1635 – Founder of Rhode Island Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a religious dissident after he speaks out against punishments for religious offenses and giving away Native American land.
Roger Williams (c. 21 December 1603 – between 27 January and 15 March 1683)[1] was a Puritan, an English Reformed theologian, and later a Reformed Baptist who was expelled by the Puritan leaders from the colony of Massachusetts because local officials thought that he was spreading “new and dangerous ideas” to his congregants. Williams fled the Massachusetts colony under the threat of impending arrest and shipment to an English prison; he began the settlement of Providence Plantation in 1636 as a refuge offering freedom of conscience.
Williams was the 1638 founder of the First Baptist Church in America, also known as the First Baptist Church of Providence.[2][3]
Williams was also a student of Native American languages, an early advocate for fair dealings with American Indians, and one of the first abolitionists in North America, having organized the first attempt to prohibit slavery in any of the British American colonies. He is best remembered as the originator of the principle of separation of church and state.[4]
1704 – Johann Andreas Segner, German mathematician, physicist, and physician (d. 1777)
Johann Segner (Hungarian: János András Segner, German: Johann Andreas von Segner, Slovak: Ján Andrej Segner, Latin: Iohannes Andreas de Segner; October 9, 1704 – October 5, 1777) was a Hungarian scientist. He was born in the Kingdom of Hungary, in the former Hungarian capital city of Pozsony (today Bratislava).
Johann Segner’s ancestors came from Styria to Pressburg[2] in the Kingdom of Hungary; by the 18th century. He studied at Pressburg, Győr and Debrecen. In 1725 Segner began studying at the University of Jena. In 1729 he received a medical certificate and returned to Pressburg, where he started to work as a physician, as well as in Debrecen. In 1732 he returned to Jena for his master’s degree. In 1735 Segner became the first professor of mathematics, a position created for him, at the University of Göttingen. In 1755 he became a professor at Halle, where he established an observatory.
One of the best-known scientists of his age, Segner was a member of the academies of Berlin, London, and Saint Petersburg. According to Mathematics Genealogy Project, as of February 2013, he has over 66 thousand academic descendants, out of the total 170 thousand mathematicians in the database.
He was the first scientist to use the reactive force of water and constructed the first water-jet, the Segner wheel, which resembles one type of modern lawn sprinkler. Segner, also produced the first proof of Descartes’ rule of signs. Historians of science remember him as the father of the water turbine. The lunar crater Segner is named after him, as is asteroid 28878 Segner.
Image credit: Tim Buss/Flickr
By Kristen Lee: These Are Your Closest And Most Daring ‘Running On Empty’ Stories
By Maddie Stone: After Maria, Puerto Rico’s Endangered Parrots Face an Uncertain Future
If there’s one thing the parrots have working in their favor right now, it’s a dedicated crew of scientists and broad public support for conservation of the species, which are the last native U.S. parrots still found on U.S. soil. A crowdfunding page launched by the World Parrot Trust to repair damage to the aviaries has raised more than $12,000 over the past week.
Earther has reached out to Martínez and the Rio Abajo aviary for comment, and we will update this post if and when we hear back.
By Ari Phillips: Bears Ransack Colorado Pizza Parlor in Quest for Hibernation Carbs
Inside the National Speleotherapy Clinic in Belarus, where treatments are carried out in an active salt mine nearly 1,400 feet underground.
Photo by Egor Rogalev
By Anika Burgess: On Vacation in Soviet-Era Sanatoriums
The Tabulating Machine Co.
The early data processor factory founded in Washington for the 1890 U.S. Census went on to become IBM.
By Chris Coyier: Gutenberg CSS Tricks
I’ve only just been catching up with the news about Gutenberg, the name for a revamp of the WordPress editor. You can use it right now, as it’s being built as a plugin first, with the idea that eventually it goes into core. The repo has better information.
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for December 26 December 26, 2024Picture of the day Khone Phapheng Falls, Si Phan Don, Laos. Located on the Mekong River near the border with Cambodia, at 10.7 kilometres (6.6 mi) wide, it is the widest waterfall in the world.
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for December 25 December 25, 2024Picture of the day Nativity of Christ scene from the Kefermarkt Altarpiece. Today is Christmas.
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