science

The name most frequently associated with modern rocketry is that of Wernher von Braun (1912-1977), the German rocket scientist who moved to the United States at the end of the Second World War, known to […]

On this day, in 1962, Mariner 2 was launched by NASA.  In December of the same year it flew past Venus, becoming the first space probe to make a successful fly-by encounter with another planet. […]

On this day in 1958, the creation of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration was authorised by US congress. Eleven years later – almost to the day – they did this:

Today is one of those days when the science fictional world spills over into the real world. First of all, today is Asteroid Day, a global event dedicated to increasing the awareness of asteroids and […]

Gateway is on record as being an ardent admirer of NASA and its wonderful Astronomy Picture of the Day site. Wanna know why?  Because this:   To boldly go . . .

On this day in 1923, Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore was born in Pinner, Middlesex. He developed an interest in astronomy from an early age, joining the British Astronomical Association at the age of eleven and running […]

On this day, in 1943, Homer Hadley Hickam Jr was born. His is probably not a name that will be familiar to a great many of our readers, but we’d argue (politely but firmly) that […]

Having suffered the indignity of overlooking a milestone birthday of one great figure, we have no intention of making it two-for-two so early in the year. As one of the most intellectually limited figures ever […]

It’s amazing what we can achieve when we direct our resources and imagination towards goals other than the most efficient methods of killing each other and/or extracting every last penny from the economy regardless of […]

Hey, everyone! It’s May 16th – and you know what that means! Er . . . no?  No, nor do we, really, but one of the very interesting things about science fiction is that it […]

It is a year ago today that we lost one of the most enduring, best-loved and eccentric popularisers of science of the television era. Before there was Professor Brian Cox, before the excellent Neil deGrasse […]

On this day in 1630, the German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler died in Regensburg, Bavaria. He was, at one point, assistant to the great Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe, and later served as imperial mathematician […]