TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 7 OCTOBER
On 7 Oct 1806, Ralph Wedgwood secured the first patent for carbon paper, which he described as an “apparatus for producing duplicates of writings.” This described the process of saturating thin paper with printer's ink, and drying it out between sheets of blotting paper. He made the carbon paper as a byproduct of his invention to help blind people write through the use of a machine, and the “black paper” was really just a substitute for ink. Wedgwood's “Stylographic Writer” enabled the use of a metal stylus instead of a quill, using carbon paper placed between two sheets of writing paper in order to transfer a copy onto the bottom sheet. He described it as an “apparatus for producing duplicates of writings,” and it had the benefit of enabling blind people to write without using a quill and ink pot.
By searching in the corners of the internet, your Webmaster has brought together several nuggets of information that show Wedgwood was a more fascinating individual than the solitary fact above gives him credit for. Yes, indeed, he was part of the family of the famous pottery manufacturer, Josiah Wedgwood. Ralph also held several other patents, showing an inventive nature. For more details, read the article Ralph Wedgwood, Potter and Inventor.
On 7 Oct 1939, Sir Harold Kroto was born, co-discoverer of the “Buckyball” C60 molecule and other fullerene molecules containing carbon atoms arranged in spherical shells. Today's book pick is: Most Beautiful Molecule P, by Hugh Aldersey-Williams, who leads a thrilling expedition to the very forefront of modern chemistry research. This unique, previously unknown molecule is beautiful physically and intellectually. Its 60 carbon atoms are arranged in a hollow sphere, with hexagonal and pentagonal configurations similar to those found on a soccer ball, with near-perfect symmetry. The unique physical structure provides a “cage” into which atoms of other materials may be inserted. This offers huge commercial potential and has inspired further research by scientists, industrial laboratories, and corporations, in a highly competitive search for practical applications.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $21.67. Used from $4.49. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | Every one is fond of comparing himself to something great and grandiose, as Louis XIV likened himself to the sun, and others have had like similes. I am more humble. I am a mere street scavenger (chiffonier) of science. With my hook in my hand and my basket on my back, I go about the streets of science, collecting what I find. — François Magendie, French physiologist (died 7 Oct 1855).  |
 | Nowhere is it more true that “prevention is better than cure,” than in the case of Parasitic Diseases. — Rudolf Leuckart, German zoologist (born 7 Oct 1822). |
 | I had a Meccano set with which I “played” endlessly. Meccano which was invented by Frank Hornby around 1900, is called Erector Set in the US. New toys (mainly Lego) have led to the extinction of Meccano and this has been a major disaster as far as the education of our young engineers and scientists is concerned. Lego is a technically trivial plaything and kids love it partly because it is so simple and partly because it is seductively coloured. However it is only a toy, whereas Meccano is a real engineering kit and it teaches one skill which I consider to be the most important that anyone can acquire: This is the sensitive touch needed to thread a nut on a bolt and tighten them with a screwdriver and spanner just enough that they stay locked, but not so tightly that the thread is stripped or they cannot be unscrewed. On those occasions (usually during a party at your house) when the handbasin tap is closed so tightly that you cannot turn it back on, you know the last person to use the washroom never had a Meccano set. — Sir Harold W. Kroto, English chemist (born 7 Oct 1939). |
| 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 | |
| | Sir Harold W. Kroto, born 7 Oct 1939, is an English chemist who, shared the 1996 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for joint discovery of new forms of the element carbon containing 60 or more atoms arranged in closed shells. After whom were the new forms of carbon name named, and why? |
 | A Danish physicist, born 7 Oct 1885, was the first to apply the quantum theory, which restricts the energy of a system to certain discrete values, to the problem of atomic and molecular structure. For this work he received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922. He developed an early theory of the atom and the liquid model of the nucleus Can you name this scientist? |
| Deaths | |
 | Clarence Birdseye (1886-1956) was the inventor of the deep freezing food method and co-founder of General Foods Corp. In 1924, his company produced the first frozen food, packed in cartons. What was his first frozen food product? |
| Events | |
 | On 7 Oct of a certain year, IBM displayed a large all-transistor calculator needing only 5% of the power of comparable electronic ones. Three years later, IBM introduced the IBM 608, the fist all-transistor commercial calculator. In what decade did these events occur? |
| | On 7 Oct 1806, Englishman Ralph Wedgwood secured the first patent for carbon paper, by saturating thin paper with printer's ink, and drying it out between sheets of blotting paper. The idea was a substitute for ink in his invention, the “Stylographic Writer,” which used a metal stylus instead of a quill. Wedgewood designed his “Stylographic Writer” to assist which people with the task of writing? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for October 6: Kon-Tiki • air brake • chemical reactions of metabolism in muscle • reptiles and amphibians; and fishes • prions • orally.
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