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On This Day

  • 6-5-1661

    Isaac Newton entered Trinity College, Cambridge, intending to earn a law degree.

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    Isaac Newton

  • 6-5-1716

    Roger Cotes died of a violent fever at age 33 in Cambridge, England. Sir Isaac Newton, praising Cotes, said, "If he had lived, we might have known something." Cotes had published the second edition of Newton's Principia.

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    Roger Cotes

  • 6-5-1873

    The term 'radian' first appeared in print. James Thomson, brother of Lord Kelvin, used it in examination questions at Queen's College, Belfast.

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    Radians
    James Thomson
    William Thomson (a.k.a. Lord Kelvin)

  • 6-5-2012

    Transit of Venus over the Sun visible in much of the Western Hemisphere. The next pair of Transits of Venus will be December 11, 2117, and December 8, 2125. The June 5-6, 2012 Transit is the second of a pair whose first Transit occurred June 7-8, 2004.

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    The Transit of Venus