Richard Lander
8 February 1804 – 6 February 1834
Enlish explorer of the Niger River in west Africa.

John Ruskin
8 February 1819 – 20 January 1900
English art critic and philanthropist.

Maxime Du Camp
8 February 1822 – 9 February 1894
French photographer and journalist, established the ‘Revue de Paris’.

Jules Verne
8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905
French author of science fiction – ‘Around the World in 80 days’ and over 50 other Voyages Extraordinaires.

Dmitri Mendeleev
8 February 1834 – 2 February 1907
Russian chemist who created the Periodic Table of Elements.

Franz Marc
8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916
German Expressionist artist whose paintings can be seen in the Franz Marc Museum, Kochel am See, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart & Städel Museum Frankfurt, Germany; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Museum of Modern Art, New York;
New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester, England

Joseph Schumpeter
8 February 1883 – 8 January 1950
American economist, conceived the concept of business cycles.

Chester Carlson
8 February 1906 – 19 September 1968
American scientist who invented ‘xerography’, the technical basis for Laser printers and Photocopiers.

John Williams
8 February 1932
American conductor and composer. Also composed music for several major films including ‘Schindler’s List’, ‘Star Wars’, some Harry Potter movies.

Ted Koppel
8 February 1940
American journalist: ABC News Nightline and subsequently Discovery Channel chief editor.

Today’s events
8 February 1969 – A large meterite falls near Allende, in Mexico – it is estimated to be about 4·5 billion years old.
8 February 1971 – Opening of the American NASDAQ stock exchange market in New York.
8 February 1996 – The world-wide ‘24 Hours in Cyberspace’ Internet event goes online to illustrate the ways the Internet is changing people’s lives.