Today in history @ 29 Jan

Birth anniversaries

a. American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey (b. 1954). Her natural style with guests and audiences on the Oprah Winfrey Show earned her widespread popularity, as well as her own production company, Harpo, Inc..

b. Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernouli (b. 1700). He was born to family of mathematicians. His father Johann Bernoulli was one of the first developers of calculus. Daniel’s two brothers became first-rate mathematicians too. Daniel was probably taught more by his older brother Nicolaus than his father, who, although brilliant, could be unsympathetic and hard on Daniel. He graduated as a doctor of medicine in 1721, aged 21, with a thesis on respiration but did not continue in that line because of his first love for Mathematics.

Daniel is particularly remembered for his applications of mathematics to mechanics, especially fluid mechanics, and for his pioneering work in probability and statistics. His name is commemorated in the Bernoulli's principle, a particular example of the conservation of energy, which describes the mathematics of the mechanism underlying the operation of two important technologies of the 20th century namely the carburetor and the aeroplane wing.

c. American economist James K Galbraith (b. 1952). A graduate from Harvard, he has two post-graduation degrees from Yale and a PhD also from Yale. Galbraith is the author of six books and several hundred scholarly and policy articles.

d. German-American mechanical engineer and inventor Philip Diehl (b. 1847). He held several U.S. patents, including electric incandescent lamps, electric motors for sewing machines and other uses, and ceiling fans. Diehl was a contemporary of Thomas Edison and his inventions caused Edison to reduce the price of his incandescent bulb.

e. Swedish scientist, philosopher, theologian, revelator, mystic and founder of Swedenborgianism, Emanuel Swedenborg (b. 1688). He is best known for his book on the afterlife, “Heaven and Hell” 

Death anniversaries

a. American poet Robert Frost (d. 1963). His work was initially published in England before it was published in America. He was honored frequently during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.

b. German chemist Fritz Haber (d. 1934). He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his invention of the Haber–Bosch process, a method used in industry to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas. This invention is of importance for the large-scale synthesis of fertilizers and explosives. The food production for half the world's current population depends on this method for producing nitrogen fertilizers.