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20 years ago today, Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) went online.

We have grown continually ever since, indexing almost 400 million academic documents from nearly 11,500 sources these days.

The original announcement is still online (in German): https://www.inetbib.de/listenarchiv/msg24765.html

It started like this:

> Can libraries leave the academic Internet to commercial search engines such as Google, Yahoo and soon Microsoft?
The answer from Bielefeld to this question is clear […]

Italian physicist and neurophysiologist Carlo Matteucci was born in 1811.

He conducted experiments to measure the electrical currents generated by muscle & nerve tissues during contraction and stimulation. His work provided quantitative data on these electrical phenomena and confirmed that living tissues could generate electricity. Matteucci´s law describes the relationship between the intensity of the electrical current generated by a muscle & the amount of contraction.

Carlo Matteucci (1811-1868), italian physician and physiologist. A stylish man in a suit, exuding confidence and sophistication.
Title page of Lezioni di fisica, 1850 Carlo Matteucci - Disponibile nella biblioteca digitale BEIC e caricato in collaborazione con Fondazione BEIC. "Lezioni di Fisica" (Lessons in Physics) by Carlo Matteucci is a significant work in the field of physics, reflecting his expertise and innovative approach to scientific teaching and research. Published in 1850, this book comprises a series of lectures delivered by Matteucci, aimed at educating and advancing the understanding of physics among students and scholars of his time. The book serves as a comprehensive guide to the principles and experiments in physics, structured to facilitate learning and exploration of physical phenomena.

"The air is the only place free of prejudices."

, 15 Jun 1921, Bessie Coleman gained her pilot's licence, becoming the first licensed civilian African-American pilot in the world.

Bessie Coleman standing on the wheels of her plane in 1922. She is a black woman dressed in pilot leathers.

Italian philosopher, poet, essayist, and philologist Giacomo Leopardi died in 1837.

Around 1816, Leopardi experienced what he called his "literary conversion," shifting his focus from philological studies to poetry and philosophical reflection. His early lyrical poems, or "canti," began to reflect his developing philosophical ideas. In 1816 the idylls Le rimembranze and Inno a Nettuno were published.

Books by Giacomo Leopardi at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/8593

Manoscritto autografo de L'infinito. (Visso, Archivio comunale)
Domenico Morelli, Portrait of Giacomo Leopardi, 1842, believed by acquaintances to be most faithful to the poet's physical appearance. Portrait of a man wearing a stylish blue suit in a painting.

Italian astrophysicist Margherita Hack was born in 1922.

She graduated with a degree in physics with a thesis on Cepheid variables, based on her studies in the Arcetri Observatory. Her research primarily focused on the classification & evolution of stars, particularly through the use of spectral analysis. She published numerous scientific papers & contributed to the understanding of stellar atmospheres and the chemical composition of stars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margherita_Hack

Margherita Hack. A woman with long hair smiling and wearing a jacket.

nel 1974 muore 91enne l'attore inglese era il comandante Beech che vende Villa Ventosa e il suo fantasma ai fratelli Fitzgerald ne http://bit.ly/2GZMEAy

16 May is European Romani Resistance Day, commemorating the Roma people who fought fascism during WW2, like the 'Lions of Breda Solini', a partisan battalion in Italy made up entirely of Sinti participants who had escaped from a concentration camp https://t.co/vRxd5E7P8O https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10965/European-Romani-Resistance-Day?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

(or the previous) 15 May 1897 the world's first LGBTQ rights organisation, the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, was formed in Berlin. Peaked at 500 members in 25 cities across Germany but was destroyed by Nazis in 1933 https://t.co/irb2S6daPH https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8710/first-lgbt+-rights-group-formed?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon