| APRIL 29 - BIRTHS | |
| Harold C. Urey | |
(source) |
 Born 29
Apr 1893; died 5 Jan 1981.
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. |
| Forest Ray Moulton | |
(source) |
Born 29
Apr 1872; died 7 Dec 1952.
American astronomer who collaborated with Thomas Chamberlin in advancing the planetesimal theory of the origin of the solar system (1904). They suggested filaments of matter were ejected when a star passed close to the Sun, which cooled into tiny solid fragments, "planetesimals". Over a very long period, grains collided and stuck together. Continued accretion created pebbles, boulders, and eventually larger bodies whose gravitational force of attraction accelerated the formation of protoplanets. (This formation by accretion is still accepted, but not the stellar origin of the planetesimals.) Moulton was first to suggest that the smaller satellites of Jupiter discovered by Nicholson and others in the early 20th century were captured asteroids - now widely accepted. |
| Henri Poincaré | |
(source) |
Born 29
Apr 1854; died 17 July 1912.
(Jules) Henri Poincaré was a French mathematician, physicist, astronomer and a gifted interpreter of science to the public. His Poincaré Conjecture holds that if any loop in a given three-dimensional space can be shrunk to a point, the space is equivalent to a sphere. Its proof remains an unsolved problem in topology. He influenced cosmogony, relativity, and topology. In applied mathematics he also studied optics, electricity, telegraphy, capillarity, elasticity, thermodynamics, potential theory, quantum theory, and cosmology. He is often described as the last universalist in mathematics. He studied the three-body-problem in celestial mechanics, and theories of light and electromagnetic waves. He was a co-discoverer (with Albert Einstein and Hendrik Lorentz) of the special theory of relativity.« |
| John Arbuthnot | |
(source) |
Baptised
29 Apr 1667; died 27 Feb 1735.
Scottish mathematician and physician. In 1692, he published Of the Laws of Chance, the first work on probability published in English, being his translation of a work by Huygens to which he added further games of chance. In 1710, he published a paper discussing the slight excess of male births over female births since 1629; it was perhaps the first application of probability to social statistics and included the first formal test of significance. As a political satirist, he wrote a series of pamphlets featuring the character John Bull that became an iconic Englishman. Arbuthnot joined with Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and John Gay in founding the famous Scriblerus Club. From 1705 he was physician to Queen Anne until her death in 1714.«  |
| APRIL 29 - DEATHS | |
| Albert Hofmann | |
(source) |
 Died
29 Apr 2008 (born 11 Jan 1906)
Swiss pharmacologist who discovered LSD (D-lysergic acid diethylamide). For his doctoral thesis he studied the chemical structure of chitin. Working for the pharmaceutical-chemical department of Sandoz Laboratories he studied the plant squill and the fungus ergot for the purification and synthesis of their active constituents as possible pharmaceuticals. He originally synthesised LSD-25, lysergic acid, the central shared component of ergot alkaloids, in 1938. Hofmann continued to study active substances in natural products. On 16 April 1943, because of accidental skin contact with the substance while handling its container, he discovered the psychedelic effects of LSD. Illegal use in the 1960's led to its worldwide prohibition. He died aged 102 yr.«  LSD:
My Problem Child, by Albert Hofmann |
| Donald Deskey | |
(source) |
Died 29 Apr 1989 (born 23 Nov 1894)
American industrial designer who helped establish industrial design as a profession. He made inventive use of industrial materials for decorative purposes. Deskey invented a high-pressure laminate known as Weldtex. He designed the familiar goosenecked street lights on commission for New York City in 1958 as a new prototype streetlight standard. He brought a new, modernist look to furniture and interiors, including that of Radio City Music Hall. Deskey package designs for Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson include Tide laundry detergent, Prell shampoo, Crest toothpaste, and other packaged goods that are now firmly embedded in American consumer culture and serve as models of the role that design played in everyday life. (image right source) |
| William Henry Eccles | |
(source) |
Died 29 Apr 1966 (born 23 Aug 1875)
British physicist who pioneered in the development of radio communication. He was an early proponent of Oliver Heaviside's theory that an upper layer of the atmosphere reflects radio waves, thus enabling their transmission over long distances. He also suggested in 1912 that solar radiation accounted for the differences in wave propagation during the day and night. He experimented with detectors and amplifiers for radio reception, coined the term "diode," and studied atmospheric disturbances of radio reception. After WW I, he made many contributions to electronic circuit development*, including the Eccles-Jordan "flip-flop" patented in 1918 and used in binary counters (working with F.W. Jordan). |
| Wallace Hume Carothers | |
(source) |
Died
29 Apr 1937 (born 27 Apr 1896)
American chemist who developed nylon (1935), the first synthetic polymer fibre to be spun from a melt. He produced this polyamide, by condensation of adipic acid and hexamethylenediamine. He worked for the duPont chemical company as head of organic chemistry research from 1928. Through his study of long-chain molecules, now called polymers, he also developed the first successful synthetic rubber, neoprene (1931). He suffered from depression, and died by suicide at the age of 41 before nylon had been commercially exploited. DuPont produced nylon commercially from 1938 and laid the foundation of the synthetic-fibre industry. Nylon proved outstanding in its properties as a synthetic analog of silk. Enough
for One Lifetime: Wallace Carothers, Inventor of Nylon, by
Matthew E. Hermes |
| Jean-Marie-Constant Duhamel | |
(source) |
Died
29 Apr 1872 (born 5 Feb 1797)
French mathematician and physicist who proposed a theory dealing with the transmission of heat in crystal structures based on the work of the French mathematicians Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier and Siméon-Denis Poisson. |
| Abraham (Pineo) Gesner | |
(source) |
Died
29 Apr 1864 (born 2 May 1797)
Canadian chemist and geologist who pioneered the extraction of kerosene (which he named) by the dry distillation of asphalt rock. He realized the usefulness of this liquid (known as paraffin in England) as a cleaner-furning fuel in lamps to replace whale oil. He obtained several patents for his processes he invented. U.S. Patent Nos. 11,203-5 (issued 27 Jun 1854) described his process for obtaining kerosene from asphalt rock by heat distillation. His Patent No.12,612 (27 Mar 1855) was the first in the U.S. for a process to obtain oil for illumination from bituminous shale and cannel coal. He also invented a wood preservative, an asphalt highway paving process, compressed coal dust briquettes, and a machine for insulating electric wire.« Abraham
Gesner, by Joyce Barkhouse |
| Charles-Julien Brianchon | |
(source) |
Died
29 Apr 1864 (born 19 Dec 1783)
French mathematician who published a geometrical theorem (named as Brianchon's theorem) while a student (1806). He showed that in any hexagon formed of six tangents to a conic, the three diagonals meet at a point. (Conics include circles, ellipses, parabolas, and hyperbolas.) In fact, this theorem is simply the dual of Pascal's theorem which was proved in 1639. After graduation, Brianchon became a lieutenant in artillery fighting in Napoleon's army until he left active service in 1813 due to ill health. His last work in mathematics made the first use of the term "nine-point circle." By 1823, Brianchon's interests turned to teaching and to chemistry.« |
| Georg Brandt | |
 |
Died
29 Apr 1768 (born 21 Jul 1694)
Swedish chemist who was the first person to discover a metal unknown in ancient times which he isolated and named cobalt (1730). He published (1733) findings on the composition and solubility of arsenic compounds then researched antimony, bismuth, mercury, and zinc. His work on methods of producing hydrochloric, nitric, and sulfuric acids was published in 1741 and 1743. One of the first chemists to completely forswear alchemy, he devoted his later years to exposing fraudulent alchemical processes for producing gold. Ancient Egyptians used tiny amounts of cobalt to make their glass blue. Cobalt is added to steel to make it harder and have a higher melting point. Traces of it are found in meat and dairy products as vitamin B-12. [Note: Brandt's birthdate is given as 21 Jul 1694 in Dictionary of Scientific Biography and Encyclopedia Britannica, but as 26 Jun 1694 in The Discovery of the Elements by Mary Elvira Weeks (1934).] |
| APRIL 29 - EVENTS | |
| Rain forest conservation | |
(source) |
In 1998, Brazil agreed
to set aside about 25 million ha (62 million ac) of the Amazon rain forest
for conservation. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso said his country,
in cooperation with the World Bank and the World Wildlife Fund, would protect
10% of its forests by the year 2000. The cost of the project, which would
set aside an area the size of Britain, is estimated at between $84
million and $156 million, much of which will come from the World Bank.
A similar announcement
followed from the government of the neighbouring country of Suriname
(17 Jun 1998) that it would set aside about 12% of the country's area to
create the huge Central Suriname Wilderness Nature Reserve in order to
conserve the Amazon rain forest*. |
| X-ray research on humans | |
|
In 1998, it was revealed in Oslo that in experiments conducted for decades
until 1994, Norwegian and American researchers used mentally ill or retarded
Norwegians in tests of the biological and genetic effects of X-ray radiation
on the body*. |
|
| Chemical weapons convention | |
|
In 1997, the worldwide Chemical Weapons Convention took effect after ratification
by 88 countries; the U.S. ratified the treaty on April 24, but Russia and
a number of other states known to possess such weapons failed to do so*. |
|
| Russo-American space walk | |
|
In 1997, U.S. astronaut Jerry M. Linenger and Russian cosmonaut Vasily
Tsibliyev completed the first-ever Russo-American space walk, a five-hour
excursion from the Russian space station Mir*. |
|
| Biological clock gene | |
|
In 1994, the discovery of a gene in a mammal (a mouse) that regulates the
body's internal "biological clock." was reported in the journal Science
by scientists at Northwestern University. |
|
| Nuclear power plant | |
|
In 1957, the first military nuclear power plant was dedicated in Fort Belvoir,
Virginia. |
|
| 3-D TV | |
|
In 1953, the first U.S. three-dimensional television telecast was made
by KECA-TV in Los Angeles, California. |
|
| Telanthropus unearthed | |
|
In 1949, the first fragments of the hominid Telanthropus were discovered
in a limestone crevasse in Swartkhans, South Africa, by John Talbot Robinson.
His find, which resembled homo erectus, was another of the semihuman
forms that preceded man. |
|
| Woman scientist membership | |
|
In 1925, the first woman elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences
was Dr. Florence Rena Sabin of Baltimore, Maryland. She was a histology
professor at Johns Hopkins University. |
|
| David Sarnoff | |
|
In 1921, David Sarnoff became general manager of RCA, and a leader in a
communications revolution. |
|
| Fastening patent | |
|
In 1913, the first U.S. patent for a hookless fastening for universal use
was issued to Gideon Dundback of Hoboken, N.J. |
|
| Cancer laboratory | |
|
In 1898, funds for the first cancer laboratory in the U.S. were appropriated
in New York State. |
|
| Railroad coupling | |
|
In 1873, the first U.S. patent for a railroad coupler was issued to E.H.
Janney of Alexandria, Virginia. |
|
| Electric arc lamps | |
|
In 1879, the first use in the U.S. of electric arc lamps took place in
Cleveland, Ohio. |
|
| Electric locomotive | |
|
In 1851, the first trial trip of an electric locomotive was made in Washington,
D.C. |
|
| Rubber patent | |
(source) |
In 1820, Thomas Hancock's first patent was dated. It was for the application
of rubber in clothing where some elasticity was useful, such as braces
(suspenders) or slip-on boots. Thus began his wish to find uses for rubber,
which until then had limited worth due to its poor properties, being hard
and liable to crack in winter cold and sticky in summer heat. Later, he
invented a "masticator" which fed waste rubber through a spiked roller
rotating in a hollow cyclinder and produced a homogeneous mass of solid
rubber resulting from the pressure appled and heat generated during the
process. When rolled into sheets or compacted into blocks, the product
was suitable to make various articles. Thus, he became the founder of the
British rubber industry.
Noble
Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the
Greatest Industrial Secret of the Nineteenth Century,
by Charles Slack. |
| Rubber | |
|
In 1813, the first U.S. patent for rubber was issued to J.F. Hummel in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. |
|
| French Academy of Sciences | |
|
In 1699, the French Academy of Sciences held its first public meeting,
in the Louvre. |
|
