August 22

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  1647: Physicist, mathematician, and inventor Denis Papin born. Papin will invent the steam digester, the forerunner of the pressure cooker and the steam engine.

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  1854: Poet Jan Kochanowski dies. He established poetic patterns which would become integral to the Polish literary language.

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  1920: Science fiction writer and screenwriter Ray Bradbury born. The New York Times will call Bradbury "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".

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  1974: Mathematician, historian of science, theatre author, poet, and inventor Jacob Bronowski dies.