TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 27 SEPTEMBER
On 27 Sep 1838, Bernard Courtois died. Iodine became known as a new element from the serendipitous discovery he made. While routinely processing the ash from seaweed to recover sodium and potassium compounds, he released a curious violet vapour that condensed into attractive crystals.He had to leave to others the confirmation of his hunch that this was a new element.
Thus seaweed, surely one of the most unlikely places to discover a new element, is recorded in the history of chemistry for yielding the substance that would in modern times be added to table salt as a health measure to prevent goitre.
You can read more about Bernard Courtois and how he discovered iodine in this excerpt from The Discovery of the Elements (1934).
On 27 Sep, Ivan Pavolov was born, the Russian physiologist. You know him... say his name out loud and all the dogs in hearing range will start salivating! More seriously, his pioneering research on digestion, the brain, and behavior still provides important insights into the minds of animals—including humans—and is an inspiring example of imaginative experimental technique. Today's book pick is: Pavlov's Physiology Factory: Experiment, Interpretation, Laboratory Enterprise, by Daniel P. Todes who explores Pavlov's early work in digestive physiology through the structures and practices of his landmark laboratory—which Pavlov referred to as his “physiology factory.” Todes looks at Pavlov's performance in his various roles as laboratory manager, experimentalist, entrepreneur, and scientific visionary.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $11.09. Used from $10.00. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | The weeds of a seemingly learned and brilliant but actually trivial and empty philosophy of Nature which, after having been replaced some 50 years ago by the exact sciences, is now once more dug up by pseudo scientists from the lumber room of human fallacies, and like a trollop, newly attired in elegant dress and make-up, is smuggled into respectable company, to which she does not belong. — Hermann Kolbe, German chemist (born 27 Sep 1818).  |
 | One can truly say that the irresistible progress of natural science since the time of Galileo has made its first halt before the study of the higher parts of the brain, the organ of the most complicated relations of the animal to the external world. And it seems, and not without reason, that now is the really critical moment for natural science; for the brain, in its highest complexity—the human brain—which created and creates natural science, itself becomes the object of this science. — Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, Russian physiologist (born 27 Sep 1849). |
 | In size the electron bears the same relation to an atom that a baseball bears to the earth. Or, as Sir Oliver Lodge puts it, if a hydrogen atom were magnified to the size of a church, an electron would be a speck of dust in that church. — Waldemar Kaempffert, American science writer and museum director (born 27 Sep 1877). |
| 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 | |
 | Robert Edwards, born 27 Sep 1925, was a British medical researcher who, with Patrick Steptoe, perfected in-vitro fertilization of the human egg. Their technique made possible in the birth of Louise Brown, the world's first “test-tube baby.” In which decade did this birth occur? |
| | Hermann Kolbe, born 27 Sep 1818, was a German chemist who accomplished the first generally accepted synthesis of a certain kind, with a result that was strikingly different from prior work in chemistry. What was his accomplishment? |
| Deaths | |
 | Auguste Michel-Levy , (1844 -1911) was a French geologist and mineralogist who was a pioneer in microscopic petrology. What is petrology? |
| Events | |
 | On 27 Sep of a certain year, scientists at the Naval Aircraft Radio Laboratory near Washington, D.C., demonstrated that if a ship passed through a radio wave being broadcast between two stations, that ship could be detected, the essentials of radar. In which decade did this occur? |
 | In 1854, the first great disaster involving an Atlantic Ocean liner occurred when a steamship sank with 300 people aboard. What was the name of this steamship? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for September 26: Oak Ridge • lactic acid • Levi Strauss • yellow fever • Portland cement • Oracle, Arizona, U.S.A. for two years.
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