| MAY 26 - BIRTHS | |
| Sally Ride | |
(source) |
 Born 26
May 1951
The first American woman to orbit the earth when she flew aboard Space Shuttle Challenger on 18 Jun 1983. Only two other women preceded her in space: Valentina Tereshkova (1963) and Svetlana Savitskaya (1982), both from the former Soviet Union. Ride applied to the astronaut program after reading an ad in a newspaper. Out of 8,000 applicants to the space program that year, 35 individuals were selected including six women. Accepted into the astronaut corps in 1978, she completed her training as a mission specialist in 1979, and flew on two missions with Challenger, the second in 1984. Dr. Ride, who has a Ph.D. degree in physics, was a member of the team chosen to investigate the 1986 explosion of Challenger. |
| Robert M. Yerkes | |
(source) |
Born 26
May 1876; died 3 Feb 1956.
Robert Mearns Yerkes was an American psychologist and a principal developer of comparative (animal) psychology in the U.S. In his book The Dancing Mouse (1908), he helped established the use of mice and rats as standard subjects for experiments in psychology. He also studied primates, publishing his results in 1929 in the classic book The Great Apes. |
| Julius Stieglitz | |
(source) |
Born 26
May 1867; died 10 Jan 1937.
U.S. chemist who interpreted the behaviour and structure of organic compounds in the light of valence theory and applied the methods of physical chemistry to organic chemistry. His research in such fields as molecular rearrangements and stereochemistry helped lay the foundations of physicoorganic chemistry. During World War I, he advised the government on how to overcome shortages of chemicals which had come from Germany. He was very active in World War I developing war gases, dyes, and chemicals for the American military forces. He served as chairman of the committee on synthetic drugs of the National Research Council. |
| Washington Augustus Roebling | |
(source) |
Born 26
May 1837; died 21 Jul 1926.
U.S. civil engineer under whose direction the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, was completed in 1883. The bridge was designed by Roebling with his father, John Augustus Roebling, from whom he had gained experience building wire-rope suspension bridges. Upon his father's death, he superintended the building of the Brooklyn Bridge (1869-83). He was disabled by decompression sickness after entering a caisson in 1872. He was brought out nearly insensible and his life was saved with difficulty. Because of resulting poor health, he directed operations from his home in Brooklyn overlooking the site. Though he continued to head the family's wire-rope manufacturing business for several years, medical problems forced retirement (1888).  Builders
of the Bridge: The Story of John Roebling and His Son,
by David Barnard Steinman. |
| Richard Christopher Carrington | |
(source) |
Born 26
May 1826; died 27 Nov 1875.
English astronomer who was the first to map the motions of sunspots and thus discover from them that the Sun rotates faster at the equator than near the poles (equatorial acceleration). He observed that the sunspots were not attached to any solid object, and also discovered the movement of sunspot zones toward the Sun's equator as the solar cycle progresses. On 1 Sep 1859, Carrington was the first to record the observation of a solar flare. (Image: detail of a drawing by R.C. Carrington, showing the location of the flare he observed while making a drawing of an active region. Reproduced from his 1860 paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society) |
| Heinrich Geissler | |
(sourcce) |
Born 26
May 1815; died 24 Jan 1879.
German glassblower for whom the Geissler (mercury) vacuum pump and the Geissler tube are named. With the unprecedented (1/100 mm of mercury) low vacuum he produced in sealed glass tubes, he made available to early physicists a valuable tool to study the effect of electricity on the remaining traces of gases therein. These produced more detailed studies of the structure of matter. |
| Abraham de Moivre | |
(source) |
Born 26
May 1667; died 27 Nov 1754.
French mathematician who was a pioneer in the development of analytic trigonometry and in the theory of probability. He published The Doctrine of Chance in 1718. The definition of statistical independence appears in this book together with many problems with dice and other games. He also investigated mortality statistics and the foundation of the theory of annuities. He died in poverty, and correctly predicted the day of his own death. He found that he was sleeping 15 minutes longer each night and from this the arithmetic progression, calculated that he would die on the day that he slept for 24 hours. |
|
Today in Science History Science Store Browse a selection of Bargain Science and Nature Books |
| MAY 26 - DEATHS | |
| Gerald S. Hawkins | |
(source) |
 Died
26 May 2003 (born 20 Apr 1928)
Gerald Stanley Hawkins was a British-born American radio-astronomer who used a computer to show that the stones and other archaeological features at Stonehenge formed a pattern of alignments with 12 major lunar and solar events, suggesting that it was used as a sort of neolithic observatory or astronomical calendar. In the 18th century, William Stukely had noticed that the horseshoe of trilithons and 19 bluestones opened up in the direction of the midsummer sunrise. In the 1960s, Hawkins, a British-born radio astronomer, identified 165 key points in the neolithic complex and found that many were strongly correlated with the rising and setting positions of the sun and moon over an 18.6-year cycle. In the 1990s, he studied the geometry of crop circles. |
| Waldo Semon | |
(source) |
Died
26 May 1999 (born 10 Sep 1898)
American chemical engineer who invented plasticized PVC (vinyl). In 1926's, he discovered how to convert polyvinyl chloride from a hard, unworkable substance to a pliable one. It is now used in hundreds of products such as floor tile, garden hose, imitation leather, shower curtains, and coatings. It is produced in larger quantities than any other plastic except polyethylene. Semon also made pioneering contributions in polymer science, including new rubber antioxidants. His technical leadership led to discovery of three major new polymer families: thermoplastic polyurethane, synthetic "natural" rubber, and oil-resistant synthetic rubbers. Semon held 116 U.S. patents. |
| John Jacob Abel | |
(source) |
Died
26 May 1938 (born 19 May 1857)
American pharmacologist and physiological chemist who made important contributions to a modern understanding of the ductless, or endocrine, glands. In 1893, he became the first full-time professor of pharmacology in the U.S. at John Hopkins University. Abel encouraged his students to conduct experiments and become active participants in his laboratory research. In 1897 he reported the isolation of a derivative of epinephrine (adrenaline). In 1926, he isolated and crystallized insulin. Abel also investigated the functions of the kidney and devised a vividiffusion apparatus for removing toxins from the blood of living animals, an apparatus that is widely regarded as a forerunner of the artificial kidney. |
| William Thomas Councilman | |
(source) |
Died
26 May 1933 (born 1 Jan 1854)
American pathologist, remembered for his contribution in a monograph on amoebic dysentery (1891) which described detailed observations of it and its parasite. His post-M.D. (1878) work included many autopsies, sparking his interest in pathology. He studied in Europe (1880-83), where pathology was more advanced than in the U.S. In his first significant research, he confirmed Laveran's discovery of the sporozoan parasite that causes malaria, Plasmodium malariae (1893-94), and upon returning home, was the first in the U.S. to describe and picture it. Councilman also did research on diphtheria, cerebrospinal meningitis, nephritis, and smallpox. He was the principal founder of the American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists. |
| Ernest Solvay | |
(source) |
Died
26 May 1922 (born 16 Apr 1838)
Belgian industrial chemist who invented the Solvay Process (1863), a commercially viable ammonia-soda process for producing soda ash (sodium carbonate), widely used in the manufacture of such products as glass and soap. Although a half-century before, A.J. Fresnel had shown (1811) that sodium bicarbonate could be precipitated from a salt solution containing ammonium bicarbonate, many engineering obstacles had to be overcome. Solvay's successful design used an 80 foot tall high-efficiency carbonating tower in which ammoniated brine trickled down from above and carbon dioxide rose from the bottom. Plates and bubble caps helped create a larger surface over which the two could react forming sodium bicarbonate. |
| Ascanio Sobrero | |
(source) |
Died
26 May 1888 (born 12 Oct 1812)
Italian chemist who discovered the explosive compound nitroglycerin (1847) by adding glycerine slowly to mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids. When he discovered the explosive power of even a single drop in a test tube, he named the new compound pyroglycerin. Sobrero was horrified by the destructive potential of his discovery, and made no effort to develop that power himself, though it became known as nitroglycerin, or blasting oil. Two decades later, Nobel combined nitroglycerine with diatomaceous earth, making it safer to handle, but just as useful for blasting rock for construction and mining. Nobel made a fortune as the inventor and manufacturer of dynamite. |
| Isaac Babbitt | |
(source) |
Died
26 May 1862 (born 26 July 1799)
American inventor of an alloy (babbitt's metal: tin 89%,antimony 7%, copper 4%.) widely used for friction reducing babbitt bearings. In 1924, he founded a company that has become Reed & Barton, the nation's oldest independent silversmiths. From 1834, he was superintendent of Alger's Foundry and Ordnance Works (South Boston Iron Works), where he cast the first brass cannon made in the U.S. He patented his successful invention of a journal box for train axles 17 Jul 1739, which suggested the bearings alloy. |
| Lord James Burnett Monboddo | |
(source) |
Died
26 May 1799 (born Oct or Nov 1714)
Scottish jurist and pioneer anthropologist who explored the origins of language and society and in some respects anticipated principles of Darwinian evolution. In his theory, he maintains that man was at first a mere animal, that he walked on all fours, and that he possessed a tail, of which we discover the rudiments. There has been a progression in mankind from one stage to higher, they erect themselves, they learn the use of their hands, and they learn to swim. They lived first on natural fruits, and then learned hunting and fishing. He is not so trustworthy as Darwin in his facts: he tells us that there is a whole nation of Esquimaux with only one leg; that in Ethiopia men have only one eye, and this in their foreheads and he believed in mermaids. |
| Bede | |
(source) |
Died
26 May 735 (born 672/673)
Anglo-Saxon theologian, historian and scholar whose writings established the use of BC and AD with dates. He applied a knowledge of astronomy for the purpose of calculating the correct date for Easter. He found that due to an imperfection in Sosigenes' Julian calendar, that the vernal equinox had slipped to a point three days before the traditional date of 21 Mar. However, no action was taken to make the necessary adjustment in the number of leap years per millenium until nine centuries later. Bede held that the earth was a sphere. He preserved Pytheas' suggestion relating tides to the phases of the moon, and followed Seleucus' idea that a high tide is a local effect and does not occur everywhere at the same point in time. |
| MAY 26 - EVENTS | |
| First pure software patent | |
(source) |
In 1981, Satya Pal Asija was the first in the U.S. to receive
a patent for computer software for his computer program Swift-Answer (an
acronym for "Special Word Indexed Full Text Alpha Numeric Storage With
Easy Retrieval") that allows users to retrieve narrative information
from computers in a human-like manner. The program responds to a user's
questions with the most likely answer - despite the user's errors in syntax,
punctuation, spelling, and grammar. The user needs no computer programing
skills. His application for the patent took seven years to issue. (U.S.
No. 4,270,182). He published a book on his experience, How to Protect
Computer Programs - a Case History Of The First Pure Software Patent,
in 1986. |
| Apollo X returns | |
(source) |
In 1969, the Apollo 10 astronauts returned to Earth after a successful
eight-day dress rehearsal for the first manned moon landing. Apollo
10 mission, launched 18 May, was a complete staging of the Apollo
11 mission without actually landing on the Moon. The mission
was the second to orbit the Moon and the first to travel to the Moon with
the entire Apollo spacecraft configuration. Astronauts Thomas Stafford
and Eugene Cernan descended inside the Lunar Module to within 14 kilometers
of the lunar surface (achieving the closest approach to the Moon before
Apollo
11 landed two months later). Apollo 10 splashed down at
12:52 pm on 26 May, less than 4 miles (6.4 km) from the target point and
the recovery ship |
| Cheops' solar boat discovered | |
(source) |
In 1954, a funeral craft
was discovered* that
had been built by the Pharoah Cheops (aka Khufu) 4,600 years before to
carry his soul to heaven. It was built
from sacred sycamore and cedar woods, and sealed in a stone-slab covered
pit beside his pyramid at Giza, Egypt. A rudder sweep, oars and coils of
linen ropes were in place ready to leave. It was found by Kamal el-Malakh,
director of archaeological work for Giza and lower Egypt. The find was
important as it contained the first furniture and artifacts of Cheops'
reign that escaped plundering by tomb robbers. A peep-hole was chiselled
through one of the 15-ton limestone blocks that formed the ceiling of the
corridor. Its long-sought companion was first viewed
25 Oct 1987.« |
| Microfilm camera | |
|
In 1931, a microfilm camera was patented by New York City banker, George
L. McCarthy (U.S. No. 1,806,763). He developed
the first practical commercial
microfilm
use in the 1920's and was issued a patent in 1925 for his Checkograph machine,
designed to make permanent film copies of all bank records to deter fraud.
That device used motion picture film and a conveyor belt to photograph
checks before they were returned to bank customers. In 1928 Eastman Kodak
bought his invention and began to market it with McCarthy as president
of Kodak's Recordak Division. With a perfected
35mm microfilm camera, Recordak in 1935 expanded and began filming and
publishing the New York Times on microfilm. |
|
| Middle East oil strike | |
D'Arcy (source) |
In 1908, shortly after 4:00 am, the first major Middle East oil strike
was made at Masjid-i-Suleiman,
Persia. A gusher of petroleum rose 50-ft above the top of the drilling
rig and smothered the drillers. Drilling at this site began in Jan 1908,
under chief engineer George B. Reynolds. It was just two days short of
7 years since Shah Muzaffar al-Din had signed the concession agreement
with William Knox D'Arcy. From 1905, D'Arcy
had financial assistance from the Burmah Oil Company. In 1909, Anglo-Persian
Oil was formed to develop the oil field, forerunner of British Petroleum
(BP). Oil seepages
had been noted for centuries in persia, where the oozings were used for
such purposes as the caulking of boats and the binding of bricks*. |
| Electric railway | |
(source) |
In 1903, Granville T. Woods,
a famous black American inventor, received a patent for an "Electric Railway
(U.S. No. 729,481). Woods held numerous patents relating to the electric
railway, electrical devices, brakes, and telegraphy for railways.
Black
Inventors in the Age of Segregation, by Rayvon Fouche |
| Edison telegraphy patent | |
(USPTO) |
In 1874, Thomas A. Edison was issued a patent for a device concerning "Automatic
Telegraphy and in Perforators Therefor" (U.S. No. 151,209). This was just
one of many patents on telegraphy he obtained early in his inventing career.
He had applied for his first patent on 28 Nov 1868 for an "Electrographic
Vote-Recorder." A couple of months later, his second patent application,
on 25 Jan 1869, began a period of nine years of patenting inventions primarily
related to printing telegraphs, electromagnetics, switches and circuit
for telegraphy. This invention produced a message directly onto a strip
of paper such that it was ready to be folded and sent to its destination
immediately. Letters were formed by a 5x5 square of 25 punch wires. |
| Fire extinguisher | |
(USPTO) |
In 1872, a fire extinguisher
was patented by its black American inventor, Thomas J. Martin of Dowagiac,
Michigan (U.S. No. 125,063). The patent describes installing piping and
pumps in dwellings, mills, factories, or cities. The pipes may also
be used for warming, ventilating and washing buildings, and for washing
pavements and sprinkling streets. The discharge nozzles are designed to
be mounted on vertical pipes, and have globe valves seated in them, all
enclosed in a cage. The cage is made sufficiently high to allow the rise
of the globe valve when pressed up by a jet of water through the nozzle.
In use, the water jet would spread by the concave underside of the globe
to spray an annular sheet or spray and wet a large surface. [Image:
detail of discharge nozzle. Click image for full patent drawing]
The
Inventive Spirit of African Americans: Patented Ingenuity,
by Patricia Carter Sluby. |
| Steel manufacture | |
(source) |
In 1857, Robert
Mushet, an English metallurgist, received a U.S. patent for a method
of manufacturing steel which improved the Bessemer process for making steel
that would be more malleable. (No. 17,389). His process added manganese
in the form of spiegeleisen, an alloy of iron and manganese derived from
a Prussian iron ore consisting essentially of a double carbonate or iron
and manganese. The softness or hardness of the steel could be regulated
by diminishing or increasing the proportion of the triple compound of iron,
carbon and manganese. He chose to use the alloy of the Prussian ore because
it was more free of sulphur, phosphorus and silicon. Mushet also discovered
tungsten steel, an alloy with about 8% tungsten. |
| Leeuwenhoek's animalcules | |
(source) |
In 1676, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek applied his hobby of making microscopes
from his own handmade lenses to observe
some water running off a roof during a heavy rainstorm. He finds that it
contains, in his words, "very little animalcules." The life he has found
in the runoff water is not present in pure rainwater. This was a fundamental
discovery, for it showed that the bacteria and one-celled animals did not
fall from the sky. When a ball of molten glass is inflated like a balloon,
a small droplet of
the hot fluid collects at the very bottom the bubble. Leeuwenhoek used
these droplets as microscope lenses to view the animalcules. Despite their
crude nature, those early lenses enabled Leeuwenhoek to describe an amazing
world of microscopic life. |
