| JANUARY 5 - BIRTHS | |
| Aaron "Bunny" Lapin | |
(source) |
 
Born 5 Jan 1914; died 10 Jul 1999
American inventor of Reddi-Wip, whipped cream dessert topping in a spray can (1948). First sold by St. Louis milkmen, its distribution expanded quickly across N. America during America's postwar desire for convenience. Lapin became known as the Whipped Cream King. Lapin established Clayton Corp. to made his own valves for the can. He was issued U.S. patent 2,704,172 on 10 Mar 1955 for the valve. Clayton now also makes industrial valves, closures, caulk, adhesives and foamed plastic products such as insulation and cushioning materials. In 1998, Time listed Reddi-wip as one of the century's 100 great consumer items, along with the pop-top can and Spam. Reddi-Wip is now a brand of ConAgra's Beatrice Food.« [Image right: modern Reddi-Wip container.] |
| Stephen Cole Kleene | |
(source) |
Born 5
Jan 1909; died 25 Jan 1994.
American mathematician and logician whose research was on the theory of algorithms and recursive functions. He developed the field of recursion theory with Church, Gödel, Turing and others. He contributed to mathematical Intuitionism which had been founded by Brouwer. His work on recursion theory helped to provide the foundations of theoretical computer science. By providing methods of determining which problems are soluble, Kleene's work led to the study of which functions can be computed. |
| Dame Kathleen (Mary) Kenyon | |
(source) |
Born 5
Jan 1906; died 24 Aug 1978.
English archaeologist whose excavations included finding evidence that pushed back the era of occupation of the mound at Jericho from the Bronze Age and Neolithic to the Natufian culture at the end of the Ice Age (10,000 – 9,000 BC), revealing that it was the oldest known continuously occupied human settlement. She established that the city itself spanned more than 3,800 years. Over 100 tombs were discovered at Jericho during excavations (1952-58). Kenyon helped pioneer stratigraphic excavations as a more scientific approach to archaeological digs, a technique she learned while working with Sir Mortimer Wheeler at his major excavation of the Romano-British city of Verulamium (north of London). |
| Joseph Erlanger | |
(source) |
Born 5
Jan 1874; died 5 Dec 1965.
American physiologist, who discovered that fibres within the same nerve cord possess different functions. In 1910 he accepted the chair of physiology at Washington University in St. Louis, which he held until his retirement in 1946. While his department became one of the major research centers in physiology in America. Erlanger continued his work on cardiovascular physiology. During WW I, he carried out research on the problem of shock. In 1921 he shifted his interests to neurophysiology, and began joint work, with colleague Herbert Gasser, on the amplification and recording of nerve action potentials with the cathode ray oscilloscope, for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1944. |
| King C. Gillette | |
|
Born 5
Jan 1855; died 9 Jul 1932.
King Camp Gillette was the inventor and manufacturer of the safety razor with disposable blades. After persistent efforts to invent something that everyone would use, by 1895 produced a crude version of a disposable razor blade. it took another six years to refine his invention. On 15 Nov 1904 he was issued U.S. patent No. 775,134 for his idea and founded the Gillette Safety Razor Company in Boston, Mass., to make his razor and blades. In 1903, he sold 168 blades, but in the following year he sold 90,000 razors and over 12 million blades. Although he remained president of the company until 1931, he retired to Los Angeles in 1913, having become a millionaire. A utopian, he wrote four books translating his business experience into social theories, culminating with The People's Corporation (1924).«  King
C. Gillette, the Man and his Wonderful Shaving Device,
by Russell B Adams. |
| Camille Jordan | |
(source) |
Born 5
Jan 1838; died 20 Jan 1922.
French mathematician and engineer who prepared a foundation for group theory and built on the prior work of Évariste Galois (died 1832). As a mathematician, Jordan's interests were diverse, covering topics throughout the aspects of mathematics being studied in his era. The topics in his published works include finite groups, linear and multilinear algebra, the theory of numbers, topology of polyhedra, differential equations, and mechanics. |
| Edmund Ruffin | |
(source) |
Born 5
Jan 1794; died 18 Jun 1865.
The father of soil chemistry in the U.S., who showed how to restore fertility to depleted soil. Though without formal science education, Ruffin determined that the soil of southeast plantations that had been overused with single-crop production had become more acidic and unable to benefit from fertilizers. The remedy he published (1818) was the spreading of marl to neutralize the acidity. He went further by specifying effective methods of fertilizing, plowing and rotating crops to increase production of grains. He expanded his recommendations in book and journal article form, as well lecturing up to the 1850's. He then became an outspoken secessionist, and took his own life upon the South losing in the U.S. Civil War. |
| Thomas Nuttall | |
(source) |
Born 5
Jan 1786; died 10 Sep 1859.
English naturalist and botanist known for his discoveries of North American plants. He went to the newly formed United States at a perfect time to be an explorer of its expanding boundaries. Gifted as a botanist and ornithologist, he was one of the most well-travelled, adventurous and knowledgeable of the early naturalists on the American frontier. His career in botany was sparked within a day of his arrival in Philadelphia in 1808 by Benjamin Smith Barton, whom he met to enquire about the curious name of the cat-brier plant he had found. After some formal instruction in botany from Barton, Nuttall was engaged in field work for Barton, collecting plants in the salt marshes of Delaware and the Chesapeake Bay. |
| David Wilkinson | |
(source) |
Born 5
Jan 1771; died 3 Feb 1852.
American inventor and manufacturer who patented a machine for cutting screw threads which incorporated the slide rest (14 Dec 1798). It had a heavy carriage supported on three rollers. With his father and brother, Wilkinson supplied the cotton industry by machining, casting and forging iron parts to build textile manufacturing equipment for such factories as Slater Mill, Pawtucket, Rhode Island. With such business to keep him occupied, Wilkinson did not further develop his screw machine. His business failed in the the financial panic of 1829. However, the slide-rest invention was widely applied by others, especially making firearms for the U.S. government. He petitioned Congress in 1848 for a financial reward for his invention and received $10,000.« |
| JANUARY 5 - DEATHS | |
| Norman Heatley | |
(source) |
 Died
5 Jan 2004 (born 10 Jan 1911)
Norman George Heatley solved problems in the extraction of penicillin from its mould, and paved the way for mass production. By D-Day of WW II, the Allies had an adequate stock to treat the wounded in danger of serious bacterial infections. Although it was Fleming who accidentally discovered penicillin (1928), it was Heatley who made it practical, making sufficient quantity by 1941 for its first clinical tests. His apparatus included porcelain "bedpans", milk churns and roasting trays to grow the bacteria. Also, an assay method he developed could precisely measure the activity of a sample of penicillin, in what became known as "Oxford units". His production method used pie plates, cookie tins, and a porcelain vessel dubbed the bedpan. The
Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle,
by Eric Lax. |
| Merrill W. Chase | |
(source) |
Died
5 Jan 2004 (born 17 Sep 1905)
American immunologist who was a pioneer in the study of cellular immunology and experimental allergy. In the 1940's, he uncovered a whole new class of immune responses, now called cell-mediated immunity (which aids antibodies in protecting against disease). In his key experiment, he succeeded in transferring immunity against the tuberculosis organism by transferring white blood cells between guinea pigs. By the 1950's, using improved cell culture techniques, other experimenters identified lymphocyte cells (about 25% of white blood cells) as responsible for immunity, and later found different types. T cells are derived from the thymus mediated cellular immunity, and B cells from the bursa of Fabricius (an outgrowth of the cloaca in birds) |
| S. Joseph Begun | |
(source) |
Died
5 Jan 1995 (born 2 Dec 1905)
Semi Joseph Begun was a German-American inventor who built the first tape recorder for broadcasting (1934), which was later used in the 1936 Olympics. After WW II, he continued to work on magnetic recording media based on coating paper and plastic tape with ferrmagnetic powder suspensions. Begun developed the first consumer tape recorder in the U.S. under the trade name Sound Mirror. He also negotiated the first sourcing agreement for magnetic tape with 3M - which became a major product line. He also invented the Mail-A-Voice, which magnetically recorded on one side of a paper disk for letter correspondence. |
| Harold C. Urey | |
(source) |
Died
5 Jan 1981 (born 29 Apr 1893)
American scientist awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1934 for his discovery of deuterium, the heavy form of hydrogen (1932). He was active in the development of the atomic bomb. He contributed to the growing basis for the theory of what was widely accepted as the origin of the Earth and other planets. In 1953, Stanley L. Miller and Urey simulated the effect of lightning in the prebiotic atmosphere of Earth with an electrical discharge in a mixture of hydrogen, methane, ammonia, and water. This produced a rich mixture of aldehydes and carboxylic and amino acids (as found in proteins, adenine and other nucleic acid bases). Urey calculated the temperature of ancient oceans from the amount of certain isotopes in fossil shells. |
| Vero (Copner) Wynne-Edwards | |
(source) |
Died
5 Jan 1997 (born 4 July 1906)
English zoologist who theorized that a process group selection occured during the evolution of species. In his book Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behavior (1962), he proposed that instead of Darwinian individual survival of the fittest dominating, evolution also occured by self-regulatory mechanisms of whole species, manifested in territoriality, dominance hierarchies, and allocation of resources. Thus, evolution often favours not the animal best able to survive alone, but rather the animal best adapted to survive within the social context of the kind. Now, however, it is generally accepted that while this may occur under exceptional circumstances, it has not been a major factor in evolution. |
| Columbus O'D Iselin | |
(source) |
Died
5 Jan 1971 (born 25 Sept 1904)
Columbus O'D(onnell) Iselin was an American oceanographer, born in New Rochelle, N.Y. As director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (1940-50; 1956-57) in Massachusetts, he expanded its facilities 10-fold and made it one of the largest research establishments of its kind in the world. He developed the bathythermograph and other deep-sea instruments responsible for saving ships during World War II. He made major contributions to research on ocean salinity and temperature, acoustics, and the oceanography of the Gulf Stream. |
| Max Born | |
(source) |
Died
5 Jan 1970 (born 11 Dec 1882)
German physicist who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1954 (with Walther Bothe), for his statistical formulation of the behaviour of subatomic particles. Born's studies of the wave function led to the replacement of the original quantum theory, which regarded electrons as particles, with a mathematical description. |
| George Washington Carver | |
(source) |
Died
5 Jan 1943 (born 1861?)
American agricultural chemist, agronomist, and experimenter who helped revolutionize the agricultural economy of the South. Carver demonstrated to farmers how fertility could be restored to their land by diversification, especially by planting peanuts and sweet potatoes, to replenish soil impoverished by the regular growth of cotton and tobacco. He showed that peanuts contained several different kinds of oil, and peanut butter was another of his innovations. In all he is reported to have developed over 300 new products from peanuts and over 100 from sweet potatoes. For most of his career he taught and conducted research at the Tuskegee Institute, Alabama where he stayed despite lucrative offers to work for such magnates as Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. |
| Amy Johnson | |
(source) |
Died
5 Jan 1941 (born 1 Jul 1903)
Pioneering British female aviator who first achieved fame as a result of her attempt (1930) to set a record for solo flight from London to Darwin, Australia, although she missed that record by three days. She took up flying in 1928, and also showed talent for mechanics. By 1930 she had qualified as both a pilot and a ground engineer. Flying a De Havilland Moth, Johnson set out to beat Bert Hinkler's record for flying to Australia. Though she did not beat the record, she made it to Australia, and was given a hero's welcome. She was the first woman to make the trip. The Daily Mail gave her a £10,000 prize. Johnson made other long-distance flights. While on a flying mission for the Air Ministry, 5 Jan 1941, she disappeared over the Thames estuary. |
| Louis-Paul Cailletet | |
(source) |
Died
5 Jan 1913 (born 21 Sep 1832)
French physicist and ironmaster, noted for his work on liquefaction of gases. Working at his father's metallugy business, he investigated the permeability of iron to hydrogen and other gases, accounting for the unpredictable behaviour of some irons in terms of an excess of dissolved gases. In 1870, he began carefully measuring whether real gases deviate from "ideal" gas law behaviour. From this grew an interest in the liquefaction of gases. He used the Joule-Thomson effect - compressing a gas whilst cooling it, then allowing its rapid expansion to cool it still further - and in 1877-78, was first to produce droplets of liquid oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and acetylene. He also invented the altimeter and the high-pressure manometer. Image: Cailletet's liquefier. |
| Joseph von Mering | |
(source) |
Died
5 Jan 1908 (born 28 Feb 1849)
(baron) German physiologist, physician, pharmacologist, and experimental pathologist. Jointly with Oskar Minkowski, he discovered that removal of the pancreas in dogs produces the symptoms of diabetes. This led Minkowski to propose that the pancreas secreted some antidiabetic substance, though they did isolate it. Schafer coined the term insulin in 1915, some years in advance of its eventual isolation. Insulin is a hormone synthesized in the pancreas that is important for the body to make proper use of sugar. |
| Karl Alfred von Zittel | |
(source) |
Died
5 Jan 1904 (born 25 Sep 1839)
(knight) Paleontologist who proved that the Sahara had not been under water during the Pleistocene Ice Age. A distinguished authority on his subjects and their history, he was a pioneer of evolutionary paleontology and was widely recognized as the leading teacher of paleontology in the 19th century. His five-volume Handbuch der Paläonologie (1876-93) was arguably his greatest service to science, and it remains one of the most comprehensive and trustworthy paleontological reference books. |
| JANUARY 5 - EVENTS | |
| International Polio initiative | |
In 2000, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) announced
the final stage of the worldwide initiative to eradicate Polio. |
|
| Golden Gate bridge | |
(source) |
In 1933, construction work on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge began
on the Marin County side. It was the first in the U.S. to have piers built
in open ocean, and also first to span the outer mouth of a major ocean
harbour. The chief engineer was Joseph
B. Strauss. The length of the main structure of the bridge is 8,940-ft,
with towers rising 746-ft above the water and a minimum clearance of 220-ft.
Its first public use was on Pedestrian
Day on 27 May 1937, and it was ceremoniously opened
for vehicles the following day.«
The
Gate: The True Story of the Design and Construction of the Golden Gate
Bridge, by John Van Der Zee. |
| First colour newsreel | |
1971 (source) |
In 1948, Warner Brothers-Pathe showed the very first colour newsreel, as
pictures of the Tournament of Roses Parade taken New Years Day and the
Rose Bowl football classic were seen by theatre audiences. It was made
using the Cinecolor process. |
| X-rays | |
 |
In 1896, an Austrian newspaper, Wiener Presse, published the first
public account of a discovery by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen, the
form of radiation that became known as X-rays. |
| Aurora photographed | |
(source) |
In 1892, the first successful auroral photograph was made by the German
physicist Martin Brendel. Although it was limited to a blurred, low-contrast
picture, it did convey some sense of the shape of the aurora. The task
was not easy because the auroral light itself was generally feeble and
flickering while photographic materials of the time required a long exposure,
and was little sensitive to the deep reds in the aurora. One of his photographs,
taken on 1 Feb 1892 was published in the Century Magazine
of Oct 1897. Brendel had travelled to Alten Fiord, Lapland, to spend several
months studying auroral displays and magnetic disturbances. The first colour
pictures were not taken
until about 1950, and Life magazine published colour aurora photographs
in 1953.« [Image: West
end of an auroral band, photographed 1 Feb 1892 by Dr. Brendel, published
in Century Magazine.] |
| Hamburger | |
 |
In 1889, the word hamburger first appeared in print in the Walla Walla
Union, a Walla Walla, Washington, newspaper - according to the date
given in the Oxford English Dictionary. The name comes a German food called
hamburg steak, meaning "from Hamburg," not because it contains ham. In
the 19th century, German immigrants migrated to North America bringing
along the recipe for the hamburg steak, a form of pounded beef. American
people adopted the hamburg steak but used the adjective form "hamburger"
without "steak" at the end. The word appeared as an entry in 1902 edition
of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. In 1902, the first description of a hamburg
steak close to the American conception of the hamburger, gave a recipe
calling for finely chopped beef mixed with onion and pepper.« |
