TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 27 APRIL
On 27 Apr 1846, Charles Joseph Van Depoele was born, a Belgian-American inventor who was one of the major contributors to the electric industry, especially in the field of transportation.
His 243 U.S. patents included motors, dynamos, lighting, electric railway systems, overhead trolley systems and underground railway systems. Other electrically powered mechanisms he designed included a conveyor, telpher system, rock drill, power-hammer and coal-mining machine.
Despite such a productive life, and great significance in the electric industry of his era, perhaps now his name is unfamiliar to you. If so, you will enjoy reading more about his background and invention in this Obituary of Charles Joseph Van Depoele from the Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (1892).
On 27 Apr 1896, Wallace Hume Carothers was born, the American chemist who developed the first synthetic polymer fibre to be spun from a melt, a polyamide. Today's book pick is: , by . Carothers took an infant science called polymer chemistry, defined it, and guided it toward its present maturity. Hermes tells the story of Carothers’s sudden dramatic research successes, the discoveries and his relentless slide into depression, alcohol, and suicide.
It is available from Amazon, typically about (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | If a single cell, under appropriate conditions, becomes a man in the space of a few years, there can surely be no difficulty in understanding how, under appropriate conditions, a cell may, in the course of untold millions of years, give origin to the human race. — Herbert Spencer, English sociologist and philosopher (born 27 Apr 1820).  |
 | Part of the strength of science is that it has tended to attract individuals who love knowledge and the creation of it. Just as important to the integrity of science have been the unwritten rules of the game. These provide recognition and approbation for work which is imaginative and accurate, and apathy or criticism for the trivial or inaccurate. … Thus, it is the communication process which is at the core of the vitality and integrity of science. — Philip Abelson, American physical chemist (born 27 Apr 1913). |
 | A mathematician’s work is mostly a tangle of guesswork, analogy, wishful thinking and frustration, and proof, far from being the core of discovery, is more often than not a way of making sure that our minds are not playing tricks. — Gian-Carlo Rota, Italian-American mathematician, philosopher and author (born 27 Apr 1932). |
| Before you look at today's web page, see if you can answer some of these questions about the events that happened on this day. Some of the names are very familiar. Others will likely stump you. Tickle your curiosity with these questions, then check your answers on today's web page. | |
| Births | |
| | Wallace Carothers, born 27 Apr 1896, was an American chemist who developed polymers (long-chain molecules) including the first successful synthetic rubber, neoprene (1931). He also produced (1935), the first synthetic polymer fibre to be spun from a melt, a polyamide. What is the common name of the polyamide he developed? |
 | The Morse Code was name after its American inventor, who was born 27 Apr 1791. Independent of similar efforts in Europe, he developed an electric telegraph (1832-35), after which he created his famous code in 1838. What is this inventor’s first name? |
| Deaths | |
 | Julius Sterling Morton (1832-1902) was an American who advocated for a Day, first observed in his state of Nebraska on 10 Apr 1872, to promote a certain activity statewide. From 1885, the day was officially recognized in Nebraska as a public holiday on Morton’s birthday, each 22 April, in his honor. It is now celebrated throughout America, and a number of countries worldwide, though its date and name varies. In the U.S., it now takes place on the last Friday of April. By what name is this Day usually known in America? |
| Events | |
 | On 27 Apr 1970, the discovery of element 105, was announced at the American Physical Society meeting in Washington, D.C. The work was done by Albert Ghiorso at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, California. It has been named hahnium. What is the origin of the element name of hahnium? |
 | On 27 Apr of a certain year, the first U.S. patent for an electric hearing aid was issued, titled a “Device for Aiding the Deaf to Hear.” The device employed bone conduction by which sound is passed through vibration of the skull bone. It was not until two decades later that the first commercially available hearing aid was produced by another inventor. In which decade was this first electric hearing aid U.S. patent issued? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for April 26: a faint electromagnetic radiation throughout the universe with a frequency consistent with the mathematical predictions of the big bang model • Charles Richter • birds • ammonia • Harlow Shapley.
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