TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 8 OCTOBER
On 8 Oct 1904, Clemens Winkler, German chemist died. Although his name may be unfamiliar to you, he is notable for discovering a new element. (Its name is a quiz question below.)
His eventual discovery of this new element was the result of months of work in the laboratory on the mineral argrodite.
An account of Winkler's discovery of the new element in The Discovery of the Elements (1934) makes interesting reading. You may be surprised by the crucial step that made all the difference in finding the new element when his months of previous efforts had been fruitless.
On 8 Oct 1823, the Erie Canal was inaugurated. It became a vital transport route, an economic engine for New York and helped propel the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. It stretched 363 miles across upstate New York from Buffalo on Lake Erie to Albany on the Hudson River. Today's book pick is: Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation, by Peter L. Bernstein, who describes how linking the Atlantic seaboard with the American interior was the first great feat of engineering undertaken by the infant American republic. Bernstein relates this riveting story of American ingenuity, featuring a rich cast of characters, including not only political visionaries like Washington and Jefferson but also a huge platoon of Irish diggers as well as the canal's first travellers. A stunning achievement, the canal was hacked through a densely forested pass in the Appalachian Mountains using only axes, shovels, low-grade explosive power, beasts of burden, and some ingenious devices. The engineers and workers created locks, bypassed rapids and waterfalls, and adjusted to countless changes in elevation. This first great macroengineering venture of American history jump-started urbanisation, economic growth and globalisation.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $15.80. Used from $1.38. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | The psychopaths are always around. In calm times we study them, but in times of upheaval, they rule over us. — Ernst Kretschmer, German psychiatrist (born 8 Oct 1888).  |
 | In my opinion the separation of the c- and ac-stars is the most important advancement in stellar classification since the trials by Vogel and Secchi ... To neglect the c-properties in classifying stellar spectra, I think, is nearly the same thing as if a zoologist, who has detected the deciding differences between a whale and a fish, would continue classifying them together. — Ejnar Hertzsprung, Danish astronomer (born 8 Oct 1873). |
| | Die Welt der chemischen Vorgänge gleicht einer Bühne, auf welcher sich in unablässiger Aufeinanderfolge Scene um Scene abspielt. Die handelnden Personen auf ihr sind die Elemente. The world of chemical reactions is like a stage, on which scene after scene is ceaselessly played. The actors on it are the elements. — Clemens Alexander Winkler, German chemist (died 8 Oct 1904). |
| 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 | |
| | Ejnar Hertzsprung, born 8 Oct 1873, was a Danish astronomer who classified types of stars by relating their surface temperature (or colour) to their absolute brightness. A few years later, working with another scientist, Hertzsprung illustrated this relationship graphically in a diagram now known by both their names. It has become fundamental to the study of stellar evolution. What is the name of the second scientist with whom he prepared the graphical diagram? |
 | A French chemist, born 8 Oct 1850, is best known for the principle that makes it possible to predict the effect a change of conditions (temperature, pressure, and concentration of reaction components) will have on a chemical reaction. This principle proved invaluable in the chemical industry for developing the most efficient chemical processes. Can you name this scientist? |
| Deaths | |
| | Clemens Alexander Winkler (1838-1904) discovered a new element (6 Feb 1886). He had a background in managing a cobalt glassworks and then on the faculty of the Freiberg School of Mining, when he discovered the new element in the mineral argyrodite. He named it for his country. What was the element he discovered and named? |
| Events | |
 | On 8 Oct of a certain year, Karl Ludwig Nessler, a German, demonstrated the first “permanent wave” for hair, to an invited audience of hair stylists, at his beauty salon in Oxford Street, London. The hair was soaked with an alkaline solution and rolled on metal rods which were then heated strongly. In what decade did this event occur? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for October 7: Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic dome structure they resembled • Niels Bohr • fish • decade containing the years 1954, 1957 • the blind.
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