Thomas Edison's 164th Birthday

Source: http://www.google.com/logos/2011/edison11-hp.gif

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor, scientist, and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" (now Edison, New Jersey) by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large teamwork to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. [Read more on Wikipedia]

Nikolai Pirogov's Birthday

Source: http://www.google.ru/logos/2010/pirogov10-hp.jpg

Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov (Russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Пирого́в) (25 November [O.S. 13 November] 1810 – 5 December [O.S. 23 November] 1881) was a prominent Russian scientist, doctor, pedagogue, public figure, and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1847). He is considered to be the founder of field surgery, and was one of the first surgeons in Europe to use ether as an anaesthetic. He was the first surgeon to use anaesthesia in a field operation (1847), invented various kinds of surgical operations, and developed his own technique of using plaster casts to treat fractured bones. His name is one of the most widely recognised in Russian medical history, and he is considered a Russian national hero. [Read more on Wikipedia]

Portrait of Nikolay Pirogov by Ilya Repin, 1881

Jacques Cousteau's 100th Birthday

Source: http://www.google.com/logos/cousteau10-hp.gif

Jacques-Yves Cousteau (French pronunciation: [ʒak iv kusto]; commonly known in English as Jacques Cousteau; 11 June 1910 – 25 June 1997) was a French naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He co-developed the aqua-lung, pioneered marine conservation and was a member of the Académie française. He was also known as "le Commandant Cousteau" or "Captain Cousteau". [Read more on Wikipedia]

Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1976