TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 7 JULY
On 7 Jul 1855, a letter from Michael Faraday was published in The Times newspaper, London. He decried the deplorable polluted state of the River Thames. Its stench was truly horrendous in Victorian times.
On a boat trip, Faraday wrote, he had observed: “The whole of the river was an opaque pale brown fluid. In order to test the degree of opacity, I … dropped [pieces of card] into the water at every pier the boat came to; before they had sunk an inch below the surface they were indistinguishable, though the sun shone brightly at the time.” His words, he said, were no exaggeration, they were “the simple truth.” He asserted, “If there be sufficient authority to remove a putrescent pond from the neighbourhood of a few simple dwellings, surely the river which flows for so many miles through London ought not to be allowed to become a fermenting sewer.”
You can read Faraday’s Letter to The Times in full, together with a cartoon from the satirical Punch magazine that followed later in the month, showing “Faraday giving his card to Father Thames.”
On 7 Jul 1996, Ian Wilmut was born, who in 1996 supervised the team of scientists that produced Dolly, a cloned sheep, at the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland. It was a pivotal moment in history, when Dolly became the first mammal cloned from a cell from an adult. It was a breakthrough that revolutionized three technologies—genetic engineering, genomics, and cloning by nuclear transfer from adult cells.
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.)
 | I see nothing wrong ethically with the idea of correcting single gene defects [through genetic engineering]. But I am concerned about any other kind of intervention, for anything else would be an experiment, [which would] impose our will on future generations [and take unreasonable chances] with their welfare ... [Thus] such intervention is beyond the scope of consideration. — Ian Wilmut, English embryologist (born 7 Jul 1944).  |
 | Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science, and should be treated in the same cold unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it with romanticism, which produces the same effect as if you worked a love-story into the fifth proposition of Euclid. — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish author and physician (died 7 Jul 1930). |
 | The late James McNeil Whistler had a French poodle of which he was extravagantly fond. This poodle was seized with an affection of the throat, and Whistler had the audacity to send for the great throat specialist, Mackenzie. Sir Morell, when he saw that he had been called to treat a dog, didn't like it much, it was plain. But he said nothing. He prescribed, pocketed a big fee, and drove away. The next day he sent posthaste for Whistler. And Whistler, thinking he was summoned on some matter connected with his beloved dog, dropped his work and rushed like the wind to Mackenzie's. On his arrival Sir Morell said, gravely: “How do you do, Mr. Whistler? I wanted to see you about having my front door painted.” — Sir Morell Mackenzie, English laryngologist (born 7 Jul 1837). |
| 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 | |
 | Rudolf Wolf, born 7 Jul 1816, was a Swiss astronomer and astronomical historian. Wolf’s main contribution was a discovery concerning sunspots activity over time. He was the co-discoverer of their connection with geomagnetic activity on Earth. What did he discover about sunspots? |
 | Joseph Marie Jacquard, born 7 Jul 1752, was a French silk weaver and inventor of a power loom for brocaded fabric. His loom would mechanically produce any pattern. What method did he devise to control the loom, and how did it develop into an application in computers? |
| Deaths | |
| | Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) wrote many books whose main character, Sherlock Holmes, emulates the scientist, diligently searching through data to make sense of it. “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts." Although he edited a student newspaper, and a journalist uncle encouraged him to write, it was not the career for which he studied at university. When unable to establish himself in that profession, he turned more successfully to full-time writing. For what profession did Doyle study? |
| Events | |
 | On 7 Jul 1936, several U.S. patents were issued to its inventor, Henry F. Phillips for a fastener and fastening system. What was the fastener, and which industry adopted it? |
 | On 7 Jul 1668, Isaac Newton received something for his work over the previous few years. What did he receive? |
 | On 7 Jul 1930, construction began on the site infrastructure for construction of the Boulder Dam (later renamed as Hoover Dam). It had taken decades of political wrangling, but construction was finished in five years, and it was dedicated on 30 Sep 1935. The gravity-arch dam impounds a lake, the largest reservoir in the U.S., that provides electricity, municipal water, flood control and irrigation. On which river, and between which states was the dam built? What is the name of the lake formed by the dam? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for July 6: American Ornithology (birds) • French • PET (polyethylene terephthalate) • Georg Ohm • rabies • the decade including the year 1905 • the decade including the year 1952.
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