Happy birthday to #physicist Lise Meitner (1878-1968) who explained #nuclear #fission. She worked with chemists Hahn & Straßmann in 30s Berlin, investigating whether there were any stable elements beyond uranium. They discovered bombarding nucleus of U-235 with neutrons actually triggered it to fission, or break, into 2 nuclei of roughly half the size & some free neutrons! Hahn’s chemistry lead to startling discovery of barium,🧵

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6 × 8” linocut relief print, CC BY 4.0

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Happy birthday to #geochemist Charles David Keeling (1928 - 2005) whose decades long observations of CO2 in air samples from Mauna Loa Observatory were some of the 1st direct data to show the human contribution to greenhouse effect & global warming. The 'Keeling Curve' (in copper & red) shows both the seasonal variations (the wiggles) & the strong upward trend with time as the greenhouse gas built up in the atmosphere. 🧵1/

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Happy birthday to Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632 – 1723), the Dutch scientist & progenitor of #microbiology known for his improvements to microscope tech. He was a draper in Delft, then a politician with an interest in lensmaking. Using his handmade #microscopes, he was 1st to observe microorganisms, which he called tiny animals, or "animalcules". He also made pioneering microscopic observations on muscle fibres, bacteria, coffee & … 🧵1/n

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