| SEPTEMBER 24 - BIRTHS | |
| John Watts Young | |
1986 (source) |
 Born 24
Sep 1930.
American astronaut who was the commander of the first ever Space Shuttle mission (STS-1, 12 Apr 1981), walked on the Moon during the Apollo 16 mission (21 Apr 1972), made the first manned flight of the Gemini spacecraft with Virgil Grissom, and was on the aborted Apollo 13 flight. He became the first person to fly into space six times in a career that was one of the busiest of any NASA astronaut. He piloted four different classes of spacecraft: Gemini, Apollo Command and Service Module, Apollo Lunar Module and the Space Shuttle. Young worked for NASA for 42 years and retired on 31 Dec 2004 at the age of 74.« |
| John R. Dunning | |
(source) |
Born 24 Sep 1907; died 25 Aug 1975.
John R(ay) Dunning was an American nuclear physicist whose experiments in nuclear fission helped lay the groundwork for the development of the atomic bomb. After the fission of the rare U235 uranium isotope was verified in an experiment using a microscopic quantity, (0.02 millionths of a gram), great difficulty remained in separating U235 from the more abundant U238. Dr. John R. Dunning led the research team at Columbia University which studied the gaseous diffusion method for uranium separation. This process was based on the slightly smaller size of the U235 isotope molecules. When pushed through a porous barrier, U235 would move through faster, and several repetitions would produce almost pure U235. [Image right: (source)] |
| Pol Swings | |
(source) |
Born 24
Sep 1906; died 1983.
Pol(idore) Swings, a Belgian astrophysicist, made spectroscopic studies to identify elements and structure of stars and comets. He discovered the first interstellar molecule, the CH radical (1937). In comet atmospheres he studied the "Swings bands" - certain carbon emission lines. In 1941, with a slit spectrograph he identified a "Swings effect" in the violet CN bands (3875 A) - a fluorescence partly due to solar radiation that shows emmission line excitation differences dependant on the Doppler shift caused by a comet's motion relative to the Sun. He co-authored an Atlas of Cometary Spectra with Leo Haser in 1956. |
| Severo Ochoa | |
(source) |
Born 24
Sep 1905; died 1 Nov 1993.
Severo Ochoa de Albornoz was a Spanish-American biochemist and molecular biologist, co-recipient of the 1959 Nobel laureate for his discovery of an enzyme in bacteria that enabled him to synthesize ribonucleic acid (RNA), a substance of central importance to the synthesis of proteins by the cell. Ochoa's enzyme produces ribonucleic acids from ribonucleotides having twice the ratio of phosphoric acid residues as that contained in ribonucleic acid. The RNA is formed by splitting out half of the phosphoric acid residues, and linking the nucleotides together to form large molecules. |
| Charlotte Moore Sitterly | |
(source) |
Born 24
Sep 1898; died 3 Mar 1990.
American astrophysicist who organized, analyzed, and published definitive books on the solar spectrum and spectral line multiplets. From 1945 to age 90, she conducted this work at the U.S. National Bureau of Standards and the Naval Research Laboratory. She detected that technetium, an unstable element (previously known only as a result of laboratory experiments with nuclear reactions) exists in nature. She made major contributions to the compilation of tables for atomic-energy levels associated with optical spectra, which are now standard reference material. As instruments carried in space rockets provided new data in the ultraviolet, she extended these tables beyond the optical range. She was awarded the Bruce Medal in 1990.« |
| Sir Howard Walter Florey | |
(source) |
Born 24
Sep 1898; died 21 Feb 1968.
Australian pathologist, who, with Ernst Boris Chain, researched, isolated and purified penicillin for general clinical use. From 1939, he worked with Chain on natural antibacterial agents produced by microorganisms, leading to their isolation, purification and determination of the chemical structure of penicillin. They performed the first clinical trials of the antibiotic.They shared the 1945 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Sir Alexander Fleming, who had discovered antibiotic penicillin in 1928. Florey was knighted in 1944. 
The
Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle,
by Eric Lax. |
| André F. Cournand | |
(source) |
Born 24
Sep 1895
André Frédéric Cournand was a French-American physician and physiologist who was one of three who shared the 1956 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning heart catheterization and pathological changes in the circulatory system". Cournand helped develop the technique by which a catheter (a flexible tube) could be threaded through a vein into the heart to withdraw blood samples to determine cardiac abnormalities. In addition, it permits the measurement of blood pressure, blood flow or gas concentrations in various parts of the cardiac circulatory system (atrium, ventricles, or artery). This gives valuable information in the treatment of heart disease, defect or injury.« |
| William F. Friedman | |
 |
Born 24
Sep 1891; died 1969
William F(rederick) Friedman was an American, one of the world's greatest cryptologists, who helped decipher enemy codes from World War I to World War II. He was born as Wolfe Friedman.in Kishinev, Russia. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1893. Originally trained as an agricultural geneticist, he had become interested in cryptology. During World War I, with his wife Elizebeth, he set up a cryptology school for military personnel, which led to appointment by the U.S. as head of the Signal Intelligence Service (1930). He broke the Japanese "Purple" code (1937-40), thus allowing Americans to read much of Japan's secret messages during World War II. |
| Georges Claude | |
 |
Born 24
Sep 1870; died 23 May 1960.
The French engineer, chemist, and inventor of the neon light, Georges Claude, was born in Paris. He invented the neon light, which was the forerunner of the fluorescent light. Claude was the first to apply an electrical discharge to a sealed tube of neon gas, around 1902 and make a neon lamp ("Neon" from Greek "neos," meaning "new gas.") He first publicly displayed the neon lamp on 11 Dec 1910 in Paris. His French company Claude Neon, introduced neon signs to the U.S. with two "Packard" signs for a Packard car dealership in Los Angeles, purchased by Earle C. Anthony for $24,000. |
| Robert John Kane | |
(source) |
Born 24
Sep 1809; died 16 Feb 1890.
Irish chemist who is remembered for his book, The Industrial Resources of Ireland (1944), a study of the scientific and potential economic value of developing the country's natural resources. Kane's began scientific research in his youth at his father's industrial chemicals factory. His first papers were published as a teenager. By the age of 22, he had already written a book, Elements of Practical Pharmacy, and was a professor of chemistry at Dublin's Apothecaries' Hall. In 1833, age 24, he published a paper in which he was the first to propose the existence of the -C2H5 ethyl radical (Dublin Journal of Medical and Chemical Sciences, which he founded). His research spanned inorganic, organic, physical, biological and applied chemistry.« |
| Girolamo Cardano | |
(source) |
Born 24
Sep 1501; died 21 Sep 1576.
Italian physician, mathematician, and astrologer who was the first to give a clinical description of typhus fever. His book, Ars magna ("Great Art," 1545) was one of the great achievements in the history of algebra, in which he published the solutions to the cubic and quartic equations. His mechanical inventions included the combination lock, the compass gimbal consisting of three concentric rings, and the universal joint to transmit rotary motion at various angles (as used in present-day vehicles). He contributed to hydrodynamics and held that perpetual motion is impossible, except in celestial bodies. He published two encyclopedias of natural science and introduced the Cardan grille, a cryptographic tool (1550). He died by suicide.« 
The
Book of My Life, by Girolamo Cardano |
|
Sitewide search within all Today In Science History pages: Custom Quotations Search - custom search within only our quotations pages: Today in Science History Science Store Click here to browse a selection of Bargain Science and Nature Books |
| SEPTEMBER 24 - DEATHS | |
| Guido Pontecorvo | |
(source) |
 Died
24 Sep 1999 (born 29 Nov 1907)
Italian geneticist who discovered the process of genetic recombination in the common soil fungus Aspergillus, and as a result of the discovery of the parasexual cycle, the originator of genetical studies in many other fungi. This cycle gives rise to genetic reassortment by means other than sexual reproduction and its discovery provided a method of genetically analyzing asexual fungi. Pontecorvo also put forward the idea of the gene as a unit of function, a theory substantiated by Seymour Benzer in 1955. He made significant contributions to modern genetics in elucidating the divisibility of the gene by recombination, and in his later years in the application of parasexual techniques to mammalian cell cultures. Image: Aspergillus plate. |
| Hans Geiger | |
(source) |
Died
24 Sep 1945 (born 30 Sep 1882)
Hans (Wilhelm) Geiger was a German physicist who introduced the Geiger counter, the first successful detector of individual alpha particles and other ionizing radiations. After earning his Ph.D. at the University of Erlangen in 1906, he collaborated at the University of Manchester with Ernest Rutherford. He used the first version of his particle counter, and other detectors, in experiments that led to the identification of the alpha particle as the nucleus of the helium atom and to Rutherford's statement (1912) that the nucleus occupies a very small volume in the atom. Geiger returned to Germany in 1912 and continued to investigate cosmic rays, artificial radioactivity, and nuclear fission |
| William Diller Matthew | |
(source) |
Died
24 Sep 1930 (born 19 Feb 1871)
Canadian-American vertebrate paleontologist who made major contributions to the mammalian palaeontology of Asia and North America including his theory (195) that a majority of mammalian orders and families originated in Northern Hemisphere and subsequently spread southward. He also recognized that the early isolation of Australia's land mass explained the development of very different faunas there. He worked at the American Museum of Natural History from 1895 to 1927.« William
Diller Matthew, Paleontologist, by Edwin H. Colbert. |
| Niels Finsen | |
(source) |
Died
24 Sep 1904 (born 15 Dec 1860)
Danish physician, who founded modern phototherapy, winner of the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, with concentrated light radiation, whereby he has opened a new avenue for medical science."« |
| Paracelsus | |
(source) |
Died
24 Sep 1541 (born 1 May 1493)
Paracelsus (more properly, Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), the physician and alchemist, died in Salzburg. He had travelled widely, gaining practical medical knowledge as surgeon to mercenary armies. In 1527, while a physician at Basel, he also lectured, but his controversial views led to exile in 1538. In his major text, the Grosse Wundartzney (1536) he discusses wounds, ulcers, and their cure with salves and balms, with a section on treating gunpowder wounds. He established the use of chemistry in medicine, gave the most up-to-date description of syphilis, and was the first to argue that small doses of what makes people ill can also cure them. |
| SEPTEMBER 24 - EVENTS | |
| First nuclear aircraft carrier | |
(source) |
In 1960, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the
USS Enterprise,
was launched in Newport, Virginia. It was the most astonishing vessel
of its time and by far the largest warship in the world. Powered by eight
nuclear reactors, it does not need to carry its own fuel oil and so has
more room foor aviation fuel and weapons. In 1963, Enterprise and two similarly
powered cruisers made a non-stop voyage around the world to demonstrate
the viability of nuclear power. Length: 1120 ft, flight deck width: 250
ft, displacement: 93,970 tons. Speed: 33 knots. Range: 470,000 miles at
20 knots.Air wing: 86 aircraft. Crew: 5765 |
| Traffic signal | |
(USPTO) |
In 1909, Thomas M. Flaherty filed for a U.S. patent, with an idea for a
"Signal for Crossings" This was the first U.S. application for a traffic
signal design, later issued as No. 991,964 on 9 May 1911. His signal used
a large horizontal arrow pivoted on a post, which turned to indicate the
right of way direction. It could be activated by an electric solenoid by
a policeman beside the road. Although filed first, it was not the first
patent actually issued for a traffic signal. Ernest E. Sirrine filed a
different design seven months after Flaherty, but his patent was issued
earlier, and thus he held the first U.S. patent for a "Street Traffic System"
(No. 976,939 on 29 Nov 1910). |
| Time recorder | |
(source) |
In 1889, Alexander Dey patents the dial time recorder. This style
of time clock was first manufactured by the Dey Company and then as Industrial
Time Recorders (ITR) after 1907. It used a dial that employees were required
to point to their assigned number, and press to record the time of arrival
and departure. The numbers of the employees and times were recorded on
a sheet of paper wrapped around a drum. |
| Glycogen | |
Bernard (source) |
In 1855, the discovery*
of glycogen stored in the liver was communicated to the Académie
des Sciences by Claude Bernard,
a French physiologist. He was not able to extract glycogen in a relatively
pure state until Feb 1857. (At about the same time, Victor
Hensen, a German physiologist, independently used a different process
to successfully isolate glycogen.) As the storage form of glucose, glycogen
is barely soluble in water, and is a kind of "animal starch." It can be
readily converted into glucose as needed for use in the body to release
energy. In this function, it acts as stored fuel for animals just as starch
is stored in plants. In the word glycogen, glyco- = sugar; and -gen = forming.« |
| Dirigible | |
(source) |
In 1852, a new invention, the dirigible - a semi-rigid airship - was demonstrated
in a flight from Paris to Trappe. Henri Giffard (1825-82) installed a small
(3 h.p.) steam engine of his own design in the gondola of a 147-foot-long
spindle shaped coal-gas balloon. This engine turned a 11 ft propeller
producing a speed of 5 mph against the wind over a distance of 17 mile
on a 3 hour trip. This was the first powered and controlled flight ever
achieved. (In 1858 he patented a steam injector which became widely used
in locomotives, making him rich. Nevertheless, Giffard was depressive and
died by suicide in 1882, but left his fortune for humanitarian and scientific
purposes.) |
