| MAY 15 - BIRTHS | |
| Maria Reiche | |
(source) |
 
Born 15 May 1903; died 8 June 1998.
German-born Peruvian mathematician and archaeologist who was the self-appointed keeper of the Nazca Lines, a series of desert ground drawings over 1,000 years old, near Nazcain in southern Peru. For 50 years the "Lady of the Lines" studied and protected these etchings of animals and geometric patterns in 60 km (35 mi) of desert. Protected by a lack of wind and rain, the figures are hundreds of feet long best seen from the air. She investigated the Nazca lines from a mathematical point of view. Death at age 95 interrupted her new mathematical calculations: the possibility that the lines predicted cyclical natural phenomena like El Nino, a weather system that for centuries has periodically caused disastrous flooding along the Peruvian coast. [Image right: source ] |
| William Hume-Rothery | |
(source) |
Born 15
May 1899; died 27 Sep 1968.
British metallurgist, internationally known for his work on the formation of alloys and intermetallic compounds. During WW II, he supervised many government contracts for work on complex aluminium and magnesium alloys. He established that the microstructure of an alloy depends on the different sizes of the component atoms, the valency electron concentration, and electrochemical differences. Hume-Rothery rules are an empirical guide to when two metals are sufficiently similar to be completely miscible (form a single phase at all relative concentrations). They are: (1). Atomic radii no more than about 15% different. (2). Pure metals have the same crystal structure. (3). Atoms have similar electronegativities. (4). Atoms have the same valence. |
| Frank Hornby | |
(source) |
Born 15
May 1863; died 21 Sep 1936.
English inventor and toy manufacturer who patented the Meccano construction set in 1901. This toy used perforated metal strips, wheels, roods, brackets, clips and assembly nuts and bolts to build unlimited numbers of models. His original sets, marketed as "Mechanics Made Easy" produced in a rented room, were initially sold at only one Liverpool toy shop. By 1908, he had formed his company, Meccano Ltd., and within five more years had established manufacturing in France, Germany, Spain and the U.S. He introduced Hornby model trains in 1920, originally clockwork and eventually electrically powered with tracks and scale replicas of associated buildings. The "Dinky" range of miniature cars and other motor vehicles was added in 1933.«  Frank
Hornby: The boy who made $1,000,000 with a toy, by Maurice
Philip Gould. |
| Pierre Curie | |
(source) |
Born 15
May 1859; died 19 Apr 1906.
French physical chemist and cowinner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903. His studies of radioactive substances were made together with his wife, Marie Curie, whom he married in 1895. They were achieved under conditions of much hardship - barely adequate laboratory facilities and under the stress of having to do much teaching in order to earn their livelihood. Together, they discovered radium and polonium in their investigation of radioactivity by fractionation of pitchblende (announced in 1898). Later they did much to elucidate the properties of radium and its transformation products. Their work in this era formed the basis for much of the subsequent research in nuclear physics and chemistry. |
| Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming | |
(source) |
Born 15
May 1857; died 21 May 1911.
(née Stevens) Scottish-born American astronomer who pioneered in the classification of stellar spectra and the first to discover stars called "white dwarfs." She emigrated to Boston at age 21. Prof. Edward Pickering, director of the Harvard Observatory first employed Fleming as a maid, but in 1881 hired her to do clerical work and some mathematical calculations at the Observatory. She further proved capable of doing science. After devising her system of classifying stars by their spectra, she cataloged over 10,000 stars within the next nine years. Her duties were expanded and she was put in charge of dozens of young women hired to do mathematical computations (as now done by computers). |
| Carl Wernicke | |
(source) |
Born 15
May 1848; died 15 Jun 1905.
German neurologist who related nerve diseases to specific areas of the brain. Interested in psychiatry, traditionally he studied anatomy initially and neuropathology later. He published a small volume on aphasias (disorders interfering with the ability to communicate in speech or writing) which vaulted him into international fame. In it was precise pathoanatomic analysis paralleling the clinical picture. He is best known for his work on sensory aphasia and poliomyelitis hemorrhagia superior. Both of these descriptions bear his name, as well as a form of encephalopathy induced by thiamine deficiency. He wrote books on the disorders of the internal capsule and textbooks on diseases of the nervous system. Wernicke died in a road accident. |
| Sir Edwin Ray Lankester | |
(source) |
Born 15
May 1847; died 15 Aug 1929.
British zoologist whose interests embraced comparative anatomy, protozoology, parasitology, embryology and anthropology. He was one of the first to describe protozoan parasites found in the blood of vertebrates. Lankestrella (a parasite related to the causative agent of malaria) carries his name. His work contributed to an understanding of the disease. Based on his investigation into the comparative anatomy of the embryology of invertebrates, Lankester endorsed Darwin's theory of evolution. In anthrolopology, his activities included the discovery of flint implements, evidence of early man, within Pliocene sediments, in Suffolk. He was Director of the British Museum of Natural History (1898-1907).« Diversions
of a Naturalist, by Edwin Ray Lankester. |
| Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov | |
(source) |
Born 15
May 1845; died 16 Jul 1916.
(also spelled Elie Metchnikoff) Russian zoologist and microbiologist, who shared the 1908 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Paul Ehrlich "in recognition of their work on immunity." Metchnikoff's research was on phagocytosis, a fundamental process in immunology whereby macrophages and other specialized cells engulf and digest bacteria and other foreign particles. In 1882, leaving his university teaching career, he set up a private laboratory at Messina to better pursue his interest in microbes and the immune system. He discovered phagocytosis by experiments on the larvae of starfish. His theory that certain white blood cells could engulf and destroy harmful bacteria was at first disbelieved, then slowly accepted by other scientists.« The
Life of Elie Metchnikoff, by Olga Metchnikoff. |
| Clarence Edward Dutton | |
(source) |
Born 15
May 1841; died 4 Jan 1912.
American geologist who coined the term isostasy for his explanation that continents rise higher on the Earth's surface by virtue of their less dense crustal rock; ocean basins are denser material. After the civil war, while still an army officer, from 1875, he assisted in Powell's survey of the Rocky Mountains. From 1880 until his retirement from the army in 1891, he worked for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). He made geological investigations of the Grand Canyon in Colorado, the plateaus of Utah, and the 1886 Charleston earthquake. In seismology, he pioneered a method to determine the depth of the focus of an earthquake and the speed of its seismic waves. In 1887, he became the first head of the USGS division of volcanic geology.« Tertiary
History of the Grand Canyon District, by Clarence Edward
Dutton. |
| (Alexandre-)Henri Mouhot | |
(source) |
Born 15
May 1826; died 10 Nov 1861.
(Alexandre-)Henri Mouhot was a French naturalist and explorer of the interior of Siam, Cambodia and Laos (1858-61), He is remembered for his reports of the ruins of Angkor, capital of the ancient Khmer civilization of Cambodia. The location was known to the local population, had been visited by several westerners since the 16th century, but it was Mouhot's evocative accounts and detailed sketches that popularized the Angkor series of sites with the western public. He drew the attention of western scholars to the many ancient terraces, pools, moated cities, palaces and temples as important archaeological sites. His books were published posthumously as he died in Laos at the young age of 35 from malarial fever on his fourth jungle expedition.« Travels
in
the Central Parts of Indo-China..., by M. Henri Mouhot. |
| Joseph Loschmidt | |
(source) |
Born 15
May 1821; died 8 Jul 1895.
Johann Joseph Loschmidt was an Austrian chemist and physicist who was first to propose (1861) some kind of cyclic structure for benzene and many aromatic hydrocarbons. (Four years later, Friedrich Kekulé devised the correct ring structure, for which his name is remembered while Loschmidt's contribution is overlooked.) He deduced the size of air molecules to be around one nanometer, with two approaches: relating the size of gas molecules to the distance travelled between collisions, and considering the packed volume of molecules in a cold liquid. Completing Avogadro's insight that all gases have the same number of molecules in a given volume, Loschmidt measured Avogadro's constant to be 6.03 x 1023 molecules in one mole of a gas (1865).« |
| Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton | |
(source) |
Born 15
May 1803; died 14 Jul 1899.
British engineer whose life-work was constructing irrigation, navigation canals and dams for water storage in Southern India, saving thousands from famine and promoting local economy. He joined the Madras engineers in 1819, fought in the first Burmese war (1824-26) and began his ambitious irrigation project (1826-62). He built dams on several rivers, transforming the drought-stricken Tanjore district into the richest part of the state of Madras. His ambitious masterplan was not completed in his lifetime, but his ideas anticipated projects that were subsequently taken up. In the present time, India's goal of a National Water Grid confronts the problem of increasingly scarce water. Cotton founded the Indian school of hydraulic engineering.« |
| Nicolas Louis de Lacaille | |
(source) |
Born 15
May 1713; died 21 Mar 1762.
French astronomer who and named many of them. Abbé Nicolas Louis de Lacaille was a French astronomer who named 15 of the 88 constellations in the sky. He spent 1750-1754 mapping the constellations visible from the Southern Hemisphere, as observed from the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost part of Africa. In his years there, he was said to have observed over 10,000 stars using just his 1/2-inch refractor. He established the first southern star catalogue containing 9776 stars (Caelum Australe Stelliferum, published partly in 1763 and completely in 1847), and a catalogue of 42 nebulae in 1755 containing 33 true deep sky objects (26 his own discoveries). |
| Neil Arnott | |
| Born 15
May 1788; died 2 Mar 1874.
Scottish physician and scientist who invented a water-bed for the comfort of patients during a prolonged illness. He is also known for his invention of the economical Arnott stove, which he called a thermometer-stove with a self-regulating fire.« |
|
|
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 |
| MAY 15 - DEATHS | |
| Robert Morris Page | |
(source) |
 
Died 15 May 1992 (born 2 Jun 1903)
American physicist who invented the technology for pulse radar while employed at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. From pioneering work with early radio leaders, Dr. Page conceived and developed circuitry and components in the 1930's for early pulse radar systems which used short bursts of electromagnetic radiation to detect and locate distant objects. During WW II, this invention was vital to the Allies for detection of enemy planes, ships, and other targets. After the war, Page continued research into peacetime applications of radar, airborne radio and other fields of electronics. He held sixty-five patents for innovations in these fields, now applied in navigation, weather forecasting, astronomy, automation and related technical fields.« The
Origin of Radar, by Robert Morris Page. |
| Étienne-Jules Marey | |
1880 (source) |
Died 15 May 1904 (born 5 Mar 1830)
French physiologist and chronophotographer, who while studying how blood moves in the body invented the sphygmograph. This device made a graphical record of the pulse and variations in blood pressure. One end of a lever rested on the veins in the wrist, while a stylus on the other end inscribed the fluctuations of the heart onto a carbon-blacked strip of paper moving at a uniform speed. He took an interest in the flightof insects and birds. In 1869, Marey demonstrated how an insect flies by moving its wings in a figure-8 shape. Inspired by Muybridge's work, Marey studied the movement of animals by photographing multiple images on a single plate. He also used a high-speed motion camera to produce film to view in slow motion.« [Image right: sphygmograph] Picturing
Time: The Work of Etienne-Jules Marey, by Marta Braun. |
| Robert Hare | |
|
(source) |
Died
15 May 1858 (born 17 Jan 1781)
American chemist who devised the first oxy-hydrogen blowpipe for the purpose of producing great heat. He was able to melt sizeable quantities of platinum with this blowpipe. Later, it was discovered that when such a blowpipe flame acted on a block of calcium oxide, a brilliant white light resulted - limelight. His device was also the ancestor of the modern welding torches. |
| Thomas Savery | |
(source) |
Died
15 May 1715 (born 1650)
English inventor of a water pump powered by steam which he patented (1698). His other patents included a method for polishing glass plate (1649), and an idea for capstan-driven paddle-wheels for becalmed ships. His pump used a vessel first filled with steam When externally cooled with water, the resulting vacuum lifted water to be pumped from a lower sump. Then more high-pressure steam filled the vessel to force the water to a higher level. High fuel consumption and failures due to construction materials unable to contain the pressure meant the design was unsuccessful for use in mines, but it provided a basis for Newcomen to improve for his pumps.« [Note: Year of birth, and date of death are known only approximately.] |
| Paolo Toscanelli | |
| Died
15 May 1482 (born 1397)
Italian physician and mapmaker, interested in astronomy and observer of comets. His lone claim to fame, however, was his mistaken belief that Asia lay three thousand miles west of Europe. He drew a map showing these two continents on each side of the Atlantic Ocean. This is the map that started Columbus thinking about making his voyage. |
|
| MAY 15 - EVENTS | |
| Two-from-one lungs | |
In 1993, a woman in Paris was surgically given two new lungs, both of which
were cut from the single lung of a large man. Only previously attempted
in animal trials, this was the first human to receive such surgery. The
procedure is of particular interest for children, for whom finding donor
lungs of the correct size is a problem. |
|
| Final Project Mercury mission | |
|
In 1963, astronaut L. Gordon Cooper blasted off aboard Faith 7 on
the final mission of the Project Mercury space program. |
|
| British H-bomb | |
|
In 1957, Britain's first H-bomb
- Operation Grapple - was exploded
in the air off Christmas Island in the central Pacific Ocean. The bomb
was dropped by a four-engined jet, Valiant of No 49 Squadron RAF Bomber
Command, normally based at RAF Wittering, Northants. |
|
| Primordial soup | |
|
In 1953, Stanley L. Miller's paper on the synthesis of amino acids under
conditions that simulated primitive Earth's atmosphere was published
in Science. Miller had applied an electric discharge to a mixture
of CH4, NH3, H2O, and H2 (which
was believed at the time to be the atmospheric composition of early Earth.)
Instead of producing a random mixture of organic molecules, the surprising
result was a mixture of amino acids, hydroxy acids, and urea. These compounds
are so significant in the biochemistry of life, that this discovery marked
the beginning of the modern study to understand the origin of life on Earth.
Miller's paper was published only a few weeks after Watson and Crick reported
their DNA double-helix model in Nature. Geoscientists now tend to
believe in other sources for the origin of life, but Miller's experiment
focussed interest on the primordial formation of amino acids |
|
| First British jet | |
(source) |
In 1941, Britain's first jet-propelled aircraft, the Gloster-Whittle E.28/39,
flew for the first time, taking off from RAF Cranwell on a historic 17
minute flight. Its jet engines were designed by Frank Whittle, "the father
of the jet engine". The planes of the 1920's were powered by piston engines,
with propellers providing the necessary thrust. This was limiting with
regards to speed and height. While he was at Cranwell, still only 21 years
of age, Whittle began to consider the possibilities of jet propulsion as
applied to aircraft. By 1930 he had designed and patented a jet aircraft
engine. After 11 years, Whittle's engine, tested and modified, successfully
powered an aircraft in flight. |
| Nylon stockings | |
|
In 1940, nylon stockings went on general sale for the first time in the
United States in Wilmington Delaware. Four million pairs were sold in several
hours |
|
| Einstein receives Benjamin Franklin Medal | |
(source) |
In 1935, at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Albert Einstein was awarded
the Benjamin Franklin Medal for his outstanding fundamental contributions
to theoretical physics, especially his relativity theory. According to
Time
magazine, "A throng of scientists and dignitaries was assembled to hear
what the medalist had to say. Einstein genially informed the chairman that
he had nothing to say, that inspiration which he had awaited until the
last moment had failed him. The chairman, much more embarrassed than the
medalist, conveyed this information to the audience." In atonement, Einstein
wrote a 44-page essay entitled "Physics and Reality," published in the
Mar 1936 issue of their Journal of the Franklin Institute.
Ref:
Time
magazine 16 Mar 1936.« |
| Listerine | |
|
In 1923, Listerine was registered as a trademark. |
|
| Declaration of the Conservation Conference | |
|
In 1908, a declaration
supporting conservation was issued at the conclusion of a three-day Conference
of Governors held
at the White House, called by Roosevelt to consider the problems of conservation.
It recognized that the U.S. "natural resources include the land on which
we live and which yields our food; the living waters which fertilize the
soil, supply power, and form great avenues of commerce; the forests which
yield the materials for our homes, prevent erosion of the soil, and conserve
the navigation and other uses of our streams; and the minerals which form
the basis of our industrial life, an supply us with heat, light, and power."
It recommended that each State appoint a Commission on the Conservation
of Natural Resources. |
|
| Claim of powered flight | |
(source) |
In 1902, according to local legend, an unwitnessed heavier than air flight
took place in a 20-h.p. steam-engined aircraft as claimed by Lyman
Gilmore of Grass Valley, California. History cannot document Gilmore's
fantasy of becoming the first person to achieve powered flight. Doubt was
overwhelming, yet he spent the rest of his life
trying
to prove his claim, and he remains a skeptical footnote in history. Nevertheless,
he was was an inventive aeronautical visionary, even while being a secretive,
eccentric recluse. He did patent a steam-powered aircraft, and built model
airplanes. He has a more substantiated claim for building the first commercial
airport,
the Gilmore Aerodrome. His airplanes and hangers burned to the ground in
1935.« |
| Bailey's Beads | |
(EB) |
In 1836, Francis Baily observed "Baily's Beads" during an annular solar
eclipse. His vivid description aroused new interest in the study of eclipses.
Baily's
Beads are the bright points of light, that appear around the edge of
the moon during a solar eclipse. The beads are created by sunlight passing
through the moon's valleys. The last bead is the brightest, resembling
a diamond on a brilliant ring. After retiring from a successful business
career (1825), Baily turned to science. He revised several star catalogs,
repeated Henry Cavendish's experiments to determine the density of the
Earth, and measured its elliptical shape. His protests regarding the British
Nautical Almanac, then notorious for its errors, were instrumental in bringing
about its reform. |
| Machine gun | |
(source) |
In 1718, a "Defence" rapid-fire gun was patented
by a London lawyer, James Puckle (1667 - 1724). It is sometimes considered
an ancestor of the
machine gun. It was, in effect, a flintlock revolver with a barrel 3 feet
long and a bore of 1.25 inches. A pre-loaded "cylinder" held 11 charges
and could fire 63 shots in 7 minutes. (This rate of 9 shots/min was three
times quicker than the fastest infantryman.) The patent
described it as "A portable gun or machine called a Defence, that discharges
soe often and soe many bullets, and can be soe quickly loaded as renders
it next to impossible to carry any ship by boarding," which indicates shipboard
use was intended. British patent No. 418 (1718). He began manufacture at
White Cross Alley factory in 1721.« [Image:
(top) detail of gun (bottom) gun shown in patent drawing on tripod mount.]
The
Social History of the Machine Gun, by John Ellis. |
| Kepler's Law | |
(source) |
In 1618, Johannes Kepler discovered
his harmonics law published
in his five-volume work Harmonices Mundi ("Harmony of the Worlds,
1619). He attempted to explain proportions and geometry in planetary motions
by relating them to musical scales and intervals (an extension of what
Pythagoras had described as the "harmony of the spheres".) Kepler said
each planet produces musical tones during its revolution about the sun,
and the pitch of the tones varies with the angular velocities of those
planets as measured from the sun. The Earth sings Mi, Fa, Mi. At
very rare intervals all planets would sing in perfect concord. Kepler proposed
that this may have happened only once in history, perhaps at the time of
creation.« [Image: Title
page from Kepler's Harmonices Mundi.]
The
Harmony of the World, by Johannes
Kepler (translation). |
| Music printing | |
|
In 1501, Ottaviano Petrucci of Venice founded the first modern-style music
publishing house, by producing the first book of music made from movable
type. |
|
