| FEBRUARY 10 - BIRTHS | |
| Walter H. Brattain | |
(source) |
 Born 10
Feb 1902; died 13 Oct 1987.
Walter Houser Brattain was an American scientist born in China who, with John Bardeen and William B. Shockley, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1956 for investigating semiconductors (materials of which transistors are made) and for the development of the transistor. At college, he said, he majored in physics and math because they were the only subjects he was good at. He became a solid physicist with a good understanding of theory, but his strength was in physically constructing experiments. Working with the ideas of Shockley and Bardeen, Brattain's hands built the first transistor. Shortly, the transistor replaced the bulkier vacuum tube for many uses and was the forerunner of microminiature electronic parts. |
| Richard Dagobert Brauer | |
(source) |
Born 10
Feb 1901; died 17 Apr 1977.
German-American mathematician and educator, a pioneer in the development of algebra theory. He worked with Weyl on several projects including a famous joint paper on spinors (published in 1935 in the American Journal of Mathematics). This work provided a background for Paul Dirac's theory of the spinning electron within the framework of quantum mechanics. With Nesbitt, Brauer introduced the theory of blocks (1937). Brauer used this to obtain results on finite groups, particularly finite simple groups, and the theory of blocks would play a big part in much of Brauer's later work. Starting with his group-theoretical characterisation of the simple groups (1951), he spent the rest of his life formulating a method to classify all finite simple groups. |
| John Franklin Enders | |
(source) |
Born 10
Feb 1897; died 8 Sep 1985.
American virologist and microbiologist who (collaborating with Frederick C. Robbins and Thomas H. Weller) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for 1954 for his part in cultivating the poliomyelitis virus in nonnervous-tissue cultures (1949), a preliminary step to the development of the polio vaccine. They had cultivated the polio virus in test tube cultures of human tissue for the first time. They further demonstrated that the virus could be grown on a wide variety of tissue and not just nerve cells. This at last allowed the polio virus to be studied, typed, and produced in quantity. Without such an advance the triumphs of Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk in developing a vaccine against polio in the 1950s would have been impossible. |
| Hardy Cross | |
(source) |
Born 10
Feb 1885; died 11 Feb 1959.
U.S. professor of civil and structural engineering whose outstanding contribution was a method of calculating tendencies to produce motion (moments) in the members of a continuous framework, such as the skeleton of a building. By the use of Cross's technique, known as the moment distribution method, or simply the Hardy Cross method, calculation can be carried to any required degree of accuracy by successive approximations, thus avoiding the immense labour of solving simultaneous equations that contain as many variables as there are rigid joints in a frame. He also successfully applied his mathematical methods to the solution of pipe network problems that arise in municipal water supply design; these methods have been extended to gas pipelines. |
| James Mooney | |
| Born 10
Feb 1861; died 22 Dec 1921.
early U.S. ethnographer of American Indians, especially those of the southeastern United States. His investigations of the history, heraldry, and culture of the Cherokee and Kiowa included the deciphering of the Kiowa calendar and the discovery of an ancient ritual of the North Carolina Cherokee recorded in the native script. |
|
| Victor Mordechai Goldschmidt | |
| Born 10
Feb 1853; died 8 May 1933.
German mineralogist who made important studies of crystallography. His first major publication, Index der Kristallformen (3 vol., 1886-91; "Index of Crystal Forms"), was a catalog of the known forms of crystals of all minerals. New tables of crystal angles to meet his new needs were devised and published |
|
| Ira Remsen | |
| Born 10
Feb 1846; died 4 Mar 1927.
American chemist who codiscovered saccharin. He taught chemistry at Johns Hopkins University from 1876 (where he became its second president 1901-13). He introduced advanced laboratory instruction using teaching methods he had learned in Germany under Fittig. Remsen specialized in the benzene ring and related groups. With Constantine Fahlberg, a student working under his direction, he first synthesized orthobenzoyl sulfimide (1879). Fahlberg accidentally discovered its intensely sweet taste by touching his fingers to his lips while unknowingly having a few grains on them. The compound was patented, and is now known as saccharin. |
|
| Agnes Mary Clerke | |
(source) |
Born 10
Feb 1842; died 20 Jan 1907
Irish astronomical writer who was a diligent compiler of facts rather than a practicing scientist. Nevertheless, by 1885, her exhaustive treatise, A Popular History of Astronomy in the Nineteenth Century gained international recognition as an authoritative work. In 1903, with Lady Huggins, she was elected an honorary member of the Royal Astronomical Society, a rank previously held only by two other women, Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville. Her publications included several books and 55 pieces in the Edinburgh Review. She contributed some astronomer biographies to the Dictionary of National Biography and some astronomical entries in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.«  Agnes
Mary Clerke and the Rise of Astrophysics, by Mary Brück. |
| Per Teodor Cleve | |
 |
Born 10
Feb 1840; died 18 Jun 1905.
Swedish chemist and geologist who discovered the elements holmium and thulium. He was the thirteenth child in his family. In 1874, Cleve concluded that didymium was in fact two elements (this was proved in 1885 and the two elements named neodymium and praseodymium.) In 1879, he showed that scandium (discovered by Lars Nilson), was in fact the eka-boron predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev in his periodic table. Also in 1879, working with a sample of erbia that had all traces of scandia and ytterbia removed, he found two new earths, which he named holmium, after Stockholm, and thulium, after the old name for Scandinavia. (Holmium, too was a mixture. In 1886, Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovered that it contained the new element dysprosium.) |
| Victor Hensen | |
(source) |
Born 10
Feb 1835; died 5 Apr 1924.
Physiologist and oceanographer who first used the name plankton to describe the tiny organisms that live suspended in the sea (and in bodies of freshwater) and are important because practically all animal life in the sea is dependent on them, directly or indirectly. He developed equipment for the study of plankton, and led the first Plankton Expedition. As a physiologist, he is known for the Cells of Henson and the Canal of Henson in the inner ear. |
| J. Edgar Thomson | |
(source) |
Born 10
Feb 1808; died 27 May 1874.
John Edgar Thomson was an American civil engineer and third president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company who consolidated a network of railroad lines from Philadelphia to various cities in the Midwest and the South, extending as far as Chicago and Norfolk, Va. His principal projects included completing the road across the Alleghenies, double tracking its main line and experimenting with coal-burning locomotives. In an unprecedented expansion program, though leases and purchases, Thomson controlled over six thousand miles of railroad by 1873. Thomson also invested in transcontinental lines as well as coal companies, iron and steel works, lumber operations, and land companies. |
| Benjamin Smith Barton | |
(source) |
Born 10
Feb 1766; died 19 Dec 1815.
American naturalist who wrote the first botanical textbook published in the U.S. His Elements of Botany (1803) which reached a sixth edition, including three after his death. In 1789, aged 23, he became a professor of natural history at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He brought together 1,674 specimens of native plants between 1797 and 1807 to form a herbarium that was the largest of the time. The number of books he owned also comprised the largest private natural history library of its time. The Elements textbook was illustrated by William Bartram. Barton died at age 49 leaving incomplete the project entrusted to him to classify the plant specimens brought back from the Lewis and Clark expedition.« |
| Charles De Geer | |
| Born 10
Feb 1720; died 8 Mar 1778.
Swedish entomologist. Using Leeuwenhoek's and Swammerdam's techniques of microscopy, and Réamur's method of biological observation, he studied the life and metamorphosis of insects, making morphological observations and drawings of their structures. |
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Today in Science History Science Store Browse a selection of Bargain Science and Nature Books |
| FEBRUARY 10 - DEATHS | |
| Norman E. Shumway | |
(source) |
 Died
10 Feb 2006 (born 9 Feb 1923)
American surgeon and pioneer in heart transplant surgery, who began (1967) the heart transplantation program at Stanford Medical Center. On 6 Jan 1968, he performed the first heart transplant in the U.S. on Mike Kasperak, 54, who survived for 15 days afterwards. Shumway spent years researching ways to extend life after a transplant. His team found a way to identify rejection early, so powerful immunosuppressants were used only when needed. From late 1980, using the new anti-rejection drug cyclosporine which didn't destroy the body's defenses against infection, heart transplants became a common procedure. In 1981, with Dr. Bruce Reitz, he performed the world's first combined heart and lung transplant.« Heart
Transplantation, by Norman E. Shumway. |
| D. Allan Bromley | |
(source) |
Died
10 Feb 2005 (born 4 May 1926)
David Allan Bromley was a Canadian-American nuclear physicist who was considered the "father of modern heavy ion science" for his pioneering experiments on both the structure and dynamics of atomic nuclei. He was a leader in developing particle accelerators detection systems and computer-based data acquisition and analysis systems. While at Atomic Energy of Canada (1955-60) he installed the first tandem Van Der Graaff accelerator. He was founder and director (1963-89) of the A.W. Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory at Yale University, which has produced more experimental nuclear physicists than any other facility. During this time he became active on numerous national and international science policy boards. From 1980-89, he was a member of the White House Science Council.« |
| Jerome Namias | |
| Died
10 Feb 1997 (born 19 Mar 1910)
American meteorological researcher most noted for having pioneered the development of extended weather forecasts and who also studied the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and the El Niño phenomenon. |
|
| Amron Harry Katz | |
| Died
10 Feb 1997 (born 15 Aug 1915)
American physicist whose studies in aerial reconnaissance made possible the use of space satellites for collecting military intelligence as well as information to be used in conserving resources and aiding disaster victims. |
|
| Frederick Cossom Hollows | |
| Died
10 Feb 1993 (born 9 Apr 1929)
New Zealand-born Australian physician, who was a leader in the campaign to combat eye diseases (especially trachoma) among Aboriginal peoples and cofounder of the Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS), which established a system of community clinics. |
|
| Eugen Sänger | |
| Died
10 Feb 1964 (born 22 Sep 1905)
German rocket propulsion engineer whose projected "antipodal bomber," with a range far greater than that made possible by its fuel capacity alone, greatly interested the major Western governments and the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. The development of long-range missiles and the difficulties of high-altitude precision bombing with the antipodal craft discouraged the building of Sänger's bomber. He first experimented with a small rocket motor burning light fuel oil, and had successful results. This encouraged Sänger to design a stratosphere rocket aircraft (1933). |
|
| Wilhelm Schmidt | |
(source) |
Died
10 Feb 1954 (born 16 Feb 1868)
German anthropologist was a Roman Catholic priest whose research focussed on the origin of the idea of God and religion within various cultures, trying to link what emerged from ethnological studies with what is stated in the Bible. Schmidt proposed theories on the effect of environment in the evolution of families. He extensively studied ethnography particularly “culture circles,” a series of four main stages that the base cultures of this world went through: Primitive (hunter-gatherer), Primary (horticulturists), Secondary (pastoralists) and lastly Tertiary (modern society). Others had proposed such a theory earlier, but Schmidt's work increased its popularity and acceptance. He founded the journal Anthropos (1906).« |
| Marcel Mauss | |
| Died
10 Feb 1950 (born 10 May 1872)
French sociologist and anthropologist whose contributions include a highly original comparative study of the relation between forms of exchange and social structure. His views on the theory and method of ethnology are thought to have influenced many eminent social scientists, including Claude Lévi-Strauss, A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, E.E. |
|
| Lawrence Joseph Henderson | |
| Died
10 Feb 1942 (born 3 June 1878)
U.S. biochemist, who discovered the chemical means by which acid-base equilibria are maintained in nature. |
|
| Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen | |
 |
Died
10 Feb 1923 (born 27 Mar 1845)
(also spelled Roentgen) German physicist who was a recipient of the first Nobel Prize for Physics, in 1901, for his discovery of X rays, which heralded the age of modern physics and revolutionized diagnostic medicine. |
| Joseph Lister | |
| Died
10 Feb 1912 (born 5 Apr 1827)
(Baron Lister, of Lyme Regis) British surgeon and medical scientist who was the founder of antiseptic medicine and a pioneer in preventive medicine. While his method, based on the use of antiseptics, is no longer employed, his principle - that bacteria must never gain entry to an operation wound - remains the basis of surgery to this day. |
|
| Francis Pratt | |
(source) |
Died
10 Feb 1902 (born 15 Feb 1827)
Francis Ashbury Pratt was an American mechanical engineer and machine tool manufacturer. In 1855 he produced the "Lincoln" milling machine which used a screw drive to improve on F.W. Howe's earlier rack and pinion design. Pratt formed a partnership with Amos Whitney in1860 and together developed the system of interchangeable parts that had been pioneered by Samuel Colt, Elisha Root, Amos Whitney’s cousin Eli, and others. This, in turn, led to the need to establish national standards of measurement. The Pratt & Whitney Company was incorporated in 1869, making various types of gauges to enable such standards in manufacturing, making machine tools and tools particularly for the armament industry.« |
| Sofya Kovalevskaya | |
| Died
10 Feb 1891 (born 15 Jan 1850)
Sofya (Vasilyevna) Kovalevskaya was a mathematician and novelist who made valuable contributions to the theory of differential equations. |
|
| John Jeremiah Bigsby | |
| Died
10 Feb 1881 (born 14 Aug 1792)
English physician and geologist whose extensive geologic studies of Canada and New York revealed much of the structure of the underlying rock strata and uncovered many new species of prehistoric life. |
|
| Paul Gervais | |
| Died
10 Feb 1879 (born 26 Sep 1816)
(François-Louis-) Paul Gervais was the paleontologist and zoologist who succeeded Georges Cuvier and Henri de Blainville as principal French contributor to vertebrate paleontology. |
|
| Claude Bernard | |
| Died
10 Feb 1878 (born 12 July 1813)
French physiologist known chiefly for his discoveries concerning the role of the pancreas in digestion, the glycogenic function of the liver, and the regulation of the blood supply by the vasomotor nerves. On a broader stage, Bernard played a role in establishing the principles of experimentation in the life sciences. |
|
| Sir David Brewster | |
| Died
10 Feb 1868 (born 11 Dec 1781)
Scottish physicist noted for his experimental work in optics and polarized light (light in which all waves lie in the same plane). When light strikes a reflective surface at a certain angle (called the polarizing angle), the reflected light becomes completely polarized. |
|
| FEBRUARY 10 - EVENTS | |
| Niagara Falls hydropower | |
In 1961, the Niagara Falls hydroelectric project began producing power. |
|
| Styrofoam cooler | |
|
In 1957, the styrofoam cooler was invented. |
|
| Gas storage | |
|
In 1925, the first waterless gas storage tank was placed in service in
Michigan City, Ind. |
|
| First Latimer patent | |
|
In 1874, Lewis H. Latimer received
his first U.S. patent (No. 147,363). This one was for his invention of
a water-closed for railroad cars, but he is better known for his patents
for improvement in incandescent electric lamps.«
Great
Discoveries and Inventions by African-Americans, by David
M. Foy |
|
| Artificial leg patent | |
(USPTO) |
In 1863, Dubois D. Parmelee was issued a U.S. patent for an "Improvement in Artificial Legs" using a custom-moulded suction cup to receive the stump (No. 37,637). Atmospheric pressure held the socket in place such that "straps usually employed for this purpose can be dispended with, and at the same time a perfect fit of the bucket is attained." On the underside of the bucket "a small faucet" was open as the stump was forced into the tightly fitting socket. The faucet was then closed, and atmospheric pressure held the bucket in place until air is readmitted through the faucet. It was 90 years before his idea received general acceptance. Parmelee also invented the first key-operated adding machine (Pat. No. 7,074, 5 Feb 1850).« |
| Fire extinguisher | |
(source) |
In 1863, the first U.S. patent on a fire extinguishing system for buildings
was granted to Alanson Crane of Fortress Monroe, Va. (No. 37,610).
The patent drawing [left] shows a longitudinal vertical section of a building,
which could be with one or more stories, as a dwelling, storehouse or any
other purpose. It shows a water pipe under the foundation of the outside
wall, which supplies a vertical pipe leading up the inside of the wall
to one or more perforated pipes extending horizontally throughout the building.
The principle innovation was to include a stop cock with a locking cover
that could be operated outside the wall by an authorized person in the
event of a fire when the building is unoccupied. Thus water could flood
the floors and quickly extinguish a fire. |
| Genetics | |
|
In 1840, Queen Victoria and her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg-Gotha,
married. Victoria was a carrier of the haemophilia gene, from which the
disease appeared among a number of their descendants from their nine children.
This family tree provided a famous case history in genetics. Their nine
children were four sons and five daughters: Victoria, Bertie, Alice, Alfred,
Helena, Louise, Arthur, Leopold, and Beatrice. |
|
| Edmund Halley | |
 |
In 1720, Edmund Halley was appointed second Astronomer Royal of England. |
| Fossils | |
 |
In 1667, a classic paleontological paper by Nicolaus Steno was published
by the Royal Society, London. His topic, Head of a shark dissected,
represented
the first such scientific paper to recognise that fossils were the remains
of creatures who had died and subsequently had become petrified. Controversy
resulted. The same claim had been made in the time of the ancient Greeks,
two millenia earlier. |
