This Day in Geek History: November 11
1572
Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe begins recording his observations of a supernova in the constellation Cassiopeia. For two weeks, it will be brighter than any other star in the sky, even remaining visible during the day. It will remain visible to the naked eye for another six months, until March 1574. Brahe will later publish his observations in the book De Nova Stella, which will be the origin of the the word “nova.”
1647
Massachusetts passes the first compulsory school attendance law in the U.S.
1675
Gottfried Leibniz demonstrates integral calculus for the first time by finding the area under the graph of the y = f(x) function.
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