July 11 - Today In Science History

JULY 11 - BIRTHS
Theodore Maiman
(source)	Born 11 Jul 1927; died 5 May 2007. Theodore H(arold) Maiman was an American physicist who built the first working laser. He began working with electronic devices in his teens, while earning college money by repairing electrical appliances and radios. In the 1960s, he developed, demonstrated, and patented a laser using a pink ruby medium. The laser is a device that produces monochromatic coherent light (light in which the rays are all of the same wavelength and phase). The laser has since been applied in a very wide range of uses, including eye surgery, dentistry, range-finding, manufacturing, even measuring the distance between the Earth and the Moon. The Laser Odyssey, by Theodore Maiman.
César Lattes
(source)	Born 11 Jul 1924; died 8 Mar 2005. César (Mansueto Giulio) Lattes was the Brazilian physicist who, with American physicist Eugene Gardner at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1948 confirmed the existence of heavy and light mesons formed during the bombardment of carbon nuclei with alpha particles. The experimental discovery of the pi meson was fundamental to explaining the nuclear binding force. Japanese theoretical physicist, Hideki Yukawa, had proposed (1935) a new, unknown particle with 200 times more mass than the electron, that was emitted and absorbed by protons and neutrons. The exchange of those particles between the nucleons would produce a short-range attraction between them.
Aleksandr Prokhorov
(source)	Born 11 Jul 1916; died 8 Jan 2002. Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Prokhorov is the Soviet physicist who received, (with Nikolay G. Basov, USSR and Charles H. Townes, US), the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1964 "for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle." "Maser" stands for "microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation." An amplification can occur only if the stimulated emission is larger than the absorption, requiring that there should be more atoms in a high energy state than in a lower one. This state is called an inverted population. Prokhorov had researched the maser independently but simultaneously with the other prize recipients.
Samuel Abraham Goudsmit
(source)	Born 11 Jul 1902; died 4 Dec 1978. Dutch-born U.S. physicist who, with George E. Uhlenbeck, a fellow graduate student at the University of Leiden, Neth., formulated (1925) the concept of electron spin. It led to recognition that spin was a property of protons, neutrons, and most elementary particles and to a fundamental change in the mathematical structure of quantum mechanics. Goudsmit also made the first measurement of nuclear spin and its Zeeman effect with Ernst Back (1926-27), developed a theory of hyperfine structure of spectral lines, made the first spectroscopic determination of nuclear magnetic moments (1931-33), contributed to the theory of complex atoms and the theory of multiple scattering of electrons, and invented the magnetic time-of-flight mass spectrometer (1948).
Alfred Binet
	Born 11 Jul 1857; died 18 Oct 1911. French psychologist who was a pioneer in the field of intelligence testing of the normal mind. He took a different approach than most psychologists of his day: he was interested in the workings of the normal mind rather than the pathology of mental illness. He wanted to find a way to measure the ability to think and reason, apart from education in any particular field. In 1905 he developed a test in which he had children do tasks such as follow commands, copy patterns, name objects, and put things in order or arrange them properly. He gave the test to Paris schoolchildren and created a standard based on his data. From Binet's work, "IQ" (intelligence quotient), entered the vocabulary. The IQ is the ratio of "mental age" to chronological age, with 100 being average.
Sir Joseph Larmor
(source)	Born 11 Jul 1857; died 19 May 1942. Irish physicist, the first to calculate the rate at which energy is radiated by an accelerated electron, and the first to explain the splitting of spectrum lines by a magnetic field. His theories were based on the belief that matter consists entirely of electric particles moving in the ether. His elaborate mathematical electrical theory of the late 1890s included the "electron" as a rotational strain (a sort of twist) in the ether. But Larmor's theory did not describe the electron as a part of the atom. Many physicists envisioned both material particles and electromagnetic forces as structures and strains in that hypothetical fluid.
John Wanamaker
(source)	Born 11 Jul 1838; died 12 Dec 1922. American department store founder who adopted new technology in his buildings for publicity. His "Grand Depot" was the first U.S. store to use electric arc lamps (26 Dec 1878)* in Philadelphia, Pa. Wanamaker had a major ready-made men's clothing retail clothing business (opened 1861) when he bought (1875) the Pennsylvania Railroad depot for $500,000 and converted it into his innovative Grand Depot department store. The city's Centennial Exposition visitors boosted sales. It became one of the largest U.S. department stores. From 1885, the store was called "Wanamaker's". His stores were a base for experimental wireless from 1910, and in 1922, a radio broadcast station was opened in the store to initiate radio receiver sales.« John Wanamaker: Philadelphia Merchant, by Herbert Ershkowitz.
John Fowler
(source)	Born 11 Jul 1826; died 4 Dec 1864. English engineer who helped to develop the steam-hauled plough. He began his career in the grain trade but later trained as an engineer. In 1850 he joined Albert Fry in Bristol to found a works to produce steam-hauled implements. During a business trip to Ireland, he witnessed the famine which followed the failure of two years of potato crops. This aroused his Quaker conscience and changed his life. He returned to England determined to mechanise land drainage by the use of steam. The result was his Mole Drainage Plough shown at the great exhibition of 1851, and built for him by Ransomes. In 1858 Fowler was awarded a £500 prize for his balance plough. He died of tetanus following an injury received after being thrown by a horse. [Image right: detail of steam engine from catalog printed 1861]
Sir William Grove
(source)	Born 11 Jul 1811; died 1 Aug 1896. Sir William Robert Grove, British physicist and a justice of Britain's high court (from 1880), who first offered proof of the thermal dissociation of atoms within a molecule. He showed that steam in contact with a strongly heated platinum wire is decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen in a reversible reaction. In 1839, Grove mixed hydrogen and oxygen in the presence of an electrolyte, and produced electricity and water. This Grove Cell was the invention of the fuel cell. The technology was not seriously revisited until the1960s. Through the electrochemical process, the energy stored in a fuel is converted - without combusting fuel - directly into DC electricity. [Image right: (source) ]
Jérôme Lalande
(source)	Born 11 Jul 1732; died 4 Apr 1807 Joseph Jérôme Le Français de Lalande, was a an astronomer, born in Bourg-en-Bresse, France. He determined the Moon's parallax from Berlin for the French Academy (1751). He was appointed professor of Astronomy, Collège de France (1762), and subsequently, director of the Paris Observatory. He published his Traité d'astronomie in 1764 - tables of the planetary positions that were considered the best available for the rest of the century. In 1801 he also published a comprehensive star catalogue. He died in 1807, apparently of tuberculosis.

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JULY 11 - DEATHS

Franz Weidenreich
(source)	Died 11 Jul 1948 (born 7 Jun 1873) German anatomist and physical anthropologist whose reconstruction of prehistoric human remains and work on Peking man (then called Sinanthropus pekinensis) and other hominids brought him to preeminence in the study of human evolution. A Jew, Weidenreich fled Nazi Germany to take a position in Beijing. He worked with Teilhard de Chardin on the Zhoukoudian fossils (at the Cave of Peking Man), next fleeing the Japanese during WW II. His "multiregional" hypothesis of human origins (i.e., that human racial lineages date back to the early Pleistocene) became influential and is still widely debated, but at first it was misinterpreted as arguing that there was no genetic continuity between human races.
Simon Newcomb
	Died 11 Jul 1909 (born 12 Mar 1835) Canadian-American astronomer and and mathematician who prepared ephemerides (tables of computed places of celestial bodies over a period of time) and tables of astronomical constants. He was an astronomer (1861-77) before becoming Superintendent of the U.S. Nautical Almanac Office (1877-97). During this time he undertook numerous studies in celestial mechanics. His central goal was to place planetary and satellite motions on a completely uniform system, thereby raising solar system studies and the theory of gravitation to a new level. He largely accomplished this goal with the adoption of his new system of astronomical constants at the end of the century.
Germain Sommeiller
(source)	Died 11 Jul 1871 (born 15 Mar 1815) French-Italian engineer who built the Mount Cenis (Fréjus) Tunnel (1857-70) through the Alps, the world's first important mountain tunnel. The two track railway tunnel unites Italian Savoy (north of the mountains) through Switzerland with the rest of Italy to the south. At 8 miles long and it was more than double the length of any previous tunnel. In 1861, after three years of tedious hand-boring a mere eight inches a day into the rock face, Sommeiller introduced the first industrial-scale pneumatics for tunnel digging. He built a special reservoir, high above the tunnel entrance, to produce a head of water that compressed air (to 6 atm.) for pneumatic drills, able to dig up to 20 times faster. Authorised on 15 Aug 1857, the tunnel opened on 17 Sep 1871, as a major triumph of engineering.« [Image right top: Mont Cenis Tunnel entrance arch; right bottom: Sommeiller Boring Machines.]
William Shippen, Jr.
(source)	Died 11 Jul 1808 (born 21 Oct 1736) First systematic teacher of anatomy, surgery, and obstetrics in the United States. In addition to pictures and casts of the human body, he was also one of the first to use dissected human bodies in the teaching of anatomy in America. This aroused the animosity of the populace - his dissecting rooms were mobbed on several occasions, and once he narrowly escaped with his life - but his courses were very successful, and the number of students increased year by year. He lectured on both anatomy and midwifery. In 1762 he established the first American maternity hospital in Philadelphia.



JULY 11 - EVENTS

Eclipse
(source)	In 1991, a solar eclipse cast a blanket of darkness stretching 9,000 miles from Hawaii to South America, lasting nearly seven minutes in some places. It was the so-called eclipse of the century. A total solar eclipse - the moon passing between the sun and the earth - is the moon's shadow cast on the casting its shadow on the earth's surface. Total eclipses occur almost once per year, but are often over an ocean or remote countries. The solar eclipse on July 11, 1991, was a thrill for scientists. It travelled over the several astronomical observatories on the top of Mauna Kea. Their 14,000 feet elevation was actually above the cloud level, which obstructed the view for those below.
Surgical Zippers
(source)	In 1985, zippers for stitches were announced by Dr. H. Harlan Stone this day. The surgeon had used zippers on 28 patients, on whom he thought he might have to re-operate, because of internal bleeding following initial operations. The zippers which lasted between five and 14 days, were then replaced with permanent stitches. Current types of surgical zipper are self-adhesive in application and can be applied to both outpatients and inpatients. Uncomplicated wound inspection is possible from the third postoperative day. However, it is possible earlier with manual support to either side of the wound.
Skylab re-entry
	In 1979, the U.S. space station, Skylab, re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. It disintegrated, spreading fragments across the southeastern Indian Ocean and over a sparsely populated section of western Australia, where a cow died after being struck by a piece of falling debris.«
Terracotta Army
(source)	In 1975, Chinese archeologists announced the uncovering of a 3-acre burial mound concealing 6000 clay statues of warriors and their regalia dating from 221 to 206 BC. The "Terracotta Army" was uncovered near the ancient capital of Xian. The 7,000 lifesize clay soldiers and horses were buried in pits in battle formation facing east to guard the tomb of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. The figures were modeled after the emperor’s real army, and each face is different. The buried wonder was found in 1974 in the course of digging a well.
Berliner helicopter flight
	In 1908, Emile Berliner (who invented the gramophone in 1887) in a trial of his first "test-rig" helicopter design, found it could potentially lift double its weight. While the Wright brothers were working on powered manned flight, by 1903, Berliner tested a 7-ft model rocket-powered airplane, which flew 40-ft before tumbling to ground. He began, in 1907, designing his helicopter with tandem intermeshing rotors. Although the Wrights by then had a successful rigid-wing aircraft, Berliner recognised the versatility of a helicopter. The 36-hp rotary engine he developed with the Adams-Farwell Company was the first application in aviation of the rotary engine, and had a weight advantage. He founded the Gyro Motor Company to promote rotary engines in aviation.«
Triborough Bridge
(source)	In 1936, the Triborough Bridge linking Manhattan, Bronx & Queens opened. The Triborough Bridge connects Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx. The Public Works Administration (PWA) financed this project. It runs from the northwestern tip of Queens to 125th St. in Manhattan, with an off ramp leading into the Bronx. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave an Address at the Dedication. Photo: President Roosevelt and the official party cross New York's Triborough Bridge after its formal dedication.
Arctic Balloon Flight
	In 1897, Dr. Salomon August Andrée of Sweden leaves Danes Island, Spitsbergen in a balloon, called "Eagle", which he had built himself. With two companions, he hoped to drift over the North Pole. Thus Andrée, the Swedish scientist and aeronaut, born 18 Oct 1854 in Gränna, near Jönköping made the first attempt by air to explore the Arctic. Nothing was heard of them for 33 years. Then on 6 Aug 1930, Norwegian explorers found the remains of a balloonist, debris from the ballon itself, diaries and photos on White Island (Kvitöa). Just two days after their launch, an emergency landing on ice had been made. They eventually met their end in the bitter cold on the island, still hundreds of kilometres from the North Pole.
Real Inventor of Electric Lamp
(source)	In 1892, the U.S. Patent Office decided that Joseph Wilson Swan in England, not Thomas Edison, was the inventor of the electric light carbon for the incandescent lamp.(Swan and Edison later set up a joint company to produce the first practical filament lamp.) Edison had patented his invention in 1879, a year after Swan had patented the first carbon incandescent lamp in 1878. The original Swan side pin twist-lock lamp base (which Swan's brother Alfred invented) evolved with the name "bayonet" base, and became standard on house lighting in Britain. For a century, Swan bayonet base lamps have been used in most tail lights of every car or truck in the world. Where vibration is a factor, the Swan base is more secure than the Edison screw base.
Avogadro
	In 1811, Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro published his memoire about the molecular content of gases.
Pons Comet
	In 1801, French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons (24 Sep 1761 - 14 Oct 1831) discovers his first comet. In his lifetime he discovered or co-discovered up to 37 comets. Since 1789, when he got a post at the Observatory at Marseilles as concierge, Pons quickly learned how to make observations with the instruments. He had a remarkable ability to remember the star fields he observed and to recognize changes. He logged his first discovery of a comet on 11 July 1801, which he had to share with Messier who found it a day later. Interestingly, as Pons' made his first comet discovery, that comet was Messier's last. Almost once every year, thereafter until 1827 when he eyesight declined, Pons found a new comet. Jean-Louis Pons set the record for visual discoveries of comets by an individual.