| JUNE 22 - BIRTHS | |
| James H. Pomerene | |
(source) |
 Born 22
June 1920
American computer pioneer. In Apr 1946 he joined John von Neumann and Herman Goldstine in their newly organized Electronic Computer Project at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. This project was to build a parallel stored-program computer. He designed the adder portion of the arithmetic unit and then was entirely responsible for the development and construction of the electrostatic (Williams tube) memory and became the chief engineer of the project 1951-56. Then he joined IBM to assist development of the HARVEST computer, a special system built for the National Security Agency. It had two levels of program control and also had a tape and tape library system that was fully automatic and of great capacity. |
| N. Howell Furman | |
 |
Born 22
June 1892; died 2 Aug 1965.
American analytical chemist whose analytical separation of uranium contributed to the development of the atomic bomb. He developed special techniques for preparing the bomb project materials, notably the sampling and analysis necessary for producing pure uranium metal. He also devised a new method of estimating traces of metals in various substances and assisted in developing an ether extraction process for the preparation of uranium oxide of the extreme purity required. His special methods also made possible greater utilization of tracer techniques with radioactive and stable isotopes. |
| Franz Alexander | |
| Born 22
June 1891; died 8 Mar 1964.
Franz (Gabriel) Alexander was a Hungarian-American physician and psychoanalyst sometimes referred to as the father of psychosomatic medicine because of his leading role in identifying emotional tension as a significant cause of physical illness. |
|
| Sir Julian Huxley | |
1951 (source) |
Born 22
June 1887; died 14 Feb 1975.
Sir Julian Sorell Huxley was an English biologist, philosopher, educator, and author who greatly influenced the modern development of embryology, systematics, and studies of behaviour and evolution. He studied the differential growth of different body parts, Problems of Relative Growth (1932). He wrote many popular articles and essays, especially on ornithology and evolution, and co-produced several history films, including the Private Life of the Gannet (1934). No stranger to controversy, Huxley supported the contentious view that the human race could benefit from planned parenthood using artificial insemination by donors of "superior characteristics". (He was the grandson of biologist T. H. Huxley and brother of Aldous Huxley.) |
| Filippo Silvestri | |
(source) |
Born 22
June 1873; died 10 June 1949.
Italian entomologist, best remembered for his pioneering work in polyembryony, the development of more than one individual from a single fertilized egg cell. During the late 1930s Silvestri discovered that this type of reproduction occurs in the insect species Litomatix truncatellus. His finding, resulting from a close analysis of the reproductive stages, cell division, and egg structure of these parasitic hymenopterans, attracted the attention of many biologists because of its implications for the nature of the egg and the causes of multiple generation. He also studied the morphology and biology of the Termitidae, the most highly evolved family of termites. He also made a comparative study of the form and structure of the millipede and the centipede. |
| William McDougall | |
(source) |
Born 22
June 1871; died 28 Nov 1938.
British-born U.S. psychologist influential in establishing experimental and physiological psychology and author of An Introduction to Social Psychology (1908; 30th ed. 1960), which did much to stimulate widespread study of the basis of social behaviour. He was the exponent of heroic psychology: the central idea that human progress can only be determined in terms of "horme" or "drive". He believed that individuals are motivated by inherited instincts that push them toward goals, which may be unknown to them, and often without benefit or even thought of pleasure. British psychology is largely shaped by McDougall’s social psychology, which in J. Drever’s words, " is perhaps as much undervalued today as it was overvalued then." |
| Hermann Minkowski | |
(source) |
Born 22
June 1864; died 12 Jan 1909.
German mathematician who developed the geometrical theory of numbers and who used geometrical methods to solve difficult problems in number theory, mathematical physics, and the theory of relativity. By 1907, Minkowski realised that the work of Lorentz and Einstein could be best understood in a non-euclidean space. He considered space and time, which were formerly thought to be independent, to be coupled together in a four-dimensional "space-time continuum". Minkowski worked out a four-dimensional treatment of electrodynamics. His idea of a four-dimensional space (since known as "Minkowski space"), combining the three dimensions of physical space with that of time, laid the mathematical foundation of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. |
| James Beaumont Neilson | |
(source) |
Born 22
June 1792; died 18 Jan 1865.
Scottish inventor who introduced the use of a hot-air blast instead of a cold-air blast for the smelting of iron. His process reduced the amount of coal needed and increased efficiency to satisfy the demands of the rail and shipbuilding industries. While manager of the Glasgow Gas-works, he had experimented with the effect of heated air on the illuminating power of gas, by bringing up a stream of it in a tube so as to surround the gas burner. He found the combustion of the gas was more intense and brighter. Then, experimenting on a common smith's fire, by blowing the fire with heated air, the effect was the same; the fire was much more brilliant, and accompanied by an unusually intense degree of heat. In 1828, he patented his hot blast method for smelting. [Image: typical layout 1870's hot air blast furnace] |
| JUNE 22 - DEATHS | |
| Thomas Gold | |
(source) |
 Died
22 Jun 2004 (born 22 May 1920)
Austrian-born British astronomer known for a steady-state theory of the universe, explaining pulsars, and naming the magnetosphere. In 1948, as a graduate student at Cambridge, he (together with Hermann Bondi and Fred Hoyle) proposed that, a continuous creation of matter in space is gradually forming new galaxies, maintaining the average number of galaxies in any part of the universe, despite its expansion. This is not accepted, as there is more evidence for the Big Bang theory. In 1967, Gold presented his theory on the nature of pulsars (objects in deep space that produce regularly pulsing radio waves). He suggested that they were rotating neutron stars - tiny, extraordinarily massive stars - which emit waves as they spin.  The
Deep Hot Biosphere : The Myth of Fossil Fuels, Thomas
Gold |
| Ilya Mikhaylovich Frank | |
(source) |
Died
22 June 1990 (born 23 Oct 1908)
Russian physicist who, with Tamm, theoretically explained the mechanism of Cherenkov radiation. In 1934, Cherenkov discovered that a peculiar blue light is emitted by charged particles traveling at very high speeds through water. Frank and Tamm provided the theoretical explanation of this effect, which occurs when the particles travel through an optically transparent medium at speeds greater than the speed of light in that medium. This discovery resulted in the development of new methods for detecting and measuring the velocity of high-speed particles and became of great importance for research in nuclear physics. For this, Frank received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1958 (jointly with Pavel A. Cherenkov and Igor Y. Tamm). |
| Sir Christopher Hinton | |
(source) |
Died
22 June 1983 (born 12 May 1901)
(Baron of Bankside) English engineer who was a leading figure in the development of the nuclear energy industry in Britain; he supervised the construction of Calder Hall, the world's first large-scale nuclear power station (opened in 1956). He first worked for Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) where at age 29 he was appointed chief engineer of the Alkali Groups. While at ICI he was selected to start building nuclear power plants. Britain's first four such plants were completed in six years. He played a founding role in fast breeder technology. The decision to build the Dounreay Fast Reactor was made in 1954, which ran successfully for over two decades, until its planned shutdown in 1977, thus demonstrating the safe operation of the concept. |
| Karl Taylor Compton | |
(source) |
Died
22 June 1954 (born 14 Sep 1887)
American educator and physicist who directed development of radar during WW II. His research included the passage of photoelectrons through metals, ionization and the motion of electrons in gases, fluorescence, the theory of the electric arc, and collisions of electrons and atoms. In 1933, President Roosevelt asked him to chair the new Scientific Advisory Board. When the National Defense Research Committee was formed in 1940, he was chief of Division D (detection: radar, fire control, etc.) In 1941, he was in charge of those divisions concerned with radar within the new Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD). Afterwards he was cited for personally shortening the duration of the war. (Brother of Arthur H. Compton.) |
| Wladimir Köppen | |
(source) |
Died
22 June 1940 (born 25 Sep 1846)
Wladimir (Peter) Köppen was a German meteorologist and climatologist best known for his delineation and mapping of the climatic regions of the world. He played a major role in the advancement of climatology and meteorology for more than 70 years. The climate classification system he developed remains popular because it uses easily obtained data (monthly mean temperatures and precipitation) and straightforward, objective criteria. He recognized five principal climate groups: (A) Humid tropical -winterless climates; (B) Dry - evaporation constantly exceed precipitation; (C) humid mid-latitude, mild winters; (D) humid mid-latitude, severe winters; and (E) Polar - summerless climates. |
| Bernhard Lauritz Frederik Bang | |
Brucella (source) |
Died
22 June 1932 (born 7 Jun 1848)
Danish veterinarian who in 1897 discovered Brucella abortus (Bang's bacillus), the causative agent of contagious abortion in cattle and of brucellosis (undulant fever) in human beings. Bang's teaching, with the introduction of antiseptics, represented a watershed in veterinary surgery. Although long recognized in human medicine, antiseptics had been met with little attention by veterinaries. Bang was instrumental in showing that tuberculosis could be transmitted by cow's milk and in developing isolation techniques. He was the first to use tuberculin, discovered by Robert Koch in 1890, on cattle. He used it diagnostically, rather than therapeutically, as a means for liberating livestock of tuberculosis and to create clean breeding centres. |
| Felix Klein | |
(source) |
Died 22 June 1925 (born 25 Apr 1849)
German mathematician whose synthesis of geometry as the study of the properties of a space that are invariant under a given group of transformations, known as the Erlanger Programm, profoundly influenced mathematical development. He created the Klein bottle, a one-sided closed surface. A Klein bottle cannot be constructed in Euclidean space. It is best pictured as a cylinder looped back through itself to join with its other end. However this is not a continuous surface in 3-space as the surface cannot go through itself without a discontinuity. It is possible to construct a Klein bottle in non-Euclidean space. [Image right: source] |
| Fritz Schaudinn | |
(source) |
Died
22 June 1906 (born 19 Sep 1871)
Fritz Richard Schaudinn was a German zoologist and microbiologist who, with dermatologist Erich Hoffmann, discovered (1905) the spirochaete which causes syphilis, Spirochaeta pallida, now known as Treponema pallidum. Schaudinn determined the amoebic nature of tropical dysentery, worked on trypanosomes (flagellated protozoans which include the causal agent of African sleeping sickness, an infection of the bloodstream) and researched malaria. He also demonstrated that human hookworm infection is contracted through the skin of the feet. He made important contributions to zoology and helped develop protozoology as an experimental science. He also discovered the alternation of generations in Foraminifera and Coccidae.« |
| Sir William Edmond Logan | |
Age 58 (source) |
Died
22 June 1875 (born 20 April 1798)
Canadian geologist, who was the "Father of Canadian Geology." With his uncle's coal and copper-smelting business in Wales, he made geologic maps of coalfields in Wales. His practice of geology arose from a desire to understand the sources of coal and ores. He noted the relationship between the underlying clay layers and fossil tree roots with local coal beds. This substantiated the theory that coal beds are formed in place. When he began as director (1842-69) of the new Geological Survey of Canada, its geology was virtually unknown. He produced the monumental Report on the Geology of Canada (1863) which recorded 20 years of research, fieldwork, plotting maps, preparing reports, and examining fossil and mineral specimens. |
| Thomas Edmondson | |
(source) |
Died 22 June 1851 (born 30 Jun 1792)
English inventor whose ticket printing and numbering machine pioneered a system of fare collection in the development of the railways. While working for the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, he found handwriting the tickets irksome and delaying, and it occurred to him that the work could be done by a machine. He evolved a process for preparing receipts in advance, serial numbering all the tickets (for accountability of monies collected), and inventing a basic stamping system on wooden blocks. Edmondson's early wooden dating presses were developed into iron ones and mass produced. By 1843, twenty-seven English companies, and the Paris and Rouen railway were using the system, which had now become the standard one to adopt. |
| JUNE 22 - EVENTS | |
| Llife expectancy for smokers | |
In 2004, a study led by Richard Doll was published in the British Medical
Journal, the first research
that quantified the damage over the lifetime of a generation, based on
a 50-year study of a group of almost 35,000 British doctors who smoked.
The study
found that almost half of persistent cigarette smokers were killed by their
habit, and a quarter died before age 70. Further, those who quit by age
30 had the same life expectancy as a nonsmoker. Even quitting at age 50
saved six more years of life over those who continued smoking. At age 80,
65% of non-smokers were still alive, but only 32% of smokers. Fifty years
before, Doll published in the same journal the first report of a study
that linked cigarette smoking to lung cancer.« |
|
| Brain signals control robot | |
(source) |
In 1999, the first demonstration of brain signals from live rat directly
controlling a robot arm was published by Nature Neuroscience. The
research
was hailed as a breakthrough by other scientists working to combine computing
with biology. Researchers
from MCP Hahnemann University medical school and Duke University taught
laboratory rats to operate a water-dispensing robot by thought alone. Their
aim is to restore movement to patients who are paralyzed or have had limbs
amputated. At first, the robot
was controlled by the rat pressing a lever and researchers identified the
corresponding brain activity. Then the robot was linked to a computer interpreting
the rats' brain signals. The rats gained water merely by thinking about
pawing the lever. |
| Charon discovered | |
(source) |
In 1978, evidence of the first moon of Pluto
was discovered by astronomer
James W. Christy of the Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz. when he obtained
a photograph of Pluto that showed the orb to be distinctly elongated..
Furthermore, the elongations appeared to change position with respect to
the stars over time. After eliminating the possibility that the elongations
were produced by plate defects and background stars, the only plausible
explanation was that they were caused by a previously unknown moon orbiting
Pluto
at a distance of about 19,600 kilometers (12,100 miles) with a period of
6.4 days. The moon was named Charon,
after the boatman in Greek mythology who took the souls of the dead across
the River Styx to Pluto's underworld. |
| First Skylab crew returns | |
|
In 1973, the first Skylab crew of astronauts splashed down safely after
a then record 28 days in space. The Skylab was a manned, orbiting spacecraft
composed of five parts: the Apollo telescope mount was a solar observatory,
the multiple docking adapter, the airlock module, the instrument unit,
and the orbital workshop. The Skylab itself was launched on 14 May 1973.
It was first manned during the period 25 May to 22 Jun 1973, by the crew
of the SL-2 mission. Next, it was manned during the period Jul 28 to 5
Sep 1973 and the final manned period was from 16 Nov 1973 - 8 Feb 1974.
The crew quarters contained provisions and supplies necessary to support
three-person crews for periods of up to 84 days each. |
|
| Jet airmail | |
|
In 1946, jet airplanes were used to transport mail for the first time |
|
| Little brown bat | |
(source) |
In 1937, a certain female little
brown bat in Mashpee, Mass., was banded by researchers. The same
bat was found two decades later, on 30
Apr 1960, in a cave on Mt. Aeolis, Vermont. It was identified from
the band as 24 years old - the oldest known U.S. bat. The little brown
bat (Myotis lucifugus) has a wing span of 222-269 mm with glossy
fur on its back and paler underside colours ranging from pale tan to dark
brown. The species
is the most abundant bat in the U.S., found throughout forests of North
America and Alaska, in tree or cliff cavities, caves, mines and attics.
On 25 Aug 1999, a newspaper reported
a 33-yr-old wild bat in Switzerland. On 20
Jun 2005, a journal received an article identifying a 41-yr-old bat
in Siberia.« |
| Typesetting machine patent | |
(source) |
In 1841, the first U.S. patent for a typesetting machine was issued to
Frenchman Adrien Delcambre and Englishman James Hadden Young, both residing
in Lisle, France (No.2,139). Their "Pianotyp" placed letters side by side
in their proper places "by means of ... inclined planes upon which the
types are thrown and allowed to descend by various channels meeting at
one point to what we call the composing box." The machine was operated
using "a number of keys similar to those of a pianoforte which act as levers
which push the types [which fall] by their own gravity to the said box
whenever the keys are depressed." It was patented in England*
on 13 Mar 1840, and used in London (1841) to set The Phalanx weekly
magazine*.« |
| Pin making machine | |
|
In 1832, a pin manufacturing machine was patented by John
Ireland Howe. During the 19th century the American pin industry concentrated
in the Naugatuck River Valley because Howe (1793-1876) built a plant in
Derby, Connecticut, to make pins with the machine he invented
to shape pins in one operation instead of the 18 separate steps required
for hand production. He turned for mechanical help to Robert Hoe (who built
printing presses.) His first working model of a machine that would make
pins, though imperfect, was exhibited that year at the American Institute
Fair in New York, where Howe received a silver medal. He improved the machine
during the winter of 1832-33. Howe also invented a machine to stick the
pins in paper packets. |
|
| Copying by light | |
|
In 1802, "An account of a method of copying paintings upon glass and of
making profiles by the agency of light upon nitrate of silver. Invented
by T. Wedgwood, Esq." was published in the Journals of the Royal Institution.
Humphry
Davy described the process
in an article on behalf of Thomas Wedgwood (son of the famous English potter)
who was working
with Davy in the basement laboratory of the Royal Institution. Although
they saw this chemical means could create images, neither Wedgwood nor
Davy were able to permanently fix the images. Although this is cited as
a precursor of photographic processes, Davy did not pursue it, and several
decades passed before the more successful results achieved by Daguerre
and Fox Talbot. [
Ref,: v.1 n.9, 22 June 1802, pp. 170–174.] |
|
| Royal Greenwich Observatory | |
(source) |
In 1675, the Royal Greenwich Observatory was created by Royal Warrant in
England by Charles II. Building
designed by Sir Christopher Wren
(who was also a Professor of Astronomy) was commenced 10 Aug 1675 and finished
the following year by John Flamsteed was appointed
as the first Astronomer Royal. Its primary uses were in practical astronomy
- navigation, timekeeping, determination of star positions. In 1767 the
observatory began publishing The Nautical Almanac, which established
the longitude of Greenwich as a baseline for time calculations. The almanac's
popularity among navigators led in part to the adoption (1884) of the Greenwich
meridian as the Earth's prime meridian (0° longitude) and the international
time
zones. |
| Galileo Galilei | |
(source) |
In 1633, Galileo
Galilei was forced
by the Inquisition to "abjure, curse, and detest" his Copernican heliocentric
views. "I, Galileo...do swear that I have always believed, do now believe
and, with God's aid shall believe hereafter, all that which is taught and
preached by the ... church. I must wholly forsake the false opinion that
the sun is the center of the world and moves not, and that the earth is
not the center of the world and moves...." He was then condemned
to the "formal prison of the Holy Office" for an undetermined amount of
time which would be served at the pleasure of his judges, and required
to repeat the seven penitential psalms once a week for three years. The
next day the Pope specified the prison sentence should be house arrest.
 Galileo:
A Life, by James Reston. |
