1951 - Otto Meyerhof died.

Meyerhof was a German biochemist who was awarded half the 1922 Nobel Prize in Medicine for describing the way muscle tissue absorbs oxygen and converts it to lactic acid. He discovered glycogen is converted into lactic acid when the muscle contracts. His research led the way to a more detailed explanation of the path from glycogen to lactic acid known as the Embden-Meyerhof pathway.

1931 - Riccardo Giacconi was born.

Giacconi is an Italian-American astrophysicist who was awarded half the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics for the development of x-ray astronomy and the discovery of cosmic x-ray sources. Cosmic x-ray sources are absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere and required leaving the planet to observe them. He designed many x-ray detecting instruments from the early days of rocketry to the current Chandra X-ray observatory.

1903 - Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton was born.

Walton was an Irish physicist who, together with John Cockcroft built the first nuclear particle accelerator. They used this accelerator to fire a proton stream at lithium and became the first to split atoms using artificial means. They identified the particles that ejected as alpha particles, or helium nuclei. This accomplishment would earn them both the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1846 - George Westinghouse Jr. was born.

Joseph G. Gessford/Library of Congress

Westinghouse was an American inventor/entrepreneur who competed directly with Thomas Edison over the development of America's electrical system. He championed the alternating current method of delivering electricity to consumers that eventually beat out Edison's direct current method.

1783 - François Magendie was born.

Wikimedia Commons

Magendie was a French physician and physiologist who pioneered the field of experimental physiology. He proved and elaborated Charles Bell's observation that the anerior roots of spinal nerves are motor in function, where the posterior roots communicate sensory impulses. He also studied the effects of many drugs on different parts of the body and introduced the use of morphine and strychnine in medical practices.