2 October

1920: On 2 October 1920, Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo was born.

He was an Italian mathematician and engineer whose bald head and grey moustache were familiar in the corridors of both ESA and NASA. As one of the initiators of ESA's mission to Halley's Comet he suggested its name, Giotto, but he died before the project was accomplished.

The ESA mission BepiColombo is named after him.