Today in History – December 21, 1807 – Fourier introduces his series at the Paris Institute. Joseph Fourier’s memoir, On the Propagation of Heat in Solid Bodies, was read to the Paris Institute. It introduced the expansion of functions into trigonometric series which are now called Fourier series. The Fourier series allows periodic functions to [...]

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Today in History – October 23-24 – TRON Legacy Exhibit at the National Science & Engineering Festival. The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has teamed up with Walt Disney Studios to co-create an interactive exhibit in Tent 102 at the USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo, which will take place on the National Mall in [...]

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Today in History – March 14, 1987 – First Pi Day is celebrated.  3/14 (3.14) was chosen by physicist Larry Shaw of the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco to be celebrated as Pi Day. For more information, browse the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on Pi Day and other irrational numbers.

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Today in History – January 26, 1697-  Isaac Newton solves Bernoulli’s brachistochrone problem, inventing the “calculus of variations”. The story goes that Jean Bernoulli gave Isaac Newton a challenge solve the following problem in six months: We are given two fixed points in a vertical plane. A particle starts from rest at one of the [...]

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Today in History – December 13, 1928 – Today is Clip-on Tie Day. That’s right, on this day, 79 years ago, someone (and I couldn’t find out who) invented the clip-on tie. This fine fashion accessory often gets a bad wrap. People belittle it as the tie for people that don’t know how to tie [...]

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