TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 3 SEPTEMBER
On 3 Sep 1728 (on the old Julian calendar), Matthew Boulton was born. He inherited a flourishing manufacturing business from his father, which he continued to develop. Although he is best-known for the support he gave to James Watt to introduce steam engines that powered the Industrial Revolution, Boulton also maintained his original business producing buttons, buckles and other decorative goods of silver and or mulu (a sort of gilded bronze). He also expanded into the production of coins using steam-powered presses. It is this variety of business activities that are related in an obituary published in The Monthly Magazine when he died in 1809—An Account of the Late Matthew Boulton, Esq. You may find it interesting to find that Boulton had more activities by which he was known in his own time, than his involvement in the manufacture and distribution of steam engines for which he is now remembered.
On 3 Sep 1728, Matthew Boulton was born. He inheriting his father's silver-stamping business for producing buttons and buckles. But that was just his introduction to becoming an astute businessman and industrialist. His greatest accomplishments came when he went into partnership, developing a market for James Watt's steam engines. Boulton & Watt steam engines were exported all over the world. Today's book pick is: Matthew Boulton: Selling What All the World Desires, by editor Shena Mason, who brings together other aspects of Boulton's extraordinarily varied achievements. Boulton's magnificent ormolu ornaments decorated aristocratic drawing rooms. His determination to discourage counterfeiters led to a contract to manufacture British coinage and coins of other countries at his mint. Boulton was leader of the campaign to establish the Birmingham Assay Office (still the busiest in the country), and he was also at the heart of the Lunar Society, a group of prominent industrialists, natural philosophers, and intellectuals interested in scientific and social change. Known to Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood, and many others, Boulton was a fascinating man, Britain’s leading Enlightenment entrepreneur. This book was published for the bicentenary of his death, and provides an engaging survey of a remarkable life.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $22.49. Used from $22.00. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
| | I sell here, Sir, what all the world desires to have—POWER. About the improved steam engine invented by James Watt and brought into production at Boulton’s manufactory. — Matthew Boulton, British engineer and manufacturer (born 3 Sep 1728).  |
 | A nuclear power plant is infinitely safer than eating, because 300 people choke to death on food every year. (1977) — Dixy Lee Ray, American marine biologist (born 3 Sep 1914). |
 | If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water. — Loren Eiseley, American anthropologist and ecologist (born 3 Sep 1907). |
| 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 | |
 | Carl David Anderson, born 3 Sep 1905, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1936 for his discovery of a new atomic particle. He examined the photographs of cosmic rays taken as they passed through a Wilson cloud chamber in a strong magnetic field. What was this particle? |
 | On 3 Sep 1899, Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet was an Australian physician and virologist, who shared the 1960 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance to tissue transplants. He made pioneering use of a certain host material for virus multiplication. What did Burnet pioneer as the host medium for virus multiplication in his research. |
| Deaths | |
 | Barbara McClintock (1902-1992) was an American scientist regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of genetics. In the 1940s and 1950s McClintock's work on cytogenetics led her to theorize that genes are transposable - they can move around - on and between chromosomes. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983, the first American woman to win an unshared Nobel. What plant was the subject of this research? |
 | On 3 Sep 1854, Henry Fourdrinier died, an English inventor who co-invented paper-making machinery with his brother, Sealy. Together, they spent a spent a fortune over their lifetimes not only in perfecting the machine, but also on costly legal battles to defend their patents. They died without any substantial return on their investment, but did obtain a small grant of compensation from Parliament. Paper-making machinery today still uses the production process known by their name. What was the distinctive innovation the Fourdriniers introduced to paper-making? |
| Events | |
 | On 3 Sep 2000, NASA data showed the Antarctic ozone hole at just under 11 million square miles - the biggest it had ever been. Record-low temperatures in the stratosphere are believed to have helped the expansion of the ozone hole during the Antarctic spring season. By 9 Sep 2000, the hole had grown over another country. What was the other country? |
 | On 3 Sep 1996, Slowinski and Gage discovered the number 2^1257787-1, the 34th of its kind. What was special about this number? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for September 2: teacher • isotope (“same place” - on the Periodic Table) • ...to the pressure of the gas above the liquid, provided that no chemical action occurs. • Titanic • 14 September.
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