Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) Was Born

Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations, the falling body theoretical experiment and support for Copernicus' heliocentric model. Stephen Hawking says, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science."

Best known for supporting the heliocentric view which placed the Sun at the centre of the universe. Galileo's views were met with bitter opposition from some philosophers and clerics and as a result he was brought before the Roman Inquisition.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Galileo Galilei: The Falling Bodies Experiment
Subject: Physics
Grade level: Middle / High School, Grades 6-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Fair Projects and Experiments
Description: Dropping a coin and a paper disc to demonstrate that both objects will reach the ground at the same time. More advanced experiments, to demonstrate further the topic, include inclined plane and pendulum experiments.
Link: http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/galileofallingbodies.html

Mark Spitz Was Born

Mark Andrew Spitz, an American swimmer, the first athlete to win seven gold medals in a single Olympics (Munich, 1972). This achievement was surpassed only by Michael Phelps who won eight golds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Does a swim cap reduce drag and help a swimmer swim faster through the water?
Subject: Sports
Grade level: Elementary School, Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st Place, 6th Physical Science, PCA Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Phillipsburg Christian Academy (PCA)
Year: 2006
Description: A wig and a swim cap are mounted on a honeydew melon (simulating the human head); drag is measured, in flowing water, by measuring how far an elastic band, attached to the melon, stretches; results compared.
Link: http://www.fellowshipch.org/pcasftyler06.html

Wayne Gretzky, Ice-Hockey Greatest Player of All Time, Was Born

Wayne Douglas Gretzky, (born January 26, 1961 in Brantford, Ontario) is a retired Canadian-American professional ice hockey player. Best known for his NHL records for points (2,857), goals (894), and assists (1,963).

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: The Slingshot: Improving the Modern Hockey Stick
Subject: Sports Engineering
Grade level: Middle School, Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: The purpose of this project is to investigate the relationship between the weight distributions within a hockey stick’s shaft and the energy that the stick can generate when used. In order to test hockey sticks, in this respect, a pendulum mechanizm was constructed.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/chon8n2/

Robert Boyle, Discoverer of Boyle's law, Was Born

Robert Boyle (1627 – 1691) was a natural philosopher, chemist, physicist and inventor. He is best known for the formulation of Boyle's law - one of several gas laws. Although his research and personal philosophy clearly has its roots in the alchemical tradition, he is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Boyle's Law: Pressure vs. Volume of a Gas at Constant Temperature
Subject: Chemistry
Grade level: High School, Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Buddies
Description: A simple repetition of Robert Boyle's classic experiment in which he discovered the relationship between pressure and volume of gases; basically using a manometer, a device used to measure pressure.
Link: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Chem_p011.shtml

Giuseppe Verdi's Opera ll Trovatore Premiered in Rome in 1853.

ll Trovatore (The Troubadour) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Leone Emanuele Bardare and Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez.

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Social Science Fair Project Information
Title: The Cantonese Opera
Subject: Performing arts / vocal music
Grade level: Elementary School, Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: Honorable Mention, ThinkQuest International, Spring 2004
Affiliation: ThinkQuest
Year: 2004
Description: Main topics: The origins of Cantonese opera, history, development and change, make-up, costumes, music, Cantonese opera and the local community.

Link: http://library.thinkquest.org/04apr/01272/

Albert Schweitzer Was Born

Albert Schweitzer (1875 – 1965) was an Alsatian German-French theologian, musician, philosopher, and physician.

He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life", expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, now in Gabon, west central Africa (then French Equatorial Africa).

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: What is Leukemia?
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2009)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2009
Description: Main topics: different types of leukemia, symptoms, treatments, future possible treatments, video.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2009/liuv9v2

Stephen Hawking Was Born

Stephen William Hawking (born 8 January 1942) is a renowned British theoretical physicist. Best known for scientific contributions to black hole theory, theoretical cosmology and quantum gravity.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Investigate the Cosmological theory of the Big Bang
Subject: Physics / Astronomy
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2004)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2004
Description: Main topics: The Big Bang theory, Hubble's theories and space telescope, subatomic background information, einstein's relativity, Stephen Hawking's contribution, theories of cosmology, criticism of the Big Bang theory.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2004/khak4a0/public_html/