A Brief History On February 9, 1996, the synthetic element, Copernicium, was discovered by a research team at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany, named after the famous Polish astronomer and polymath, Nicolaus Copernicus (Mikołaj Kopernik in Polish), 10 days after the discovery, on the 537th anniversary of Copernicus’s birth. Digging Deeper Some of the other elements named after people include Curium, Fermium, Mendelevium, Nobelium, Einsteinium, Bohrium, Roentgenium, Lawrencium, and others.  Perhaps you recognize some or most of these names as major historical scientists. You might not appreciate a disease or disorder being named after you,…

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A Brief History On February 8, 1983, a successful Irish racehorse, Shergar, was kidnapped for ransom, a crime that resulted in the killing of the swift steed that had been enjoying life as a stud. Digging Deeper Born, or foaled as they say in the horse world, in 1978, Shergar had a successful racing career that made him a prime candidate to become a stud horse, which he became in October of 1981, serving his time as a stud in Ireland rather than accepting a large contract to move to the US. Three armed gunmen invaded the home of Shergar’s…

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A Brief History On February 24, 2022, days after recognizing Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered a full scale invasion of Ukraine. Digging Deeper Russia’s invasion has had five major phases thus far.  The first phase covers the period from February 24th, 2022, when Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine, to April 7th, 2022 when fighting focused away from the northeast and Kyiv and towards the south and east of Ukraine.  The second phase covers the period from April 8th, 2022, when the area of heavy fighting shifted to the south and east of…

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A Brief History On February 3, 1972, Iran suffered what the Guinness Book of World Records called “the deadliest blizzard in history,” an event known as “The Iran blizzard of February 1972.”  Sadly, an estimated 4,000 or more people died in the extreme weather event. Digging Deeper We have almost all experienced the struggles of dealing with extreme snowfall, getting our cars stuck in the snow or sliding all over the road.  Trying to drive in a blinding snowstorm is terrifying and dangerous, and people have died just trying to shovel snow from their drives and walks. Some areas of…

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A Brief History On February 2, 1943, the last of the German army at Stalingrad surrendered to the Soviet Red Army, often called “the turning point” of World War II in Europe.  Germany never recovered offensive momentum after the defeat at Stalingrad, having lost about a million men killed, as many as 5,600 combat aircraft, over 4,300 tanks, and over 15,000 artillery pieces. Digging Deeper The Germans were forced to redeploy men and equipment from other theaters to shore up their Eastern Front, affecting the course of all future battles in Europe. The Pacific Theater was an entirely different theater,…

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