TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 17 SEPTEMBER
John Kidd, who died on 17 Sep 1851, was an English chemist and physician who taught at the University of Oxford. He wrote a pamphlet in 1818 to describe and defend the teaching of Chemistry at his university, because a disparaging statement had been written in the Supplement to the Encyclopædia Britannica suggesting that with only two two exceptions, institutions either entirely neglected Chemistry, or it was superficially and imperfectly taught. To illustrate the range of what he had been teaching in Chemistry at Oxford, he included his full Syllabus of a Course of Chemical Lectures in the publication.
Since that syllabus of chemical lectures is now two centuries old, reading it provides an interesting insight into the historical pursuit of chemistry and the state of knowledge in that era. Enjoy comparing and contrasting chemistry lectures then with the teaching in chemistry classes today in high schools or universities.
On 17 Sep 1683, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the father of bacteriology, reported to the Royal Society about his discovery of microscopic living animalcules. Today's book pick is: Antony Van Leeuwenhoek and His "Little Animals", by Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek, editted by Clifford Dobell, who covers most facts of Van Leeuwenhoek's life with true faithfulness, amusement and British irony. This is both a scientific book (though not too technical), and a historical book which places Leeuwenhoek in his time with references to kings, castles being built and the famous people he knew.
It is available from Amazon, typically about Used from $7.01. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | He that plants trees, loves others besides himself. — Thomas Fuller, English physician (died 17 Sep 1734).  |
 | The principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done—men who are creative, inventive, and discovers. The second goal of education is to form minds which can be critical, can verify, and not accept everything they are offered. — Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist and zoologist (died 17 Sep 1980). |
 | From the rocket we can see the huge sphere of the planet in one or another phase of the Moon. We can see how the sphere rotates, and how within a few hours it shows all its sides successively ... and we shall observe various points on the surface of the Earth for several minutes and from different sides very closely. This picture is so majestic, attractive and infinitely varied that I wish with all my soul that you and I could see it. (1911) — Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, Russian physicist and space theorist (born 17 Sep 1857). |
| 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 | |
 | A German mathematician, born 17 Sep 1826, was an original thinker and his name is associated with various of methods, theorems and concepts including clarifying the notion of integral by defining the integral now named after him. Can you name this mathematician? |
 | On 17 Sep 1905, Merrill W. Chase was born, who in the early 1940s discovered that transferring certain cells between guinea pigs he found an immunity in the donor against the tuberculosis organism was also transferred. Thus he discovered a new class of immune response: cell-mediated immunity. The transference of which cells provided this immunity? |
| Deaths | |
| | Jean Piaget(1896-1980) was a Swiss psychologist who developed a theory of the cognitive development. Babies begin in the sensimotor stage of development up to about age 2, followed by a preoperational stage up to about age 7. What are the final two stages of cognitive development of the four that Piaget classified? |
 | William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) was an English mathematician, physicist and chemist who invented a stage in the photographic process. What was Talbot's innovation in photograph processing? |
| Events | |
 | On 17 Sep 1901, the first U.S. patents for a new form of lamp were issued to Peter Cooper Hewitt. However, it was a garish blue-green colour, lacking any red light. What was this new lamp? |
 | On 17 Sep 1822, at the French Academie Royale des Inscriptions, Jean-François Champollion read a paper describing his solution to the mystery of the triple inscriptions on a certain tablet which had been unearthed in Jul 1799, by Napoleon's army near the River Nile's branch after which it was named. By what name is this tablet known? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for September 16: vitamin C • Jacob Schick • Sir James Jeans • Gabriel Fahrenheit • Galapagos • General Motors (GM).
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