The great Lisbon Earthquake struck Portugal, north Africa, and the eastern Atlantic seabed on Nov. 1, 1755, with Lisbon experiencing the most...

The Protestant Reformation is usually considered to have begun on Oct. 31, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of...

Edmund Cartwright, an English cleric and inventor, died Oct. 30, 1823, at age 80. Cartwright's name is one of those that you memorize when you are...

Othniel Charles Marsh, an American paleontologist, was born Oct. 29, 1831, near Lockport, N.Y.   His family was poor, but thanks to a rich uncle...

Johann August Arfwedson, a Swedish chemist, died Oct. 28, 1841, at the age of 49. He was born Jan. 12, 1792, in Skaraborg County in Sweden...

Charles Mason, an English astronomer, died Oct. 25, 1786, at about age 58. Mason was born in Gloucestershire in western England, and we know little...

Arabella Buckley, an English author of popular science books, was born Oct. 24, 1840, in Brighton, into a well-to-do family (her younger brother...

Samuel Washington Woodhouse, a physician and naturalist, died Oct. 23, 1904, at the age of 83.  He was born in Philadelphia in 1822, the son of a...

Cloudesley Shovell, an English naval officer, was born sometime in November of 1650...

Hermann Hellriegel, a German chemist, was born Oct. 21, 1831, in Mausitz.  He was the son of a farmer, and he studied agricultural chemistry in...

Thomas Edison, an American inventor and entrepreneur, died Oct. 18, 1931, at the age of 84.  He had been born on Feb. 11, 1847, in Ohio, but he...

Reginald John Farrer, an English traveler and plant collector, died Oct. 17, 1920, at the age of 40.  Farrer was born in London, but the Farrer...