| SEPTEMBER 10 - BIRTHS | |
| Stephen Jay Gould | |
(source) |
 Born 10
Sep 1941; died 20 May 2002.
American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and science writer who grew up in New York City. He graduated from Antioch College and received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1967. Since then he has been Professor of Geology and Zoology at Harvard University. He considers himself primarily a palaeontologist and an evolutionary biologist, though he teaches geology and the history of science as well. A frequent and popular speaker on the sciences, his published work includes both scholarly study and many prize-winning popular collections of essays. |
| Maxie Anderson | |
 |
Born 10
Sep 1934; died 27 Jun 1983.
Maxie Leroy "Max" Anderson was an aviator and balloonist who (with fellow Albuquerque, NM, residents Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman) made the first transatlantic balloon flight aboard their Double Eagle II balloon, 3108 miles from Presque Isle, Maine to Miserey, France. After a dozen failed attempts, their successful crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by gas balloon was achieved 11-16 August 1978, (landing 17 Aug), setting a new duration record with a flight time of 137 hours. Two years later, 12-18 May 1980, with his son Kristian, he made the first nonstop balloon flight across North America. This record helium balloon flight aboard the Kitty Hawk began at San Francisco, California, lasted four days and ended near Matane, Quebec, Canada, 3,100 miles from their launch site. His later round-the-world attempts failed. He was killed in 1983 when refused permission to fly across the East German border and a faulty release clamp used at landing caused them to crash.  Double
Eagle, by Charles McCarry. |
| Waldo Semon | |
(source) |
Born 10
Sep 1898; died 26 May 1999
American chemical engineer who invented plasticized PVC (vinyl). In 1926's, he discovered how to convert polyvinyl chloride from a hard, unworkable substance to a pliable one. It is now used in hundreds of products such as floor tile, garden hose, imitation leather, shower curtains, and coatings. It is produced in larger quantities than any other plastic except polyethylene. Semon also made pioneering contributions in polymer science, including new rubber antioxidants. His technical leadership led to discovery of three major new polymer families: thermoplastic polyurethane, synthetic "natural" rubber, and oil-resistant synthetic rubbers. Semon held 116 U.S. patents. |
| Melville J. Herskovits | |
(source) |
Born 10
Sep 1895; died 25 Feb 1963.
Melville Jean Herskovits was an American cultural anthropologist, noted for having opened up the study of the New World Negro as a new field of research. Herskovits was also known for his humanistic and relativistic writings on culture. Herskovits turned to the study of Anthropology in 1920 in graduate work at Columbia University under Franz Boas. As a teacher at Northwestern University, IL, (1927-63), he founded the first US University Program in African Studies (1951). He advocated cultural relativism in Man and His Works (1948) that all standards of judgment are culture-bound. Melville
J. Herskovits (Leaders of modern anthropology series),
by George Eaton Simpson |
| Arthur Holly Compton | |
(EB) |
Born 10
Sep 1892; died 15 Mar 1962.
American physicist and engineer. He was a joint winner, with C.T.R. Wilson of England, of the Nobel Prize for Physics (1927) for his discovery and explanation of the change in the wavelength of X rays when they collide with electrons in metals. This so-called Compton effect is caused by the transfer of energy from a photon to a single electron, then a quantum of radiation is re-emitted in a definite direction by the electron, which in so doing must recoil in a direction forming an acute angle with that of the incident radiation. During WW II, in 1941, he was appointed Chairman of the National Academy of Sciences Committee to Evaluate Use of Atomic Energy in War, assisting in the development of the atomic bomb. [Image: Compton (left) with his assistant Richard L. Doan, 1936.] The
Cosmos of Arthur Holly Compton, by Arthur Holly Compton,
edited by Marjorie Johnson. |
| Sir Mortimer Wheeler | |
(source) |
Born 10
Sep 1890; died 22 Jul 1976.
Sir (Robert Eric) Mortimer Wheeler was a Scottish archaeologist, born in Glasgow, who was a great popularizer for his subject, particularly on TV. His notable excavations in Britain were at Verulamium (St Albans) and Maiden Castle. While director-general of archaeology in India (1944-7), he was most active at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. His particular excavation method was the 'Wheeler' box trench system. Returning to London, he became professor of the archaeology of the Roman provinces at the newly founded Institute of Archaeology (1948-55) and was knighted in 1952. His books include Archaeology from the Earth (1954) and the autobiographical Still Digging (1955). |
| Lilian Gibbs | |
(source) |
Born 10
Sep 1870; died 30 Jan 1925.
Lilian Suzette Gibbs was an independent English botanist who organized botanical expeditions to some of the most remote places on Earth. After her education at Swanley Horticultural College and in botany at the Royal College of Science, she made a botanical trip to Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) in 1905, followed by expeditions in 1907 to Fiji and New Zealand, Queensland and Tasmania. In 1910, she became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Kinabulu in Borneo. She contributed over 1,000 botanical specimens from that trip to the British Museum. Bambusa gibbsiae (Miss Gibbs's bamboo) was named for her. In 1912 she made a botanical trip to Iceland, and in 1913, to the East Indies and Dutch New Guinea.« |
| James Keeler | |
(source) |
Born 10
Sep 1857; died 12 Aug 1900.
James Edward Keeler was an American astronomer who confirmed Maxwell's theory that the rings of Saturn were not solid (requiring uniform rotation), but composed of meteoric particles (with rotational velocity given by Kepler's 3rd law). His spectrogram of 9 Apr 1895 of the rings of Saturn showed the Doppler shift indicating variation of radial velocity along the slit. At the age of 21, he observed the solar eclipse of Jul 1878, with the Naval Observatory expedition to Colorado. He directed the Allegheny Observatory (1891-8) and the Lick Observatory from 1898, where, working with the Crossley reflector, he observed large numbers of nebulae whose existence had never before been suspected. He died unexpectedly of a stroke, age 42.« |
| Robert Koldewey | |
(source) |
Born 10
Sep 1855; died 4 Feb 1925.
German archaeologist who discovered the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (ca. 580 BC) in modern day Iraq, thus confirming its historical existance and it was not just a legend. His excavations (26 Mar 1899-1917) at Babylon unearthed many of its features including the outer walls, inner walls, foundations of the ziggurat Marduk, Nebuchadnezzar's palaces, the wide processional roadway which passed through the heart of the city and the Ishtar Gate. He developed several modern archaeological techniques including a method to identify and excavate mud brick architecture (made necessary at Babylon because the Gardens were built using mainly unfired mudbricks.) In his life, he led many excavations in Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy.« The
excavations at Babylon, by Robert Koldewey. |
| Charles Sanders Peirce | |
(source) |
Born 10
Sep 1839; died 19 Apr 1914.
American scientist, logician, and philosopher who is noted for his work on the logic of relations and on pragmatism as a method of research. He was the first modern experimental psychologist in the Americas, the first metrologist to use a wave-length of light as a unit of measure, the inventor of the quincuncial projection of the sphere, the first known conceiver of the design and theory of an electric switching-circuit computer, and the founder of "the economy of research." He is the only system-building philosopher in the Americas who has been both competent and productive in logic, in mathematics, and in a wide range of sciences. |
| Carl Gustaf Mosander | |
Lanthanum ore (source) |
Born 10
Sep 1797; died 15 Oct 1858.
Swedish chemist and mineralologist; whose work revealed the existence of numerous rare-earth elements with closely similar chemical properties. In 1839 he discovered lanthanum (La) which is used as a component of misch metal (used for making lighter flints) and rare-earth compounds containing lanthanum are extensively used in carbon lighting applications, especially by the motion picture industry for studio lighting and projection. He discovered other rare earth metals: erbium (Er) in 1842 and terbium (Tb) in 1843. Erbium oxide is rose-pink, and it is used to make pink glass and pink potter's glaze. Terbium oxide has potential as an activator for green phosphors used in colour televisions tubes. |
| Jacques Boucher de Perthes | |
1831 (source) |
Born 10
Sep 1788; died 5 Aug 1868.
Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes was a French archaeologist who was the first to establish that Europe had been populated by early man. Further, his discovery (about 1846) of whole handaxes, tools and fragments embedded in and scattered about the fossilized bones of prehistoric mammals in the high banks of the Somme River showed that man existed at least as early as the ancient creature. This disproved the prevailing theologically-based idea that 4004 BC was the year of the creation of man. He recorded his findings in a three volume work, Antiquitis celtiques et antediluviennes (1846). Acceptance was slow, but his ideas gained support when the evidence was validated by Prestwich, William Falconer and Charles Lyell.« |
| John Kidd | |
(source) |
Born 10
Sep 1775; died 17 Sep 1851
English chemist and physician who obtained naphthalene (1819), which name he coined. It was the first of many useful organic chemicals derived from coal tar, the thick black liquid resulting when coal is heated to make coke and gas. In addition to teaching chemistry at Oxford, elected in 1803 as the first Aidrichian professor of chemistry, he later taught minerology and geology. His geology students included William Conybeare, William Buckland and Charles Daubeny. Holding a medical degree, he also taught anatomy (from 1816) and medicine (from 1822). He wrote a pamphlet on the role of science in education. Kidd was the son of a navy captain.« |
| John Needham | |
| Born 10
Sep 1713; died 30 Dec 1781.
John Turberville Needham was an English naturalist and Roman Catholic priest. He experimented, with Buffon, on the idea of spontaneous generation of life. After boiling mutton broth and sealing it in glass containers which were stored for a few days, then reopened, he found numerous microorganisms therein. His conclusion was that the organisms had arisen from non-living matter. (However, two decades later, Spallanzani indicated this was invalid since some spores could still survive the short period of boiling temperature Needham used.) He was the first clergyman of his faith to become a member of the Royal Society of London (1768). |
|
| Thomas Sydenham | |
(source) |
Baptised
10 Sep 1624; died 29 Dec 1689.
English physician who became known as the "English Hippocrates." As a founder of clinical medicine, he emphasized bedside observation of disease, and carefully kept a notebook of his clinical observations. He began his practice in London (c.1656) where he made studies on the causes and treatment of epidemics. His treatise on gout (1683) is considered his masterpiece. He named scarlet fever, differentiated it from measles, and was among the first to describe it. Sydenham explained the nature of hysteria and St. Vitus' dance (Sydenham's chorea). He invented laudanum (alcohol tincture of opium) for use in medical practice, was one of the first to use iron in treating iron-deficiency anemia, and helped popularize quinine in treating malaria. [Note: Birth date uncertain: may be same as date baptised.]« Dr.
Thomas Sydenham (1624-1689): His Life and Original Writings,
by Kenneth Dewhurst. |
|
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| SEPTEMBER 10 - DEATHS | |
| Sir Hermann Bondi | |
(source) |
 Died
10 Sep 2005 (born 1 Nov 1919)
Austrian-born British mathematician and cosmologist who, with Fred Hoyle and Thomas Gold, formulated the steady-state theory of the universe (1948). Their theory addressed a crucial problem: "How do the stars continually recede without disappearing altogether?" Their explanation was that the universe is ever-expanding, without a beginning and without an end. Further, they said, since the universe must be expanding, new matter must be continually created in order to keep the density constant, by the interchange of matter and energy. The theory was eclipsed in 1965, when Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered a radiation background in microwaves giving convincing support to the "big bang" theory of creation now accepted.  |
| Felix Bloch | |
| Died
10 Sep 1983 (born 23 Oct 1905)
Swiss-born American physicist who shared (with E.M. Purcell) the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1952 for developing the nuclear magnetic resonance method of measuring the magnetic field of atomic nuclei. |
|
| Jerome Hunsaker | |
(source) |
Died
10 Sep 1984 (born 26 Aug 1886).
American aeronautical engineer who made major innovations in the design of aircraft and lighter-than-air ships, seaplanes, and carrier-based aircraft. His career had spanned the entire existence of the aerospace industry, from the very beginnings of aeronautics to exploration of the solar system. He received his master's degree in naval architecture from M.I.T. in 1912. At about the same time seeing a flight by Bleriot around Boston harbour attracted him to the fledgling field of aeronautics. By 1916, he became MIT's first Ph.D. in aeronautical engineering. He designed the NC (Navy Curtiss) flying boat with the capability of crossing the Atlantic. It was the largest aircraft in the world at the time, with four engines and a crew of six. |
| Sir George Paget Thomson | |
 |
Died
10 Sep 1975 (born 3 May 1892)
English physicist who shared (with Clinton J. Davisson of the U.S.) the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1937 for demonstrating that electrons undergo diffraction, a behaviour peculiar to waves that is widely exploited in determining the atomic structure of solids and liquids. He was the son of Sir J.J. Thomson who discovered the electron as a particle. |
| Robert Julius Trumpler | |
(source) |
Born 2 Oct 1886; died 10 Sep 1956.
Swiss-born U.S. astronomer who moved to the US in 1915 and worked at the Lick Observatory. In 1922, by observing a solar eclipse, he was able to confirm Einstein's theory of relativity. He made extensive studies of galactic star clusters, and demonstrated (1930) the presence throughout the galactic plane of a tenuous haze of interstellar material that absorbs light generally that dims and reddens the light from of distant clusters. The presence of this obscuring haze revealed how the size of spiral galaxies had been over-estimated. Whereas Harlow Shapley, in 1918, determined the distance to the centre of the Milky Way to be 50,000 light-years away, Trumpler's work reduced this to 30,000 light-years. [Image, right (source)] |
| George Bentham | |
(source) |
Died
10 Sep 1844 (born 22 Sep 1800)
British botanist whose classification of seed plants (Spermatophyta), based on an exhaustive study of all known species, served as a foundation for modern systems of vascular plant taxonomy. Sir William Hooker, invited him to establish permanent quarters at Kew gardens, where Bentham participated in the Gardens' definitive survey of floras of the British colonies and possessions, for which he prepared the Flora Hongkongensis (1861) and the Flora Australiensis (7 vol., 1863-78), cataloging and describing more than 7,000 species. Collaborating with Hooker's son Sir Joseph, Bentham spent 27 years in research and examination of specimens for the work Genera Plantarum (3 vol., 1862-83), which covered 200 "orders" of 7,569 genera, and 97,200 species. George
Bentham, by George Bentham, Marion Filipiuk. |
| Émilie du Châtelet | |
(source) |
Died
10 Sep 1749 (born 17 Dec 1706)
Gabrielle-Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet was a French mathematician and physicist who was the mistress of Voltaire. She took to mathematics and the sciences, being exposed to distinguished guests of her aristocratic parents. Emilie was interested in the philosophies of Newton and Leibniz, and dressed as a man to enter the cafes where the scientific discussions of the time were carried on. Châtelet's major work was a translation of Newton's Principia, begun in 1745. Voltaire wrote the preface. The complete work appeared in 1759 and was for many years the only translation of the Principia into French. She died in 1749, a few days after giving birth to her daughter. |
| SEPTEMBER 10 - EVENTS | |
| Child car seat patent | |
In 1985, Karl Hassel of Plain City, Ohio was awarded a patent for his built-in
child's car seat. |
|
| DNA fingerprinting | |
(source) |
In 1984, DNA fingerprinting was discovered
in Leicester, England, by Alec Jeffreys
as X-ray films of his tests first revealed the possibility. As he studied
the image,
at first what he saw seemed just a complicated mess. Then he realized this
could be DNA-based biological identification since every person has a unique
DNA profile. The technique has since helped in forensics, crime investigation
and identifying family members. However, this result was merely an accident
outcome of research Jeffreys was conducting to trace genetic markers through
families for the original purpose of understanding inheritance patterns
of illness. The first use of DNA profiling in criminology (1986) proved
innocence.« |
| Heart surgery | |
(source) |
In 1896, the first successful surgery on heart muscle was performed
on 10 Sep 1896, by Ludwig Rehn in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, who sutured
a myocardial laceration - a 1.5-cm wound of the right ventricle - of a
22-yr-old man stabbed in a drunken brawl. Previously, suturing of the pericardium,
a fluid sac surrounding the heart - but not a part of the heart proper
- was successfully executed by Americans Henry C. Dalton on 6
Sep 1891 and Daniel Hale
Williams on 9 Jul 1893. These operations
took place at a time when the prevailing belief was of the inviolability
of the heart. Rehn's achievement is regarded as a landmark for the beginning
of cardiac surgery.« |
| Sewing machine | |
(source) |
In 1846, Elias Howe
of Spencer, Massachusetts, received a patent for his hand-cranked sewing
machine. Isaac Singer patented
one five years later. Howe sued Singer for infringement and won...but by
that time Singer was well ahead in the sewing machine business. [Image:
patent model of Howe's 1846 sewing machine] |
| Champlain Canal opened | |
|
In 1823, The Champlain Canal was opened
in New York state, a 60-mile canal that connects the south end of Lake
Champlain to the Hudson River in New York. It was authorized on 17 Apr
1816, when a law was passed "to consider, devise and adopt such measures
as may or shall be requisite, to facilitate and effect the communication,
by means of canals and locks, between the navigable waters of Hudson's
river and Lake Erie, and the said navigable waters and Lake Champlain."
The Champlain Canal was built
as part of the Erie Canal. By 1818, twelve miles were completed and in
1819 the canal was opened from Fort Edward to Lake Champlain. The canal
was completed in 1823 and was an immediate financial success.« |
|
| Double-decker steamboat | |
|
In 1815, the keel was laid for the first double decker steamboat, the Washington,
in Wheeling, Virginia, built for Capt. Henry Miller Shreve. It was a 148-ft
stern-wheeler with a flat, shallow hull and a high-pressure engines with
24-in diam. cylinders and 6-foot strokes. Its upper deck carried passengers,
and the lower deck was for the engines, located horizontally. Each side
wheel was powered independently, so the boat could be turned within its
own length. It was ready to launch on 4 Jun 1816. On its first long trip
down-river, it arrived on 7 Oct 1816 at New Orleans, Louisiana. It was
the fastest yet built, able to make the 1,500 mile New Orleans to Louisville
run
in only 24 days.« |
|
