Science on This Day: December 10 | The First Nobel Prizes, Ada Lovelace, and Fixing the Hubble Space Telescope
December 10 brings together three stories about scientific progress: how discoveries are recognised, how people develop new ways to calculate and process information, and how engineers solve problems that threaten an ambitious scientific mission. In 1901, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded to people whose work had advanced physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. The date also marks the birth of mathematician Ada Lovelace in 1815, whose work on a proposed mechanical computer anticipated important ideas in programming. In 1993, astronauts aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour were in the middle of a demanding mission to correct the Hubble Space Telescope’s flawed optics.
These events offer useful connections across physics, chemistry, mathematics, computing, and engineering. They also show that scientific progress can depend on very different contributions, from developing a new theory to writing instructions for a machine or repairing a telescope in orbit.
December 10, 1901: The first Nobel Prizes are awarded
On December 10, 1901, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded, fulfilling the wishes of Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Nobel. His will had directed that much of his fortune be used to establish prizes recognising work that brought significant benefits to humanity. The awards were presented five years after Nobel’s death.
The original prizes covered five categories: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace. The Nobel Prize in Physics went to Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen for his discovery of the rays that became known as X-rays. Jacobus Henricus van ’t Hoff received the Chemistry Prize for his work on chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions. Emil von Behring received the Physiology or Medicine Prize for his work on serum therapy, particularly its application against diphtheria.
The other first laureates were French poet Sully Prudhomme, who received the Literature Prize, and Henry Dunant and Frédéric Passy, who shared the Peace Prize. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was introduced much later, in 1968, and was first awarded in 1969. It was not part of the original five prizes.
The scientific awards are especially useful for exploring how discoveries can affect everyday life. Röntgen’s discovery of X-rays opened up new possibilities for medical imaging. Instead of relying only on external examination, doctors could obtain images showing structures inside the body, including bones. The discovery quickly influenced medicine, although early X-ray use also demonstrated the need to understand and manage radiation risks.
Van ’t Hoff’s work helped establish physical chemistry as a field that connects chemical reactions with mathematical relationships and physical principles. His research into osmotic pressure helped scientists understand how solutions behave, with implications for chemistry, biology, and the movement of water across membranes.
Behring’s serum therapy research was important in the fight against diphtheria, a serious infectious disease. His work contributed to the development of treatments that used components of the immune response to help protect patients against toxins produced by bacteria.
The Nobel Prizes have continued to change over time, but their original purpose provides a useful starting point for discussing the relationship between scientific achievement and its wider effects. A discovery may be recognised because it advances a theory, creates a new technology, improves healthcare, or changes how people understand the world.
Classroom connection: What makes a discovery worth recognising?
Ask students to compare the work of Röntgen, van ’t Hoff, and Behring. Each made a different kind of contribution, so students should consider what counts as scientific progress. Is a discovery more important if it leads to a practical application? Should a new explanation of a natural phenomenon be valued differently from a treatment that saves lives?
Students could nominate a scientific discovery or invention from the past 50 years for a hypothetical award. They should explain what problem it addressed, what evidence supports its significance, and how it has affected society. Encourage them to distinguish between a discovery’s immediate impact and its longer-term consequences.
The official Nobel Prize history provides an accessible overview of the first awards, while the 1901 Nobel Prize summaries offer details about the laureates and their work.
December 10, 1815: Ada Lovelace and the beginnings of computer programming
Ada Lovelace was born Augusta Ada Byron on December 10, 1815, in London. She became a mathematician who is remembered for her work on Charles Babbage’s proposed Analytical Engine, a mechanical computing machine that was never completed in Lovelace’s lifetime.
Babbage designed the Analytical Engine as a general-purpose machine that could, in principle, carry out different calculations by following instructions. This was a significant departure from machines built to perform only one particular calculation. The design included ideas corresponding to a processing unit and a store for numbers, as well as a way to control the sequence of operations.
Lovelace studied the machine and translated an account of its design written by Italian engineer Luigi Federico Menabrea. She added extensive notes of her own, published in 1843. These notes included a detailed sequence of operations for calculating a series of Bernoulli numbers using the proposed machine. This is often described as the first published computer program intended for a general-purpose machine.
The distinction matters because the Analytical Engine was never built as designed, so Lovelace’s instructions were not executed on a completed machine. Her work was nevertheless significant because she reasoned about how a programmable machine might manipulate symbols according to rules. She also considered that such a machine might work with things other than numbers, provided those things could be represented in a form the machine could process.
That idea connects closely with modern computing. Computers can process text, images, sound, and scientific data because information can be encoded into digital forms and manipulated through instructions. Lovelace did not invent modern computers, and historians continue to discuss the precise status of her contribution alongside Babbage’s work and that of other early computing pioneers. Her notes remain an important part of the history of programming and computational thinking.
Lovelace’s story is also an opportunity to discuss women’s contributions to mathematics and science during a period when formal educational and professional opportunities were heavily restricted. Her work demonstrates the importance of mathematical reasoning, imagination, and the ability to think beyond the immediate capabilities of existing technology.
Classroom connection: What is an algorithm?
An algorithm is a defined sequence of steps for completing a task or solving a problem. Students can explore the concept without using a computer. Ask them to write precise instructions for sorting a set of numbers, finding the largest value in a list, or guiding a partner through a simple maze.
The partner should follow the instructions literally, without guessing what the writer intended. Where instructions are vague or steps are missing, the task may fail. This demonstrates why algorithms need to be clear, ordered, and testable.
For older students, connect this activity to programming. Ask how the same set of instructions could be used with different data, or how a computer could repeat a set of steps many times. Students can then consider how an algorithm differs from a physical machine: one describes the procedure, while the other provides the mechanism that carries it out.
The Computer History Museum’s Ada Lovelace history provides a concise account of her life and work. It can be paired with a short research task about Babbage’s Analytical Engine and the development of programmable computers.
December 10, 1993: Hubble’s optics are corrected during a landmark servicing mission
When NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope began sending images back to Earth in 1990, astronomers discovered a serious problem. The telescope’s primary mirror had a flaw known as spherical aberration. The outer part of the mirror had been ground slightly too flat, causing light from a point source to fail to converge as intended. The result was blurred images that limited the telescope’s ability to carry out some of its planned observations.
The problem was particularly frustrating because Hubble had been designed to observe the universe above Earth’s atmosphere, avoiding the blurring and absorption that affect ground-based telescopes. The telescope was in orbit and its instruments were functioning, but the mirror’s shape prevented it from delivering the sharp images expected.
Engineers developed a solution before the first major servicing mission. Space Shuttle Endeavour launched on December 2, 1993, carrying astronauts on mission STS-61. Over the following days, the crew captured Hubble with the shuttle’s robotic arm and carried out a series of complex repairs during five spacewalks.
The astronauts installed a device called COSTAR, short for Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement. It used small corrective mirrors to compensate for the primary mirror’s aberration in several of Hubble’s instruments. The Wide Field and Planetary Camera was also replaced with an upgraded instrument, WFPC2, which incorporated its own corrective optics.
The mission involved more than fixing the mirror problem. The crew replaced solar arrays, gyroscopes, and other components to improve Hubble’s reliability and performance. The work required astronauts to use specialised tools and follow carefully planned procedures while wearing bulky spacesuits in a hazardous environment. Engineers on the ground had to anticipate problems, coordinate operations, and help the crew respond when tasks proved more complicated than expected.
The correction was successful. Subsequent observations showed that Hubble could once again produce the sharp images needed for its scientific programme. The telescope went on to transform astronomy, helping researchers study distant galaxies, star formation, planetary systems, and the expansion of the universe.
One date detail is worth clarifying: December 10 falls during the STS-61 servicing mission, not the launch date. The shuttle launched on December 2, and the corrective optics and replacement camera were installed during the mission’s sequence of spacewalks. The important historical event is the success of the overall repair effort rather than a claim that all the optical corrections happened on December 10 itself.
Classroom connection: How do engineers fix a problem they cannot reach?
Hubble is a strong case study in troubleshooting and engineering design. Ask students what they would need to know before attempting to repair a telescope in orbit. They might identify the cause of the blurry images, the design of the mirror, the limitations of the instruments, and the risks of sending astronauts to carry out repairs.
Students can explore the basics of spherical aberration by drawing rays reflecting from a curved mirror. In an idealised focusing mirror, parallel rays should converge at a common point. If different parts of the mirror focus light at different distances, the image becomes blurred. Students can compare this with the way a lens or mirror needs to be shaped and aligned to form a clear image.
A second activity could ask groups to plan a repair mission for a fictional spacecraft. They should identify the fault, decide which components or tools are needed, and plan the sequence of operations. Introduce constraints such as limited time, a finite number of tools, and the need to keep the spacecraft powered and stable. This helps students understand why a successful repair depends on planning, testing, and teamwork, not just a clever idea.
NASA’s STS-61 mission page and its history of the Hubble Space Telescope include mission details and explain how engineers corrected the optical problem.
Using Science on This Day in your classroom
These three December 10 events make useful starters for different science topics. The first Nobel Prizes connect scientific discovery with its impact on society. Ada Lovelace’s work introduces algorithms, mathematical thinking, and the history of computing. Hubble’s repair mission brings together optics, engineering, and the practical challenges of maintaining complex equipment in space.
You could use one event as a five-minute discussion starter, ask students to explain the science behind the achievement, or invite them to identify a problem and propose a solution. Each story can also lead into a wider conversation about how scientific ideas are tested, how technologies are improved, and how different kinds of expertise contribute to progress.
My December Science on This Day activity set includes 132 science and STEM events across the 31 days of December. It comes with an interactive HTML version with date and subject filters, classroom display mode, discussion questions and favourites, plus editable slides, a filterable spreadsheet, and a printable PDF. You can pick an event for a quick warm-up or use the discussion prompt to develop a longer lesson.
For more ready-to-use activities across science topics, explore The Teaching Astrophysicist resource store.
What else happened in science during December?
December includes many other events that connect to school science. On December 11, Apollo 17 landed on the Moon in 1972, and the microbiologist Robert Koch was born in 1843. December 14 marks Max Planck’s work that helped launch quantum theory in 1900 and the Mariner 2 spacecraft’s flyby of Venus in 1962.
On December 17, the Wright brothers achieved their first powered flight in 1903, and nuclear fission was discovered in 1938. Apollo 8 launched on December 21, beginning the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon. On December 24, the Apollo 8 crew captured the famous Earthrise photograph, and on December 25, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope launched.
These dates can help students see the links between scientific ideas, technological development, and society. A short science-history activity can provide a change of pace during a lesson while reinforcing the concepts students are learning in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and engineering.
Thanks for reading
Cheers and stay curious
Oliver - The Teaching Astrophysicist
