Ernest Everett Just, 1883–1941 (African-American biologist, academic, science writer)

* Ernest Everett Just's primary legacy is his recognition of the fundamental role of the cell surface in the development of organisms. In his work within marine biology, cytology and parthenogenesis, he advocated the study of whole cells under normal conditions, rather than simply breaking them apart in a laboratory setting.

Just authored two books, Basic Methods for Experiments on Eggs of Marine Animals (1939) and The Biology of the Cell Surface (1939), and he also published at least seventy papers in the areas of cytology, fertilization and early embryonic development. He discovered what is known as the fast block to polyspermy; he further elucidated the slow block, which had been discovered by Fol in the 1870s; and he showed that the adhesive properties of the cells of the early embryo are surface phenomena exquisitely dependent on developmental stage.

In the fall of 1941, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and died shortly thereafter on 27 October 1941 in Washington D.C., aged 58.

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NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: Ernest Everett Just, 14 Aug. 1883, circa 00:15 (12:15am) LMT (+5:19:43), Charleston, South Carolina, USA (32n46, 79w55). ASC: Gemini. RR: B (from biography). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield quotes from Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just by Kenneth R. Manning (Oxford University, 1985), p. 5: "Mary Mathews Just . . . went through an easy delivery a little after midnight on Tuesday morning, 14 August." The source is given as Charleston News and Courier, 14 Aug. 1883, p. 1.

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Duchenne de Boulogne, 1806-1875 (French neurologist, smile technician)

* Using electricity, neurologist Duchenne de Boulogne determined that "smiles resulting from true happiness not only utilize the muscles of the mouth but also those of the eyes" and such 'genuine' smiles are known today as 'Duchenne smiles' in honour of his discovery. Duchenne had electric Uranus rising in smiley Libra ruled by Venus in happy Leo.

Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (de Boulogne) (September 17, 1806 in Boulogne-sur-Mer – September 15, 1875 in Paris) was a French neurologist who revived Galvani's research and greatly advanced the science of electrophysiology. The era of modern neurology progressed from Duchenne's understanding of the conductivity of neural pathways, his revelations of the effect of lesions on these structures and his diagnostic innovations including deep tissue biopsy, nerve conduction tests (NCS), and clinical photography.

Neurology did not exist in France before Duchenne and although many medical historians regard Jean-Martin Charcot as the father of the discipline, Charcot owed much to Duchennne, often acknowledging him as, "mon maitre en neurologie" (my master in neurology). The American neurologist Dr. Joseph Collins (1866-1950) wrote that Duchenne found neurology, "a sprawling infant of unknown parentage which he succored to a lusty youth." His greatest contributions were made in the myopathies that came to immortalize his name, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne-Aran spinal muscular atrophy, Duchenne-Erb paralysis, Duchenne's disease (Tabes dorsalis), and Duchenne's paralysis (Progressive bulbar palsy). He was the first clinician to practise muscle biopsy, the harvesting of in vivo tissue samples with an invention he called, "l'emporte-pièce" (Duchenne's trocar). In 1855 he formalized the diagnostic principles of electrophysiology and introduced electrotherapy in a textbook titled, De l'electrisation localisée et de son application à la physiologie, à la pathologie et à la thérapeutique. A companion atlas to this work titled, Album de photographies pathologiques, was the first neurology text illustrated by photographs. Duchenne's monograph, Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine – also illustrated prominently by his photographs – was the first study on the physiology of emotion and was seminal to Darwin's later work.

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

Photo source: Rondot P. G. B. A. Duchenne de Boulogne (1806–1875). J Neurol 252, 7, 2005 DOI:10.1007/s00415-005-0874-0.

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HOROSCOPE NOTES

Duchenne had Uranus (planet of electricity) rising in smiley Libra, ruled by Venus in happy Leo: He "formalized the diagnostic principles of electrophysiology and introduced electrotherapy in a textbook" and "By electricity he also determined that smiles resulting from true happiness not only utilize the muscles of the mouth but also those of the eyes. Such 'genuine' smiles are known as Duchenne smiles in his honor."

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NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne, 17 September 1806, 08:00 (8:00 a.m.) LMT (-0:06:28), Boulogne-sur-Mer, France (50n43, 01e37). ASC: 18 Libra . RR= AA (from birth certificate). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes the birth record in the Pas-de-Calais archives.

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Paul Rosbaud (New Astrology data and chart)

* Scientist Paul Rosbaud spied for England during the second world war. Time of birth from his biography, The Griffin.

Paul Rosbaud (18 November 1896 – 28 January 1963), was a metallurgist and scientific adviser for Springer Verlag in Germany before and during World War II. He continued in science publishing after the war with Pergamon Press in Oxford, England. In 1986 Arnold Kramish revealed the undercover work of Paul Rosbaud for England during the war in the book The Griffin. It was Rosbaud that dispelled anxiety over a "German atom bomb".

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

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HOROSCOPE NOTES

This spy had Leo rising ruled by the Sun in a quadruple Scorpio conjunction.

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NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: 18 November 1896, 21:30 (9:30 p.m.) CET (-1), Graz, Austria (47n05, 15e27). ASC: 9 Leo. RR=B (from biography). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes Arnold Kramish, The Griffin (Houghton Mifflin, 1986), p. 6: "The third son was born at half past nine in the evening of November 18, 1896."

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Copyright Sy Scholfield. All rights reserved in all media.

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Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (New Astrology data and chart)

* Much of Antoine Laurent de Jussieu's 18th-century natural classification of flowering plants remains in use today. Data from baptismal certificate.

Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (12 April 1748 – 17 September 1836) was a French botanist, notable as the first to publish a natural classification of flowering plants; much of his system remains in use today. His classification was based on and extended unpublished work by his uncle, the botanist Bernard de Jussieu.

Jussieu was born in Lyon. He went to Paris to study medicine, graduating in 1770. He was professor of botany at the Jardin des Plantes from 1770 to 1826. His son Adrien-Henri also became a botanist. Bust of Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu by David d'Angers (1837). Medallion of Jussieu by David d'Angers

In his study of flowering plants, Genera plantarum (1789), Jussieu adopted a methodology based on the use of multiple characters to define groups, an idea derived from Scottish-French naturalist Michel Adanson. This was a significant improvement over the "artificial" system of Linnaeus, whose most popular work classified plants into classes and orders based on the number of stamens and pistils. Jussieu did keep Linnaeus' binomial nomenclature, resulting in a work that was far-reaching in its impact; many of the present-day plant families are still attributed to Jussieu. Morton's 1981 History of botanical science counts 76 of Jussieu's families conserved in the ICBN, versus just 11 for Linnaeus, for instance. Writing of the natural system, Sydney Howard Vines remarked

"The glory of this crowning achievement belongs to Jussieu: he was the capable man who appeared precisely at the psychological moment, and it is the men that so appear who have made, and will continue to make, all the great generalisations of science."

In 1788, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, Les Neuf Sœurs.

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

Portrait from Galerie des naturalistes de J. Pizzetta, Ed. Hennuyer, 1893.

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HOROSCOPE NOTES

The first to publish a natural classification of flowering plants? Chiron in Virgo almost exactly conjunct and ruling the Virgo Ascendant.

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NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: 12 April 1748, 16:00 (4pm) LMT (-0:19:24), Lyon, France (45n45, 04e51). ASC: 23 Virgo. RR=AA (from baptismal certificate quoted in a biography). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes a transcription of the birth record in Lyon-revue, Volume 1 (1880), p. 123: "L'an 1748 et le 12 avril a été baptisé à la Platière, Antoine-Laurent, né ce soir à quatre heures, fils légitime de sieur Christophe de Jussieu, maistre apothicaire à Lyon, et de demoiselle Jeanne Pallier."

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Ian Frazer (New Astrology data and chart)

* Scottish-Australian Ian Frazer co-developed and patented the basic technology behind the first vaccine designed to prevent a cancer. Many thanks to Caroline Gerard for his data from birth certificate.

Ian Hector Frazer, AC (born 6 January 1953) is a Scottish-born Australian Scientist and the CEO and Director of Research of the Translational Research Institute. In parallel with researchers at the National Cancer Institute, Georgetown University, and University of Rochester, Frazer and his colleagues developed and patented the basic technology behind the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer; the second cancer preventing vaccine, and the first vaccine designed to prevent a cancer. (Two are marketed as Gardasil and Cervarix).

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

Photo by Graeme Bartlett.

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HOROSCOPE NOTES

The co-developer of a cervical cancer vaccine? Pluto in 8th House square and ruling Scorpio MC.

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NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: Ian Hector Frazer, 6 January 1953, 08:25 (8.25 a.m.) GMT (+0), Glasgow, Scotland (55n53, 04w15). ASC: 7 Capricorn. RR=AA (from birth certificate). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes Caroline Gerard in an email (10/02/2007) for full name and data from birth certificate.

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Copyright Sy Scholfield. All rights reserved in all media.

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Bern Porter: Artist (New Astrology data and chart)

* The birth time of unconventional artist and writer, Bern Porter, was recorded, then corrected, in his baby book, which states he was born in 1910, not 1911 as is often claimed. (The exhibit of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2010 celebrated his centenary).

Bernard Harden "Bern" Porter (February 14, 1911 [1910, ed] – June 7, 2004) was an American artist, writer, publisher, performer, and scientist.

In 2010 his work was recognized by an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Porter is best known for his "founds", which he has published in numerous collections including Found Poems, The Wastemaker, The Book of Do's, Dieresis, Here Comes Everybody's Don't Book, and Sweet End. Publishers of these works included Something Else Press, The Village Print Shop, and Tilbury House.

Bern Porter's underground reputation as an artist-writer-philosopher-scientist is well established among visual artists and writers, and his philosophy of dissent is respected. Dick Higgins, the avant-garde writer and publisher/editor of the Something Else Press, was inspired to call Porter the Charles Ives of American letters'. Recognizing Porter as one of the earliest and most prolific practitioners of Found Poetry', Peter Frank (in his book on Something Else Press) has written: "Porter is to the poem what [Marcel] Duchamp was to the art object, a debunker of handiwork fetishism and exemplary artist-as-intercessor between phenomenon and receptor. He rejects the typical artist's role of semi-divine creator. Porter's eye never tires of seeking accidental, unconventional literature in odd pages of textbooks, far corners of advertisements, the verbiage of greeting cards and repair manuals, ad infinitum."

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

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HOROSCOPE NOTES

Porter had Uranus rising in the 12th House: he sought the accidental and the unconventional in his work.

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NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: 14 February 1910, 05:30 (5:30 a.m.) EST (+5), Houlton, Maine, USA (46n07, 67w50). ASC: 28 Capricorn. RR=AA (from baby book). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes James Erwin Schevill's book, Where to Go, What to Do, When You Are Bern Porter: A Personal Biography (Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House, 1992), p. 9: "According to his proud baby book characteristic of the turn of the century — a statement at the bottom of the page reads "A life to be satisfactory should be started right" — Bernard Porter was born at 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, February 14, 1910, on his grandfather's farm in Porter Settlement, just south of Houlton, Maine. On the next page of the baby book is a correction. He was born at 5:30 a.m., weighed eight pounds, and when he was two weeks old, his father placed a $5 gold piece for him in a savings bank. The first caller to see the baby was "Grandpa Porter." Later in the baby book, alongside an advertisement proclaiming that "The name Borden stands preeminent for all that is good in Milk," Porter's parents recorded milestones: Bernard sat at six months old, crept at nine months, . . ."

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