He rode a caiman like a horse. He climbed St. Peter's Basilica to leave a glove on top, then climbed back up to fetch it when the Pope demanded its removal. He dangled his bare foot from a hammock so vampire bats could feed on his toes. Charles Waterton: the barefoot squire who taught the man who taught Darwin.

https://oddlet.com/p/zrl

#Histodons #HistSci #SciComm #History #SmallStories

She burned down a convent, defeated three duels at a single party, and earned two royal pardons before anyone thought to check the law. A composer eventually built an entirely new vocal category around her voice. Her name was Julie d'Aubigny — the woman who rewrote opera with a sword at her hip.

https://oddlet.com/p/7se

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Diffraction was first investigated and described by the Jesuit astronomer, mathematician and physicist Francesco Maria Grimaldi, who was born 2 April 1618 #histsci

https://thonyc.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/refraction-refrangibility-diffraction-or-inflexion/

He figured out that all matter is made of tiny indivisible particles moving through empty space. No lab, no instruments — just thinking. His neighbors thought he was insane and called a doctor. The doctor sided with him. Democritus: the man who got the universe right and left almost nothing behind.

https://oddlet.com/p/9mw

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Happy birthday to French mathematician, physicist and philosopher Marie-Sophie Germain (1776 – 1831), known as Sophie. She taught herself mathematics using books in her father’s library and by corresponding with leading mathematicians of her day, including Lagrange, Legendre and Gauss, initially using the pseudonym Monsieur LeBlanc. Her work on elasticity theory won her the grand prize from the Paris Academy of Sciences. 🧵

#linocut #printmaking #sciart #mathematician #womenInSTEM #histsci