November 17

Sima Guang served as a high-ranking official and advisor during the Northern Song dynasty. He is best known for his monumental chronicle, Zizhi Tongjian, a comprehensive history spanning almost 1,400 years. His work provided lessons in governance and moral leadership for emperors and officials. As a statesman, he advocated for frugal administration and resisted reformist pressures that he felt threatened stability. His scholarship and political career have made him a model of integrity and erudition in Chinese history.

Nicolas Appert was born in 1749 in Champagne, France, and worked as a chef and confectioner. Motivated by the need to supply preserved provisions for military and civilian use, he experimented with heating food in sealed containers. In 1810, he published his method for durable food preservation, winning recognition from the French government. His innovation revolutionized food storage and laid the foundation for the modern canning industry. Appert’s work transformed military logistics and domestic food supply. He died in 1841, leaving a lasting culinary legacy.

Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg was born in 1753 in Pennsylvania into a prominent German-American family. Ordained as a Lutheran minister in 1782, he served congregations in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Parallel to his ministry, he pursued botany, publishing the 'Catalogue of American Plants' in 1813 with descriptions of numerous species. The grass genus Muhlenbergia was named in his honor. His dual legacy in religion and natural science exemplifies Enlightenment-era scholarship. He died in 1815, leaving a significant mark on American botany and church life.

August Ferdinand Möbius was born in 1790 in Schulpforta, Germany, and studied mathematics and astronomy at Leipzig and Halle. In 1827, he introduced the concept of the Möbius strip, a one-sided surface fundamental to topology. He also developed Möbius transformations in projective geometry and contributed to celestial mechanics and geodesy. As a professor at the University of Leipzig, he published influential works on mathematical theory and map projections. Möbius’s innovations paved the way for modern studies in topology and complex analysis. He died in 1868, leaving a lasting impact on mathematics and science.

Charles Lock Eastlake was born in 1793 in Plymouth, England, and trained as a painter specializing in historical and genre scenes. He published the seminal Hints on Household Taste in 1842, shaping public appreciation of art and interior design. In 1855, he became the first director of the National Gallery, London, implementing rigorous acquisition standards and cataloguing systems. Eastlake also served as president of the Royal Academy, promoting British art at home and abroad. His writings on art theory and museum management left a profound legacy on curatorial practice. He died in 1865, remembered as a key figure in 19th-century art administration.

Joseph Babinski (1857–1932) was a pioneering French neurologist whose observations advanced the understanding of neurological disorders. In 1896, he described the Babinski sign, a reflex indicating damage to the central nervous system. A student of Jean-Martin Charcot, Babinski contributed detailed clinical studies on hysteria, epilepsy, and stroke. He held academic positions at the University of Paris and mentored many future neurologists. His precise clinical methods laid the groundwork for modern neurological examination techniques. Babinski's name remains synonymous with one of neurology's most important reflex tests.

Korbinian Brodmann (1868–1918) was a German neurologist whose research revolutionized brain anatomy. He systematically divided the cerebral cortex into distinct regions based on cytoarchitecture, now known as Brodmann areas. Born in Liggersdorf, he studied medicine in Munich and began his work under Theodor Meynert. Brodmann's 1909 atlas provided a framework still used today in neuroscience and neurosurgery. His detailed brain maps have guided research into brain function, cognition, and neurological diseases. Brodmann's contributions remain fundamental to understanding the human brain's functional organization.

Lev Vygotsky, born in 1896, introduced groundbreaking ideas about the social nature of learning and the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development. His work emphasized the critical role of language and interaction in shaping thought processes. Although he died young in 1934, his theories gained global recognition decades later and now underpin modern educational practices and developmental psychology research.

Born in Ottawa in 1899, Douglas Shearer revolutionized film sound technology after joining MGM in 1928. He led the studio’s Sound Department, pioneering techniques for recording and mixing that defined the transition to talking pictures. Over his career, Shearer won seven Academy Awards and was honored with a special Oscar for technical achievement. His work laid the foundation for modern cinematic audio.

Eugene Wigner, born in Budapest in 1902, made landmark contributions to the theoretical foundations of quantum mechanics and nuclear physics. He introduced symmetry principles that bear his name and played a key role in the Manhattan Project. Awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics, Wigner later taught at Princeton University and wrote extensively on the philosophical implications of science.

Ruth Aaronson Bari was an American mathematician known for her contributions to graph theory and algebra. Born in Brooklyn in 1917, she earned her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1941. Bari published influential papers on chromatic polynomials and mentored many students as a professor at George Washington University. A strong advocate for women in science, she served as president of the Association for Women in Mathematics. Her research and leadership paved the way for greater representation of women in mathematical fields.

Stanley Cohen was born in 1922 in Brooklyn and became a pioneering American biochemist. He shared the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering epidermal growth factor and its receptor, groundbreaking work that elucidated mechanisms of cell growth. His research laid the foundation for advances in cancer treatment and regenerative medicine. Cohen earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University and joined Vanderbilt University, where he taught and conducted research for over three decades. He published more than 200 scientific papers and mentored numerous students who became leaders in biomedical research. His achievements earned him multiple national and international honors. He remained active in science until his death in 2020.