American Museum of Natural History

On this day in 1977, Voyager 1 launched from Florida’s NASA Kennedy Space Center. Over the past 41 years, together with its twin Voyager 2, the spacecraft outperformed all expectations—gathering invaluable information about Jupiter and Saturn, then becoming the first human-made object to cross into interstellar space in 2012. Both spacecraft are still exploring as part of our farthest and longest-lasting space mission and carrying the Golden Record, with recordings of nature, human languages, and music into the universe. Concept art: NASA

Did you know that Uranus was (accidentally) discovered on this day in 1781, the first planet to be discovered with the aid of a telescope? At first, British astronomer William Herschel thought the object in the sky to be a star or comet, but within two years, other astronomers showed it was a new planet orbiting the Sun. The ice giant is four times wider than the Earth and appears blue due to the methane in its atmosphere. Photo: NASA

Happy birthday to Margaret Mead! Anthropologist, explorer, writer, and teacher, Mead taught Americans the value of looking at other cultures to understand the complexity of the human experience. She worked in the Museum's Division of Anthropology from 1926 until her death in 1978. At age 23, Mead traveled to the South Pacific to carry out research for her doctoral dissertation. The resulting book, “Coming of Age in Samoa,” remains a best seller. Mead is also largely responsible for the Museum hall that bears her name. Photo: Lynn Gilbert