| JULY 13 - BIRTHS | |
| Erno Rubik | |
(source) |
 
Born 13 Jul 1944
Hungarian mathematician, educator and inventor of Rubik's Cube (1974), which became a popular toy of the 1980s. Rubik's Cube consists of 26 small cubes that rotate on a central axis; nine coloured cube faces, in three rows of three each, form each side of the cube. When the cube arrangement is randomized, the player must then return it to the original condition of faces with matching colours, which is one among 43 quintillion possible configurations. [Animation source] |
| Donald E. Osterbrock | |
(source) |
Born 13
Jul 1924; died 11 Jan 2007.
Donald Edward Osterbrock was an American astronomer who was a leading authority on the history of astronomy, and director of the University of California's Lick Observatory. He applied physics to produce accurate models of stars. For example, treating the outer part of the sun as turbulent and convective, he explained the seemingly anomalous fact that the sun's corona is hotter than its surface. He investigated the nature of ionized gas around hot stars, and was a pioneer in the use of spectroscopic methods for the study of gaseous nebulae. He discovered new types of active galactic nuclei, which are powered by black holes in the centers of galaxies. He fostered the construction of the 10-meter Keck Telescopes in Hawaii.« |
| Eugène Freyssinet | |
(source) |
Born 13
Jul 1879; died 8 Jun 1962.
Marie-Eugène-Léon Freyssinet was a French civil engineer who successfully developed pre-stressed concrete, that is, concrete beams or girders in which steel wire is embedded under tension, greatly strengthening the concrete member. The prestressing technique was devised to overcome difficulties in executing curved shapes in reinforced concrete. More an engineer than an architect, Freyssinet began creating innovative architecture using reinforced concrete as his main material, such as airship hangars at Orly Airport, France (1921), bridges and industrial buildings. His first use of pre-stressed concrete was for the renovation of the transatlantic pier at Le Havre (1933-35). |
| June Etta Downey | |
(source) |
Born 13
Jul 1875 (died 1932)
American psychologist and educator whose studies centred on the psychology of aesthetics and related philosophical issues. Her contributions were in the areas of clinical psychology and personality assessment. One of her projects was measuring other facets of human nature and attempting to calibrate them as is done with intelligence. Her Downey Will-Temperament Tests (1919) received some research attention in the 1920s. She founded the psychology laboratory at the University of Wyoming in 1900. |
| Stanislao Cannizzaro | |
(source) |
Born 13
Jul 1826; died 10 May 1910.
Italian chemist, teacher, and legislator who recognized the distinction between atomic and molecular weights. He discovered the Cannizzaro reaction in 1853, that treatment of benzaldehyde with a concentrated alcoholic hydroxide produced equal amounts of benzyl alcohol and the salt of benzoic acid. Earlier, in 1851, he helped prepare cyanamide, while at the laboratory of Michel-Eugène Chevreul. In 1858, he showed that the atomic weights of the elements in the molecules of a volatile compound can be calculated using Avogadro's principle. Further, the atomic weights of non-volatile compounds can be calculated by a measurement of specific heat instead of vapour density. Later, 1861-71, he studied aromatic compounds and amines. |
| Heinrich Louis d'Arrest | |
Neptune |
Born 13
Jul 1822; died 14 Jun 1875.
German astronomer who, while a student at the Berlin Observatory, hastened the discovery of Neptune by suggesting comparison of the sky, in the region indicated by Urbain Le Verrier's calculations, with a recently prepared star chart. The planet was found the same night. His father-in-law was A. F. Moebius (1790 - 1868). d'Arrest found several comets, the one of 1851 with a period of 6.6 years bears his name. One work he published was on the Asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, another work titled Siderum nebulosorum observationes Hafniensis contained 1942 nebula, 340 described for the first time. |
| William Hedley | |
(source) |
Born 13
Jul 1779; died 9 Jan 1843.
English coal-mine official and inventor who was probably the first to build a commercially useful steam locomotive dependent on friction between wheels and rails (as prevails in modern times) as opposed to using a geared track. He patented this design on 13 Mar 1813. The same year, his locomotive, Puffing Billy, began to pull coal trucks on a five mile line from a mine at Wylam, Northumberland, to dockside on the River Tyne. It was the first locomotive to haul 50-ton coal wagons. The track was damaged by the locomotive's weight so it was soon rebuilt on eight wheels but later reverted to four, perhaps after stronger cast-iron edge rails were laid in about 1828. Puffing Billy was retired in 1862. It is now preserved at the Science Museum, London. |
| Simeon North | |
(source) |
Born 13
Jul 1765; died 25 Aug 1852.
American firearms manufacturer who, like Eli Whitney, incorporated interchangeable parts in manufacturing. After a start in farming, he began a business making scythes in 1795. He expanded to making pistols, first for private use, then under government contract in Mar 1799 for 400 pistols. Larger government orders followed. By 1813, at North's suggestion, a contract for 20,000 pistols included the provision that parts should be interchangeable. Subsequently, he developed machine tools to aid production. North is generally credited for building probably the earliest, though primitive, milling machine to replace filing operations by about 1816 or even earlier. For 53 years, he filled War Dept. contracts, including rifles (from 1823), and devised a 10-round repeating rifle (1825).« |
| John Dee | |
(source) |
Born 13
Jul 1527; died Dec 1608.
English alchemist, astrologer, and mathematician who contributed greatly to the revival of interest in mathematics in England. After becoming one of the first Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge (1546), he made several visits to the Continent and studied with Gerardus Mercator. He returned (1551) with navigation instruments. Dee also wrote on calendar reform, navigation, geography and astrology. Dee became astrologer to Queen Mary but was imprisoned for being a magician. Released in 1555, he then found favour with Queen Elizabeth and cast horoscopes for her. Dee prepared nautical information, including charts for navigation in the polar regions, for 32 years. Later in life he turned to alchemy. |
|
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| JULY 13 - DEATHS | |
| Patrick M.S. Blackett | |
(source) |
 Died
13 Jul 1974 (born 18 Nov 1897)
(Baron Blackett of Chelsea) Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett was an English physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1948 for his discoveries in the field of cosmic radiation. In these studies he used cloud-chamber photographs that revealed the way in which a stable atomic nucleus can be disintegrated by bombarding it with alpha particles (helium nuclei). Although such nuclear disintegration had been observed previously, his data explained this phenomenon for the first time and were useful in explaining disintegration by other means. |
| Henry Edward Armstrong | |
 |
Died
13 Jul 1937 (born 6 May 1848)
English organic chemist whose major research in substitution reactions of naphthalene was important to the synthetic-dye industry. In early work, he developed a method for sanitary surveys of water supplies by determining the organic impurities (sewage) content, which helped to control typhoid fever. Later, Armstrong also pioneered in organic crystallography, and the understanding of the chemical composition of camphor and related terpene compounds. He also devised a centric formula for benzene. Armstrong challenged Arrhenius's ionic theory, proposing instead that water is a complex saturated with the gas "hydrone.'' He maintained that vapor pressure was a measure of the concentration of free hydrone molecules. |
| Fritz Graebner | |
| Died
13 Jul 1934 (born 4 Mar 1877)
Robert Fritz Graebner was a German ethnologist who advanced the theory of the Kulturkreise, or culture complex, which postulated diffusions of primitive culture spheres derived from a single archaic type. His scheme launched the culture-historical school of ethnology in Europe and stimulated much field research. |
|
| Robert Kidston | |
(source) |
Died
13 Jul 1924 (born 29 Jun 1852)
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. |
| Gabriel Lippmann | |
(source) |
Died
13 Jul 1921 (born 16 Aug 1845)
French physicist, born Hollerich, Luxembourg, who received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1908 for producing the first colour photographic plate. Lippmann was a giant of his day in classical physics research, especially in optics and electricity. He worked in Berlin with the famed Hermann von Helmholtz before settling in Paris to head (in 1886) the Sorbonne's Laboratories of Physical Research until his death. His inventions include an instrument for precisely measuring minute differences in electrical power and the "coleostat" for steady, long-exposure sky photography. |
| August Kekulé | |
(source) |
Died
13 Jul 1896 (born 7 Sep 1829)
(Friedrich) August Kekulé von Stradonitz was a German chemist who devised the ring structure of carbon atoms in organic molecules. Although at first intending to study as an architect, his career in chemistry began after hearing Justus Liebig's lectures. He determined the tetravalence of carbon, and its ability to link in chains and form polyvalent radicals (1857-58). Further, he envisioned double or even triple bonds between carbon atoms in those chains, and isomers being molecules with the same atoms arranged differently. From a vision of a serpent catching its own tail, Kekulé realized that benzene has a ring structure (1863). Kekulé's ideas became the foundation of structural theory in organic chemistry.« |
| James Lind | |
(source) |
Died
13 Jul 1794 (born 1716)
Scottish physician, "founder of naval hygiene in England," who investigated sickness of sailors and recommended fresh citrus fruit and lemon juice be incorporated in the diet of seamen on long voyages. When made a requirement by Sir Gilbert Blane, this resulted in the prompt eradication of scurvy from the British Navy. (The Dutch had implemented this practice almost two centuries earlier.) Lind also recommended shipboard delousing procedures and suggested the use of hospital ships for sick sailors in tropical ports. In 1761, he arranged for the shipboard distillation of seawater for drinking water. |
| James Bradley | |
 |
Died
13 Jul 1762 (born Mar 1693)
English astronomer, the third Astronomer Royal, who in 1728 announced his discovery of the aberration of starlight, an apparent slight change in the positions of stars caused by the the motion of the person looking at them with the yearly motion of the Earth. That finding provided the first direct evidence for the revolution of the Earth around the Sun. Bradley was one of the first post-Newtonian observational astronomers who led the quest for precision. From the aberration of starlight, Bradley was also able to make calculations giving the speed of light to be about 283,000 km/s. Further, Bradley discovered that the earth nods a little on its axis, which he named as nutation. |
| Caspar Berthelsen Bartholin | |
(source) |
Died
13 Jul 1629 (born 12 Feb 1585)
Danish physician and theologian who wrote one of the most widely read Renaissance manuals of anatomy. He was first to describe the olfactory nerve (associated with the sense of smell) as the first cranial nerve. In 1619, while Professor of medicine at the University of Copenhagen, along with others of the medical faculty, he published "A Short Instruction" on how one should care for oneself during the plague. Bartholin glands were first described by Caspar Bartholin, a Dutch anatomist, in 1677. They are paired glands present in female mammals. He died at age 44. [Image: Olefactory nerve location in brain shown in green.] |
| JULY 13 - EVENTS | |
| Jupiter probe | |
Galileo (source) |
In 1995, the spacecraft Galileo released a probe
towards Jupiter that is to become the first Earth emissary ever to penetrate
the atmosphere of any of the outer gas giants (Dec. 1995). The mission's
scientific objectives included measurement of the temperature and pressure
structure of Jupiter's atmosphere and the chemical composition of Jupiter.
Also, it studied the cloud layers and cloud particle size and density.
Measurement were made of the amount of helium relative to hydrogen on Jupiter,
winds in the atmosphere, how sunlight and energy coming from the deep interior
are distributed in Jupiter's atmosphere. The probe could also detect lightning
and energetic protons and electrons trapped in Jupiter's magnetic field. |
| New York blackout | |
 |
In 1977, a power failure blacked
out New York. Starting at about 9 pm, four lightning strikes on high-voltage
transmission lines within the course of about half-an-hour knocked
out electricity and plunged millions of residents of New York City
into darkness. Unlike the calm during a similar blackout in 1965, the 1977
blackout erupted in chaos. The city was already in the midst of a financial
crisis and high unemployment. Responding to the tension of the times, mobs
set fires, smashed windows and hauled away food, clothing and appliances.
It took 25 hours to restore power to the entire city. About 4,500 people
were arrested during the riots, which resulted in damage estimated at $61
million. |
| First atomic bomb | |
|
In 1945, the first atomic bomb arrived partly assembled at its test site
in the New Mexico desert. It is a Friday the 13th. By Sunday, it is completed
and set at the top of a tower waiting for the first atomic bomb test. |
|
| Water softener patent | |
|
In 1937, a patent was issued to Leroy Lind for the Servi-Soft water softener
(U.S. No. 2,081,157). |
|
| Transatlantic balloon | |
|
In 1919, the first lighter-than-air transatlantic flight was completed. |
|
| Marconi patent | |
 |
In 1897, Guglielmo Marconi received a U.S. patent for a wireless telegraph
(No. 586,193). |
| New Tay Bridge opened | |
(source) |
In 1887, the second Tay Rail Bridge was opened in Scotland, and remains
in use today. Building was started in 1881 to replace the original single-track
railway which had collapsed
in a disaster on 28 Dec 1879 due to poor design and construction. The new
bridge was designed for a double-track railway by William Henry Barlow
and William Arrol on new, stronger piers within 60-ft (18-m) of the first.
The stumps of the old piers remain as a breakwater. Many of the undamaged
original girders together with new steelwork were incorporated into the
new structure with a greater width to improve its lateral stability. On
18 Aug 1966, the Tay Road Bridge was opened
by the Queen Mother to finally replace the ferry crossing of the Firth
of Tay.« |
| Electric street car | |
|
In 1880, Stephen D. Field of New York City was issued a U.S. patent for
"propelling railway cars by electromagnetism" (No. 229,991). When he first
used it on a street car in an electric street car in 1874, his inntion
was the first electric streetcar to run successfully with current generated
by a stationary dynamo. The current was conveyed by one of the rails, via
a metal wheel to the onboard motor, and returned through a second metal
wheel to the other rail. Field first filed for a caveat on 21 May 1879,
and when issued, the patent protected his claim for this system of supplying
electric power through the rails and to the motor. |
|
| Cash carrier patent | |
|
In 1875, the first cash carrier system in the U.S. was patented by David
Brown of Lebanon , NJ (No. 165,473) which he called "an apparatus for transmission
of goods, packages etc." The first installation of a cash carrier was at
the ladies' furnishing store of William S. Lamson in Lowell, Mass, in Feb
1879. Using two overhead wires with endless rope pulleys, a small basket
travelled between the sales clerk and the cashier. Lamson began manufacturing
these in 1881, and in Jan 1882 incorporated the Lamson Cash Railway Company. |
|
| U.S. Patent No. 1 | |
 |
In 1836, John Ruggles of Thomaston, Maine received patent Number 1 from
the U.S. Patent Office, under a new system for numbering patents. Before
Ruggles, there had been 9,957 non-numbered patents issued. Ruggles received
his patent for a traction wheel used in locomotive steam engines. He was
Chairman of the Committee on Patents of the U.S. Senate, and was instrumental
in patent law reform. However, in 1838, a Senate select committee investigated
corruption charges against Senator Ruggles relating to a patent application. |
| Compound steam engine patent | |
(source) |
In 1781, a British patent was taken out for the first compound steam engine
by Jonathan Carter Hornblower
(No. 1298). His invention was to use two cylinders of unequal size attached
to the same beam. Steam acts first in a small high-pressure cylinder, leaving
at a lower pressure, but still sufficient to expand further in a larger
cylinder. Although he claimed greater efficiency, this was not realised
at the low steam pressures of the day. Boulton and Watt claimed infringement
on their earlier patent since this engine still used a separate condenser,
so Hornblower had to abandon that design at the time. His compound steam
engine principle was later revived in 1804 by Arthur Woolf using higher
steam pressure with better results.«  |
