Mark Oliphant (8 October 1901 – 14 July 2000) was an Australian physicist who made the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion. Born and raised in Adelaide, he studied in England under Ernest Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. There, he used a particle accelerator on deuterons, and discovered helium-3 and tritium. During the Second World War he headed the group at the University of Birmingham that created the cavity magnetron, which made microwave radar possible. He served on the MAUD Committee, which found that an atomic bomb was feasible, and on the Manhattan Project with his friend Ernest Lawrence at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory, developing electromagnetic isotope separation. After the war, he returned to Australia as the first director of the Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering at the Australian National University. He retired from the university in 1967, and served as Governor of South Australia from 1971 to 1976.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1918:

World War I: After his platoon suffered heavy casualties during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France's Forest of Argonne, American Corporal Alvin York led the 7 remaining men on an attack against a German machine gun nest, killing 28 German soldiers and capturing 132 others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_York

1952:

Three trains collided at Harrow & Wealdstone station in London, killing 112 people and injuring 340. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrow_and_Wealdstone_rail_crash

1962:

The German news magazine Der Spiegel revealed the unpreparedness of the West German armed forces against the communist threat from the east, and was accused of treason shortly afterwards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiegel_affair

1969:

Demonstrations organized by the Weather Underground known as the Days of Rage began in Chicago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Rage

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

slivovitz: 1. (countable, uncountable) A type of rakija made mostly in Eastern European countries from distilled, fermented plum juice. 2. (countable) A serving of this alcoholic drink. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slivovitz

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Man is the animal who weeps and laughs – and writes. If the first Prometheus brought fire from heaven in a fennel-stalk, the last will take it back – in a book.   --John Cowper Powys https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Cowper_Powys