TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 1 JULY
On 1 Jul 1818, Ignaz Semmelweis was born. You probably don't know his name. You should. His discovery was of life-saving significance. Joseph Lister may ring a bell in your mind for introducing antiseptic procedures. But Semmelweis was already onto it before Lister. In the article Pathfinders in Medicine: Semmelweis, the Obstetrician you'll learn how he realized the necessity of hand washing between making an autopsy of a deceased, often infected person, and going to attend to the next childbirth. Women were dying in large numbers due to rampant infection in hospitals. He solved that where he worked. But too many in the medical profession were not ready to learn from him. As a pioneer, he is now a hero, but then widely ignored, even despised by many. He died tragically too.
So, if the name is unfamiliar to you, honour his memory, by reading this biographical article from 1912.
On 1 July 1886, the Tribune newspaper of New York City began the first commercial use in the U.S. of a new kind of machine. Whitelaw Reid, editor of the Tribune gave it the name “Linotype” by which it became known (because it set a line of type in one piece). Ottmar Mergenthaler had invented, patented and continued to improve the machine. It was an revolutionary advance, and fully described in an interesting article in The Manufacturer and Builder (1889).
On 1 Jul 1913, the Lincoln Highway Association was formed in the U.S. to promote a coast-to-coast road to be known as the Lincoln Highway. The need for good roads led to the federal government building roads and the creation of numbered U.S. routes in the 1920s. Today's book pick is: The Lincoln Highway: Coast to Coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate, by Michael Wallis, who take you along this important early road from New York City to San Francisco Bay presenting oft-forgotten and offbeat sights and tales of an America bypassed by superhighways.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $17.33. Used from $5.48. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | Nihil est sine ratione. There is nothing without a reason. — Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German philosopher, mathematician and political adviser (born 1 Jul 1646).  |
 | One has to do something new in order to see something new. — Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German physicist and writer (born 1 Jul 1742). |
 | In fact, Gentlemen, no geometry without arithmetic, no mechanics without geometry... you cannot count upon success, if your mind is not sufficiently exercised on the forms and demonstrations of geometry, on the theories and calculations of arithmetic ... In a word, the theory of proportions is for industrial teaching, what algebra is for the most elevated mathematical teaching. — Jean-Victor Poncelet, French mathematician and engineer (born 1 Jul 1788). |
| 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 | |
 | Louis Blériot, born 1 Jul 1872, was a French aviator who made the world’s first over-water flight in a heavier-than-air craft. As a successful inventor of automobile lights and accessories, he had his own funds available to turn his interest in aviation. After experimenting with gliders and light-engine airplanes of various designs, on 25 Jul 1909 he flew his Blériot XI monoplane on his historic crossing. What body of water did he cross? |
| | Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, born 1 Jul 1646, was a German philosopher, mathematician, and political adviser. Through meeting with such scholars as Christian Huygens in Paris and with members of the Royal Society, during trips to London, Leibniz was introduced to the outstanding problems challenging the mathematicians and physicists of Europe. Leibniz independently discovered (published 1684) certain mathematical procedures, but became involved in a bitter priority dispute with Isaac Newton, whose similar ideas were developed earlier (1665), but published later (1687). What mathematical idea did they independently invent? Deaths |
| Deaths | |
 | A U.S. engineer and architect (1895-1983) developed the geodesic dome, the only large dome that can be set directly on the ground as a complete structure, and the only practical kind of building that has no limiting dimensions. Can you name this man? |
 | An American inventor of the vulcanization process (1800-1860) made possible the commercial use of rubber. Originally the use of rubber was limited since it would freeze hard in winter and become gummy in summer. After years of persistent experimentation, he mixed and baked sulfur and rubber together, creating a tough, cured compound that could withstand the heat and stress. A rubber company was named in his honor. Can you name this man? |
| Events | |
 | On 1 Jul 1874, the Philadelphia Zoo, the first zoological gardens in the U.S. opened to the public in Philadelphia, Penn. It was originally chartered by the Pennsylvania state legislature on 21 Mar 1859, as the Zoological Society of Philadelphia, whose core purpose was to oversee “the purchase and collection of living wild and other animals” and “for the instruction and recreation of the people.” In 1875, this was the first U.S. zoo to exhibit a male Indian rhinoceros. Why did it take so long between incorporation in 1859 and the Zoo’s eventual opening in 1874? |
 | On 1 Jul of a certain year, the first completely automatic bread plant in the U.S. was opened by the Ward Baking Company of Chicago, Illinois. The dough was not touched, nor the bread handled until it was placed on the wrapping machine. In what decade was this? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for June 30: Australia • Charles Darwin • Audion vacuum tube - a triode • argon • to keep the super-accurate atomic clocks in step with the Earth’s rotation • the decade including the year 1953 • solar eclipse - the longest for 1,000 years.
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