Newsletter for Sunday 21 June.

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TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER • 21 JUNE

Feature for Today

On 21 Jun 1886, the foundation stone of the Tower Bridge in London, England was laid (over a time capsule) by the Prince of Wales. The need to cross the River Thames at this point had become increasingly urgent for many years, and finally the necessary Act was passed in 1885.

For more about this structure, read The Tower Bridge from The Romance of Modern Engineering (1908).

Book of the Day

On 21 Jun 1898, Donald Culross Peattie was born, an American botanist, naturalist and critically acclaimed author. Today's book pick is: Flowering Earth, by Donald Culross Peattie, who writes an extraordinary chronicle of the plant kingdom. He meanders through the plant kingdom, recalling the marvels he has witnessed in vivid, evocative prose (“On icy peaks the sprawling crustose lichen clings where even a mountain goat would gasp and stumble”) and explaining the innards and workings of plants with clarity and imaginative images (“the pistil is in general shaped like a carafe or Chianti bottle, with a swollen base which is the ovary proper, containing the ovules or unfertilized egg cells”). He writes of plants that inspire awe, like the mighty Sequoia tree—”unimaginable titans … in their uplifted hands they permit the little modern birds … to nest and call”—and of more ordinary greens, from seaweed to conifers, but always with the same sense of wonder.

It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $17.02. Used from $3.55. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)

Quotations for Today

	But science is the collection of nature's answers; the humanities the collection of men's thoughts. — Sir Gavin de Beer, English zoologist and morphologist (died 21 Jun 1972).
	Whether or not you agree that trimming and cooking are likely to lead on to downright forgery, there is little to support the argument that trimming and cooking are less reprehensible and more forgivable. Whatever the rationalization is, in the last analysis one can no more than be a bit dishonest than one can be a little bit pregnant. Commit any of these three sins and your scientific career is in jeopardy and deserves to be. — Charles Thomas Jackson, American physician, chemist, geologist and mineralogist (born 21 Jun 1805).
	Cell and tissue, shell and bone, leaf and flower, are so many portions of matter, and it is in obedience to the laws of physics that their particles have been moved, moulded and confirmed. They are no exception to the rule that God always geometrizes. Their problems of form are in the first instance mathematical problems, their problems of growth are essentially physical problems, and the morphologist is, ipso facto, a student of physical science. — Sir D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, Scottish zoologist (died 21 Jun 1948).

Quiz

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
	Willem Hendrik Keesom, born 21 Jun 1876, was a Dutch physicist who was a pioneer in cryogenics and was the first to solidify a certain gaseous element (1926). In work done with M Wolfke, after studying discontinuities in several properties of this element at very low temperatures (1927) they suggested that it may be due to a phase change. They called the element above the transitional in its form I and when below the transition in its form II. What was this element?
	On 21 Jun 1781, a French mathematician was born, who is known for his work on definite integrals, advances in Fourier series, electromagnetic theory, and probability. The (?) Distribution (1837) describes the probability that a random event will occur in a time or space interval under the conditions that the probability of the event occurring is very small, but the number of trials is very large so that the event actually occurs a few times. His works included applications to electricity and magnetism, and astronomy. His name is also known for the (?) integral, (?) equation in potential theory, (?) brackets in differential equations, (?) ratio in elasticity, and (?) constant in electricity. What is the mathematician’s name that replaces the “(?)” above ?
Deaths
	A Swedish physicist (1814-1874) was a founder of spectroscopy for whom the unit of length equal to 10 metre, was named. In pioneering studies (1853), he observed and studied the spectrum of hydrogen which was the foundation for Balmer’s formula. From studies of the solar spectrum, he announced in 1862, that hydrogen is present in the Sun’s atmosphere. Can you name this scientist?
	Louis-Jacques Thenard (1777-1857) was a French chemist. He collaborated with Gay-Lussac, to achieve the first isolation of a certain metallic element in the second period of the Periodic Table. Working independently, his achievements included studies of esters (1807), the discovery of hydrogen peroxide (1818), and work in organophosphorus compounds. He also produced a pigment known as Thenard’s blue, used in porcelain because it is stable at high temperatures. What element did he isolate?
Events
	On 21 Jun 1834, an inventor received a patent for his reaping machine, recognized as the first such practical machine. He demonstrated his machine (1831) in public trial in a field near Walnut Grove, Va. The owner of the field, fearing the machine would rattle the heads of his wheat, stopped the demonstration, and had it moved to a more level field on a neighbor’s farm. In 1902, his harvesting machine company merged with other farm implement manufacturers to form the International Harvester Co. Can you name this inventor?
	On 21 Jun of a certain year, the first successful long-playing microgroove phonograph records were introduced to the public by Columbia Records. Made of nonbreakable Vinilyte plastic, they were designed for the new speed of 33-1/3 r.p.m. Columbia originated the term “LP” itself, which it copyrighted for its own exclusive use. In what decade was the LP introduced? Now try a harder question: Who was the famous violinist featured on this first LP?
	On 21 Jun 1893, the first Ferris Wheel premiered at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition, America’s third world's fair. It was invented by George Washington Ferris, a Pittsburgh bridge builder, for the purpose of creating an attraction like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Ferris didn’t use rigid spokes: instead, he used a web of taut cables, like a bicycle wheel, supported by two 140 foot steel towers, on a 45 foot axle. The highest point of the wheel was 264 feet. Was the full passenger capacity of the first Ferris Wheel 108, 540, 1080 or 2160 people?

Answers

When you have your answers ready to all the questions above, you'll find all the information to check them, and more, on the June 21 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers.

Fast answers for the previous newsletter for June 20: to depict the number and variety of genetic combinations • vitamins • Georges Lemaître • virus • Valdez • the decade including the year 1840 • radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion.

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