TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 5 MAY
On 5 May 1811, John William Draper was born, the English-American chemist who pioneered in photochemistry.
His interest in spectroscopy and photography was applied to give the first astronomical photograph. Its subject was the moon (1840). He also studied photographs of the solar spectrum to show that contained both infrared and ultraviolet light. His photographs of persons include the oldest surviving photographic portrait (1840), and he was one of the first to produce microphotographs.
His interests extended to publishing such books as a History of the American Civil War and History of the Intellectual Development of Europe.
He died on 4 Jan 1882. A few years earlier, in 1878, he published his Scientific Memoirs, Being Experimental Contributions to a Knowledge of Radiant Energy. The Preface provides a summary in his own words of his work on the effects of radiations and on radiant energy. He includes autobiographical remarks explaining how his interests encompassed physiological subjects, and from there he considered social relations of man.
The Preface concludes with his remarks on how, looking back, he recognized that all the objects of his attention had been interconnected.
By reading the Preface, you will find Draper was a fascinating and industrious person, extending beyond his explorations in physical science.
On 5 May 1921, Arthur L. Schawlow was born, who was awarded a Nobel Prize in physics for his work in developing the laser and in laser spectroscopy.On 5 May 2007, Theodore Maiman died, the American physicist who built the first working laser. Today's book pick is: The Laser Odyssey, by Theodore Maiman, who takes the reader through a riveting expose of the Machiavellian scene behind the creation of the first laser. It is a personable chronicle of a maverick scientist who defied conventional wisdom while he blazed his own trail.
During his career Maiman became acutely conscious of the dismissive attitude sometimes exhibited by academic scientists toward industrial scientists. He was in a special position to observe such prejudice because he made a major scientific advance while employed by an aerospace company. The book is written for the general reader, and so will be enjoyed by the lover of science or a physicist.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $50.00. Used from $16.00. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | Furious activity is no substitute for analytical thought. — Sir Alastair Pilkington, British industrialist and inventor (died 5 May 1995).  |
| | Every movement in the skies or upon the earth proclaims to us that the universe is under government. — John William Draper, English-American chemist (born 5 May 1811). |
 | One never knows what remains undiscovered simply because the right equipment is not there at the right time. — Arthur L. Schawlow, American physicist (born 5 May 1921). |
| 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 | |
| | On 5 May 1921, Arthur L. Schawlow was born, who developed the laser and its use in laser spectroscopy. For this work, he was awarded a Nobel Prize. In which decade was Arthur Schawlow a Nobel Prize? |
 | Peter Cooper Hewitt, born 5 May 1861, was an American electrical engineer who invented a new advance in electrical lighting. What form of lighting did he invent? |
| Deaths | |
 | Dr Joseph William Kennedy (1916-57) was one of four American scientist that co-discovered a new element by bombarding uranium oxide with deuterons in a cyclotron at the University of California at Berkeley. By 28 Mar 1941, with Emilio Segrè, he demonstrated that this element was fissionable with slow neutrons, like uranium-235, and thus another element that could be suitable as a fission bomb material. Can you name the new element? |
| Events | |
 | America's first astronaut was launched on a 15 minute sub-orbital flight that reached an altitude of 115 miles, during which he experienced about five minutes of "weightlessness." He rode in the Freedom 7 launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, by a Mercury-Redstone 3 rocket. But, he had been beaten into space by the Russian cosmnonaut Yury Gagarin, the world's first human who reached orbit less than one month earlier. What is the name of America's first astronaunt in sub-orbital flight? |
 | In 1925, George W. Rappelyea and other local leaders in Dayton, Tennessee, held a meeting to plan a challenge to that state’s new law, the Butler Act, which forbade teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. The American Civil Liberties Union had offered to give legal support. Rappelyea saw the publicity that would accompany such a trial as an opportunity to promote his town. Rappelyea found John T. Scopes, a teacher willing to become the defendant in a test of the legality of the law in court. What was the verdict at the trial, which began just over two months after the first meeting to initiate the trial? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for May 4: rocket-powered transport • Samuel Wilberforce • Augustus Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers • to maximize the speed and efficiency of navy ships by laboratory work examining scale models in a towing tank • Sears Tower, Chicago, Illinois • phonograph disk record • American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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