Monday, October 24, 2005

 

Spotlight: The first person to observe and describe bacteria, protozoans and spermatozoa was the Dutch naturalist Anton van Leeuwenhoek. Van Leeuwenhoek, born on this date in 1632, made lenses, assembling over the course of time nearly 250 different types of microscopes. He ground and shaped hundreds of different lenses, some magnifying objects up to 270 times. Able to see minute particles, he observed muscle fibers, microbes, and blood flow in capillaries, with his work leading to the establishment of cell biology.

Quote: "A man has always to be busy with his thoughts if anything is to be accomplished." – Anton van Leeuwenhoek

Word of the day: eukaryote: an organism whose cells contain a nucleus; the ciliated protists observed by van Leeuwenhoek were examples of eukaryotic organisms. (© )

Today's News:

• Abu Musab al-Zarqawi: Jordanian terror mastermind has network that equals Osama bin Laden's, US says (story)
• Pope Benedict XVI: reaffirms rule of celibacy for priests (story)
• World Series: Chicago White Sox's Paul Konerko has a grand slam week (story)
• Eurovision: ABBA's 1974 hit "Waterloo" is voted best song in the history of the music contest (story)

Today's History:

• Annie Edson Taylor: became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and live (1901)
• UN: was formally established (1945)
• Toronto Blue Jays: became the first non-US team to win the World Series, downing the Atlanta Braves in 6 (1992)

Today's Birthdays:

• Bob Kane: cartoonist creator of Batman (1915-1998)
• Bill Wyman: one of the Rolling Stones (69)
• Kevin Kline: Tony- and Oscar-winning actor (58)