Newsletter for Sunday 8 November.

Click to open this Newsletter in your browser

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER • 8 NOVEMBER

Feature for Today

Book of the Day

On 8 Nov 1656, Edmond Halley was born, the second Astronomer Royal, remembered in the name of Halley's Comet, which he predicted would return. But his significant work also includes prompting Newton to write the Prinicipia, which he editted and funded for publication. Halley predicted the transit of Venus that led to Cook's voyage to Tahiti. He made many more fundamental contributions to astronomical knowledge. Today's book pick is: Edmond Halley: Charting the Heavens and the Seas, by Alan Cook, who reveals Halley's character had extraordinary breadth and depth. As a young man, he sailed to St. Helena to chart the unmapped stars of the Southern Hemisphere. Halley knew the leading artists of his age—Wren, Pepys, Handel, Purcell, and Dryden—and he travelled widely throughout Europe, meeting numerous fellow scientists and serving on a variety of diplomatic missions. He even spent a number of adventurous years as commander of a Royal Naval warship.

It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $82.35. Used from $16.99. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)

Quotations for Today

	For a billion years the patient earth amassed documents and inscribed them with signs and pictures which lay unnoticed and unused. Today, at last, they are waking up, because man has come to rouse them. Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them. Layers become history and, released from the enchanted sleep of eternity, life's motley, never-ending dance rises out of the black depths of the past into the light of the present. — Hans Cloos, German geologist (born 8 Nov 1885).
	Aristotle’s opinion … that comets were nothing else than sublunary vapors or airy meteors … prevailed so far amongst the Greeks, that this sublimest part of astronomy lay altogether neglected; since none could think it worthwhile to observe, and to give an account of the wandering and uncertain paths of vapours floating in the Ether. — Edmond Halley, English astronomer, geophysicist and mathematician (born 8 Nov 1656).
	The prime goal is to alleviate suffering, and not to prolong life. And if your treatment does not alleviate suffering, but only prolongs life, that treatment should be stopped. — Christiaan Barnard, South African surgeon (born 8 Nov 1922).

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
	Swiss psychiatrist who devised the inkblot test that bears his name was born on 8 Nov 1884. The test is widely used clinically for diagnosing psychopathology. His secondary-school nickname was Kleck, meaning “inkblot,” because of his interest in sketching. Can you name this scientist?
	Edmond Halley, born 8 Nov 1656, was an English astronomer and mathematician, best known for recognizing that a bright comet (later named after him) had appeared several times, calculating its orbit (1682) and successfully predicting its return. What is the average number of years between each return of the comet?
Deaths
	Edwin Drake (1819-1880) is known for a first productive oil well the that launched the modern U.S. petroleum industry. After his well began to produce oil, other prospectors drilled wells nearby. Other men, with better business sense, grew rich from the oil boom, yet Drake died in poverty, after years of crippling illnesses. Where in the U.S. did Drake drill his well?
	John Wallis (1616-1703) was a British mathematician. He was skilled in cryptography and decoded Royalist messages for the Parliamentarians during the Civil War. He contributed substantially to the origins of calculus and was the most influential English mathematician before Newton. Wallis introduced a certain math symbol that remains commonly used. Wallis is remembered for introducing which mathematical symbol?
Events
	On 8 Nov 1931, Fredrick Allison, working in Alabama, reported (erroneously) the discovery of “alabamine,” element 85, the heaviest halogen. The first synthesis and correct identification of this element eventually happened in 1940 by other experimenters bombarding bismuth with alpha particles. By what name is “alabamine” now correctly known?
	On 8 Nov 1895, a German physicist became the first person to observe the phenomenon later named X-rays. The discovery was accidental while he was experimenting with cathode rays at Würzburg University. 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 8 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 7: Austrian • radium • 12 oarsmen • echolocation by vocalizing ultrasonic sounds and listening to their reflections from obstacles • decade containing the year 1918 • Mercury.

Feedback

If you enjoy this newsletter, the website, or wish to offer encouragement or ideas, please send feedback by using your mail reader Reply button.

Your click on a Facebook, StumbleUpon, or other social button on the site webpages is also a welcome sign of appreciation. Thank you for using them.

Copyright

To find citations for quotations go to the corresponding webpage by clicking on the “quotes” balloon icon. Sources for the thumbnails appear on today’s webpage with the corresponding item.

© This newsletter is copyright 2020 by todayinsci.com. Please respect the Webmaster's wishes and do not put copies online of the Newsletter — or any Today in Science History webpage. (If you already have done so, please remove them. Thank you.) Offline use in education is encouraged such as a printout on a bulletin board, or projected for classroom viewing. Online, descriptive links to our pages are welcomed, as these will provide a reader with the most recent revisions, additions and/or corrections of a webpage. For any other copyright questions, please contact the Webmaster by using your mail reader Reply button.

--
If you do not want to receive any more newsletters, Unsubscribe

To update your preferences and to unsubscribe visit this link