| APRIL 14 - BIRTHS | |
| Alan MacDiarmid | |
(source) |
 Born 14
Apr 1927; died 7 Feb 2007.
New-Zealand-born American chemist who shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (with Alan Heeger and Hideki Shirakawa) "for the discovery and development of conductive polymers." Plastics (formed of repeated units in long-chain polymer molecules) most often do not conduct electricity, and are used for insulation. At the end of the 1970's, these scientists devised polymer materials that were semi-conductors, able to conduct electricity. Practical applications now include conductive polymers in "smart" windows able to exclude sunlight, light-emitting diodes, solar cells and displays for mobile telephones and small television screens. Research has been stimulated to attempt to produce transistors consisting of individual molecules with which to dramatically reduce the size of computers.« |
| Reinout Willem van Bemmelen | |
(source) |
Born 14
Apr 1904; died 1983.
Dutch geologist whose studies of the regional geology of Indonesia led to recognition of the importance of island areas in the development of the Earth's crust. Long before others even thought about compiling an article on this archipelagos, he published his biggest contribution, the Geology of Indonesia (1949). Still often cited, this book covers broad aspects of the regional geology of Indonesia, which is prolific in terms of hydrocarbon and other mineral resources. Indonesia is part of the volcanic "ring of fire" and one of the most complex geological settings in the world because it lies at the junction of three major tectonic plates (Pacific, Indian-Australian, and Eurasian). He also researched continental drift and the winds of the equatorial stratosphere. |
| Harold Stephen Black | |
(source) |
Born 14
Apr 1898; died 11 Dec 1983.
American electrical engineer who discovered and developed the negative-feedback principle, in which amplification output is fed back into the input, thus producing nearly distortionless and steady amplification. In 1921, Black joined the forerunner of Bell Labs, in New York City, working on elimination of distortion. After six years of persistence, Black conceived his negative feedback amplifier in a flash commuting to work aboard the ferry. Basically, the concept involved feeding systems output back to the input as a method of system control. The principle has found widespread applications in electronics, including industrial, military, and consumer electronics, weaponry, analog computers, and such biomechanical devices as pacemakers. |
| Edward C. Tolman | |
(source) |
Born 14
Apr 1886; died 19 Nov 1959.
Edward C(hace) Tolman was a U.S. psychologist who developed a system of psychology known as purposive, or molar, behaviourism, which attempts to explore the entire action of the total organism. Because of his strong affiliation with building a scientific psychology he embraced the core notion of behaviorism - that what an organism does is the source of legitimate data - but, because he eschewed the atomism of the Watsonian approach, he advocated the use of intervening variables and focused on a number of very non-behaviorist processes such as purpose, expectation, belief and spatial representation. |
| Sir Victor (Alexander Haden) Horsley | |
(source) |
Born 14
Apr 1857; died 16 July 1916.
British physiologist and neurosurgeon who was first to remove a spinal tumour (1887); before he was 30 he had removed the spinal cord tumor from an Army officer (age 45) with a spastic paralysis of the lower extremities. The patient made a complete recovery. He also made valuable studies of thyroid activity, rabies prevention, and the functions of localized areas of the brain. |
| Augustus Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers | |
(source) |
Born 14
Apr 1827; died 4 May 1900.
English archaeologist often called the "father of British archaeology," who stressedthe need for total excavation of sites, thorough stratigraphic observation and recording, and prompt and complete publication. Like Sir Flinders Petrie, Pitt-Rivers adopted a sociological approach to the study of excavated objects and emphasized the instructional value of common artifacts. His London home became so crowded with items such as skulls, stone implements, pottery and other works of art that he decided to open a public museum at Bethnal Green, which he arranged according to his evolutionary system. When his collection became too large for Bethnal Green, it was transferred to the University of Oxford, where it is seen today.  |
| Christiaan Huygens | |
(source) |
Born 14
Apr 1629; died 8 Jul 1695.
Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist, who founded the wave theory of light, discovered the true shape of the rings of Saturn, and contributed to the science of dynamics - the study of the action of forces on bodies. Using a lens he ground for himself, on 25 Mar 1655, he discovered the first moon of Saturn, later named Titan. In 1656, he patented the first pendulum clock, which he developed to enable exact time measurement while observing the heavens. Huygens studied the relation of the length of a pendulum to its period of oscillation (1673) and stated theories on centrifugal force in circular motion which influenced Sir Isaac Newton in formulating his Law of Gravity. Huygens also studied and drew the first maps of Mars. On 14 Jan 2005, a NASA space probe, named after Huygens, landed on Titan.  Unrolling
Time : Christian Huygens and the Mathematization of Nature,
by Joella G. Yoder. |
|
Sitewide search within all Today In Science History pages: Custom Quotations Search - custom search within only our quotations pages: Today in Science History Science Store Click here to browse a selection of Bargain Science and Nature Books |
| APRIL 14 - DEATHS | |
| Michael Scott Montague Fordham | |
 Died
14 Apr 1995 (born 4 Aug 1905)
British analytical psychologist who applied Jungian analysis to the study of development in children. His research and writings produced a theory of the the processes of individuation in the childhood years that had formerly been lacking in Jungian thought. The concept of the self in childhood that he developed was revolutionary for Jungians and path breaking for child development, because at the time, modern research studies on infancy had not begun. Subsequent evidence accumulated from experimental and analytical sources has added further validity to his ideas about the dynamic of the self as an important feature of development. Michael
Fordham: Innovations in Analytical Psychology by James
Astor |
|
| Rachel Carson | |
(source) |
Died
14 Apr 1964 (born 27 May 1907)
Rachel Louise Carson was an American biologist well known for her writings on environmental pollution and the natural history of the sea. Embedded within all of Carson's writing was the view that human beings were but one part of nature distinguished primarily by their power to alter it, in some cases irreversibly. Disturbed by the profligate use of synthetic chemical pesticides after World War II, Carson reluctantly changed her focus in order to warn the public about the long term effects of misusing pesticides. In her book, Silent Spring (1962), she challenged the practices of agricultural scientists and the government, and called for a change in the way humankind viewed the natural world. Silent
Spring by Rachel Carson |
| Herbert Spencer Jennings | |
(source) |
Died
14 Apr 1947 (born 8 Apr 1868)
U.S. zoologist, one of the first scientists to study the behaviour of individual microorganisms and to experiment with genetic variations in single-celled organisms. He wrote his PhD thesis on the morphogenesis of rotiferans (microscopic aquatic organisms), an area of scientific interest he pursued for the next 10 years. The peak of his research and his primary contribution to zoology was his Behaviour of the Lower Organisms (1906). In this study of the reactions of individual organisms and individual response to stimuli, Jennings reported new experimental evidence of the similarity of activity and reactivity in all animals, from protozoans to man. For 40 years of his career Jennings studied the mechanisms of inheritance and variation in single-celled organisms. "Behavior
of the Lower Organisms" by Herbert Spencer, Jennings |
| (Amalie) Emmy Noether | |
(source) |
Died
14 Apr 1935 (born 23 Mar 1882)
(Amalie) Emmy Noether was a German mathematician best known for her contributions to abstract algebra, in particular, her study of chain conditions on ideals of rings. In theoretical physics, she produced Noether's Theorem, which proves a relationship between symmetries in physics and conservation principles. This basic result in the general theory of relativity was praised by Einstein. It was her work in the theory of invariants which led to formulations for several concepts of Einstein's general theory of relativity. For her obituary in The New York Times, Albert Einstein wrote: "Fraulein Noether was the most significant mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began."«
 Emmy
Noether, by Auguste Dick. |
| Louis Sullivan | |
(source) |
Died
14 Apr 1924 (born 3 Sep 1856)
Louis (Henry) Sullivan was an American architect, who is identified with the aesthetics and innovation of early skyscraper design. Called the "Father of Modernism," he was greatly influenced Frank Lloyd Wright and others. He was one of the first to design skyscrapers, such as the Wainwright building in St Louis (1890-91) and the Carson store in Chicago (1899-1904). His experimental, functional skeleton constructions of skyscrapers and office blocks included the Gage building and Stock Exchange, Chicago. His more than 100 works in collaboration (1879-95) with Dankmar Adler include the Auditorium Building, Chicago (1866-89) and the Guaranty Building, Buffalo. Sullivan:
His Life and Work by Robert Twombly |
| L.L. Zamenhof | |
(source) |
Died
14 Apr 1917 (born 15 Dec 1859)
Dr. Lazarus Ludwig Zamenhof was a Polish physician and oculist who created the most important of the international artificial languages - Esperanto. He believed everybody in the world should be able to communicate with each other by means of a single international language, so he developed Esperanto, meaning "he who hopes." It was introduced in a pamphlet he published in 1887. Esperanto vocabulary is comprised primarily of words with Latin roots and words common to several languages. Esperanto is less complicated than an earlier attempt at artificial language called Volapuk. While Esperanto associations formed around the world, it never became widely accepted. |
| James Dwight Dana | |
(source) |
Died
14 Apr 1895 (born 12 Feb 1813)
American geologist, mineralogist, and naturalist who, in explorations of the South Pacific, the U.S. Northwest, Europe, and elsewhere, made important studies of mountain building, volcanic activity, sea life, and the origin and structure of continents and ocean basins. His contributions to classification systems are still in use today by scientists in these fields of study. He supported a "principle of cephalization" (1864) to order biological diversity, with "cephalized" forms on top. He was one of the American scientists that corresponded with Darwin, and supported Darwin's ideas on the development of coral reefs. He wrote on biological topics, such as the crustacea and fossils in the Wilkes Expedition collections made from Australian coal deposits. Life
of James Dwight Dana by Daniel Gilman |
| APRIL 14 - EVENTS | |
| Archaeology | |
In 1993, British archaeologists unearthed a 7,000-year old seafarer's village
on Dalma island in the United Arab Emirates. They said it was the first
major settlement of the Ubaid period in that area. |
|
| Space shuttle Columbia | |
|
In 1981, the first test flight of America's first operational space shuttle,
the Columbia, ended successfully as the orbiter landed at Edwards Air Force
Base in California. |
|
| Lawrencium | |
|
In 1961, the manmade element 103, Lawrencium (Lw), was produced in the
U.S. |
|
| Video recorder | |
(source) |
In 1956, the first practical commercial black-and-white video
recorder was demonstrated at a broadcast convention in Chicago and
simultaneously in Redwood City, Ca. The VT-100 by Ampex Corporation of
Redwood City was the size of a deep-freeze with an additional five 6-foot
racks of circuitry. The 2-inch wide magnetic tape moved at a speed of 15
inches per second. The system had four heads on a disc rotating perpendicularly
across the width of the tape, thus tracing an oblique track pattern. A
single 14-inch reel could carry a 65-min. recording. The Columbia Broadcasting
System purchased three of the video
recorders in 1956, priced at $75,000 for each unit. |
| ENIAC proposed to Army | |
ENIAC in 1946 |
In 1943, a proposal
for an electronic computer was submitted to colleagues at the U.S. Army's
Ballistics Research Laboratory by John Grist Brainerd, director of research
at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School, where the proposal was
written by John Mauchly. In May 1943, the Army contracted the Moore School
to build ENIAC, the first electronic computer. Although ENIAC was not finished
until after the war had ended, it nevertheless marked a major step forward
in computing. |
| Atom split | |
|
In 1932, the atom was split by a proton beam on a lithium target. Two physicists,
Englishman Sir John Douglas Cockcroft
and Irishman Errnest Walton
had developed the first nuclear particle accelerator (the Cockcroft-Walton
generator for which they shared 1951 Nobel Prize for Physics. The accelerator
was built in a disused room in the Cavendish
Laboratory. With this equipment, Walton succeeded in being the first
to split the atom (its nucleus). When a proton from the beam supplied by
the accelerator struck a lithium nucleus, their unstable combination disintegrated
into two alpha particles (helim nuclei). Walton observed
the scintillations characteristic of alpha particles on a zinc sulphide
screen.« |
|
| Frozen fish | |
 |
In
1927, frozen fish fingers were patented in the UK by Clarence Birdseye
of Gloucester, Mass. He claimed "Improvements in Methods of Preparing Fish
Foods," specifically using the flesh of "cleaned fresh fish" (UK patent
257,222). As a trapper and biologist in Labrador (1912-15), Birdseye had
noticed that fish and caribou meat frozeb for months tasted as good as
fresh food. Slow freezing of food produces large ice crystals, which when
thawed produces a very soggy material. However, he realized fish exposed
in the sub-zero temperature of Labrador froze solid almost immediately
froze solid. At home in his laboratory he tried for eight years to recreate
the effects of nature until he developed a satisfactory commercial system
of quick freezing. * |
| Non-skid pattern | |
(source) |
In 1914, the first U.S. patent
for a non-skid tyre pattern was issued to Stacy G. Carkhuff of the Firestone
Rubber Co. of Akron Ohio (No. 1,093,310). The abrupt oblique edges of raised
portions molded on the tyre provided against skidding in all directions.
Arranged in rows diagonally across the tread surface of the tyre, the precise
form of the projections was not material, but the patentee preferred to
use block letters. (The image shows a sidewall area on either side of the
tread area.) |
| Titanic distress call received in NY | |
(source) |
In 1912, David
Sarnoff picked up a message of distress call of the Titanic
relayed from ships at sea: "S.S. Titanic ran into iceberg, sinking fast."
Sarnoff, aged 21, was a telegraph
operator managing a powerful Marconi radio telegraph station on top of
Wannamaker's department store in New York. He stayed at his post for 72
hours, receiving and transmitting the first authentic information on the
disaster. He relayed the names of the rescued from the Carpathia
telegraph operator to newsmen and frantic family members. Sarnoff went
on to become a pioneer
in radio and television broadcasting: He founded NBC in 1926, created an
experimental television station for NBC in 1928, and became president and
chairman of RCA. |
| Kinetoscope parlor | |
(source) |
In 1894, the first Kinetoscope parlor opened in New York with five machines.
For 25 cents, customers looked through a peephole to view a short film.
A motorized film loop was threaded around a number of rollers within a
wooden cabinet. Thomas Edison invented these early motion picture machines
to do "for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear." After several
years of effort, by 1892, Edison with W.K.L. Dickson, had invented
the "kinetograph" - a camera to take motion pictures. Edison then began
producing
films to exhibit. The machines sold for $250 each, but within a year, competitors
entered the market, and public interest declined sharply. By then, however,
the era of projected pictures had already dawned.« |
| Printing press | |
|
In 1863, the first U.S. patent for a continuous-roll printing press was
issued to William Bullock (No. 38,200). Two years later the machine had
been built, and was the first press built to use special curved stereo-type
plates. It was first used by the New York Sun. Both sides of the
paper were printed, as well as being cut into sheets, either before or
after printing. |
|
| Telescope | |
Cesi (source) |
In 1611, the word "telescope" was first used in public by Prince Federico
Cesi at a banquet held by the pioneer scientific society, the Academy of
Linceans (or Lynxes, of which he was a founder).
It was held to honour Galileo, on a grand hillside estate. After Galileo
showed the guests the satellites of Jupiter, other celestial marvels, and
even an inscription on a building three miles away. Although the name was
announced by Cesi to christen Galileo's instrument, the word telescopio
(in Italian) was perhaps devised by a Greek poet-theologian, who happened
to be present, from Greek words*
(tele = far and scopeo = see). In 1625, another Lincean,
Giovanni Faber of Bamberg (1574 - 1629) coined the analagous word microscope.
[Image
right (source)]
Galileo
in Rome: The Rise and Fall of a Troublesome Genius by
William R. Shea |
