TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 17 NOVEMBER
On 17 Nov 1926, Carl E. Akeley died, an American naturalist and explorer who developed the taxidermic method for mounting museum displays to show animals in their natural surroundings. His method of applying skin on a finely molded replica of the body of the animal gave results of unprecedented realism and elevated taxidermy from a craft to an art. He mounted the skeleton of the famous African elephant Jumbo. He invented the Akeley cement gun (1911) to use while mounting animals, and the Akeley camera which was used to capture the first movies of gorillas. In the 1920s Akeley made a large specimen collection, part of the American Museum's famous African mammal hall. From 1919, using the skills he had acquired making clay models of animals to design taxidermy exhibits, Akeley also created a series of bronze animal casts.
Akeley knew Theodore Roosevelt (before he became U.S. President) from travelling together in 1909 on an expedition to Africa in the big game country. When Roosevelt died, there was a special memorial issue of Natural History magazine, in which Akeley wrote his reminisceces of their travel in Africa. His article 'Theodore Roosevelt and Africa' was subtitled 'The Man Who Felt the Attraction of Live in the Silent Places and the Wide Waste Spaces of the Earth.' In addition to Akeley's description of their camp, there is an equally long quotation on 'Africa—In the Words of Roosevelt.' That makes this article twice as fascinating to read.
On 17 Nov 1878, Hans Zinsser was born, an American bacteriologist and immunologist who isolated the typhus germ and perfected a method to produce large quantities of anti-typhus vaccine. Today's book pick is: Rats, Lice and History (Social Science Classics Series), by , is a timeless classic (from 1934, reprinted) about the histories of microbial diseases, rats, and lice, and the scientists and doctors who combatted them. This book combines science, history, biography, literature, and other fields into an elegant but grim package of broad erudition and darker humor. To Zinsser, scientific research was high adventure and the investigation of infectious disease, a field of battle. IKn a change of perspective, he presents the viewpoint that infectious disease simply represented an attempt of a living organism to survive, though to a human, it is an invading pathogen. In presenting epidemic infectious disease as a major force in human affairs, Zinnser's book remains a masterpiece of science writing for a general readership.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $39.46. Used from $3.87. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
On 10 Oct 1913, Atlantic and Pacific oceans waters met through the Panama Canal as a construction blast made the first connection. President Woodrow Wilson pressed a button in Washington that carried a signal by telegraph to Panama. A dynamite charge was ignited that blew a hole in the Gamboa Dike allowing the waters to mingle in the final cut between the oceans. Today's book pick is: , by , a Pulitzer Prize-winning master of historical narrative telling the epic chronicle of the creation of the Panama Canal.
It is available from Amazon, typically about (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
On 17 Nov 1869, the Suez Canal was opened. Today's book pick is: Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal, by Zachary Karabell who lays out the epic story of the greatest engineering feat of the nineteenth century and how it changed the world. It began as the inspiration of the ambitious, energetic French diplomat and entrepreneur Ferdinand de Lesseps who masterminded the project. He supervised fifteen years of financial challenges, technical obstacles, and political intrigues. There were challenges of financing, construction and disease to overcome. But the inauguration in 1869 captured the imagination of the world. The author reflects also on the origins of the modern Middle East.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $11.79. Used from $2.04. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | After some experiments made one day at my house upon the phosphorus, a little piece of it being left negligently upon the table in my chamber, the maid making the bed took it up in the bedclothes she had put on the table, not seeing the little piece. The person who lay afterwards in the bed, waking at night and feeling more than ordinary heat, perceived that the coverlet was on fire. — Nicolas Lémery, French chemist and apothecary (born 17 Nov 1645).  |
 | ... [I]nfectious disease is merely a disagreeable instance of a widely prevalent tendency of all living creatures to save themselves the bother of building, by their own efforts, the things they require. Whenever they find it possible to take advantage of the constructive labors of others, this is the path of least resistance. The plant does the work with its roots and its green leaves. The cow eats the plant. Man eats both of them; and bacteria (or investment bankers) eat the man. ... — Hans Zinsser, American bacteriologist and immunologist (born 17 Nov 1878). |
 | Physics is becoming so unbelievably complex that it is taking longer and longer to train a physicist. It is taking so long, in fact, to train a physicist to the place where he understands the nature of physical problems that he is already too old to solve them. — Eugene Paul Wigner, Hungarian-American physicist (born 17 Nov 1902). |
| 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 | |
 | William Merriam Burton, born 17 Nov 1865, was an American chemist who developed a thermal cracking process for crude petroleum. He recognized the need for altering the methods of refining crude oil at the turn of the century and understood that he could squeeze more power from every molecule of petroleum. What was his goal with thermal cracking? |
 | August Möbius was a German astronomer and mathematician remembered for his Möbius strip. It can be made by taking a strip of paper tape, making a 180 degree twist in its length and joining the two ends of the strip together, forming a two-dimensional surface. What is remarkable about the surface so formed? |
| Deaths | |
 | John Evershed (1864-1956) was an English astronomer who discovered (1909) the Evershed effect - the horizontal motion of gases outward from the centres of sunspots. While photographing solar prominences and sunspot spectra, he made a discovery about the Fraunhofer lines in the sunspot spectra. What was this discovery and how did it relate to the Evershed effect? |
 | Herman Hollerith (1860-1929) was an American inventor of an important precursor of the electronic computer. His invention was applied to the 1890 U.S. census to automate the sorting of data. It saved the United States 5 million dollars for the 1890 census by completing the analysis of the data in a fraction of the time it would have taken without it. What was his invention? |
| Events | |
| | On 17 Nov 1869, the 100-mile Suez Canal was opened in Egypt, linking two seas and enabling an important transportation route between Europe and Asia, which remains vital today. Which two seas are linked by the Suez Canal? |
 | On 17 Nov 1976, an atmospheric test of a hydrogen bomb produced the most powerful blast ever (to date, as of 2011). Equivalent to 4 megatons of TNT, it was reportedly 320 times greater than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Which country exploded the 1976 H-bomb with the most powerful blast ever? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for November 16: French • the bends is a nitrogen solubility problem when rapid pressure changes experienced in deep diving cause the formation of bubbles of the gas in the blood, tissues and joints • refrigeration and scientific research at low temperatures and very high vacuums • the study of geometric properties and spatial relations unaffected by the continuous change of shape or size of figures • corn (maize) • decade containing the year 1945.
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