TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 15 OCTOBER
On 15 Oct 1990, the first arrival of killer bees in the U.S. was recorded in Hidalgo, as the dangerous insects spread up from Mexico into the southern tip of Texas. The killer bees earned their nickname in the media from their more intense defensive swarming behaviour than shown by native bees. Africanized honey bees, better known as killer bees, originated from the cross-breeding of tropical African bees imported into a South American country for experimental work. Since the 1950s, the killer bees extended their range northward through Central America.
Three years later, on 18 Jun 1993, killer bees were recorded as having spread into Arizona. An article on the Arrival of Africanized Honey Bees in Arizona gives more details on the spread of the AHBs, their effects and the first human fatalities there.
On 15 Oct 1930, Herbert H. Dow died, founder of the Dow Chemical Company, a pioneer the modern American chemical industry. Today's book pick is: Herbert H. Dow,: Pioneer in creative chemistry,, by Murray Campbell, Harrison Hatton who describes Dow's contribution to the development of industrial chemistry, with ample quotations from letters, diaries, notebooks and company records. Lessons learned by Dow as he progressed from the lab were the problems of scalability: concocting something in a beaker would be followed by unpleasant surprises as it would be totally different to put it together on a larger, commercial scale.
It is available from Amazon, typically about Used from $1.95. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | The genes are the atoms of heredity. — Seymour Benzer, American molecular biologist (born 15 Oct 1921).  |
 | If the fit between South America and Africa is not genetic, surely it is a device of Satan for our frustration. — Chester R. Longwell, American geologist (born 15 Oct 1887). |
 | A good many times I have been present at gatherings of people who, by the standards of the traditional culture, are thought highly educated and who have with considerable gusto been expressing their incredulity at the illiteracy of scientists. Once or twice I have been provoked and have asked the company how many of them could describe the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The response was cold: it was also negative. Yet I was asking something which is about the scientific equivalent of: Have you read a work of Shakespeare’s? — Baron C.P. Snow, English physicist, novelist and government administrator (born 15 Oct 1905). |
| 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 | |
 | An Italian physicist, born 15 Oct 1608, invented the barometer. The barometer experiment using “quicksilver” filling a tube then inverted into a dish of mercury, carried out in Spring 1644, made his name famous. Can you name this scientist? |
 | On 15 Oct 1829, Asaph Hall was born, the American astronomer who discovered and named the two moons of Mars. What are the names of the two moons of Mars? |
| Deaths | |
 | Herbert Henry Dow (1866-1930) was a pioneer in U.S. chemical industry who founded the Dow Chemical Company. As a young man Dow entered the rudimentary chemical industry of the 1890s by inventing an entirely new method of extracting an element from the prehistoric brine trapped underground at Midland, Mich. What was this element? |
 | Herbert Copeland (1902-1968) was an American biologist who proposed distinguishing two biological kingdoms in addition to the long-standing two for plants and animals. For classification of the lower organisms, he split microorganisms into two kingdoms. What two kingdoms did Copeland name within the classification of microorganisms? |
| Events | |
| | On 15 Oct of a certain year, the arrival of killer bees was first observed in the U.S. after they had been spreading via Mexico from Central and South America into Texas. Their sometimes deadly, more intense defensive swarming behavior than native bees earned them the nickname “killer bee” in the media. In which South American country did the cross-breeding of African bees create the so-called killer bees? |
 | On 15 Oct 1878, Thomas Edison established the Edison Electric Light Company in N.Y. City. It was followed in 1882 by the first investor-owned electric utility, that provided service for the 400 lamps of 85 customers in New York City. This Edison Electric Light Company and its technological heritage became a part of a now well-known U.S. company in 1892. Can you name this present company? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for October 14: Japan • the shape of the earth • helium • quasi-stellar object • krypton • Chuck Yeager.
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