| AUGUST 3 - BIRTHS | |
| Donald R(edfield) Griffin | |
(source) |
 Born 3
Aug 1915; died 7 Nov 2003.
American biophysicist, known for his research in animal navigation, animal behaviour, and sensory biophysics. With Robert Galambos, he studied bat echolocation (1938), a term he coined (1944) for how the bat's ears replace eyes in flight guidance. Using specialized high-frequency sound equipment by G.W. Pierce, they found that bats in flight produced ultrasonic sounds used to avoid obstacles. In WW II, he used physiological principles to design such military equipment as cold-weather clothing and headphones. Griffin also worked extensively on bird navigation. In the late 1940s, he flew in a Piper Cub to observe the flight paths of gannets and gulls. In his career, he pioneered rigorous techniques to study animals in their natural environment.«  Animal
Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness, by Donald R.
Griffin. |
| Neal E(lgar) Miller | |
(source) |
Born 3
Aug 1909; died 23 Mar 2002.
American psychologist and neuroscientist who was the first to identify and promote biofeedback. He demonstrated experimentally that individuals may learn to control their heart rate and digestion in the same sense that walking is a learned activity. This work began in the 1950s when he investigated how such functions of the autonomic system could be consciously controlled by an animal or person. Proof came from his experiments with rats that he trained to control these functions using a system of rewards and punishment. At first, few scientists accepted these ideas, but gradually his theories on biofeedback gained support and are now widely accepted. In 1964, he was awarded the National Medal of Science.« Social
Learning and Imitation, by Neal Elgar Miller and John
Dollard |
| Robert Ernest House | |
 |
Born 3
Aug 1875; died 15 Jul 1930.
American physician who championed the use of scopolamine hydrobromide as a "truth serum." Based on research into its use as a general birth anaesthetic by J. Christian Gauss, House interpreted from the results that a patient in the twilight state was unable to tell a lie. From 1924, House convinced Texas criminologists, to use the drug to "assist" in determination of guilt or innocence of a suspect. Later, it was found by legal challenges and CIA research in the 1950s that House had far exaggerated its value. "Truth" confessed under the drug's influence was distorted by the drug's halucinogenic side effects. Such use ended. (Scopolamine is still used in minute doses to control motion sickness, and as a veterinary preanesthetic medication.«  |
| George Francis FitzGerald | |
| Born 3
Aug 1851; died 22 Feb 1901.
Irish physicist whose suggestion of a way to produce waves helped lay a foundation for wireless telegraphy. He also first developed a theory, independently discovered by Hendrik Lorentz, that a material object moving through an electromagnetic field would exhibit a contraction of its length in the direction of motion. This is now known as the Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction, which Einstein used in his own special theory of relativity. He also was first to propose the structure of comets as a head made of large stones, but a tail make of such smaller stones (less than 1-cm diam.) that the pressure of light radiation from the sun could deflect them. FitzGerald also studied electrolysis as well as electromagnetic radiation.« |
|
| Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy | |
(source) |
Born 3
Aug 1844; died 25 Feb 1920.
French archaeologist and civil engineer who in 1884-86 undertook major excavations at the ancient site of Susa (modern Shush, Iran) uncovering the palaces of the ancient Persian kings Darius I the Great and Artaxerxes II. He was helped by a French physician at the Persian court to reopen the 1852 excavations done by W.K. Loftus. Dieulafoy's exploration resulted in revealing part of the palace and other structures, and in settling the topographical details of the city. He also recovered unique and beautiful features of art and architecture, including the pillars with capitals of bulls' heads, three great porticoes and the hall of columns, the frieze of lions, and that of archers now in the Louvre.« Image: winged bull glazed bricks from Susa (Louvre). |
| Elisha Otis | |
(source) |
Born 3
Aug 1811; died 8 Apr 1861.
American inventor of the automatic safety brake for elevators, which later made high-rise buildings practical. Before this invention, elevators of his time were extremely dangerous. In 1852, he was employed at a New York bed factory. He realized the need for a "safety elevator" to move people and equipment safely to the upper floors of the building. He strikingly demonstrated his solution at the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York in 1854. In front of a large crowd, Otis ascended in his new elevator. He called for the elevator's cable to be cut with an axe, but the elevator platform did not fall. The brake he invented used toothed guiderails in the elevator shaft and a spring-loaded bar that automatically caught in the toothed rail if the elevator car if the cable failed.  "Otis
Giving Rise to the Modern City: Giving Rise to the Modern City" by
Jason Goodwin |
| Sir Joseph Paxton | |
(source) |
Born 3 Aug 1801; died 8 Jun 1865.
English architect who designed the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. In 1832, Paxton became Manager to the Duke of Devonshire's estates where he created lakes, arboreta, and greenhouses. Between 1836-40 he designed and built a large greenhouse, at the time the largest glass building in the world. In 1844 he constructed the "emperor fountain", at 280 feet the tallest in Europe. He also built a second smaller glasshouse for a giant Amazonian Lily where it flowered in 1849, the first time ever in cultivation. Paxton's superiority in conservatory design led to his work as the innovative architect of the Crystal Palace. He spent his later years in urban planning projects. [Image right: (source)] |
| Charles Stanhope | |
(source) |
Born 3 Aug 1753; died 15 Dec 1816.
(3rd Earl Stanhope) English politician who believed strongly in the liberty of the individual. He was also an active experimental scientist and inventor. In 1771, he won a prize from the Swedish Academy for a paper on the pendulum, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in Nov 1772 before his 20th birthday. His Principles of Electricity (1779) included his nacent theory on the "return stroke" of electric current resulting from lightning's contact with the earth. He introduced the first successful iron-frame printing press (1798) and a process of stereotyping to produce moulds from a printing forme to cast printing plates. He worked in steam navigation (1795-97), invented a microscope lens and created two calculating machines.« [Image right: Stanhope printing press.] Charles
Earl Stanhope and the Oxford University Press, by Horace
Hart. |
|
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| AUGUST 3 - DEATHS | |
| Peter Safar | |
(source) |
 Died
3 Aug 2003 (born 12 Apr 1924)
Austrian-American physician whose pioneering "Kiss of Life" procedure of mouth-to-mouth resuscitations is credited with saving countless lives. In the 1960s the technique was combined with new chest compressions, producing what's known today as CPR, or cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. He also helped create the organization that, in 1976, became the World Association for disaster and Emergency Medicine. Although there are ancient references to the apparent use of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in the Bible, the technique fell out of practice until rediscovered by Safar in the 1950s. Also credited with playing a key role was his colleague, Dr James Elam. Safar survived a Nazi labor camp before emigrating to the U.S. after WW II. |
| Libbie Henrietta Hyman | |
(source) |
Died
3 Aug 1969 (born 6 Dec 1888)
U.S. zoologist who wrote two laboratory manuals and a comprehensive six-volume reference work, The Invertebrates, (1940-67) covering most phyla of its subject. This work, important for its organization, description and classification of invertebrates, is a reference still used today. Hyman continued her laboratory studies throughout her life and published some 145 scientific papers. The sixth volume was her last, completed at the age of seventy-eight, when she was suffering from Parkinson's disease. |
| Emile Berliner | |
 |
Died
3 Aug 1929 (born 20 May 1851)
German-born American inventor who made important contributions to telephone technology and developed the phonograph record disk, the microphone in 1877 and the gramophone in 1887. Whereas Edison invented cylindrical records, Berliner came up with the idea of using disks. Later, he became a pioneer in helicopter design. |
| Edward Bradford Titchener | |
(source) |
Died
3 Aug 1927 (born 11 Jan 1867)
English-born psychologist and a major figure in the establishment of experimental psychology in the United States. A disciple of the German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of experimental psychology, Titchener gave Wundt's theory on the scope and method of psychology a precise, systematic expression. The acknowledged leader of structuralism, Titchener was rated as the most distinguished psychologist in the United States, its most representative experimentalist, and an inspiring teacher who guided many of his pupils in the direction of scientific procedure. |
| Georg Frobenius | |
(source) |
Died
3 Aug 1917 (born 26 Oct 1849)
German mathematician who made major contributions to group theory, especially the concept of abstract groups (with Ludwig Stickleberger) and the theory of finite groups of linear substitutions (with Issai Schur), that later found important uses in the theory of finite groups as it applies to quantum mechanics. He also contributed to means of solving linear homogenous differential equations. The fact so many of Frobenius's papers read like present day text-books on the topics which he studied is a clear indication of the importance that his work, in many different areas, has had in shaping the mathematics which is studied today. |
| Benjamin F. Goodrich | |
(source) |
Died
3 Aug 1888 (born 4 Nov 1841)
Benjamin Franklin Goodrich was the industrialist who founded the B.F. Goodrich Rubber Co. in Akron, Ohio. After the Civil War, during which he served as an Army surgeon, Goodrich with J.P. Morris acquired the Hudson River Rubber Co. for $5,000.00 under a license agreement with Charles Goodyear. This company, failed, as did their next in Melrose, NY. Goodrich moved to Akron and began a partnership , the Goodrich, Tew Company, on December 31, 1870 and began making such rubber products as fire hoses, industrial belts and bicycle tires on February 19, 1871. Following its reorganization, the B.F. Goodrich Company was incorporated in 1880. B.
F. Goodrich: Tradition and Transformation, 1870-1995,
by Mansel G. Blackford and K. Austin Kerr. |
| Sir Richard Arkwright | |
(source) |
Died
3 Aug 1792 (born 23 Dec 1732)
English industrialist and inventor whose introduction of power-driven mechanization of textile factory production methods were enormously successful. The Spinning-Frame machine he invented (1769, British patent No. 931) to spin cotton yarn used multiple sets of paired rollers that turned at different speeds able to draw out yarn of the correct thickness, and a set of spindles to twist the fibres firmly together. It produced a far stronger thread that that made by the Spinning-Jenny of James Hargreaves. Arkwright's machine was too large to be manually driven, so he powered it with a water-wheel (1771) when it became known as the Water Frame. Arkwright's textile business expanded, he built more factories, and later adopted steam power.« The
Arkwrights: Spinners of Fortune, by R.S Fitton. |
| AUGUST 3 - EVENTS | |
| English police use Taser stun gun | |
(source) |
In 2003, police in London, England, used
the Taser electric stun gun on a suspect for the first time in that country.
It was part of a year-long trial
commenced 21 Apr 2003 as an alternative
to conventional guns. A man had called police, saying he had been shot.
When the police arrived, they found he was carrying two handguns. The Taser
was fired during a brief seige that followed, though one of its pair of
barbed darts attached to cables failed to make contact on the man and the
50,000-volt electric shock was not delivered. The Daily Telegraph
reported on 5 Aug 2003, that a spokesman for the Association of Chief Police
Officers said the use of the Taser was the first operational deployment
against a human suspect in England and Wales. |
| Submarine | |
(source) |
In 1958, the USS Nautilus (SSN571), became the first submarine to travel
under the geographic North Pole when the ice-pack conditions were favorable.
This was the first atomic-powered submarine in the U.S. Navy. Attempts
earlier in the year failed due to the ice-pack conditions. The crew created
a post office while under the North Pole and canceled their letters with
a home-made North Pole Stamp. (The Post Master General later declared it
to be a legal post office.) Santa Claus boarded through one of the forward
torpedo tubes and complained about the effect on his lawn.« |
| UK traffic lights | |
|
In 1926, the first traffic lights in Britain were installed at Piccadilly
Circus. |
|
| Cropduster | |
(source) |
In 1921, the first crop dusting from an airplane was demonstrated by pilot
Lt. John A. Macready who spread lead arsenate insecticide dust over a six
acre catalpa grove on the farm of Harry A. Carver near Troy, Ohio to kill
a serious infestation of Sphinx moth caterpillars. He flew over the target
site at 20-35 feet in a Curtiss JN6 with a specially designed hopper fitted
to the side of the fuselage to distribute the chemical dust. Two days later,
C.R. Nellie, the Cleveland entomologist who had suggested the idea, reported
great success in killing the caterpillars.*
Macready flew with Lt. Oakley G. Kelly on the first non-stop U.S. transcontinental
flight on 2-3 May 1923. Macready established several world records in his
career.« [Image left:
John Macready; right:
Airplane cropdusting over trees.]
John
Macready - Aviation Pioneer: At the Earth's Ceiling,
by Sally Macready Wallace. |
| Neanderthal discovered | |
(source) |
In 1908, a nearly complete, buried, skeleton of a Neanderthal
was discovered
in a cave at La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France, by two young clergymen, brothers
Amédée and Jean Bouyssonie. It was examined by Marcellin
Boule, who overlooked its arthritic condition, and his published description
that characterized
the Neanderthal as a shuffling, bent-kneed, and hairy creature capable
of "rudimentary intellectual abilities" became stereotypical. This mistake
was corrected by research in the 1950s. The species had been named after
the Neander Valley, Germany, where the earliest find was made in Aug 1856.
Neanderthal fossils have since been found at 80 sites in Europe, the Middle
East and parts of Western Asia. |
| Philadelphia Subway | |
|
In 1908, the Philadelphia Subway opened, also known as Tube Transportation.
The original 1908 section, built with private capital, ran east and west
in Market Street. Municipal funds were not used until a subsequent line
that opened in 1928. |
|
| Edison on X-Rays | |
(source) |
In 1903, Thomas Edison's concern about X-Ray injury was front page news
in the New York World newspaper. Under the headline "Edison Fears
Hidden Perils of the X-rays" the history of injuries of his laboratory
employee were described. Clarence Dally had an arm and hand amputated because
of cancer caused by exposure to X-rays. Edison's own experience was that
viewing with his own X-ray fluoroscope harmed his own eyesight two years
earlier. The focus of his left eye was disturbed by his experiments causing
him to abandon research
on X-rays. Edison, the "Wizard of Menlo Park," was also quoted saying,
"I am afraid of radium and polonium too, and I don't want to monkey with
them." [Image: Clarence M. Dally,
from the newspaper article] |
| Edison on radium emanations | |
(source) |
In 1903, Thomas Edison's opinion of radium was quoted within an article
in the New York World newspaper. "I have had several pieces of it
from Mme. Curie in Paris, and I have experimented with it. I do not see
its commercial utility, but it opens up a great field of thought and scientific
research. It overturns all the old theories of force and energy... I have
a peculiar theory about radium, and I believe it is the correct one. I
believe that there is some mysterious ray pervading the universe that is
fluorescing to it. In other words, that all its energy is not self-constructed
but that there is a mysterious something in the atmosphere that scientists
have not found that is drawing out those infinitesimal atoms and distributing
them forcefully and indestructibly." [Image:
Thomas Edison, from the newspaper article] |
| Variable star | |
 |
In 1596, David Fabricius discovered the light variation of Mira (first
variable star). |
| Tar pits | |
(source) |
In 1769, The La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California were first noticed
by a Spanish expedition. Juan Crespi, a Franciscan friar with the expedition
of Gaspar de Portola (the first Spanish governor of the Californias), in
1769-70, wrote
"The 3rd, we proceeded for three hours on a good road; to the right were
extensive swamps of bitumen which is called chapapote. We debated whether
this substance, which flows melted from underneath the earth, could occasion
so many earthquakes." The name La Brea comes from the Spanish word
for "tar." A scientific publication first recorded the fossils found there
in 1875, the work of Professor William Denton. Evidence exists that prehistoric
native Americans used and traded the asphalt. |
