November 12, 1842 – Birth of Lord Rayleigh, Nobel Prize for discovering argon and the densities of atmospheric gases

John William Strutt, better known as Lord Rayleigh, as he was the 3rd Baron of Rayleigh.

Mathematician and Physicist whose research ranged from sound to the polarization of light, the theory of black body radiation, the determination of electrical units of measurement, light in general, electricity, resonance dynamics, gas vibrations, and elastic solids even managed to explain why the sky is blue.

However, his most important scientific works were the determination of the densities of atmospheric gases (studying the difference in the density of nitrogen in the air and that of ammonium nitrate) and the discovery of argon in 1894, together with Sir William Ramsay. For both, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1904.

If you want to know more about this scientist, click on the following link: Lord Rayleigh