| AUGUST 16 - BIRTHS | |
| Wendell Stanley | |
(source) |
 Born 16
Aug 1904; died 15 Jun 1971
Wendell Meredith Stanley was a Spanish-American biochemist, who shared (with John Northrop and James Sumner) the 1946 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work in the purification and crystallization of viruses, thus demonstrating their molecular structure. This work began in 1935 when Stanley crystallized tobacco mosaic virus, the first such purification of a virus. He then believed, incorrectly, that protein was the active agent of the virus. By 1936 he isolated nucleic acids from the tobacco mosaic virus, which were later found (1955) to cause the viral activity.  The
Life of a Virus: Tobacco Mosaic Virus as an Experimental Model,
by Angela N. H. Creager. |
| Hugo Gernsback | |
1963 (source) |
Born 16
Aug 1884; died 19 Aug 1967
American inventor (80 patents) and publisher who was largely responsible for the establishment of science fiction as an independent literary form. In 1926, Hugo Gernsback was the owner of a magazine called Modern Electrics. One day, he found that he had a blank spot in his publication, so he dashed off the first chapter of series called "Ralph 124C 41+." "Ralph" was an amazing success. The 12-part story was filled with all kinds of wild inventions unheard of in 1926, including television (he is credited with introducing this word), fluorescent lighting, juke boxes, solar energy, television, microfilm, vending machines, and a device we now call radar. |
| Ronald Montagu Burrows | |
(source) |
Born 16
Aug 1867
English archaeologist who in 1895-96 conducted excavations in southwestern Greece at Pylos and the adjacent island of Sphacteria, revealing remains of Spartan fortifications. These confirmed the battle of 425 BC in the Peloponnesian War recorded by the ancient Athenian historian Thucydides. Burrows was by nature a classicist, whose primary purpose in seeking tangible evidence from the past was to verify ancient texts. At Rhitsona, in Boeotia (1905, 1907), his original goal was to find the temple of Delium, but without success. Instead he found and catalogued artifacts from Boeotian graves dating from the 7th and 6th century B.C. at the necropolis of Mykalessos, near Tanagra. In 1907, he published Recent Discoveries in Crete.« |
| Frederic Stanley Kipping | |
| Born 16
Aug 1863; died 1 May 1949.
British chemist who pioneered in the chemistry of silicones, organic derivatives of silicon. |
|
| Francis Darwin | |
Born 16
Aug 1849; died 19 Sep 1925.
English botanist who was the third son of Charles Darwin, and published the results of his collaboration with his father in the publication of The Movement of Plants (1880). |
|
| Gabriel Lippman | |
(source) |
Born 16
Aug 1845; died 13 Jul 1921.
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. |
| Wilhelm Wundt | |
(source) |
Born 16
Aug 1832; died 31 Aug 1920
German physiologist and psychologist who established the first laboratory for experimental psychology (1879). He initiated lectures in scientific psychology, in which he stressed the use of experimental methods drawn from the natural sciences, which he expanded and published as Lectures on the Mind of Humans and Animals (1863). In his important work, Principles of Physiological Psychology (1874) he maintained that psychology should investigate the immediate experiences of consciousness, including sensations, feelings, volitions, apperception, and ideas. His methods are still used in modern psychophysical work, where reactions to external stimuli are measured in some way, such as reaction time, reactions and comparison with graded colors or sounds.« Wilhelm
Wundt in History: The Making of a Scientific Psychology,
by David K. Robinson. |
| Arthur Cayley | |
(source) |
Born 16
Aug 1821
English mathematician who played a leading role in founding the modern British school of pure mathematics. He trained first as a lawyer, and from 1849, spent 14 years at the bar, during which time he maintained an interest in mathematics and published about 250 mathematical papers. In 1863, Cayley followed his passion and commenced a new career as professor of Pure Mathematics at Cambridge and during his tenure published 900 papers and notes covering nearly every aspect of modern mathematics. The legacy of his work in n-dimensional geometry was later applied in physics to the study of the space-time continuum. His work on matrices served as a foundation for quantum mechanics developed by Werner Heisenberg in 1925.« |
| Pierre Mechain | |
(source) |
Born 16
Aug 1744; died 20 Sep 1804.
Pierre (-François-André) Méchain was a French astronomer and hydrographer at the naval map archives in Paris recruited by Jean Delambre. He was a mathematical progidy. In 1790, they were chosen by the National Assembly to establish a decimal system of measurement based on the meter. Since this was defined to be one ten-millionth of the distance between the Earth's pole and the equator, Mechain led a survey of the meridian arc from Dunkirk, France, to Barcelona, Spain. Through his astronomical observations, Mechain discovered 11 comets and provided 26 additions to Messier's catalog. He calculated the orbits of the two comets he found in 1781. Mechain died of yellow fever while making further surveys for the meridian measurement.« |
|
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| AUGUST 16 - DEATHS | |
| Selman Waksman | |
(source) |
 Died
16 Aug 1973 (born 22 July 1888)
Discoverer of streptomycin, died Hyannis, Mass. Selman Abraham Waksman, was a Ukrainian-born (Priluka) American biochemist who was one of the world's foremost authorities on soil microbiology. After the discovery of penicillin, he played a major role in initiating a calculated, systematic search for antibiotics among microbes. In 1939, Dubos, a previous student pointed out a bacteria-killing agent in a soil microorganism. He introduced the term antibiotic, "against life." In 1943, he isolated streptomycin from a mold he had known and studied early in his life. His consequent discovery of this antibiotic streptomycin, the first specific antibiotic effective against tuberculosis, earned him the 1952 Nobel Prize. |
| Irving Langmuir | |
(source) |
Died
16 Aug 1957 (born 31 Jan 1881)
American physical chemist whose studies of molecular films on solid and liquid surfaces opened new fields in colloid research and biochemistry and won him the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1932. His early work on gases led to the invention of the Langmuir condensation pump. In 1913, Langmuir found that the life of the tungsten vacuum bulbs then in use could be extended considerably if they were filled with a mixture of nitrogen and argon. He also developing an atomic-hydrogen welding torch capable of temperatures up to 3,000°C, and first using the term plasma. While studying atomic structure he introduced the terms covalence and electrovalence. In surface chemistry, he worked the phenomenon of adsorption and the application of this to catalysis. |
| William Z. Ripley | |
(source) |
Died
16 Aug 1941 (born 13 Oct 1867)
William Z(ebina) Ripley was an American economist and anthropologist whose early book The Races of Europe: A Sociological Study (1899) directed the attention of American social scientists to the existence of subdivisions of geographic races. He gave broad classifications of the European Caucasians into three local races: the northern (Teutonic) and southern (Mediterranean) populations are probably of extremely ancient origin, but the central (Alpine) group has descended from more recent migrants from Asia. Ripley was trained in civil engineering, though he spent most of his career as professor of political economy. In 1920-23 he drew up for the Interstate Commerce Commission the Ripley Plan for the regional consolidation of U.S. railways. Railroads,
Rates and Regulations, by William Z. Ripley. |
| Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer | |
(source) |
Died
16 Aug 1920 (born 17 May 1836)
British astronomer who in 1868 discovered and named the element helium that he found in the Sun's atmosphere before it had been detected on Earth. He also applied the name chromosphere for the sun's outer layer. Lockyer discovered, together with Pierre J. Janssen, the prominences (red flames) that surround the solar disk. He was also interested in the classification of stellar spectra and developed the meteoric hypothesis of stellar evolution. His works include the books Contributions to Solar Physics (1873), The Sun's Place in Nature (1897) and Inorganic Evolution (1900). Science and Controversy: A Biography of Sir Norman Lockyer, by A. J. Meadows. |
| Robert Bunsen | |
(source) |
Died 16 Aug 1899 (born 31 Mar 1811)
German chemist who, with Gustav Kirchhoff, about 1859 observed that each element emits a light of characteristic wavelength. (These studies opened the field of spectrum analysis, important in the study of the Sun and stars.) With this tool, Bunsen soon discovered two new elements: cesium and rubidium. He developed several techniques used in separating, identifying, and measuring various chemical substances. He also made a number of improvements in chemical batteries for use in isolating quantities of pure metals, (one is known as the Bunsen battery). His Bunsen burner was created for use in flame tests of various metals and salts because its nonluminous flame did not interfere with the colored flame given off by the test material. |
| Jean-Martin Charcot | |
(source) |
Died
16 Aug 1893 (born 29 Nov 1825)
French founder (with Guillaume Duchenne) of modern neurology and one of France's greatest medical teachers and clinicians. Although he was a nineteenth century scientist, his influence carried on into the next century, especially in the work of some of his well-known students (Binet and Freud). In 1882, he established a neurological clinic at the Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, that was unique in Europe. He was first to describe the degeneration of ligaments and joint surfaces due to lack of use or control, now called Charcot's joint. He did research to determine the parts of the brain responsible for specific nerve functions and discovered the importance of small arteries in cerebral hemorrhage. |
| John S. Pemberton | |
(source) |
Died
16 Aug 1888 (born 8 July 1831)
John Styth Pemberton was a pharmacist, who invented Coca-Cola in 1885. At first it was a tonic, French Wine Coca. Later he modified the formula by omitting the alcohol and adding other vegetable essences. The new syrup was meant to be a sure cure for headaches. On May 29, 1886 Coca-Cola was advertised for the first time in the Atlanta Daily. Pemberton later sold the recipe, equipment and machinery to manufacture the drink to Asa G. Candler for $1200. 
"For
God, Country, and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American
Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It" by Mark Pendergrast. |
| Jacob (Jacques) Bernoulli | |
(source) |
Died
16 Aug 1705 (born 6 Jan 1655)
Swiss mathematician who was one of the first to fully utilize differential calculus and introduced the term integral in integral calculus. Jacob Bernoulli's first important contributions were a pamphlet on the parallels of logic and algebra (1685), work on probability in 1685 and geometry in 1687. His geometry result gave a construction to divide any triangle into four equal parts with two perpendicular lines. By 1689 he had published important work on infinite series and published his law of large numbers in probability theory. He published five treatises on infinite series (1682 - 1704). Jacob was intrigued by the logarithmic spiral and requested it be carved on his tombstone. He was the first of the Bernoulli family of mathematicians. |
| AUGUST 16 - EVENTS | |
| Element 110 named | |
In 2003, chemists met in Ottawa to vote and make official a proposed name
for the element 110: Darmstadtium, symbol Ds. This was first identifieded
in a high-energy physics laboratory in Germany (1994), where Element 110
was created for a fraction of a thousandth of a second. Scientists at the
Laboratory for Heavy Ion Research, known as GSI, in Darmstadt, Germany
exercised the prerogative of discoverers, and proposed its name. It commemorates
the town of Darmstadt. IUPAC, the International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry, is an organization of chemists from more than 80 countries whose
duties include selecting official names, symbols and terms used in the
science. |
|
| AI | |
|
In 1988, IBM introduced software for artificial intelligence. |
|
| Parachute jump | |
|
In 1960, Captain Joseph W. Kittinger made the longest delayed parachute
jump on record when he bailed out of a balloon at 102,800 feet and dropped
84,700 feet (31,330 m) or 16.04 miles before opening his parachute over
New Mexico. |
|
| Bathysphere | |
|
In 1934, American explorer William Beebe descended 3,028 feet in his bathysphere
into the ocean near Bermuda. |
|
| Roller Coaster | |
|
In 1898, the loop-de-loop Roller Coaster was patented by Edwin Prescott. |
|
| Queen Victoria telegraphed US President | |
 |
In 1858, Queen Victoria sent the first official telegraph message
across the Atlantic Ocean from London to the US. (Test messages had been
exchanged for 10 days). Her message to President Buchanan, in Washington
DC, began transmission at 10:50am and was completed at 4:30am the next
day, taking nearly 18-hrs to reach Newfoundland. With 99 words, consisting
of 509 letters, it averaged about 2-min per letter. The message was forwarded
across Newfoundland by an overhead wire supported on poles; across Cabot
Strait by submarine cable to Aspy Bay (Dingwall), Cape Breton; and by an
overhead wire across eastern Canada and Maine, via Boston to New York.
This earliest Transatlantic cable went dead within a month. |
| The Siamese Twins | |
(source) |
In 1829, the original siamese twins,
Chang and Eng Bunker, arrived in Boston aboard the ship Sachem to
be exhibited to the Western world. They
were born of Chinese parents in Siam (Thailand). Upon immigrating
in to the U.S., they adopted Bunker as their surname. They were joined
at the waist by a band of cartilage, about 8 in. circumference and 4 in.
long. Only after their death was it found that this could have been easily
separated. Robert Hunter, a British merchant, discovered them in 1829 and
contracted with them to be exhibited as a curiosity in a world tour. Later,
they went into business for themselves. In 1839, they settled in Wilkesboro,
N.C., became US citizens and married two sisters with whom they raised
10 children.
Chang
and Eng by Darin Strauss |
