James Bryant Conant (1893–1978) was a chemist, President of Harvard University, and the first U.S. Ambassador to West Germany. As a Harvard professor, he was one of the first to explore the relationship between chemical equilibrium and the reaction rate of chemical processes. He studied the biochemistry of oxyhemoglobin, helped to elucidate the structure of chlorophyll, and contributed insights that underlie modern theories of acid–base chemistry. It was during his presidency of Harvard (1933–53) that women were first admitted to Harvard Medical School and Harvard Law School. As chairman of the National Defense Research Committee during World War II, he oversaw the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bombs. After the war, he served on the Joint Research and Development Board that coordinated defense research, and on the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission. In his later years at Harvard, he taught the history and philosophy of science, and wrote about the scientific method. In 1953 he became the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, overseeing the restoration of German sovereignty, and then was U.S. Ambassador to West Germany until 1957.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bryant_Conant

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

590:

Byzantine emperor Maurice proclaimed his son Theodosius as his co-emperor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodosius_(son_of_Maurice)

1484:

William Caxton printed the first English translation of Aesop's Fables. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesop%27s_Fables

1885:

Feeling that Canada had failed to address the protection of their rights, the Métis people, led by Louis Riel, began the North-West Rebellion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-West_Rebellion

1913:

First Balkan War: After a five-month siege, the Bulgarian Second Army captured the Ottoman city of Adrianople. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Adrianople_(1913)

1973:

The first episode of The Young and the Restless was broadcast, eventually becoming the most watched daytime drama on American television from 1988 onwards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Young_and_the_Restless

1978:

Four days before the scheduled opening of Japan's Narita International Airport (pictured), a group of protesters destroyed much of the equipment in the control tower with Molotov cocktails. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narita_International_Airport

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

immolate: 1. To kill as a sacrifice. 2. To destroy, especially by fire. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/immolate

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The very scientist who, in the service of the sinful king, was the brain behind the horror of the labyrinth, quite as readily can serve the purposes of freedom. But the hero-heart must be at hand. … Centuries of husbandry, decades of diligent culling, the work of numerous hearts and hands, have gone into the hackling, sorting, and spinning of this tightly twisted yarn. Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us — the labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.   --Joseph Campbell https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell