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Total eclipse of the sun, Willimantic vicinity, January 24, 1925

A Total Eclipse of the Sun – Today in History: January 24

On January 24, 1925, Connecticut residents witnessed a full solar eclipse.

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The Van Vleck Observatory: A Reflection of Environmental Conditions

January 20, 2023 • Architecture, Environment, Middletown, Science

Designers of the Van Vleck Observatory overcame numerous environmental and geographical challenges to help Wesleyan University make an impact on the world’s understanding of the universe.

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Benjamin Silliman

Benjamin Silliman and the Collection That Inspired the Yale Peabody Museum

Benjamin Silliman published the first American study of a meteor—having acquired access to one that fell near the town of Weston.

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Map of the 1761 transit of Venus

Transit of Venus: German Scientists Visit Hartford

December 6, 2022 • Hartford, Science

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the transit was an important opportunity for scientists to calculate the distance between the earth and the sun—the basis for the astronomical unit.

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Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer

Nathaniel Palmer discovers Antarctica – Today in History: November 18

On November 18, 1820, Nathaniel Brown Palmer of Stonington, Connecticut, discovered the mainland of Antarctica, one of the seven continents.

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David Bushnell and his Revolutionary Submarine

How a farmer’s son became the Father of Submarine Warfare during the American Revolution.

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Nuclear power plant, Haddam Neck

Connecticut Yankee Brings Power to the People

For nearly 30 years the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company operated a nuclear power plant in Haddam Neck, Connecticut.

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Morton Biskind Warned the World About DDT

A Westport physician named Morton Biskind became one of the first to warn the world about the dangers of DDT. His work ultimately helped inspire the writings of Rachel Carson.

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Postcard of Dinosaur State Park, ca. 1960s

Discovered Dinosaur Tracks Re-Route Highway and Lead to State Park

Some 200 million years ago, carnivorous dinosaurs roamed Rocky Hill leaving the three-toed tracks that would become our state fossil.

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Conjectures upon the Nature and Motion of Meteors by Thomas Clap

America’s First Planetarium – Who knew?

In 1744 Thomas Clap, Rector and Yale College president for 26 years (1740-1766), constructed the first orrery, or planetarium, in the American colonies.

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Edwin Land Inventor of the Polaroid Born – Today in History: May 7

On May 7, 1909, Edwin Herbert Land, founder of the Polaroid Corporation, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

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Benjamin Silliman and Soda Water – Who Knew?

Yale’s first professor of chemistry, Benjamin Silliman, was also the first American to produce soda water in bulk.

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Columbite

The Industrial Might of Connecticut Pegmatite

Connecticut has a complex and compelling geologic legacy with substantial mineral riches, including pegmatite that has historically been a boon to industry.

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Inventor Charles F. Ritchel

Charles Ritchel and the Dirigible

An entrepreneur’s design for a lighter-than-air vehicle takes flight in the late 1800s and inspires a new state industry.

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Edward Alexander Bouchet: The First African American to Earn a PhD from an American University

Edward Alexander Bouchet was a physicist who was among Yale’s first African American students, and reportedly became the first African American in the United States to earn a PhD.

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The Surprising Prevalence of Earthquake Activity in Connecticut

Connecticut has experienced thousands of earthquakes since European settled the area, the most active site being the village of Moodus in East Haddam.

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Asaph Hall, August 1899

Goshen’s Asaph Hall Becomes an Astronomical Success

Credited with discovering the moons orbiting the planet Mars, Asaph Hall became an international science celebrity in the 19th century.

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Penguins, 1933-35, Antarctic

Sixty Degrees Below Zero: Connecticut Man Explores Antarctica

September 15, 2021 • Bolton, Exploration and Discovery, Science, Work

John Henry Von der Wall, a life-long resident of Bolton, took part in Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s famed expeditions to the South Polar regions.

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Hiram Percy Maxim

A Diversified Mind: Hiram Percy Maxim

No matter his field of endeavor—from automotive design to wireless radio—this multitalented creator had a hand in key developments of the early 1900s.

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Connecticut Revolutionized Geography – Who Knew?

August 30, 2021 • Education, Hartford, Science, Stratford, Union

In 1828, Jesse Olney published A Practical System of Modern Geography, which revolutionized the way the subject was taught in schools during the 19th century.

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Dinosaur Tracks

Dinosaur Tracks Found – Today in History: August 23

On August 23, 1966, hundreds of dinosaur tracks were uncovered in Rocky Hill by a bulldozer operator.

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Roger Tory Peterson, European starlings

Artist Roger Tory Peterson, a Champion for the Natural World

July 27, 2021 • Arts, Environment, Old Lyme, Science

Artist, author, and influential conservationist Roger Tory Peterson pioneered the modern age of bird watching with his 1934 book, A Field Guide to the Birds.

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Triceratops prorsus skull

Paleontologist Othniel Marsh dies – Today in History: March 18

March 18, 2021 • New Haven, Science

On March 18, 1899, America’s first professor of paleontology, Othniel Charles Marsh, died at his home in New Haven.

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Artist’s rendering of the Connecticut Yankee Power Company Plant

Connecticut Yankee and Millstone: 48 Years of Nuclear Power

In 1968 the prospect of nuclear power energized those hoping to find an alternative to coal, oil, and other fossil fuels.

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Benjamin Silliman

First Recorded Fall of Meteorites in the United States – Today in History: December 14

December 14, 2020 • Science, Weston

On December 14, 1807, a meteoroid exploded over Fairfield County and a 30-pound specimen was put on exhibit at a Weston town meeting.

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Wood-cut representing Alexis St. Martin's wound

The Father of Gastric Physiology Born – Today in History: November 21

November 21, 2020 • Health and Medicine, Lebanon, Science

On November 21, 1785, physician and physiologist William Beaumont was born in Lebanon. 

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Hiram Bingham

Hiram Bingham III: Machu Picchu Explorer and Politician

Hiram Bingham III was a distinguished scholar and public servant attached to a line of the Bingham family that has lived in Salem, Connecticut, for generations.

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Copy of Map of Windsor, shewing the parishes, the roads, and houses by Seth Pease

Seth Pease Surveys New Lands

This Suffield native’s work in “New Connecticut” and other Western territories reveals how the new nation took stock of its expanding borders.

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United States Army dirigible with crowd of onlookers

Airborne Pioneers: Connecticut Takes Flight

Daring flights and first-of-a-kind inventions mark the state’s 200-plus-year history of taking to the skies.

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Discovery of mastodon bones on the farm of Ms. Theodate Riddle

Mastodon Bones Unearthed – Today in History: August 13

On August 13, 1913, workmen unearthed the skeleton of a mastodon, in Farmington, while digging a trench on Alfred A. Pope’s farm and country estate, Hill-Stead.

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Roger Tory Peterson

Roger Tory Peterson Dies – Today in History: July 28

July 28, 2020 • Arts, Old Lyme, Science

On July 28, 1996, ornithologist and artist Roger Tory Peterson died in Old Lyme.

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An Eccentric Middletown Polymath and Fossil Collector: Dr. Joseph Barratt

Despite his struggles with mental illness, Joseph Barratt was a significant contributor to the study of natural history in the Connecticut Valley.

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First American Medicine Patent – Today in History: April 30

On April 30, 1796, Samuel Lee Jr. of Windham, Connecticut, received a Letters Patent for his composition of bilious pills.

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William C. Redfield

William Redfield Born – Today in History: March 26

On March 26, 1789, William C. Redfield, the noted American meteorologist, was born in Middletown.

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A Civil War Soldier Engineers an Iconic Career

Horatio Wright commanded troops in Civil War battles fought all over the country, from Virginia to Florida, and out West as far as Ohio.

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Bronze Hall of Fame medal of Josiah Willard Gibbs

Josiah Willard Gibbs’s Impact on Modern Science

February 15, 2020 • New Haven, Science

New Haven’s Josiah Willard Gibbs laid the groundwork for the development of physical chemistry as a science.

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Total eclipse by Frederick E. Turner, Willimantic, January 24, 1925

The Astronomical Event of the Century

Church bells chimed and factory whistles blew and automobiles, trains, and trolleys throughout the state came to a standstill.

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Video – Barbara McClintock Tribute Film

The Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame pays tribute to Hartford native Barbara McClintock, a famed geneticist and Nobel Prize winner.

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Video – Rudolph Zallinger’s Masterpiece, “The Age of Reptiles”

The Yale Peabody Museum is home to one of the world’s largest murals, which illustrates changes in the earth’s flora and fauna between the Devonian and Cretaceous periods.

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Heart Pump out of an Erector Set – Who Knew?

Yale medical student William Sewell Jr. built the first artificial heart (partly out of Erector Set pieces), and conducted successful bypass experiments in 1949.

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