Sprung: Spring is in the air, dear readers, as we bask in the warm glow of creativity and sow the seeds of socioeconomic innovation.
It’s Wednesday, March 10 – Székely Freedom Day in Romania, obviously – and we are rolling through this blessedly springlike late-winter workweek. Let’s boogie.
Harriet Tubman: The Underground Railroad’s best-known conductor.
On board: Today is Harriet Tubman Day, marking the 1913 death of the famed abolitionist, activist and American hero, whose actual birthdate remains unknown.
Tethered to a time when we always left our phones at home, March 10 also marks National Landline Telephone Day (scroll down for more).
Plumbing the depths: It’s also National Mario Day (“Mar10,” get it?), celebrating the iconic Nintendo plumber, who actually debuted in July 1981 as the brave foil to the nefarious “Donkey Kong.”
A true economic driver: Massachusetts inventor John Stone moved the pile on modern engineering when he patented a pile driver for bridges 230 years ago today.
For those keeping score, it was one of the first 10 U.S. patents ever issued.
Foreign affairs: A legion of extraordinary gentlemen.
Legions of fans: A silver-screen go-to for everyone from Abbott and Costello to Jean-Claude Van Damme, the famous French Foreign Legion was created on March 10, 1831, by King Louis Philippe I.
He could have just shouted: Or knocked on the wall or whatever, but anyway, inventor Alexander Graham Bell made the first speech-carrying telephone call on this date in 1876, summoning his assistant from the next room.
Put a ring on it: Move over, Saturn – Uranus has rings, too, as first discovered by NASA astronomers on this date in 1977.
“Jupiter Effect” my @$$: And in other celestial news, the world did not end on March 10, 1982 – though a select few were sure it would, due to a rare alignment of all nine Solar System planets (including current non-planet Pluto).
The orbital gathering of the planets within a 95-degree arc from the sun – essentially, on the “same side” of our generous star – didn’t disrupt the Earth’s rotation or otherwise trigger the predicted devastation. Actually, it happens every 179 years or so.
Public health pioneer: Wald, as portrayed in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
The Angel of Henry Street: American nurse, social worker, teacher, author and activist Lillian Wald (1867-1940) – who battled political corruption, led the reformation of child-labor laws and helped establish the nation’s school-nurse system – would be 154 years old today.
Also born on March 10 were Italian physician, botanist and biologist Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694), the founder of microscopical anatomy and “father of physiology”; German naturalist Georg Steller (1709-1946), a pioneer of Alaskan natural history and namesake of numerous animal species; German chemist Jeremias Richter (1762-1807), who set the law of reciprocal proportions; English philanthropist Joseph Williamson (1769-1840), who mysteriously dug an elaborate labyrinth of tunnels under Liverpool; and leading New Zealand suffragette Kate Sheppard (1847-1934), who fought hard for the right to vote.
When Chuck Norris does push-ups, he actually pushes the Earth down: And take a bow, Carlos Ray “Chuck” Norris – the martial artist, actor, producer and hero of dozens of awe-inspiring memes (“Chuck Norris doesn’t get wet, water gets Chuck Norrised”) turns 81 today.
Give your best to Walker, Texas Ranger, at editor@innovateli.com, where Good Guys Wear Black and you can break your Code of Silence (and be A Force of One) with some story tips and calendar events – unless you’re Missing in Action, of course.
About our sponsor: SUNY Old Westbury empowers students to own the future they want for themselves. In a small-college atmosphere and as part of a dynamic, diverse student body that today is 5,000 strong, students at Old Westbury get up close and personal with the life and career they want to pursue. Whether it’s a cutting-edge graduate program in data analytics, highly respected programs in accounting and computer information sciences, or any of the more than 70 degrees available, a SUNY Old Westbury education will set students on a course towards success. Own your future.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Bad news for Martians: The key ingredients of life – oxygen, water, warmth – were all present at one point or another in Mars’ past. But it’s still unlikely that advanced life flourished on the Red Planet.
That’s the conclusion of a new paper characterizing the Martian climate over the past 4.6 billion years, published this week by a team of nationwide researchers in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Geoscience. The team – led by Harvard University researcher Robin Wordsworth and featuring Stony Brook university associate professor Joel Hurowitz, among others – concluded that Mars has mostly been a cold place (too cold even for microbial life forms), but has occasionally enjoyed a warmer epoch or two, thanks to greenhouse effects induced by volcanic activity and other natural causes.
Those warm-ups would last long enough for liquid water “to flow across the surface, forming rivers and lakes,” according to Hurowitz, who’s no stranger to Mars. And the paper further suggests our nearby celestial neighbor sometimes boasted an O2-rich atmosphere – but flags oxygen as a “false positive” for signs of alien life. “Because prebiotic chemistry does not occur in highly oxidizing environments,” the paper states, “this work places constraints on the time periods and locations in which life could have originated and persisted on early Mars.”
Pasternack: Grateful graduate.
What’s Pasternack is present: The second-largest financial gift in Farmingdale State College history will create a new engineering scholarship as part of the college’s much-anticipated Honors Program.
Murray Pasternack – a 1960 graduate of Farmingdale State’s Electrical Technology (now Electrical Engineering) program and founder/CEO of California-based radio-frequency/microwave technology innovator Pasternack Enterprises – made the $500,000 gift, second in size only to the $1 million donation made in 2011 to Farmingdale State’s School of Health Sciences by alumnus Theresa Patnode Santmann. The Murray Pasternack Endowed Scholarship in Engineering will help the college “recognize academic excellence among students who demonstrate financial need,” according to Farmingdale State President John Nader.
“I strongly believe that the Agricultural and Technical Institute at Farmingdale … provided me with the depth of knowledge I needed to succeed in my first chosen field, the electronics industry,” Pasternack said in a statement. “Now that I am finally transitioning to retirement, I am looking to say ‘thank you’ to those that helped me in my long journey.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Museum quality: Northwell Health has donated items from the very first U.S. COVID-19 vaccination to the Smithsonian Institution.
Exhibitionist: Other gifts worthy of repeated viewings include Innovate Long Island newsletter subscriptions – always easy, always free.
Innovation in the Age of Coronavirus: More vaccination sites, more tables in restaurants … lots happening this week in Long Island’s one-and-only pandemic primer.
VOICES
With millions of Americans lining up for COVID shots – and sitting through mandatory post-injection observations – healthcare and social-service providers have a unique opportunity to spread their word. Nonprofits guru Jeffrey Reynolds maps it out.
Jeffrey’s progressive plan adds another thoughtful layer to our exclusive Voices library, where leaders from across the Long Island innovation economy share their front-line perspectives. All that knowledge and experience, waiting for you.
STUFF WE’RE READING
First places: Women around the world are achieving notable firsts in 2021. Business Standard salutes International Women’s Day.
Second bananas: The women (and a few men) who didn’t get the scientific credit they deserved. Mental Floss gives props.
Third stimulus: Everything you need to know as the American Rescue Plan steams through Congress. Vox breaks it down.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Venus Aerospace, a Massachusetts-based, high-speed transportation startup developing hypersonic aircraft, closed a $3 million seed-funding round led by Prime Movers Lab, Draper Associates, Boost VC, Saturn Five and X-Factor Ventures.
+ Moov, a California-based, data-fueled marketplace for used manufacturing equipment, raised $2 million in strategic funding. Backers included NFX, Mark Cuban, Flatiron Health cofounders Nat Turner and Zach Weinberg, and other strategic angels.
+ Century Therapeutics, a Pennsylvania-based immune-oncology cell-therapy biotech, closed a $160 million Series C financing led by Casdin Capital, Fidelity Management & Research, the Federated Hermes Kauffmann Funds and RA Capital, among others.
+ Veir, a Massachusetts-based electricity-transmission developer focused on high-temperature superconductors, raised $10 million in Series A financing led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with participation from Congruent Ventures and The Engine.
+ TytoCare, a New York City-based, AI-powered, modular device and telehealth platform, raised $50 million in a Series D extension round led by Insight Partners, Tiger Global Management, Qumra Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Olive Tree Ventures and Shenzhen Capital Group Company.
+ DispatchHealth, a Colorado-based in-home medical care provider, secured an additional $200 million in Series D financing led by Tiger Global, with participation from Alta Partners, Echo Health Ventures, Humana, Oak HC/FT and Questa Capital.
BELOW THE FOLD
Let’s be frank: Nathan’s has done the impossible.
Not a wiener: Jericho-based Nathan’s Famous is now serving impossible burgers.
Not a mushroom: So what, exactly, is a non-fungible token?
Not sugar: Finally, a substitute sweetener that breaks all the rules.
Not kidding: Your future success is serious business at dynamic and diverse SUNY Old Westbury, one of the amazing institutions that support Innovate LI. Check them out.
