Newsletter for Sunday 5 July.

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TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER • 5 JULY

Feature for Today

On 5 Jul 1841, Thomas Cook (1808-1892) arranged a special train between Leicester and Loughborough in England for a temperance meeting. It is believed to be the first publicly advertised excursion train in England. From this initiative grew the worldwide travel agency Thomas Cook and Son.

His Obituary in Railway News (1892) gives more details of Cook's life, and the expansion of his business.

Book of the Day

On 5 Jul 1996, Dolly a cloned sheep, was born at the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland. Today's book pick is: The Second Creation: Dolly and the Age of Biological Control, by Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell, Colin Tudge. Written by the noted science author Colin Tudge, the book is based on interviews with Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell, the scientists who cloned Dolly the sheep. They reveal their contribution to genetic engineering and cloning, and the control that science has over the process of life. The book's aim is to explain the story of how and why they came to cloning sheep and the implications for the future, from curing diseases to human cloning.

It is available from Amazon, typically about Used from $6.52. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)

Quotations for Today

	Biology can be divided into the study of proximate causes, the study of the physiological sciences (broadly conceived), and into the study of ultimate (evolutionary) causes, the subject of natural history. — Ernst Mayr, German-American biologist (born 5 Jul 1904).
	During this [book preparation] time attacks have not been wanting—we must always be prepared for them. If they grow out of a scientific soil, they cannot but be useful, by laying bare weak points and stimulating to their correction; but if they proceed from that soil, from which the lilies of innocence and the palms of conciliation should spring up, where, however, nothing but the marsh-trefoil of credulity and the poisonous water-hemlock of calumniation grow, they deserve no attention. — Carl Vogt, German-Swiss zoologist, physician and politician (born 5 Jul 1817).
	A theory is a supposition which we hope to be true, a hypothesis is a supposition which we expect to be useful; fictions belong to the realm of art; if made to intrude elsewhere, they become either make-believes or mistakes. — G. Johnstone Stoney, Irish physicist (died 5 Jul 1911).

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
	Andrew Ellicott Douglass, born 5 Jul 1867, was an American astronomer and archaeologist who established the principles of dendrochronology. What is dendrochronology?
	A British naval officer, hydrographer, and meteorologist was born on 5 Jul 1805, who commanded the voyage of HMS Beagle, aboard which Charles Darwin sailed around the world as the ship’s naturalist. Can you name this naval officer?
	On 5 Jul 1810, P.T. Barnum was born, an American museum administrator and circus owner who is remembered for his showmanship. Barnum began as proprietor of his American Museum in New York City, which included not just freak shows, but also serious scientific exhibits, for which he actively collected natural history specimens. His initials, P.T., stand for which names?
Deaths
	Antonio de Ulloa (1716-1795) was a Spanish scientist and naval officer who discovered an element. In 1735, the French and Spanish governments sent an scientific expedition to Peru and Ecuador to measure a degree of meridian at Quinto, close to the equator. Ulloa was one of the officers in charge. In 1744, the ship on which he returned was captured by the British. As a prisoner, he was treated respectfully by the English naval officers for they “were not at war with the arts and sciences.” The log of his voyage to Peru published in 1748 contains a description of the new element. Which element did he discover?
Events
	On 5 Jul 1996, Dolly, a cloned sheep, was born. Scientists had replaced the nucleus of an egg cell with the nucleus from a parent cell—in Dolly’s case, an udder cell. Somehow, the egg cell reprogrammed the donated DNA contained within its new nucleus, and Dolly was the result. In which country was Dolly born?

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 July 5 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers.

Fast answers for the previous newsletter for July 4: Rube Goldberg • the distances of galaxies • five • Megalonyx Jeffersonii, an ice-age ground sloth, a large quadruped vertebrate animal, named Megalonyx for its giant claw; described before he was President • Crab Nebula • Japan • seven months.

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