Famous Inventors Born in June!

James Young Simpson

Date of Birth: June 7, 1811

Scottish obstetrician who discovered the anesthetic properties of chloroform, and successfully introduced chloroform into general medical use.

Simpson’s intellectual interests ranged from archaeology to an almost taboo subject at the time: hermaphroditism. He was an early advocate of the use of midwives in the hospital environment. Many prominent women also consulted him for their gynaecological problems. 

 His contribution to the understanding of the anaesthetic properties of chloroform had a major impact on surgery.

Francis Crick

Date of Birth: June 8, 1916

British molecular biologist, physicist and neuroscientist, who co-discovered DNA structure and had a crucial role in research related to revealing the genetic code, and who also attempted to advance the scientific study of human consciousness with theoretical neurobiology (Nobel Prize, 1962).

Tim Berners-Lee

Date of Birth: June 8, 1955

Mr. Lee is a computer pioneer who lead the development of the World Wide Web, HTML (used to create web pages), HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) and URLs (Universal Resource Locators).

 He is a professorial research fellow at the University of Oxford and a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

George Stephenson

Date of Birth: June 9, 1781

English inventor of the first steam locomotive engine for railroads.

Renowned as the “Father of Railways”, Stephenson was considered as a great example of diligent application and thirst for improvement. His chosen rail gauge, sometimes called “Stephenson gauge”, was the basis for the 4-foot-8+¹⁄₂-inch (1.435 m) standard gauge used by most of the world’s railways.

Nicolaus Otto

Date of Birth: June 10, 1832

German automobile designer who invented an effective gas motor engine and the first practical four-stroke internal combustion engine, called the Otto Cycle Engine. Because of its reliability, efficiency, and relative quiet, more than 30,000 Otto cycle engines were built in the next ten years.

Charles Fabry

Date of Birth: June 11, 1867

 French scientist who discovered the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere. Together with Alfred Pérot he invented the Fabry–Pérot interferometer. 

In optics, he discovered an explanation for the phenomenon of interference fringes.