TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 30 OCTOBER
On 30 Oct 1823, Edmund Cartright died, an English inventor who revolutionized a certain industry. Defective specifications, loose patents, and greedy imitators all combined to rob Cartwright of the just reward of his ingenuity. He had also suffered a disastrous loss in a huge fire. Fortunately, after the expiration of his patents, some of the manufacturers and merchants, who recognized his considerable contribution to the manufactories and benefit of the nation, petitioned Parliament for to provide him with a payment to live a comfortable retirement.
In a chapter from Self-Made Men (1858), you can read of the triumphs and tragedies in the life of Edmund Cartright.
On 30 Oct 1880, Sir Thomas Bouch died, builder of the ill-fated Tay Railway Bridge, known for the worst structural disaster in British history. Its catastrophic collapse happened the year after it opened, killing a trainload of people. It was the longest bridge in the world—a true wonder of the time—until it collapsed as an express train was crossing during a storm. When the bridge came crashing down, it brought down its designer Thomas Bouch as well. He became a recluse. This remains a historic engineering failure. Today's book pick is: , by , who gives an account of the engineer and the tragedy that will give you an insight into a significant event in Victorian history which resonates to this day.
It is available from Amazon, typically about (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | [Culture] denotes an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms, by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life. — Clifford Geertz, American anthropologist (died 30 Oct 2006).  |
 | The alchemists of past centuries tried hard to make the elixir of life: ... Those efforts were in vain; it is not in our power to obtain the experiences and the views of the future by prolonging our lives forward in this direction. However, it is well possible in a certain sense to prolong our lives backwards by acquiring the experiences of those who existed before us and by learning to know their views as well as if we were their contemporaries. The means for doing this is also an elixir of life. — Hermann Franz Moritz Kopp, German physical chemist and historian (born 30 Oct 1817). |
 | Nothing leads the scientist so astray as a premature truth. — Jean Rostand, French biologist and historian (born 30 Oct 1894). |
| 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 | |
 | Gerhard Domagk, born 30 Sep 1895, was a German bacteriologist and pathologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery (announced in 1932) of the antibacterial effects of Prontosil, the first of the sulfonamide drugs. He refused to accept the prize, the first refusal in the history of the awards. Why did he refuse the prize? |
 | On 30 Oct 1928, Daniel Nathans was born, an American microbiologistwho shared the 1978 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1978 for his part in the discovery and application of restriction enzymes. What are restriction enzymes, and what applications do they have? |
| Deaths | |
| | Edmund Cartwright (1743-1823) was an English inventor. In 1784, Cartwright visited a factory owned by Richard Arkwright. Inspired by what he saw, he began working on a machine that would improve the speed and quality of production. What was his invention? |
 | Gustav Hertz (1887-1975) was a nephew of Heinrich Hertz. Gustav was a German physicist who shared the 1925 Nobel Prize for Physics for the Franck-Hertz experiment. What did the Frank-Hertz experiment confirm? |
| Events | |
 | On 30 Oct of a certain year, the first television transmission was seen in London, England. John Baird built the transmitter in his attic from a tea chest, cardboard scanning discs, an empty biscuit box, old electric motors, darning needles, motorcycle lamp lenses, piano wire, glue, string, and sealing wax. In what decade was this first TV transmission? |
 | On 30 Oct 1894, Daniel M. Cooper of Rochester, N.Y. received the first U.S. patent for a new form of clock with a special use. What was this invention? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for October 29: The Great Bone Wars • when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys one's own healthy body tissue • Swedish • isoprene • John Glenn • decade containing the year 1945.
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