| JUNE 29 - BIRTHS | |
| Roy Walford | |
(source) |
 Born 29
Jun 1924; died 27 Apr 2004.
Roy L(ee) Walford, (Jr.) was an American pathologist and gerontologist who pioneered, and wrote books on, the idea of restricting food intake to extend life span. He practiced the concept rigorously personally with a diet limited to 1,600 calories per day, hoping to reach age 120. During his research in the 1960's at the University of California, he found that mice fed on a regimen restricting their caloric intake by about 40 percent resulted in nearly doubling their life span. He is also known as one of the eight people that lived from 1991 in Biosphere 2, in an experiment to see if humans could live for two years in the sealed, self-contained environment. He died at age 79 of complications from Lou Gehrig's disease, perhaps a result of low oxygen, high nitrous oxide levels in the Biosphere, causing loss of brain cells.«  Beyond
the 120 Year Diet : How to Double Your Vital Years, by
Roy L. Walford. |
| Alan Dower Blumlein | |
(source) |
Born 29
Jun 1903; died 6 Jun 1942.
British electronics engineer whose 128 patents contributed greatly in a wide field of electronics, including mono and stereo sound reproduction and sound recording, as well as high-definition radar, telephony and electrical measurements. His profuse creativity was achieved within just 18 years, because he died at age only 38 (while flight-testing a radar project during WW II). He began working in 1924 for International Western Electric Co., and by 1929 was with Columbia Gramophone Co. which became EMI (1931) where he originated his stereophonic recording system. Although a few stereo recordings were made in the 1930's, EMI did not extensively develop the technology until the 1950's, when it built on Blumlein's work.« |
| Leo Frobenius | |
(source) |
Born 29
Jun 1873; died 9 Aug 1938.
Leo (Viktor) Frobenius was a German explorer, archaeologist and ethnologist who proposed a theory that culture evolves through stages of youth, maturity, and age. He helped to spread knowledge of West African art and culture throughout Europe. Between 1904-35, he made a series of twelve major expeditions throughout Africa, gathering knowledge of art and culture, travelling across the deserts, savannahs and rain forests of Africa and South Africa, the River Nile and the shores of the Red Sea. He enthusiastically reported his finding in numerous books and essays. Frobenius also explored centres of prehistoric art in the Alps, Norway, Spain, and Africa. He founded the Institute of Culture Morphology (1925).« |
| George Ellery Hale | |
(source) |
Born 29
Jun 1868; died 21 Feb 1938.
American astronomer known for his development of important astronomical instruments. To expand solar observations and promote astrophysical studies he founded Mt. Wilson Observatory (Dec 1904). He discovered that sunspots were regions of relatively low temperatures and high magnetic fields. Hale hired Harlow Shapley and Edwin Hubble as soon as they finished their doctorates, and he encouraged research in galactic and extragalactic astronomy as well as solar and stellar astrophysics. Hale planned and tirelessly raised funds for the 200" reflecting telescope at the Palomar Mountain Observatory completed in 1948, after his death, and named for him - the Hale telescope. Explorer
of the Universe: A Biography of George Ellery Hale, by
Helen Wright. |
| William James Mayo | |
(source) |
Born 29
Jun 1861; died 28 July 1939.
American surgeon came from a family of surgeons. He practiced with his father, Dr. William Worrell Mayo, and brother, Dr. Charles Mayo. They specialized in surgery, pioneering the concept of group practice, and were renowned for adopting new techniques. Based in Rochester, Minn., practice subsequently developed into the Mayo Clinic, whose own building opened in 1914. |
| Robert Kidston | |
(source) |
Born 29
Jun 1852; died 13 July 1924.
English paleobotanist who contributed greatly to our knowledge of Devonian plants He is noted for his discoveries and descriptions of plant fossils from the Devonian period (408 to 360 million years ago). An outstanding and respected scholar, he cataloged Paleozoic plants for many world-class institutions, including the British Museum. His work included excavating at Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland (from 1917) in the most famous plant fossil assemblage representing an early terrestrial ecosystem, preserved in the so-called Rhynie chert of early Devonian age. The chert is a silicified matrix of a swampy peat bed that contains plant remains and other organisms such as arthropods and fungi as a fossilized subterranean ecosystem. |
| Peter Waage | |
(source) |
Born 29
Jun 1833; died 13 Jan 1900.
Norwegian chemist who, with his brother-in-law Cato Guldberg published the mass action law in 1864. The law states that the rate of a chemical change depends on the concentrations of the reactants. Thus for a reaction: A + B >> C the rate of reaction is proportional to [A][B], where [A] and [B] are concentrations. They also investigated the effects of temperature. Their work did not gain full credit at the time, partly due to their first publishing the law in Norwegian. Even when published in French (1867) the law received little attention. Waage later turned to practical problems relating to nutrition and public health, and he also engaged in social and religious work. (The law was rediscovered by William Esson and Vernon Harcourt.) |
| Luigi Palma di Cesnola | |
(source) |
Born 29
Jun 1832; died 21 Nov 1904.
Italian-born American Army officer, archaeologist, and museum director who amassed one of the largest collections of antiquities from Cyprus. In 1865, having been naturalized, he was appointed U.S. consul to Cyprus, where he remained 11 years, gathering some 35,000 objects from nearly 70,000 tombs. The bulk of his collection was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City (1872), of which he was director from 1879 to 1904. The accuracy of the records that he made of objects from his collection was repeatedly challenged, but modern research has tended to vindicate him. His published works include Cyprus: Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples (1877). |
| Pietro Angelo Secchi | |
(source) |
Born 29
Jun 1818; died 26 Feb 1878.
Italian Jesuit priest and astrophysicist, who made the first survey of the spectra of over 4000 stars and suggested that stars be classified according to their spectral type. He studied the planets, especially Jupiter, which he discovered was composed of gasses. Secchi studied the dark lines which join the two hemispheres of Mars; he called them canals as if they where the works of living beings. (These studies were later continued by Schiaparelli.) Beyond astronomy, his interests ranged from archaeology to geodesy, from geophysics to meteorology. He also invented a meteorograph, an automated device for recording barometric pressure, temperature, wind direction and velocity, and rainfall. |
| Rembert Dodoens | |
(source) |
Born 29 Jun 1516 / 17; died 10 Mar 1585.
Flemish physician and botanist whose Stirpium historiae pemptades sex sive libri XXX (1583) is considered one of the foremost botanical works of the late 16th century. In this work, he divided plants into 26 groups and introduced many new families, adding a wealth of illustration. He was the first Belgian botanist of world-wide renown. He studied at Louvain and visited medical schools in France, Italy and Germany and finally became doctor and court physician to Maximillian II (1574). His Cruydt boek (1554) is beautifully. The text is in ancient Flemish, which later translated in French, English, and Latin. Cruydt is a Flemish word meaning "spices" and other herbs used for cooking and conserving food; by extension, it also means medicinal herbs. Image: Cruydt boek (source) |
|
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| JUNE 29 - DEATHS | |
| Vladislav Nikolayevich Volkov | |
(source) |
 Died
29 Jun 1971 (born 23 Nov 1935)
Soviet cosmonaut who was flight engineer on the Soyuz 7 (1969) and the Soyuz 11 (1971) missions. The Soyuz 11 had accomplished the first space station flight, two years before the American Skylab, and docked with the Salyut 1 scientific station. Equipment aboard Salyut 1 included a telescope, spectrometer, electrophotometer, and television. On a record 24-day stay, the three-man crew checked spacecraft systems and conducted medico- biological research. The planned 30-day stay was aborted due to a small fire and difficult working conditions. Volkov died during re-entry, when a premature cabin decompression caused the death of all the crew, who had no space suits. The Soyuz was thereafter redesigned to accomodate only two crew, but in spacesuits. |
| Viktor Ivanovich Patsayev | |
(source) |
Died
29 Jun 1971 (born 19 June 1933)
Soviet cosmonaut, design engineer on the Soyuz 11 mission, in which he, mission commander Georgy Dobrovolsky, and flight engineer Vladislav Volkov remained in space a record 24 days and created the first manned orbital scientific station by docking their spacecraft with the unmanned Salyut station launched two months earlier. Soyuz 11 was guided automatically to 100 m, then hand-docked to the Salyut 1 scientific station. Equipment aboard Salyut 1 included a telescope, spectrometer, electrophotometer, and television. The crew checked improved on-board spacecraft systems in different conditions of flight and conducted medico-biological research. They died in cabin depressurization of Soyuz 11 during its return trip to earth. |
| T.H. Huxley | |
(source) |
Died
29 Jun 1895 (born 4 May 1825)
T(homas) H(enry) Huxley was an English biologist whose promotion of Darwinism led him to an advocacy of agnosticism (a word he coined). At the age of 12 he was reading advanced works on geology, and by early adolescence he recorded the results of simple self-conducted experiments. As a ship's assistant surgeon on HMS Rattlesnake he studied marine specimens by microscope. During the 1850's he published papers on animal individuality, the cephalous mollusks (ex. squids), the methods of paleontology, and the methods and principles of science and science education. |
| Alexander Parkes | |
(source) |
Died
29 Jun 1890 (born 29 Dec 1813)
British industrial chemist who invented many processes. Parkes was an expert in electroplating, able to silver-plate such diverse objects as a spider web and flowers. He patented a method of rubber coating fabrics to waterproof them (1841), an electroplating process (1843), and a method of extracting silver from lead ore by adding zinc (1850). He produced the first plastic (1855), which he called Parkesine, by dissolving cellulose nitrate in alcohol and camphor containing ether. The hard solid result could be molded when heated, but he could find no market for the material. (This was rediscovered in the 1860s by John Wesley Hyatt, an American chemist, who named it celluloid and successfully marketed it as a replacement for ivory.« |
| Thomas Addison | |
(source) |
Died
29 Jun 1860 (born Apr 1793)
English physician who was the first person to correctly connect the symptoms of what is now called Addison's disease to a functional deficiency of the adrenal glands (1855). He also described pernicious (Addison's) anaemia and made a study of poisons. Distinguished for his zeal in the investigation of disease, Addison had a great reputation as a clinical teacher, and Guy's Hospital in London attained fame as a school of medicine during the time of his connection with it. His numerous clinical studies include works on the clinical studies of a fatty liver (1836), appendicitis (1839), pneumonia (1843), phthisis (1845), and xanthoma (1851). |
| JUNE 29 - EVENTS | |
| Shuttle docks with Mir | |
(source) |
In 1995, the space shuttle
Atlantis docked with the Russian space
station Mir for a mission which lasted until 4 Jul 1995 that
included the exchange of Russian crew members. The docking tested a special
module similar to one that was to be used to link shuttles with the international
station when it was completed. For these five days, the space vehicles
formed the largest man-made satellite ever to orbit the Earth. During this
mission
astronauts answered questions from school students over amateur radio,
and performed life science experiments aboard the SpaceLab. The SpaceLab
experiments were designed to understand how the Russian Space program combats
the effects on the human body of the long-durations in space. [Image:
photograph was taken by Nikolai Budarin from a Russian Soyuz spacecraft
on 4 Jul 1995] |
| Pygmy mammoth | |
(source: top, bottom) |
In 1994, the first near-complete fossil
of a pygmy mammoth skeleton
was found in rapidly eroding sea
cliffs on Santa Rosa Island, one of the Channel Islands of California.
This is the only full sized skeleton of the species anywhere in the world,
and the first to be dated. Scientists estimate the age by radiocarbon dating
at 12,840 years old. The specimen stood 5-1/2 feet tall, and weighed about
a ton. The pony-sized species, Mammuthus exilis, a distant relative
of the modern elephant, is believed to have lived only on San Miguel, Santa
Rosa, and Santa Cruz islands. Partial pygmy mammoth remains had been documented
in previous decades. Paleontologists continue to discover more sites with
the remains of these Pleistocene-era animals. |
| Multi-satellite launch | |
(source) |
In 1961, the first U.S. rocket to launch three satellites was launched
from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Thor-Able-Star rocket Omicron 1 carried
3 payloads, The first, Transit 4A weighed 1,175-pounds with an atomic
radio-isotope powered battery of the Snap
series. The battery (4.7-lb; about 5"x5") was placed at the top of the
drum-shaped craft to provide 2.7 watts of electricity for 5-yrs. Injun
(40-lb
to gather data on the radiation belts); and Greb 3 (55-lb to gather
data on X-ray radiation from the sun.) The previous year, a similar rocket
launched a payload of 2 satellites on 22 Jun 1960. A launch of 8 satellites
on one rocket took place 9 Mar 1965. |
| Interstate Highway Act | |
(source) |
In 1956, the Act that made possible the modern interstate highway system
in the U.S. was signed
by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower had seen the speed and efficiency
in moving troops and equipment on the four-lane autobahns in Germany during
WW II. The idea of federal support of interstate
limited-access routes in the U.S. had begun with a study under the Federal-Aid
Highway Act of 1938. Little progress was made on building these roads while
federal funding was low. When the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 committed
federal funds to the States for 90% of the cost, construction began in
earnest for the System of Interstate and Defense Highways having at least
four lanes with no at-grade railroad crossings.«  
The
Roads That Built America: The Incredible Story of the U.S. Interstate System,
by Dan McNichol. |
| Oppenheimer | |
 |
In 1954, the Atomic Energy Commission, by a vote of 4 to1 decided
against reinstating Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer's access to classified information.
The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 required consideration of "the character,
associations, and loyalty" of the individuals engaged in the work of the
Commission. Substantial defects of character and imprudent and dangerous
associations, particularly with known subversives who place the interests
of foreign powers above those of the United States, were considered reasons
for disqualification. The Commission regarded his associations
with persons known to him to be Communists exceeded tolerable limits of
prudence and self-restraint, and lasted too long to be justified as merely
the intermittent and accidental revival of earlier friendships. |
| Wind tunnel | |
|
In 1929, the first high-speed jet wind tunnel was completed at Langley
Field, California, the field laboratory of the National Advisory Committee
for Aeronautics. Preliminary design work was begun 14 Nov 1928. A wind
speed of about 600-mph was attained, permitting the testing of aerofoils
at this speed. The tunnel has since been deactivated. |
|
| New Minot's Ledge lighthouse | |
(source) |
In 1860, the last stone was laid for the new Minot's
Ledge lighthouse, five years minus one day after workmen first landed
at the ledge. The final cost of about $300,000 made it one of the most
expensive lighthouses in U.S. history. It replaced the first iron-pile
lighthouse in the U.S. at the same site, built 1847-50, lighted 1 Jan 1850
but destroyed in a storm in Apr 1851. It stood off Boston's south shore,
just outside Boston Harbour to warn ships of rocks that had claimed
many vessels. The first granite block was laid for the new lighthouse on
9 Jul 1857. The lantern room and second order Fresnel lens were put into
place and illuminated on 22 Aug 1860. This structure has withstood all
storms since, and stands to this day. |
| Asteroid | |
(source) |
In 3123 BC, a Sumerian astronomer saw a devastating asteroid, perhaps a
half-mile wide, according to an interpretation of a clay tablet, made by
researchers from Bristol University, reported
in The Times on 31 Mar 2008. The ancient date was indicated by a
computer recreation of the night sky using symbols on the tablet recording
the positions of constellations The Planiform tablet found by Henry Layard
at Nineveh, likely a 700 BC copy of the astronomer's notes, described in
cuneiform a "white stone bowl approaching" that "vigorously swept along."
The asteroid probably crashed into the Austrian Alps, leaving a swath of
cataclysmic damage such as, for example, the Genesis destruction of Sodom
and Gomorrah. |
