| SEPTEMBER 16 - BIRTHS | |
| Jean-Léon-François Tricart | |
 Born 16
Sep 1920; died 6 May 2003.
French physical geographer and climatic geomorphologist known for his extensive regional studies in numerous countries of Africa (Algeria, Senegal, Mali, the Ivory Coast, Togo, Niger, Nigeria, Liberia, Sudan) and Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Venezuela). Tricart was a pioneer in many fields of physical geography including the study of the major dynamic role of climate in landscape evolution; geomorphic cartography; and remote sensing. His extensive research included work on the geomorphology of glaciers; fluvial, Aeolian or marine dynamics; and sedimentology.« |
|
| Marvin P. Middlemark | |
| Born 16
Sep 1919; died 1989.
American inventor of the TV "rabbit ear" antenna among his many patents (1956-68) for consumer electronics (and lesser ideas like a water-driven potato peeler).He became a self-made millionaire. When he died, he left a a Long Island mansion surrounded by vinyl tube fencing stuffed with used tennis balls, housing eight dogs, "nine miniature horses and eight miniature donkeys, 18 Chinese tractors, dozens of cement statues of Greek gods, stained glass windows of Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstein, and 1,000 pairs of woolen gloves (one size fits all)." |
|
| Albert Szent-Gyorgyi | |
(source) |
Born 16
Sep 1893; died 22 Oct 1986.
Hungarian biochemist who was awarded the 1937 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine "for his discoveries in connection with the biological combustion processes, with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid." He isolated the vitamin C (ascorbic acid), noted its value for preventing scurvy, and extracted quantities of it from Hungarian paprika. He also investigated biological oxidation and recognized the catalytic function of the C4-dicarboxylic acids and discovered flavin. In 1938 he began work on muscle research and shortly discovered the proteins actin and myosin and their complex.« 
 Search
and discovery: A tribute to Albert Szent-Györgyi.
Academic Press. |
| Karen Horney | |
(source) |
Born 16
Sep 1885; died 4 Dec 1952.
(née Danielsen) German-born American psychoanalyst who departed from some of the basic principles of Sigmund Freud, suggesting that environmental and social conditions, rather than biological drives, determine much of individual personality and are the chief causes of neuroses and personality disorders. While she recognized the importance of early childhood experiences in determining neurotic conflicts, she contended that the analyst must also be aware of current fears and impulses. She also stressed the necessity of understanding the environmental context in which neurotic conflicts are expressed. Her view of human beings allowed much more scope for development and rational adaptation than Freudian determinism permitted.
Neurosis and Human Growth: The Struggle Toward Self-Realization,
by Karen Horney. |
| Jacob Schick | |
(source) |
Born 16
Sep 1877; died 3 July 1937.
American inventor and manufacturer of the first successful electric dry razor. He started in the razor business in 1925 to design and manufacture his invention of the Magazine Repeating Razor. By 1926, he was selling clips of blades that could be loaded into a safety razor without touching the blade to avoid cuts during handling. While this product was successful, he turned his attention to developing a dry razor. By 1927 he had designed a dry razor with a reciprocating head powered by a flexible drive shaft to an external motor. Although he marketed this model from 1929, it was not until 1931 that he had improved the idea as a new one-handed electric shaver with self-contained motor that sales took off. He lived only six year after that.«. |
| Ellsworth Huntington | |
Born 16
Sep 1876; died 17 Oct 1947.
Geographer, explored the influence of climate on civilization. |
|
| Albrecht Kossel | |
| Born 16
Sep 1853; died 5 Jul 1927.
German biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1910 for his contributions to understanding the chemistry of nucleic acids and proteins. He discovered the nucleic acids that are the bases in the DNA molecule, the genetic substance of the cell. |
|
| Sir Charles Thomas Newton | |
 |
Born 16
Sep 1816; died 28 Nov 1894.
British archaeologist who excavated sites in southwestern Turkey and disinterred the remains of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (at present-day Bodrum, Turkey). Newton joined staff of British Museum in 1840. He helped to establish systematic methods for archaeology. As the first keeper (curator) of Greek and Roman antiquities at the British Museum (1861-85), London, he greatly enriched its collection by making outstanding acquisitions. Along with the chief remains from Halicarnassus, he brought to the museum the bronze Delphian serpent from Istanbul, a sculpture of the Greek goddess Demeter, the colossal lion from Cnidus, and statues from the road to Didyma (Branchidae). |
| Squire Whipple | |
(source) |
Born 16
Sep 1804; died 15 Mar 1888.
U.S. civil engineer, inventor, and theoretician who provided the first scientifically based rules for bridge construction. His design of the Whipple truss bridge was the model for hundreds of bridges that crossed the Erie Canal in the late 19-th century. Before developing his design, Whipple worked for several years on surveys, estimates, and reports for the enlargement of the Erie Canal, and in 1840 he patented a scale for weighing canal boats. He later built the first weighing lock scale constructed on the Erie Canal. The invention of the steam engine required bridges which could support heavy live loads and this motivated Squire to turn his attention to bridges. In 1853, he completed a 146-ft span iron railroad bridge near West Troy (now Watervliet), N.Y. [Image: Bowstring Truss designed by Squire Whipple. This rare cast-and wrought iron bridge, built in 1872, was located in Coshocton County, Ohio, crossing Wills Creek on Linton Township Road 144.] |
| Jean-Baptiste Bouillaud | |
(source) |
Born 16
Sep 1796; died 29 Oct 1881.
French physician and clinician who first discovered the localisation of the speech centre in the middle of the left cerebral hemisphere of the brain. He reported this observation in 1825 in his early treatise on brain diseases. He also presented clinical evidence that loss of speech corresponds to a lesion of the anterior lobes of the brain, confirming Gall's opinion on the seat of the organ of articulate language. As a clinician, he published on diverse fields of medicine, including hermaphroditism, on cholera, encephalitis, diseases of the heart, cancer and various forms of fever. In his significant work on rheumatism he recognised the cartilaginous and synovial lesions of this disease and was the first to describe them.« |
| Johannes Nikolaus Tetens | |
(source) |
Born 16
Sep 1736; died 17 Aug 1807.
German natural philosopher whose empirical approach strongly influenced the work of Immanuel Kant, and later in his life, Tetens became interested in mathematics, especially in actuarial applications. From 1760, as a teacher of natural philosophy he wrote on diverse topics but later began the development of the field of developmental psychology in Germany. He wrote Philosophische Versuche über die menschliche Natur und ihre Entwickelung (1777) on the origin and structure of knowledge. He changed career after 1789 to the civil service during which time he pursued mathematics. As a statistician he produced an Introduction to the Calculation of Life Annuities (1785) and On the Tetens Mortality Curve (1785).« |
| Nicolas Desmarest | |
(source) |
Born 16
Sep 1725; died 28 Sep 1815.
French geographer whose discovery of the volcanic origin of basalt disproved the Neptunist theory that all rocks were formed by sedimentation from primeval oceans. Studying the Auvergne of central France (1763-74), he found large basalt deposits that he traced as lava flows from nearby ancient volcanoes. He further showed that many valleys are formed by the erosion of the rivers that flow in them. From 1757, Desmarest was employed by the government to help spread better manufacturing methods throughout France. By 1788 he had risen to the post of inspector general and director of manufactures. In 1792, during the French Revolution, Desmarest was imprisoned and narrowly escaped execution. Image: Basalt rock of the Devil's Tower, Wyoming, USA, is an ancient volcanic intrusion left over after all of the overlying material has been eroded away. |
| Guillaume François Rouelle | |
(source) |
Born 16
Sep 1703; died 3 Aug 1770.
French apothecary and chemist, who first proposed the modern definition of salts, and was first to distinguish neutral, acid, and basic salts. In 1742 he was appointed experimental demonstrator of chemistry at the Jardin du Roi in Paris. He founded the French school of chemistry. He also explained the dehydrating action of sulfuric acid, proposed a theory of distillation, studied the reaction of essential oils with nitric acid, studied the chemical components of plants, analyzed mineral waters and established that the Egyptians used sodium carbonate, succinic acid, and coal to effect mummification. Antoine Laurent Lavoisier and J. L. Proust were among his students. |
|
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| SEPTEMBER 16 - DEATHS | |
| Gordon Gould | |
(source) |
 Died
16 Sep 2005 (born 17 July 1920)
American physicist who coined the word "laser" from the initial letters of "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation." Gould was inspired from his youth to be an inventor, wishing to emulate Marconi, Bell, and Edison. He contributed to the WWII Manhattan Project, working on the separation of uranium isotopes. On 9 Nov 1957, during a sleepless Saturday night, he had the inventor's inspiration and began to write down the principles of what he called a laser in his notebook. Although Charles Townes and Arthur Schawlow, also successfully developed the laser, eventually Gould gained his long-denied patent rights. Laser:
The Inventor, the Nobel Laureate, and the Thirty-Year Patent War,
by Nick Taylor. |
| Leonard Carmichael | |
(source) |
Died
16 Sep 1973 (born 9 Nov 1898)
U.S. psychologist and educator who was among the first scientists to study and catalogue the earliest development of children. Of his many books, Manual of Child Psychology, is a classic. From 1953-64 he was the 11th secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Responsible for the modernization of the "nation's attic," he guided the creation of the Museum of History and Technology, and the addition of two new wings on to the Museum of Natural History. In 1964, Carmichael became the Vice-President for Research and Exploration at the National Geographic Society where he sponsored exciting and ground-breaking projects such as the work of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, or the Leakeys in East Africa, or Jane Goodall's work on the behaviour of primates. |
| Sir James Jeans | |
c. 1929 |
Died
16 Sep 1946 (born 11 Sep 1877)
Sir James Hopwood Jeans was an English physicist, astronomer, and mathematician who was the first to propose that matter is continuously created throughout the universe. He made other innovations in astronomical theory but is perhaps best known as a writer of popular books about astronomy. Died in Dorking, Surrey. |
| Sir Ronald Ross | |
(source) |
Died
16 Sep 1932 (born 13 May 1857)
British bacteriologist who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1902 for his work on malaria. His discovery of the malarial parasite in the gastrointestinal tract of the Anopheles mosquito led to the realization that malaria was transmitted by Anopheles. He began studying malaria in 1892. In 1894 he made an experimental investigation in India of the hypothesis of Laveran and Manson that mosquitoes are connected with the propagation of the disease. After two and a half years' failure, Ross succeeded in demonstrating the life-cycle of the parasites of malaria in mosquitoes, thus establishing the hypothesis of Laveran and Manson. Later, in West Africa he found the species of mosquitoes which convey the deadly African fever. |
| Alexander Alexandrovich Friedmann | |
(source) |
Died
16 Sep 1925 (born 17 Jun 1888)
Russian mathematician who was the first to work out a mathematical analysis of an expanding universe consistent with general relativity, yet without Einstein’s cosmological constant. In 1922, he developed solutions to the field equations, one of which clearly described a universe that began from a point singularity, and expanded thereafter. In his article On the Curvature of Space received by the journal Zeitschrift für Physik on 29 Jun 1922, he showed that the radius of curvature of the universe can be either an increasing or a periodic function of time. In Jul 1925, he made a record-breaking 7400-m balloon ascent to make meteorological and medical observations. A few weeks later he fell ill and died of typhus. |
| James Carroll | |
(source) |
Died
16 Sep 1907 (born 5 June 1854)
English-American physician who served on the Yellow fever Commission. Army Surgeon-General Sternberg assigned Carroll to the medical faculty of the Army Medical Museum in Washington, where he and Walter Reed worked together in bacteriology research. In 1899, Sternberg appointed Carroll and Reed to investigate the bacillus icteroides, the microbe that Italian bacteriologist Giuseppe Sanarelli had identified as the cause of yellow fever. Their work helped disprove Sanarelli’s theory and catapulted Carroll and Reed into the yellow fever debate. In 1900, Carroll was promoted to Acting Asst. Surgeon in the Army Medical Corps and placed him second-in-command on the Yellow Fever Commission with Reed as officer-in-charge. |
| Luther Crowell | |
(source) |
Died
16 Sep 1903 (born 7 Sep 1840)
American inventor who obtained over 280 patents for printing press improvements as well as designing a machine for making the square-bottomed paper bag (U.S. Patent No.123,811 issued 20 Feb 1872) still familiar in grocery stores. His creativity began with developing an aerial machine he patented 3 Jun 1862, but abandoned upon the business failure of his chief backer. He also had a previous patent for a paper bag machine in 1867. By 1873, he had devised a sheet-delivery and folding mechanism adopted two years later by the Boston Herald, as the first rotary folding machine that delivered newspapers complete and folded. Therafter, he joined R. Hoe & Company, and perfected new printing machinery.« |
| John Jeffries | |
(source) |
Died
16 Sep 1819 (born 5 Feb 1744)
American physician and scientist who financed two balloon flights for himself and a Frenchman, Jean Pierre Blanchard, with experience in balloon flight. Jeffries wished to make scientific and meteorological observations. The first flight took place in London on 30 Nov 1784. Jeffries had provided himself with thermometer, barometer, electrometer, hygrometer and timepiece. He took air samples at different elevations for Cavendish, who subsequently made a chemical analysis of the air. The twelve observations of temperature, pressure, and humidity that Jeffries made were the first scientific data for free air, to a height of 9,309 feet. The values agree closely with modern determinations. On 7 Jan 1785, they made the first balloon crossing of the English Channel. Image: Jeffries posed as if in balloon, holding barometer. |
| Gabriel Fahrenheit | |
(source) |
Died
16 Sep 1736 (born 14 May 1686)
German physicist. Invented the Fahrenheit scale mercury thermometer. He lived in Holland for most of his life and was involved in the manufacture of meteorological instruments. In 1714, he created the first thermometer to use mercury instead of alcohol. He originally took as the zero of his scale the temperature of an equal ice-salt mixture, 30° for the freezing point of water and 90° for normal body temperature. Later, he adjusted to 32° for the freezing point of water and 212° for the boiling point of water, the interval between the two being divided into 180 parts. He also invented a hygrometer to measure relative humidity and experimented with other liquids discovering that each liquid had a different boiling point that would change with atmospheric pressure. |
| SEPTEMBER 16 - EVENTS | |
| Ozone layer | |
 |
In 1987, the "Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer"
was signed, agreeing
that the production and consumption of most compounds that deplete
ozone in the stratosphere, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), were to
be phased out by 2000. It was further adjusted and amended at subsequent
Meeting of the Parties between 1990 and 1997. Because of their relatively
high ozone depletion potential, several man-made compounds in addition
to (CFCs), carbon tetrachloride, methyl chloroform, and halons were targeted
first for phaseout. Now, the U.S. Clean Air Act, for example, bans the
release of ozone-depleting refrigerants the during maintenance or disposal
of air conditioners and other refrigeration equipment. |
| General Motors | |
(source) |
In 1908, former carriage-maker William Crapo "Billy" Durant founded
General Motors (GM) by incorporating with a capital of $2,000 and was the
man responsible for the beginning of the huge auto manufacturing company.
Within 12 days the company generated stocks that generated $12,000,000
cash. On 29 Sep 1908, GM bought Buick. Later, GM bought Oldsmobile in Lansing,
Cadillac in Detroit, and Oakland in Pontiac. Durant lost control of the
company in 1910. He had originally started in business by partnering with
Josiah Dallas Dort in 1886 to purchase the Coldwater Road Cart Company.
By 1890, Durant-Dort Carriage Company was the nation's largest carriage
company, producing approximently 150,000 vehicles a year. |
| Cocaine anaesthetic | |
Koller (source) |
In 1884, cocaine was first used as a local anaesthetic to immobilize a
patient's eye for eye surgery by Carl
Koller. His success initiated the modern era of local anesthesia, with
cocaine also quickly adopted for nose and throat surgery and for dentistry.
For Koller, a Czech-born American ophthalmologist, the clue for this use
was when he noticed that cocaine had a numbing effect on the tongue. He
made many experiments on animals before introducing its use on humans.
Cocaine was isolated in 1859 and was synthesized in 1885. It was later
found with high doses or repeated use, it caused erosion of the corneal
epithelium in high doses and it was replaced by less toxic, synthetic local
anesthetics such as tetracaine and proparacaine.« |
| Darwin reaches Galapagos | |
(source) |
In 1835, British naturalist Charles
Darwin aboard the ship HMS Beagle,arrived
at the Galapagos archipelago, a cluster of islands on the equator 600 miles
west of South America. During his five weeks studying the fauna in the
Galapagos, Darwin found the giant tortoises there greatly differed from
one another according to which island they came from. Moreover, many islands
developed their own races of iguanas. These observations contributed to
his theory of "natural selection," that species evolved over thousands
of millions of years. |
| Oxygen | |
 |
In 1774, Lavoisier observed that heating mercuric oxide produces metallic
mercury. He thought the reaction might have been caused by contact with
iron; he made no note of gas evolution in his notebook. |
| Solar eclipse | |
 |
In 1662, the first recorded astronomical observation of the first Astronomer
Royal was John Flamsteed's observation of a solar eclipse from his home
in Derby at the age of sixteen, about which he corresponded with other
astronomers. Flamsteed's interest in astronomy was stirred by the solar
eclipse, and besides reading all he could find on the subject he attempted
to make his own measuring instruments. |
