March 08

Priscilla Susan Bury was a distinguished British botanist and accomplished botanical artist. She gained renown for her meticulously detailed watercolour illustrations of exotic flora. Her works were featured in the two-volume publication 'A Selection of Hexandrian Plants', admired for both scientific precision and artistic beauty. Bury's passion for botany mirrored the Victorian era's fascination with plant exploration. She corresponded with leading botanists of her time, contributing to the expansion of horticultural knowledge. Bury died on March 8, 1872, leaving a legacy of scientific artistry that continues to inspire botanists and collectors.

James Buchanan Eads was a self-taught American engineer and inventor who gained fame for his groundbreaking work on the Eads Bridge. Completed in 1874, it was the first steel arch bridge to span the Mississippi River and introduced innovative construction techniques. Eads also developed advanced deep-sea salvage equipment and underwater diving bells, recovering valuable cargo from shipwrecks. His inventive spirit and engineering prowess earned him international acclaim and respect from the scientific community. Eads died on March 8, 1887, leaving a lasting legacy in civil and marine engineering.

John Ericsson was a Swedish-born inventor and mechanical engineer whose innovations reshaped naval warfare. He designed the USS Monitor, the Union’s first ironclad warship, which played a pivotal role in the Civil War. Ericsson also introduced the screw propeller to steamships, revolutionizing marine propulsion. His work on high-pressure steam engines and caloric engines further demonstrated his inventive genius. After emigrating to the United States, he secured numerous patents and continued to influence industrial engineering. Ericsson died on March 8, 1889, leaving a profound impact on naval architecture and mechanical design.

Johannes Diderik van der Waals developed an equation of state accounting for molecular volume and attraction. His 1873 work laid the foundation for modern thermodynamics and physical chemistry. He served as a professor at the University of Amsterdam, influencing generations of scientists. In 1910, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discoveries on the equation of state for gases and liquids. His contributions remain fundamental in understanding real gas behavior.

Hulusi Behçet was a pioneering Turkish dermatologist who first identified the triad of symptoms that became known as Behçet's disease in 1937. Born in Istanbul in 1889, he studied medicine at the University of Istanbul and later served as a professor of dermatology. Behçet published extensively on dermatological and immunological disorders, advancing the field in Turkey and beyond. His landmark work on recurrent oral and genital ulcers, uveitis, and vasculitis established a new systemic disorder. Throughout his career, he was honored by medical societies for his research and teaching. Behçet's legacy endures in the eponymous disease that continues to bear his name.

César Lattes was born in 1924 in Curitiba, Brazil, and studied physics at the University of São Paulo. He joined the team of physicist Gleb Wataghin and later worked with Giuseppe Occhialini in Italy. In 1947, Lattes co-discovered the pion (pi meson) in cosmic ray experiments, a key particle predicted by theory. He helped establish important research institutions in Brazil, including the Brazilian Center for Research in Physics. Lattes served as a professor and mentor, advancing scientific education and infrastructure in Latin America. His contributions earned him national and international recognition before his passing in 2005.