Newsletter for Saturday 28 November.

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TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER • 28 NOVEMBER

Feature for Today

Book of the Day

On 28 Nov 1954, Enrico Fermi died, a Nobel laureate, scientific luminary and pioneering nuclear physicist. The decade immediately after World War II was a magical time for physics. The success of the Manhattan Project, Radar, and many other defence applications of physical science attracted much talent to the field. It seemed that almost everyone wanted a PhD in physics, and graduate schools like Chicago were mobbed. Fermi was the center of attention, and the students that he trained, both individually and in classes, went on to illustrious careers. Today's book pick is: Fermi Remembered, by , from the University Of Chicago Press. The 100th anniversary of Fermi's birth is commemorated with a collection of essays, newly commissioned reminiscences, and archival material documenting the context of Fermi's life and his research work.

It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $17.00. Used from $6.00. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)

Quotations for Today

	When asked what he meant by a miracle: Oh, anything with a probability of less than 20%. — Enrico Fermi, Italian-American physicist (died 28 Nov 1954).
	Le savoir scientifique avance à pas trébuchants, sous le fouet de la contention et du doute. Scientific knowledge advances haltingly and is stimulated by contention and doubt. — Claude Lévi-Strauss, French social anthropologist (born 28 Nov 1908).
	A cell is regarded as the true biological atom. — George Henry Lewes, English philosopher and naturalist (died 28 Nov 1878).

Quiz

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
	Russell Alan Hulse, born 28 Nov 1950, is an American physicist who in 1993 shared the Nobel Prize for Physics. He co-discovered (1974) the first of a type of two celestial bodies so close they are separated by only several times the distance between the moon and the earth. This was the first indirect proof of the existence of the gravitational waves, as predicted by Albert Einstein in his theory of relativity. What type of celestial bodies did they discover?
	On 28 Nov 1837, John Wesley Hyatt was born, an American inventor and manufacturer who was a pioneer of the plastics industry. He developed the first synthetic plastic, which he patented in 1870. What trademark name did he give his new plastic?
Deaths
	Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) was an Italian-born American physicist who was awarded the 1928 Nobel Prize for Physics in 1938 as one of the chief architects of the nuclear age. He was the last of the double-threat physicists: a genius at creating both esoteric theories and elegant experiments. In 1933, he developed a theory postulating the existance of a new particle, before it was discovered. What did he name this new particle?
	Sir Charles Thomas Newton (1816-1894) was a scientist who bears the same surname as another famous scientist, but did his work in another field. What was the scientific field of Sir Charles Newton?
Events
	On 28 Nov of a certain year, the first Polaroid Land Camera first went on sale, at a Boston department store. The 40 series, model 95 roll film camera went on sale for $89.75. This first model was sold through 1953, and was the first commercially successful self-deleveloping camera system. A sepia-coloured photograph took about one minute to produce. In which decade was the Polaroid Land Camera placed on sale?
	On 28 Nov 1967, the first pulsating radio source (pulsar) was detected by an alert female graduate student, at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, Cambridge, England. The discovery came by using a special radio telescope, a large array of 2,048 aerials covering an area of 4.4 acres. Can you name this scientist?

Answers

When you have your answers ready to all the questions above, you'll find all the information to check them, and more, on the November 28 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers.

Fast answers for the previous newsletter for November 27: ampere • Swedish • motions of sunspots • horse-drawn vehicles • decade containing the year 1834 • “phossy jaw”.

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