| FEBRUARY 28 - BIRTHS | |
| Jean Bourgain | |
(source) |
 Born 28
Feb 1954
Belgian mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1994 for his work in analysis. His achievements in several fields included the problem of determining how large a section of a Banach space of finite dimension n can be found that resembles a Hilbert subspace; a proof of Luis Antonio Santaló's inequality; a new approach to some problems in ergodic theory; results in harmonic analysis and classical operators; and nonlinear partial differential equations. Bourgain's work was noteworthy for the versatility it displayed in applying ideas from wide-ranging mathematical disciplines to the solution of diverse problems. |
| Steven Chu | |
(source) |
Born 28
Feb 1948
American physicist who (with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William D. Phillips) was awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize for Physics for their independent, pioneering research in cooling and trapping atoms using laser light. In their normal state the constant random thermal motion of atoms limits the precision of measurements of atomic states. Thus, physicists have sought to cool and slow atoms down as much as possible. Chu used six laser beams and worked with a hot gas of sodium atoms. He managed to cool and trap atoms in what he called "optical molasses." By 1985, he had cooled sodium atoms to a temperature of about 240 millionth of a degree above absolute zero. The atoms could be trapped in the laser beams for a period of about half a second. |
| Daniel C. Tsui | |
(source) |
Born 28
Feb 1939
Chinese-born American physicist who (with Horst L. Störmer and Robert B. Laughlin) received the 1998 Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery and explanation that the electrons in a powerful magnetic field at very low temperatures can form a quantum fluid whose particles have fractional electric charges. This effect is known as the fractional quantum. |
| Leon N. Cooper | |
| Born 28
Feb 1930
American physicist and winner of the 1972 Nobel Prize for Physics, along with John Bardeen and John Robert Schrieffer, for his role in developing the BCS (for their initials) theory of superconductivity. The concept of Cooper electron pairs was named after him. |
|
| Audley Bowdler Williamson | |
(source) |
Born 28
Feb 1916; died 21 Nov 2004.
British inventor and manufacturer of skin-care products who invented Swarfega hand cleaner, a green jelly that mechanics, printers and others use to wash grease, grime, and ink from their hands. "AB," as he was known, started his company, Deb Ltd., in 1941, selling a mild detergent to treat silk stocking, a market which collapsed with the arrival of nylons after WW II. However, he knew that mechanics cleaned their hands with petrol, paraffin and sand which was effective at removing oil, but also caused dry skin and dermatitis. He adapted his detergent formula to clean oil from skin without these side effects, and named it by combining "swarf" (term for greasy grit) and "-ega" (eager). By the time he retired, the company had 20 brands.« |
| Sir Peter B(rian) Medawar | |
Born 28
Feb 1915; died 2 Oct 1987.
British zoologist who received (with Sir Macfarlane Burnet) the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1960 for the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance when he found (1953) that adult animals injected with foreign cells early in life accept skin grafts from the original cell donor. |
|
| Denis Parsons Burkitt | |
(source) |
Born 28
Feb 1911; died 23 Mar 1993.
Irish surgeon and medical researcher who first identifiedBurkitt's lymphoma. In 1957, in Uganda, Burkitt found several children suffering from fast-spreading tumours in the head and neck. When they died within weeks, Burkitt recognised this was a previously undescribed cancer disease. He showed that these and all cases were characterized by infiltration of the affected tissues by lymphocytes. With colleagues Edward Williams and Clifford Nelson, he plotted the geographical incidence of the disease, and found it in the same areas endemic with malaria. This survey is regarded as one of the pioneering studies of geographical pathology. Burkitt helped to develop chemotherapy for the disease. Later, he championed high fibre diets.«  Fiber
Man: The Life Story of Dr Denis Burkitt, by Brian Kellock. |
| Linus Pauling | |
 |
Born 28
Feb 1901; died 19 Aug 1994.
American chemist who applied quantum mechanics to the study of molecular structures, particularly in connection with chemical bonding. Pauling received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1954 and the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1962. He charted the chemical underpinnings of life itself, worked for nuclear peace and touted the benefits of vitamin C. |
| Philip Showalter Hench | |
(source) |
Born 28
Feb 1896; died 30 Mar 1965.
American physician who was one of the leaders in American rheumatology. He shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1950 for discoveries relating to the hormones of the adrenal cortex, their structure and biological effects (with Edward C. Kendall and Tadeus Reichstein of Switzerland). In 1948, Hench was working at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. He noticed that during pregnancy and in the presence of jaundice the severe pain of arthritis may decrease and even disappear. With Kendall, he successfully applied an adrenal hormone (later known as cortisone) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. |
| Henri-Édouard-Prosper Breuil | |
| Born 28
Feb 1877; died 14 Aug 1961.
French archaeologist especially noted as an authority on prehistoric cave paintings of Europe and Africa. |
|
| Florian Cajori | |
| Born 28
Feb 1859; died 14 Aug 1930.
Swiss-born U.S. educator and mathematician whose works on the history of mathematics were among the most eminent of his time. |
|
| Baron Joseph Mering | |
(source) |
Born 28
Feb 1849; died 5 Jan 1908.
(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. |
| Henri Duveyrier | |
| Born 28
Feb 1840; died 25 Apr 1892.
French explorer of the Sahara whose observations of the Tuareg people contributed to African ethnology. His explorations took him from Morocco to Tunisia through the region south of the Atlas Mountains. Duveyrier devoted special attention to the customs and speech of the Tuareg--pastoralists and brigands with a penchant for poetry--among whom he lived for months at a time. |
|
| Edmond Frémy | |
| Born 28
Feb 1814; died 3 Feb 1894.
French chemist best known for his discovery of hydrogen fluoride and investigations of fluorine compounds. Among other compounds, Frémy investigated those of iron, tin, and lead. He also studied osmic acid, ozone, the colouring substances of leaves and flowers, and the composition of animal substances. He applied chemistry to the commercial saponification of fats, and to the technology of iron, steel, sulfuric acid, glass and paper. He tried, but failed, to isolate the element fluorine. He also failed in attempts to make crystals of aluminium oxide, but instead found he could create rubies. |
|
| René-Just Haüy | |
(source) |
Born 28
Feb 1743; died 1 Jun 1822.
French mineralogist who was the founder of the science of crystallography through his discovery of the geometrical law of crystallization. In 1781, he saw an accidentally dropped calcite crystal broke into rhombohedral pieces. Deliberately breaking various forms of calcite, he found the same result. He concluded that all the molecules of calcite have the same form and it is only how they are joined together that produces different gross structures. Hence, he suggested that other minerals should show different basic forms. He thought that there were, in fact, six different primitive forms from which all crystals could be derived by being linked in different ways. His theory was able to predict in many cases the correct angles of a crystal face. |
| René-Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur | |
| Born 28
Feb 1683; died 17 Oct 1757.
French scientist active in various fields, and the foremost entomologist of the early 18th century. His name is applied to the thermometric scale he devised. In 1720, he built the first cupola furnace, for melting gray iron. He also improved techniques for making iron and steel. After studying the chemical composition of Chinese porcelain, in 1740, he formulated his own Réaumur porcelain. In biology, he observed the ability of crayfish to regeneration of lost limbs. Between 1734 and 1742, Réaumur wrote six volumes of Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des insectes (Memoirs Serving as a Natural History of Insects). Although unfinished, this work was a substantial contribution to entomology. In 1752, he isolated gastric juice and studied its role in food digestion. |
|
| Joost Bürgi | |
| Born 28
Feb 1552; died 31 Jan 1632.
Mathematician who invented logarithms independently of the Scottish mathematician John Napier. |
|
| FEBRUARY 28 - DEATHS | |
| Alexander King | |
(source) |
 Died
28 Feb 2007 (born 26 Jan 1909)
Scottish chemist who pioneered in environmental awareness, warning of the dangers to the environment from extensive industrial development. He co-commissioned the 1972 Limits to Growth report, which initiated international attention to environmental concerns. It is still one of the world's best-selling books on the environment. After directing scientific research as part of the war effort in WW II, he turned to the application of science for the improvement of life. In particular, he was chief scientist at the department of scientific and industrial research (1950-56), working to help British factories become more productive. After the publication of Limits to Growth, he cofounded the Club of Rome, an think tank focussed on how to establish sustainable development. He was that group's president 1984-90.« |
| Frigyes Riesz | |
| Died
28 Feb 1956 (born 22 Jan 1880)
Hungarian mathematician and pioneer of functional analysis, which has found important applications to mathematical physics. |
|
| Sir Goldsworthy Gurney | |
(source) |
Died
28 Feb 1875 (born 14 Feb 1793)
rolific English inventor who built technically successful steam carriages a half century before the advent of the gasoline-powered automobile. His carriage successfully travelled between London and Bath at an average speed 15 mph. He built several more and opened a passenger service. However, powerful opposition from horse-coach companies ensured that they were soon taxed out of existence. Another of his inventions was the "Bude Light" which lit the House of Commons for 60 years. It was a standard oil lamp with oxygen gas introduced into the middle of the flame. The unburned carbon in the oil flame burned with an intense, white light instead of the weak yellow flame of the oil lamp. He introduced the use of limelight to lighthouses. |
| Baron Clemens von Pirquet | |
(source) |
Died
28 Feb 1929 (born 12 May 1874)
Austrian physician who originated a skin test for tuberculosis that bears his name, a classic diagnostic test in which tuberculin is applied to a superficial abrasion of the skin of the arm. In 1906 he noticed that patients who had received injections of horse serum or smallpox vaccine usually had quicker, more severe reactions to second injections. While studying the symptoms of cowpox vaccination, he also developed a new theory about the incubation time of infectious diseases and the formation of antibodies. In 1909 he published the results of a series of tuberculin tests of inhabitants of Vienna that showed that 70% of the children tested had been infected by tuberculosis by age 10, and over 90% at age 14. He also studied infant nutrition. |
| Charles-Jules-Henri Nicolle | |
| Died
28 Feb 1936 (born 21 Sep 1866)
French bacteriologist who received the 1928 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery (1909) that typhus is transmitted by the body louse. |
|
| Eliezer Sukenik | |
(source) |
Died
28 Feb 1953 (born 12 Aug 1889)
Eliezer Lipa Sukenik was a Polish-born Israeli archaeologist who established the date and provenance of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He settled in Israel in 1912, began teaching in 1914 and eventually became field archaeologist at the Hebrew University. He directed the excavations of the synagogues and Jewish tombs. In 1947, within the eleven caves near Qumran, north-west of the Dead Sea, Israel, parts of more than 700 ancient Jewish manuscripts were discovered. Most were written in Hebrew, some in Aramaic and fewer in Greek. The Dead Sea Scrolls, as they came to be known, are assumed to have been the library of a sectarian community at Qumran. Sukenik devoted the rest of his life to their study.« The
Dead Sea Scrolls Today, by James C. Vanderkam |
| FEBRUARY 28 - EVENTS | |
In 1953, Jim Watson went early on Saturday to the Cavendish Laboratory
in Cambridge, England. He shuffled cardboard cutouts until he discovered
the complementary pairing between the DNA bases. |
|
| Protein structure | |
|
In 1951, their theoretical description of the structure of proteins was
published by Linus Pauling and Robert Corey in Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences. |
|
| Nylon | |
 |
In 1935, nylon was discovered by Dr. Wallace H. Carothers of DuPont. |
| Carborundum | |
(sources 12 ) |
In 1893, carborundum was patented by Edward
G. Acheson of Monongahela, Penn. |
| Surgery book | |
(source) |
In 1561, Ambroise Paré published
La
méthode curative des playes et fractures de la teste humaine
("Treatment
method for wounds and fractures of the human head"). It was written
in response to an inquiry following the accidental death of Henri II (1559),
who was struck in the eye by a lance during a tournament. The first part
(which was reprinted in Paré's Anatomie Universelle, 15 Apr
1561), covered the anatomy of the cranium with woodcut illustrations after
Vesalius. In the second part, Paré described his methods of treatment
of head wounds, skull fractures and diseases of the facial organs. The
text included abundant figures of his surgical instruments. For his innovative
methods, Paré is known as "the father of modern surgery." 
Ambroise
Pare: Surgeon of the Renaissance, by Wallace B. Hamby. |
