| MAY 31 - BIRTHS | |
| Louis J. Ignarro | |
(source) |
 Born 31
May 1941
American pharmacologist who, along with Robert F. Furchgott and Ferid Murad, was co-awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that nitric oxide (NO) acts as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system, an entirely new mechanism by which blood vessels in the body relax and widen. At first, major professional journals refused to publish his contention that a substance that is basic to nitroglycerin and part of the chemistry of smog is also crucial to the life process. But over the years, others repeated his work and confirmed his discovery that nitric oxide is a neurotransmitter that is, says Ignarro, "perhaps the most widespread signaling molecule that allows a variety of different cell types to communicate with one another." |
| John Robert Schrieffer | |
(source) |
Born 31
May 1931
American physicist and winner (with John Bardeen and Leon N. Cooper) of the 1972 Nobel Prize for Physics for developing the BCS theory (for their initials), the first successful microscopic theory of superconductivity. Although first described by K. Onnes (1911), no theoretical explanation had been accepted. It explains how certain metals and alloys lose all resistance to electrical current at extremely low temperatures. The insight of the BCS theory is that at very low temperatures, under certain conditions, electrons can form bound pairs (Cooper pairs). This pair of electrons acts as a single particle in superconductivity. Schrieffer continued to focus his research on particle physics, metal impurities, spin fluctuations, and chemisorption. |
| C.G. Abbot | |
(source) |
Born 31
May 1872; died 17 Dec 1973.
Charles Greeley Abbot was an American astrophysicist who is thought to have been the first scientist to suspect that the radiation of the Sun might vary over time. In 1906, Abbot became director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and, in 1928, fifth Secretary of the Smithsonian. To study the Sun, SAO established a network of solar radiation observatories around the world-- usually at remote and desolate spots chosen primarily for their high percentage of sunny days. Beginning in May 1905 and continuing over decades, his studies of solar radiation led him to discover, in 1953, a connection between solar variations and weather on Earth, allowing general weather patterns to be predicted up to 50 years ahead. |
| Bailey Willis | |
(source) |
Born 31 May 1857; died 19 Feb 1949.
U.S. geologist known for his structural and geomorphological analysis of the Appalachian Mountains and Mount Ranier. His interests were primarily in the broader aspects of physical and dynamic geology, in the formation and origin of rock structures. His work included studies of denudation (a form of erosion) chronology in North and South America and Africa, model experiments of folding and deformation, paleogeographic mapping of North America, and theories of the differentiation of the Earth's crust. He was interested in California geology, especially in faulting, seismology, and earthquake hazards. His concern over earthquakes led him to study the engineering hazards of the Golden Gate Bridge and to fight for a more stringent municipal building code. [Image (right): Willis' experiment on folding of rock layers]  |
| Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton | |
(source) |
Born 31
May 1845; died 15 Feb 1940
British electrical engineer and inventor. As a young man he made a steam road engine (1860) and worked on other steam road haulage projects. When his interests turned to electric lighting, importing then manufacturing arc lamps of his own improved design, he began a career pioneering in the electrical industry, establishing the Crompton Company. By 1883, he had provided public lighting for large buildings, markets and railway stations. His company expanded, making domestic electric appliances (such as for heating and cooking). He was the first important British manufacturer of generators and advocated electrical standardisation. His Kensington Court power station in London was one of the first in the city.«. |
| Richard Julius Petri | |
(source) |
Born 31
May 1852; died 20 Dec 1921.
German physician and bacteriologist, remembered for his name given to the Petri dish. This is a shallow, cylindrical dish made of plastic or glass with a cover, used for tissue cultures and to hold solid media for culturing and sub-culturing bacteria. Petri developed it for a technique for cloning bacterial strains using an agar slope and sub-culturing onto his dish, recognizing different bacterial colonies and again sub-culturing. He was in his later days a rather vain, overweight man, who dressed in the uniform of chief army doctor whenever the opportunity presented itself. One observerr remarked that the sash around his protuberant abdomen reminded him of the equator around the globe.« |
| Richard Lovell Edgeworth | |
(source) |
Born 31
May 1744; died 13 Jun 1817.
Anglo-Irish inventor of mechanical innovations including an attempt at telegraphic communication (possibly the first), the creation of various sailing carriages, a velocipede (cycle), a "perambulator" (landmeasuring machine), a turnip cutter, improved agricultural machinery, and made discoveries in the field of electricity. In the late 1790s, he proposed the tellograph for "conveying secret and swift intelligence" using 30 tall towers spaced between Dublin and Galway (130 miles). Relayed from tower to tower using large triangular pointers, encoded messages could reach Dublin in just eight minutes. Unfortunately, poor visibility due to the weather doomed the idea. Edgeworth was also an educationalist. |
|
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| MAY 31 - DEATHS | |
| James Rainwater | |
(source) |
 Died
31 May 1986 (born 9 Dec 1917)
Leo James Rainwater was an American physicist who won a share of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1975 for his part in determining the asymmetrical shapes of certain atomic nuclei. During WW II, Rainwater worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. In 1949 he began formulating a theory that not all atomic nuclei are spherical, as was then generally believed. The theory was tested experimentally and confirmed by Danish physicists Aage N. Bohr and Ben R. Mottelson. For their work the three scientists were awarded jointly the 1975 Nobel Prize for Physics. He also conducted valuable research on X rays and took part in Atomic Energy Commission and naval research projects. |
| Jacques Monod | |
(source) |
Died
31 May 1976 (born 9 Feb 1910)
Jacques Lucien Monod was a French biochemist who, with François Jacob, did much to elucidate how genes regulate cell metabolism by directing the biosynthesis of enzymes. The pair shared, along with André Lwoff, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1965. Monod discovered the operon system that controls gene action in bacteria. In 1931, Monod had joined the Pasteur Institute; in 1971, he became its director. |
| Elizabeth Blackwell | |
(source) |
Died
31 May 1910 (born 3 Feb 1821)
Anglo-American physician who is considered the first female doctor of medicine in modern times. She was the first woman to gain the M.D. degree from a medical school in the United States. Many 19th century physicians, including a few women, practiced without a degree, but Blackwell wished desired professional status. While rejected by all the major medical schools in the nation because of her sex, her application to Geneva Medical School (now Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York) was referred to the student body. They accepted with great hilarity thinking it was a spoof from a rival school. Working with quiet determination, she turned aside the hostility of the professors, students, and townspeople. She earned her medical degree in 1849. |
| Sir John Evans | |
(source) |
Died
31 May 1908 (born 17 Nov 1823)
British antiquarian, numismatist, and a founder of prehistoric archaeology. In about 1860, he began his searches for relics of early man in Britain. He garnered a notable collection of prehistoric stone and bronze implements. Evans found humanly made stone axes in the same layers as the bones of extinct European animals like hippopotamus, elephant, and saber-toothed tiger. In 1859, from such evidence, he announced that humans had lived much earlier than 6,000 years ago. This was much older than the long accepted Biblical chronology implied. Evans also collected coins of the ancient Britons, Romans and Anglo-Saxons. His son Sir Arthur (John) Evans followed his interests as an archaeologist. |
| Évariste Galois | |
(EB) |
Died
31 May 1832 (born 25 Oct 1811)
French mathematician famous for his contributions to the part of higher algebra known as group theory. His theory solved many long-standing unanswered questions, including the impossibility of trisecting the angle and squaring the circle. Galois died after being fatally shot in a duel the previous day. The reasons for the duel remain enigmatic. The night before the duel, Galois anticipated his death and wrote in feverish haste his will and notes on the thoughts of mathematics he wanted to remain accessible. There are hints that Galois had begun to develop the theory of algebraic functions, which had to wait another 40 years for the German mathematician Bernhard Riemann to complete. |
| Sir Samuel Bentham | |
(source) |
Died
31 May 1831 (born 11 Jan 1757)
British engineer, naval architect, and navy official in Russia (1780-91) and England (from 1795) who was an early advocate of explosive-shell weapons for warships. In 1780, he was sent by the Admiralty to visit dockyards in Northern Europe. In Russia he improved management of Prince Potemkin's factories. While he was in Russia he built and equipped a flotilla of ships and distinguished himself in a victorious naval battle with the Turks. Using special guns that he had built and mounted in the ships, shells were fired for the first time in naval warfare. There also, he began his ideas for machines which worked by unskilled labour, could produce the same results as skilled workmen. |
| Jean-Marie Roland (de La Platière) | |
(source) |
Died
31 May 1793 (born 18 Feb 1734)
French industrial scientist who, largely through his wife's ambition, became a leader of the moderate Girondin faction of bourgeois revolutionaries during the French Revolution. Roland became an inspector general of commerce in 1780, and over the next decade he wrote a number of books on manufacturing and political economy. |
| MAY 31 - EVENTS | |
| High jump detectors | |
In 1941, high-jumping standards using electric eye detectors were first
used, which consisted of four parallel beams of light, one inch apart,
to record the high of each jump. The event was at the Schenectady Patrolman's
Association interscholastic track meet. |
|
| Edison patent | |
(source) |
In 1898, Thomas A. Edison was issued a patent
for a "Governor for Motors" (No. 604,740) which he described as a "means
for adjusting the governor for any desired speed, and with the means, such
as centrifugal governor-balls, for regulating the friction members to maintain
a constant speed." |
| Corn Flakes | |
(source) |
In 1884, a patent for "flaked cereal" was applied for by Dr. John Harvey
Kellogg. He was trying to improve the vegetarian diet of his hospital patients,
by searching for a digestible bread-substitute by the process of boiling
wheat. Kellogg accidentally left a pot of boiled wheat to stand and become
tempered. When it was put through a rolling process, each grain of wheat
emerged as a large, thin flake. When the flakes were baked, they became
crisp and light, creating an easy to prepare breakfast when milk was added.
His brother Will Keith Kellogg (W.K.) began his cereal-making career in
the 1890's when he assisted his brother, then saw the potential, and on
19 Feb 1906, he created the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Co. |
| Electric railway | |
|
In 1879, the first electric railway opened at the Berlin Trades Exposition. |
|
| Asphalt pavement | |
|
In 1870, Professor Edward J. de Smedt patented sheet asphalt pavement (U.S.
Nos. 103,581; -2). It was known as French asphalt pavement. Two months
later, on 29 Jul 1870, the first sheet asphalt pavement was laid on William
Street in Newark, N.J. |
|
| Catacombs | |
(source) |
In 1578, the Catacombs of Rome were discovered by accident. A sepulchral
chamber was opened by some laborers digging for pozzolana earth. Baronius
the ecclesiastical historian was one of the first to visit the new discovery.
Fifteen years later, in Dec 1593, 18-yr-old Antonio Bosio began
a lifetime exploring the catacombs. Gradually he found links between them,
for narrow passageways had been dug from one to another, excavated in the
soft rock (tufa). He found 30 additional entrances. He carefully recorded
what he found with the care of an early archaeologist. These catacombs,
dating from about the 3rd century, were used then by the Christians of
Rome since they were forbidden to bury their dead in regular burial grounds.
[Image:
an archway in a a narrow corridor; beyond, on the left wall are multiple
niches for burials.] |
