February 2020 is here and there are lots of opportunities to Do Some Science! From Groundhog Day to Darwin Day to The Great Backyard Bird Count, take a look at what February brings for the science lover in you.
In addition to being National Hearth Month and Black History Month, the month of February 2020 is full of great opportunities to get involved in the world of science. On February 2nd, we will find out if we’ll have an early spring or six more weeks of winter. On Feb. 14-17, you can get involved with a little citizen science by participating in The Great Backyard Bird Count. You definitely don’t want to miss a chance to Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (Girl Day) on February 21st or the first supermoon of the year on February 9th. Here’s a list of some other great science events this month.
February 1: Emilio Segre’s birthday (Italian physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of antiprotons, a sub-atomic antiparticle and an element used for the atomic bomb used on Nagasaki)
February 2: Groundhog Day
February 2: World Wetlands Day
February 3: Elizabeth Blackwell’s Birthday (the first accredited woman physician in the United States)
February 4: Create a Vacuum Day
February 4: J. W. Goodrich introduced the world to the first rubber galoshes in 1824
February 5: The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA launch the Solar Orbiter to investigate the sun’s poles
February 7: John Deere’s birthday (pioneer manufacturer of agricultural implements)
February 9: Full Snow Moon (also know as the Full Hunger Moon). The first of four supermoons for the year.
February 11: Thomas Edison’s Birthday (National Inventors’ Day)
February 12: Darwin Day
February 13–16: The American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting (Seattle, WA)
February 14-17: The Great Backyard Bird Count
February 17-23: National Engineers Week
February 17: Juno flies over Jupiter again (and will do so six more times in 2020)
February 17: Thomas J. Watson’s birthday (American scientist who founded IBM)
February 17: James Markham received the first fruit tree patent for a peach tree in 1932
February 18: 90th Anniversary of the discovery of Pluto by Clyde W. Tombaugh of the Lowell Observatory (Flagstaff, Arizona)
February 18: In 1879, Auguste Bartholdi was granted a design patent for the Statue of Liberty
February 18: National Battery Day
February 19: Nicolaus Copernicus’ birthday (Astronomer famous for formulating a model of the universe with the sun at its center rather than the earth)
February 21: Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (Girl Day)
February 22: Heinrich Hertz’ birthday (first to broadcast and receive radio waves and helped to invent radar technology).
February 27: International Polar Bear Day
February 27: Felix Hoffman patented acetylsalicylic acid, which is also known as aspirin, in 1900
February 29: Leap Day
