August 3 Illinois History Minute

It’s August Third, and one of the fathers of modern dentistry was born on this day in 1836 in Scott County Illinois. Greene Vardiman Black, also known as G.V. Black, began his dental career in Jacksonville after the Civil War, and later became dean of the dental school at Northwestern. Black wrote books on dental science and invented a foot-driven dental drill. His classifications for five types of cavities are still in use today, although a sixth category was added later.

The Ziff-Davis publishing company was founded in Chicago this month in 1927, by William Ziff and Bernard Davis. During its three decades in the Windy City, Ziff-Davis found success with hobby magazines like Popular Aviation, and pulp fiction titles like Amazing Stories. Now based in New York, today’s Ziff-Davis is the online producer of Mashable, PCMag and other websites.