1729: 275 years ago Johann Daniel Titius, German astronomer, mathematician and physicist was born (died in 1796). He suggested a thumb rule according to which the distance from planets to the Sun can be calculated (the Titius-Bode Rule).
1839: 165 years ago Louis Daguerre, French artist, the creator of photography, took the first photo of the Moon.
1920: 84 years ago, Isaac Asimov, American biochemist and science fiction writer was born (died in 1992). He is the author of novels "Marooned off Vesta", collection "I, Robot", stories "The End of Eternity" and "The Gods Themselves."
IN RUSSIA:
1804: 200 years ago Nikolai A. Lvov, architect, graphic artist, poet, musician and inventor died (born in 1751). He was called "Russian Leonardo da Vinci." He was the founder of the landscape style in the Russian landscape architecture and a classicist.
1903: 101 years ago Pyotr M. Stefanovsky, military test pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, was born (died in 1976). He tested over 300 aircraft, the Pe-2 dive bomber and a number of jetliners among them.
1927: 77 years ago Yuri N. Grigorovich, a ballet master, choreographic director of Russia's Bolshoi Theater, was born.
1959: 45 years ago, the automatic interplanetary station Luna-1 was launched (the station passed the Moon and became the first artificial satellite of the Sun). For the first time the escape velocity was reached (around 11.2 km/s).
1983: 21 years ago, Alexander N. Ganichev, the chief designer of reactive systems of volley fire (Grad, Uragan, Smerch) died (born in 1918).
