TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 17 JULY
On 17 Jul 1955, Arco, Idaho, became the first U.S. community to receive its entire supply of power from a nuclear source when electricity produced in an experimental nuclear power plant operated by Argonne National Laboratory at the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's National Reactor Testing Station, twenty miles from Arco, was fed into transmission lines supplying the small town. (This peaceful use of atomic energy came one day after the tenth anniversary of the Trinity test, the explosion of the world’s first atomic bomb.) The electrical power event was described in the press release (issued 12 Aug 1955) which you can read for more details of this pioneering event.
On 17 Jul 1920, Gordon Gould was born. He was the American physicist who coined the word “laser.” On 9 Nov 1957, during a sleepless Saturday night, he had the inventor’s inspiration and began to write down the principles of what he called a laser in his notebook. Although Charles Townes and Arthur Schawlow, also successfully developed the laser with their own patents, eventually Gould gained his long-denied patent rights. Today's book pick is: Laser: The Inventor, the Nobel Laureate, and the Thirty-Year Patent War, by Nick Taylor who presents a beautifully written story about the genius, determination and triumph of Gordon Gould. One reviewer called it a “techno-thriller,” wnding with the triumph of an underdog after a long legal battle. This is a riveting account of genius, rivalry, and greed, in which the author shows just how difficult it is for the legendary lone inventor to prevail when the license to a valuable invention is at stake.
It is available from Amazon, typically about Used from $1.95. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | I gleaned more practical psychology and psychiatry from the Bible, than from all other books! — George W. Crane, American psychologist, physician and newspaper columnist (died 17 Jul 1995).  |
 | Scientific progress is the discovery of a more and more comprehensive simplicity... The previous successes give us confidence in the future of science: we become more and more conscious of the fact that the universe is cognizable. — Monsignor Georges Lemaître, Belgian astronomer and cosmologist (born 17 Jul 1894). |
 | It is by logic that we prove, but by intuition that we discover. — Henri Poincaré, French mathematician, physicist and astronomer (died 17 Jul 1912). |
| 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 | |
 | Gordon Gould, born 17 Jul 1920 was an American physicist who, on 9 Nov 1957, wrote down the principles of an invention in his notebook, to which he gave the name “laser.” It has since found wide applications, during which time Gould struggled for decades to assert the priority of his patent rights. The name is an acronym. What do the initials in “laser” stand for? |
 | Nils Bohlin, born 17 Jul 1920, is a Swedish engineer who invented what is considered one of the most important innovations in automobile safety. He joined AB Volvo in 1958 as safety engineer, where he invented and patented this device. In Aug 1959, Volvo was the first car manufacturer to introduce the device in their cars. They made this design freely available to other car manufacturers to save more lives. What is this life-saving safety device? |
| Deaths | |
| | A French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (1854-1912) influenced cosmogony, relativity, and topology and was a gifted interpreter of science to a wide public. In applied mathematics he studied optics, electricity, telegraphy, capillarity, elasticity, thermodynamics, potential theory, quantum theory, theory of relativity and cosmology. He is often described as the last universalist in mathematics. He is acknowledged as a co-discoverer, with Albert Einstein and Hendrik Lorentz, of the spec Can you name this mathematician? |
| Events | |
 | On 17 Jul 1959, Mary Leakey discovered the oldest human skull in the Olduvai Gorge in the Serengeti Plains. The skull is an almost complete cranium, with a brain size is about 530 cc. This was the first specimen of this species, now reclassified (1967) as Australopithecus boisei. In which country was the skull found? |
 | On 17 Jul 1866, a city council passed authorization to build a tunnel beneath a river there, which would be the first highway tunnel in the U.S. under a river. Existing lift bridges over the river were raised so often to pass so many masted vessels, there had been extensive traffic jams on the roads. Can you name the river of the city where this tunnel was to be built? |
 | On 17 Jul 1981, at Kingston-upon-Hull, England, a bridge was ceremonially opened by the Queen Elizabeth II. It was then the longest single-span bridge in the world (1.4 km). The bridge crosses an estuary (from which the bridge takes its name) formed by two rivers, and carries four lanes of motor traffic between Yorkshire and Lincolnshire What is the name of this bridge? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for July 16: asteroid • a device arranged to shuttle back and forth across the loom by means of cords to a peg operated by a weaver with one hand • fine bone china • the decade including the year 1945 • Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins • Shoemaker-Levy 9.
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