TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 10 JULY
On 10 Jul 1908, the Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes made helium liquid at a temperature of 4.2 K (about -269 ºC). He had worked for many years to liquify this element which persisted as a gas to the lowest temperature. Using liquid air to produce liquid hydrogen and then the hydrogen to jacket the liquefaction apparatus, he produced about 60 cubic centimeters of liquid helium. The gas was liquefied by compressing it, cooling it below the inversion temperature and then allowing it to expand, which causes further cooling resulting in the liquefaction of some of the gas. Onnes received the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physics for his low temperature work. Read more about his Cryogenic Laboratory at Leyden University in this illustrated article from Scientific American Supplement (1912).
On 9/10 July 1856, at the stroke of midnight, a Serbian-American inventor was born. He is considered by many to be the founding father of modern electrical technology. Tesla has been credited as the inspiration for radio, robots, and even radar. His advancements include alternating current, fluorescent and neon lighting and wireless telegraphy. Today's book pick is: Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius (Citadel Press Book), by Marc Seifer, who writes a definite and illuminating biography, which reveals the many complex facets of Tesla’s personal and technical life. Tesla was far ahead of his time, and often in conflict with Edison, and later Westinghouse. The author also details many of Tesla's idiosyncrasies with fascinating anecdotes. Seifer present much new material culled from a wide range of manuscripts, articles and archival sources. The result is a much more accurate picture of Tesla, that has been reviewed as “Far and away the best job among Tesla biographies.”
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $21.91. Used from $2.60. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | A comparatively small variety of species is found in the older rocks, although of some particular ones the remains are very abundant; ... Ascending to the next group of rocks, we find the traces of life become more abundant, the number of species extended. — Robert Chambers, Scottish naturalist and publisher (born 10 Jul 1802).  |
 | Ere long intelligence—transmitted without wires—will throb through the earth like a pulse through a living organism. The wonder is that, with the present state of knowledge and the experiences gained, no attempt is being made to disturb the electrostatic or magnetic condition of the earth, and transmit, if nothing else, intelligence. — Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American electrical engineer and inventor (born 10 Jul 1856). |
 | Sir,—The Planet [Neptune] whose position you marked out actually exists. On the day on which your letter reached me, I found a star of the eighth magnitude, which was not recorded in the excellent map designed by Dr. Bremiker, containing the twenty-first hour of the collection published by the Royal Academy of Berlin. The observation of the succeeding day showed it to be the Planet of which we were in quest. — Johann Gottfried Galle, German astronomer (died 10 Jul 1910). |
| 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 9/10 July 1856, at the stroke of midnight, Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla was born. He designed and built the first alternating current induction motor in 1883. George Westinghouse bought his patents for his system of alternating-current dynamos, transformers, and motors. They were deployed at the first large-scale hydroelectric generating plant in the world, built in 1895. Which body of water powered the Tesla-Westinghouse power plant? It first supplied which nearby city? |
 | Owen Chamberlain, born on 10 July 1920, was an American physicist who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1959 with Emilio Segrè for their discovery of a previously postulated subatomic particle. This was the second particle of its ilk to be discovered and led directly to the discovery of many additional types of such particles. What was this particle they discovered? |
 | Edward H. Lowe, born 10 Jul 1920, joined his father’s company in Cassopolis, Michigan, after leaving the Navy. The company sold industrial absorbents, including sawdust and an absorbent clay called Fuller’s Earth. In 1947, Lowe suggested a new use for the clay to his neighbor. What was Howe's inventive new use? |
| Deaths | |
| | Johann Gottfried Galle (1812-1910) was a German astronomer who on 23 Sep 1846, was the first to observe a planet, whose existence had been predicted in the calculations of Le Verrier. Le Verrier had written to Galle asking him to search for the new planet at a predicted location. Can you name this planet? |
 | On 10 Jul 1851, a Frenchman died, who is most remembered for his invention of a light-sensitive photographic process. He was also a physicist, painter, photographer and tax collector. Can you name this inventor? |
| Events | |
 | On 10 Jul 1962, the first U.S. geosynchronous communications satellite, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to relay TV and telephone signals between the United States and Europe. This began a new era of easier access to information, with much greater speed that then ever felt possible. It allowed both voice and video to be beamed between two places. What was the name of this satellite? |
| | On 10 Jul 1908, Kamerlingh Onnes liquefied a certain element at –269°C. What is the name of this element? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for July 9: sewing machine • nuclear winter • King Camp Gillette • the decade including the year 1893 • nobelium.
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