December 18

Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff was born in 1626 and became a leading German scholar and statesman of the Baroque era. He served as chancellor to the Elector of Saxony and held professorships in law at Leipzig University. Seckendorff is best known for his pioneering work in cameral sciences, laying the foundation for modern public finance and administration. His influential treatise 'Teutsche Fürstenstaat' explored the structure and duties of princely governments. He advocated systematic management of state revenues and resources to strengthen sovereign power. His theories bridged legal scholarship and practical governance, shaping early modern statecraft. Seckendorff's legacy endures in the fields of administrative science and economic policy.

Jean-Étienne Montucla was born in 1725 and became a distinguished mathematician and historian in 18th-century France. He is best known for his multi-volume 'Histoire des Mathématiques,' the first systematic history of mathematical thought. Montucla combined rigorous scholarship with clear prose, tracing developments from ancient to modern times. He held positions in the French Academy of Sciences and taught mathematics in Paris. His historical approach integrated biographies of key figures with explanations of their discoveries. Montucla's work set a standard for later historians of science and remains a foundational reference. His passion for both numbers and narrative bridged technical analysis and literary clarity.

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was born in 1744 and served as a soldier before devoting himself to natural history. As a biologist and academic at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, he studied invertebrates and developed an early theory of evolution. Lamarck proposed that organisms could pass on traits acquired during their lifetimes, a concept known as the inheritance of acquired characteristics. His major work, 'Philosophie Zoologique,' outlined his evolutionary ideas and classification systems. Although later superseded by Darwinian theory, Lamarck's insights laid important groundwork for evolutionary biology. He also contributed to botany and invertebrate taxonomy, naming numerous species. Lamarck's courage to challenge static views of nature marks him as a visionary in the history of science.

Bernard Bolzano was born in Prague in 1781 and served as a Catholic priest while pursuing mathematics. He made seminal contributions to real analysis, including the Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem on convergent subsequences. Bolzano also advanced formal logic and set theory, laying groundwork for later developments in mathematics. His writings on ethics and theology reflected a rationalist approach to religious thought. Despite being marginalized in his lifetime, his manuscripts were rediscovered and influenced 19th- and 20th-century mathematicians. Bolzano taught at Prague University, where he championed academic freedom and critical inquiry. Today, he is celebrated as a pioneer who bridged philosophical and mathematical disciplines.

Born in 1793, Michel Chasles studied at the École Polytechnique and École Normale in Paris. He is best known for Chasles' theorem on conic sections and his work on cross-ratio invariance. His multi-volume textbook Aperçu historique sur l'origine et le développement des méthodes en géométrie traced the evolution of geometric methods. Chasles introduced the concept of transformation groups, influencing later developments in algebraic and projective geometry. He served as a professor at the Sorbonne and was elected to the French Academy of Sciences in 1825. His efforts helped revive interest in synthetic approaches during the 19th century. Chasles died in 1880, leaving a legacy as one of the era's leading geometers.

Born in 1804, Richard Owen trained in medicine before focusing on comparative anatomy. In 1842, he described and named the group Dinosauria, recognizing a distinct order of prehistoric reptiles. Owen's studies of fossil reptiles and birds laid the foundations for paleontology as a formal discipline. He served as Superintendent of the Natural History Department at the British Museum from 1856. His work on Pterodactylus and Archaeopteryx highlighted evolutionary relationships long before modern theories. A driving force behind the establishment of the Natural History Museum in London, he was knighted for his contributions. Despite his opposition to Darwin's natural selection, Owen's anatomical insights remain influential in zoology.

Born in 1857 in Croatia, Andrija Mohorovičić studied physics and mathematics at the University of Zagreb. As director of the Zagreb Meteorological Observatory, he published important climate studies. In 1909, he analyzed seismic waves from a distant earthquake and identified the crust-mantle boundary. This boundary, now called the Mohorovičić discontinuity or Moho, is fundamental in geophysics. He also advanced early earthquake monitoring techniques and seismological research. Mohorovičić died in 1936, leaving a pivotal legacy in Earth science and plate tectonics.

Born in Nemirov, Ukraine, Dobzhansky earned his Ph.D. and emigrated to the United States in 1927. At Columbia University and later the University of California, he conducted pioneering research on fruit fly genetics and population genetics. His seminal work, 'Genetics and the Origin of Species' (1937), integrated Mendelian genetics with Darwinian evolution. Dobzhansky's studies of genetic variation in natural populations transformed evolutionary biology, and he remained an outspoken advocate for genetic diversity until his death in 1975.

Born in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 1908. Educated at Cambridge University under sociologist Karl Mannheim. Professor at Istanbul University, he authored the seminal work 'The Development of Secularism in Turkey'. His research examined the transformation of Ottoman society into a modern republic. He served as a visiting professor at Northwestern University, influencing generations of scholars. He passed away in 1988, leaving a foundational legacy in Turkish and comparative sociology.

Born in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1900 and emigrated to the United States as a child. He earned his doctorate in psychology and became a professor at Columbia University. Zubin pioneered longitudinal studies on schizophrenia and developmental risk factors. He served as director of the Biometrics Research at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. As founding editor of influential journals, he shaped modern clinical psychology. He passed away in 1990, leaving a lasting impact on psychological assessment and research.

Born in Rouen in 1916 to a French father and Greek mother, Apéry studied at the École Normale Supérieure. He taught mathematics at the University of Caen for over three decades. In 1978, he published his celebrated proof of the irrationality of ζ(3), later named Apéry's constant. His result stunned the mathematical community and sparked further research in number theory. He authored several textbooks and papers, inspiring generations of mathematicians. Apéry received the Grand Prix Félix Klein and other honors before his death in 1994.

Born in Berlin in 1910, Zuse studied engineering and developed early mechanical calculating machines. In 1941, he completed the Z3, the first working programmable, fully automatic digital computer. Despite wartime constraints, his designs featured binary arithmetic and floating-point operations. After World War II, he founded Zuse KG to produce commercial computers like the Z4. Zuse's work laid foundations for modern computer architecture and programming languages. He received the Werner von Siemens Ring and other honors for his contributions. Zuse passed away in 1995, leaving a lasting impact on computing.