| JANUARY 21 - BIRTHS | |
| Konrad Bloch | |
(source) |
 Born 21
Jan 1912; died 15 Oct 2000.
Konrad (Emil) Bloch was a German-born American biochemist who shared the 1964 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Feodor Lynen for their discoveries concerning the natural synthesis of cholesterol and of fatty acids. Bloch identified the chemical process by which the body turns acetic acid into cholesterol. He discovered the point at which it is possible to regulate the amount of cholesterol the body produces. He discovered that high levels of cholesterol in the bloodstream cause fatty deposits on the inner walls of arteries, which may lead to constricted blood flow and increase the chances of blood clotting and heart attack. |
| Bengt Strömgren | |
(source) |
Born 21
Jan 1908; died 4 Jul 1987.
Bengt (Georg Daniel) Strömgren was a Danish astrophysicist who pioneered the present-day knowledge of the gas clouds in space. Researching for his theory of the ionized gas clouds around hot stars, he found relations between the gas density, the luminosity of the star, and the size of the "Strömgren sphere" of ionized hydrogen around it. He surveyed such H II regions in the Galaxy, and he also did important work on stellar atmospheres and ionization in stars. |
| Wolfgang Köhler | |
(source) |
Born 21
Jan 1887; died 11 Jun 1967.
German psychologist and a key figure in the development of Gestalt psychology, which seeks to understand learning, perception, and other components of mental life as structured wholes. Köhler is best known for his experiments with problem-solving in apes as director of the Anthropoid Station at Tenerife, Canary Islands. Köhler's tests with chimpanzees suggested that these animals solved problems by understanding, rather than a gradual trial-and-error process. Köhler placed chimps in an enclosed play area and placed fruit out of reach. The chimps learned to use boxes and sticks to get the fruit. For example, chimps stacked boxes to get to fruit hung above. If the boxes were next replaced with tables, the chimp would immediately use the tables instead. |
| Robert Almer Harper | |
| Born 21
Jan 1862; died 12 May 1946.
American biologist who identified the details of reproduction in the development of the fungus ascospore (sexually produced spores of fungi in the class Ascomycetes). eb |
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| Joseph Paxson Iddings | |
(source) |
Born 21
Jan 1857; died 8 Sep 1920.
American geologist who advanced understanding in the field of petrology - the study of the origin, composition, structure, and alteration of rocks. Around 1880, he was one of the first in the U.S. to study thin rock sections with a microscope. He explored and mapped the geology of Yellowstone National Park during seven field seasons (1883-1890). From this study he introduced original ideas concerning the range of crystal line textures and mineral composition of granular igneous rocks. He proposed that physical and chemical conditions causing differences in the formationof neighbouring igneous rock from the same igneous magma. Further, he rejected the prevailing view that granular rocks were only formed in large masses at depth.« |
| Joseph-Achille Le Bel | |
(source) |
Born 21
Jan 1847; died 6 Aug 1930.
French chemist who was the first to present a theory on the relationship between molecules and how they absorb or reflect light. Born into a family wealthy in petroleum holdings, he was able to build his own laboratory to pursue his work. He theorized (1874) that optical activity - the presence of two forms of the same organic molecule, one a mirror image of the other - is due to an asymmetric carbon atom bound to four different groups. For this contribution he is regarded as the cofounder of stereochemistry, with J. H. van't Hoff. His interests also included petrochemistry, cosmology, and biology. |
| Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake | |
(source) |
Born 21
Jan 1840; died 7 Jan 1912.
Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake was a British physician though whose determined efforts Parliament passed legislation to give women the right to have access to a medical education. She had spent years in her own attempt to enrol in a Scottish medical school. Eventually, she held a license at age 37 and opened a private practice in Scotland the following year. She was the country's first female doctor. She succeeded in having a medical school for women opened in London (1874) and a few years later, she established one in Edinburgh (1886). She made it possible for women to enter the medical profession to practice medicine and surgery.« |
| Horace Wells | |
 |
Born 21
Jan 1815; died 24 Jan 1848.
American dentist, a pioneer in the use of surgical anesthesia. On 10 Dec 1844, Wells saw a demonstration of the euphoric effects of inhaling nitrous oxide given by a travelling showman, Gardner Quincy Colton. At the show, he noticed a man under its influence had stumbled, injuring his leg, but who claimed to feel no pain. Next day, Wells had Colton administer nitrous oxide to him while having a tooth extracted by an associate. This experiment was a success, and Wells adopted the gas in his dental practice. In Jan 1845, he presented his procedure to a medical school class at Harvard University, but the gas was removed too soon from the patient, who then complained of pain. Thus the demonstration failed, and he lost his rightful recognition. |
| John Fitch | |
woodcut (source) |
Born 21
Jan 1743; died 2 Jul 1798.
American pioneer of steamboat transportation who produced serviceable steamboats before Robert Fulton. Fitch found private support, then rapidly built an engine with features of both Watt's and Newcomen's steam engines. He moved from mistake to mistake until he'd made our first steamboat. It was an odd machine - driven by a rack of Indian-canoe paddles. Yet, by the summer of 1790, Fitch used it in a successful passenger line between Philadelphia and Trenton. On 26 Aug 1791, John Fitch was granted a U.S. patent for the steamboat. He logged thousands of miles at six to eight mph carrying passengers that summer. However, it was not a commercial success, and a few years later, broken by failure, an alcoholic, he turned to suicide with opium pills.  Poor
John Fitch: Inventor of the Steamboat, by Thomas Boyd. |
|
Today in Science History Science Store Browse a selection of Bargain Science and Nature Books |
| JANUARY 21 - DEATHS | |
| H.L. Callendar | |
(source) |
 Died
21 Jan 1930 (born 18 Apr 1863)
H(ugh) L(ongbourne) Callendar was an English physicist famous for work in calorimetry, thermometry and especially, the thermodynamic properties of steam. He published the first steam tables (1915). In 1886, he invented the platinum resistance thermometer using the electrical resistivity of platinum, enabling the precise measurement of temperatures. He also invented the electrical continuous-flow calorimeter, the compensated air thermometer (1891), a radio balance (1910) and a rolling-chart thermometer (1897) that enabled long-duration collection of climatic temperature data. His son, Guy S. Callendar linked climatic change with increases in carbon dioxide (CO2) resulting from mankind's burning of carbon fuels (1938), known as the Callendar effect, part of the greenhouse effect.« |
| Camillo Golgi | |
1906(EB) |
Died
21 Jan 1926 (born 7 Jul 1843)
Italian physician and cytologist who, in 1873, published his key discovery, the use of silver salts to stain samples for microscope slides. Thus new details of cellular structure components were revealed, still known by such names as the Golgi complex. Golgi distinguished different types of nerve cells in the brain (Golgi cells) and described the complex structure of a network of tubules and granules in the cytoplasm of most cells (the Golgi body or apparatus) that is now known to be involved in secretion. Investigations into the fine structure of the nervous system earned him (with the Spanish histologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal) the 1906 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. |
| Elisha Gray | |
(source) |
Died
21 Jan 1901 (born 2 Aug 1835)
American scientist and innovator who would have been known to us as the inventor of the telephone if Alexander Graham bell hadn't got to the patent office before him earlier that day, resulting in a famous legal battle. He subsequently joined Western Electric where he designed the telegraph printer, the answer-back call-box of the A.D.T. System, and the needle annunciator, among other inventions. He also goes down in history as the accidental creator of the first electronic musical instrument using his discovery of the basic single note oscillator and design of a simple loudspeaker device. |
| John Couch Adams | |
 |
Died
21 Jan 1892 (born 5 Jun 1819)
British mathematician and astronomer, one of two people who independently discovered the planet Neptune. On 3 Jul 1841, Adams had entered in his journal: "Formed a design in the beginning of this week of investigating, as soon as possible after taking my degree, the irregularities in the motion of Uranus ... in order to find out whether they may be attributed to the action of an undiscovered planet beyond it." Adams made many other contributions to astronomy, notably his studies of the Leonid meteor shower (1866) where he showed that the orbit of the meteor shower was very similar to that of a comet. He was able to correctly conclude that the meteor shower was associated with the comet. Adams considered the motion of the Moon, and studied terrestrial magnetism. |
| JANUARY 21 - EVENTS | |
| Retin-A | |
In 1988, Retin-A got a boost when a study published in the Journal of the
American Medical
Association said the anti-acne drug could also reduce wrinkles caused by exposure to the sun. |
|
| Test-tube triplets | |
|
In 1984, Britain's first test-tube triplets - a girl and two boys - were
born to a couple in London. The mother was Anne Maaye. |
|
| Neptune | |
 |
In 1979, Neptune became the outermost planet as Pluto moved on its highly
elliptical orbit closer to the sun than Neptune's orbit. |
| Concorde | |
(source) |
In 1976, the supersonic Concorde,
developed in a joint venture between the French and the English, was put
into service as the first two Concordes with commercial passengers simultaneously
took flight. One left London's Heathrow Airport for Bahrain in the Persian
Gulf. The other flew from Orly Airport outside Paris to Rio de Janeiro
via Senegal in West Africa. Their cruising speed of 1,350 mph was well
over the speed of sound, and halved air travel time. The great technical
challenges in building a supersonic airliner included designing engines
twice as powerful as those of normal jets. Also, the aircraft's frame would
have to withstand immense pressure from shock waves and endure high temperatures
caused by air friction.«
 Booklist
for Concorde Jet |
| Jumbo Jet | |
(source) |
In 1970, the first wide body jet was put into service as the Pan American
Airways Boeing 747 flew its first flight between from New York's John F.
Kennedy Airport and Heathrow Airport in London, England. This "jumbo
jet" had a cabin almost twice as wide as a 707 and a length of 231
feet. The cockpit and first-class section were above the first floor of
passengers. With the ability to carry more than 400 passengers more than
5,500 miles, the 747 opened up economic long-distance travel to the masses. |
| First U.S. Nationally Televised Videotaped Broadcast | |
|
In 1957, NBC taped and broadcast President Dwight D. Eisenhower's second
inauguration ceremonies. Inventor Ray Dolby had designed the videotape
recorder in 1956, and taped broadcast was quickly becoming the normal method
in broadcasting. |
|
| Atomic submarine | |
(source) |
In 1954, the first atomic submarine,
the U.S.S. Nautilus, was launched at Groton, Connecticut. Nautilus' nuclear
propulsion system was a landmark in the history of naval engineering and
submersible craft. All vessels previously known as "submarines" were in
fact only submersible craft. Because of the nuclear power plant, the Nautilus
could stay submerged for months at a time, unlike diesel-fueled subs, whose
engines required vast amounts of oxygen. Nautilus demonstrated her capabilities
in 1958 when she sailed beneath the Arctic icepack to the North Pole. Scores
of nuclear submarines followed Nautilus, replacing the United States' diesel
boat fleet. After patrolling the seas until 1980, the Nautilus is back
home at Groton. |
| Magnesium | |
|
In 1941, the commercial production of magnesium
first began in the U.S. at Freeport, Texas. Magnesium, the lightest of
all structural elements, was extracted from seawater through an electrolytic
process. Herbert H. Dow first extracted the metal from brine in Midland,
Michigan, in 1916. Dow's Freeport magnesium plant played a key role during
WW II when the lightweight metal became a critical alloy for airplanes.
U.S. military aircraft production escalated, and as much as 2,000 pounds
of magnesium was needed per plane. Today, magnesium alloys are die cast
into a variety of automotive components. On 20 Nov 1998, Dow Chemical Co.
announced
it would shut down production at Freeport due to crippling damage during
severe Gulf Coast storms. |
|
| Edison patent | |
|
In 1930, Thomas A. Edison was issued a patent for the "Production of Molded
Articles" (No. 1,744,534) and a method of "Mounting for Diaphragms of Sound
Boxes" (No. 1,744,533). |
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| Edison patent | |
|
In 1919, Thomas A. Edison was issued a patent for a "Swaging Machine" (No.
1,292,277). |
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| U.S. sewage system | |
|
In 1880, Memphis, Tennessee begins construction of the first independent
municipal sewage system in the U.S. |
|
| Oil well | |
 |
In 1865, for the first time in the U.S., an oil well was shot
by torpedo near Titusville, Pennsylvania, by Col. E.A.L. Roberts on the
Ladies Well using 8 pounds of black powder. The torpedo,
which is an iron case with up to 15-20 pounds of powder, is lowered into
a well, down to the spot, as near as can be ascertained, where it is necessary
to explode it. It is then exploded by means of a cap on the torpedo, connected
with the top of the shell by a wire. The object of the torpedo is to clean
out all the deposits at the bottom of the well such as gravel, pieces of
seed-bag, etc., as well as to open the fissures, where the oil comes through.
These frequently become perfectly clogged with paraffine, and other matter
that effectually prevents the production of oil from the well. |
| Alphabetic telegraph | |
|
In 1840, Charles Wheatstone and W.F. Cooke were granted the earliest English
alphabetic telegraph patent. Wheatstone made contributions to a broad range
of fields in the mid 19th century. The ABC telegraph was popular in England
and Europe because it did not require a trained telegraphist to read or
send the messages. The operator simply rotates a wheel to the desired letter.
During rotation the instrument sends out the proper number of electric
pulses to an electromagnetically controlled pointer on a remote synchronized
slave receiver with a similarly lettered wheel which moves to the sender's
letter. Electric telegraphs of the 1840-50's are of special historic importance
as the earliest practical application of serial binary coded digital communication. |
|
| London Institution | |
(source) |
In 1807, the London Institution received a royal charter
signed by King George III, to "promote the diffusion of Science, Literature,
and the Arts, by means of Lectures and Experiments, and by easy access
to an extensive collection of books, both ancient and modern, in all languages."
The full name in the charter was the "London Institution for the Advancement
of Literature and The Diffusion of Useful Knowledge." The first president
was Sir Francis Baring. Its incorporation came after the Royal Society
(1663) and Royal Institution (1800). The institution had an extensive lecture
programme. Instruction in practical chemistry was given in its laboratory,
and significant chemistry research was done there through the 19th century.« |
| Smallpox vaccination | |
|
In 1799, Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination was introduced. |
|
| Guillotine | |
(source) |
In 1790, Dr Joseph-Ignace Guillotin
proposed the guillotine
to the newly formed National Assembly of Paris as a “humane” method of
execution. Three years later, in 1793, King Louis XVI of France was executed
by guillotine, for treason. |
| U.S. medical book | |
|
In 1677, the first medical book was published in the U.S. The medical pamphlet
was published in Boston, Mass. |
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| Comet | |
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In 1472, the great daylight comet of 1472 passed within 10.5 million km
of earth. |
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