alchemist, was born on December 14, 1546 in Knutstorp in Skaane, Denmark (now Sweden) into a Danish aristocratic family. When he was only two years old, Tycho was taken away to be raised by his wealthy uncle, and managed to avoid the usual custom of becoming a courtier, ending up in the service of the King. Instead, Tycho pursued his true interests in the humanities and the sciences, particularly astronomy. From 1559 he attended the University of Copenhagen and subsequently studied at universities in Leipzig, Wittenberg, Rostock, Basel, and Augsburg, before returning to Denmark in 1570. In 1566 he lost part of his nose in a duel over a mathematical formula and wore a prosthetic nose for the rest of his life.    After publish...