TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 3 NOVEMBER
On 3 Nov 1957, the first living creature in space, a dog, was launched on a one-way journey by the Soviets. The famous beeping satellite, Sputnik 1 had been launched the previous month on 4 Oct. Now Laika, a female dog was on Sputnik 2, a 507-kg, 1.2 meter long cone. In addition to the live cargo, instruments analyzed cosmic radiation and made other measurements, with the data transmitted back to Earth. Although the take-off mechanically went well, the dog was spooked, and survived only a few hours. That truth was not the story released at the time, which indicated the dog lived a number of days in orbit before being somehow humanely euthanized. The reality was a sad experience. The page on Laika tells the known story of the flight, death and re-entry of first space dog.
On 3 Nov 1749, Daniel Rutherford was born, who discovered “noxious air” - nitrogen. Today's book pick is: The Nitrogen Murder: A Periodic Table Mystery (Gloria Lamerino Mysteries), by Camille Minichino who has written a fiction book - a novel murder mystery featuring the element nitrogen. This, the seventh in a series of Periodic Table Mysteries, continues the investigations by unforgettable detective-scientist: Dr. Gloria Lamerino, a retired physics professor, now a science-crime consultant. In each, the fiction weaves real science throughout the plot, which in this book revolves around secret government research on nitrogen.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $55.16. Used from $4.05. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | Not only in antiquity but in our own times also laws have been passed...to secure good conditions for workers; so it is right that the art of medicine should contribute its portion for the benefit and relief of those for whom the law has shown such foresight...[We] ought to show peculiar zeal...in taking precautions for their safety. I for one have done all that lay in my power, and have not thought it beneath me to step into workshops of the meaner sort now and again and study the obscure operations of mechanical arts. — Bernardino Ramazzini, Italian physician (born 3 Nov 1633).  |
 | The mind likes a strange idea as little as the body likes a strange protein and resists it with similar energy. It would not perhaps be too fanciful to say that a new idea is the most quickly acting antigen known to science. If we watch ourselves honestly we shall often find that we have begun to argue against a new idea even before it has been completely stated. — Wilfred Trotter, English surgeon (born 3 Nov 1872). |
 | There have, however, always been men of high and disciplined spirituality who have insisted on their direct experience of something greater than themselves. Their conviction of the reality of a spiritual life apart from and transcending the life of the body may not lend itself to scientific proof or disproof; nevertheless the remarkable transformation in personality seen in those who rightfully lay claim to such experience is as objective as tomorrow's sunrise. Millions of lesser men draw strength from the contacts they can make through prayer and meditation with this aspect of the inner life. — Ralph Wyckoff, , American crystallographer (died 3 Nov 1994). |
| 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 | |
 | Daniel Rutherford, born 3 Nov 1749, was a chemist who discovered the portion of air that does not support combustion. After letting a mouse live in a confined quantity of air until it died, he burned a candle and burned phosphorus in the same air as long as they would burn. He assumed the remaining gas was carbon dioxide, which he dissolved by passing it through a strong alkali. Yet there remained gas that was incapable of supporting respiration or combustion. What was the remaining gas he discovered? |
| Deaths | |
| Events | |
 | On 3 Nov of a certain year, Queen Elizabeth II opened the North Sea pipeline, Firth of Forth. The first oil was piped ashore from the North Sea at Peterhead, Scotland. From BP's “Forties Field” the pipe runs 110 miles along the seabed and then 130 miles to the oil refinery at Grangemouth. Now, oil from the Forties reservoir is produced through some 55 producing wells. In what decade was this pipeline opened? |
 | On 3 Nov 1952, Clarence Birdseye marketed the first of a new frozen food in Chester, N.Y. While a U.S. field naturalist near the Arctic, he had learned the technique of flash freezing from Labrador Inuit. Freshly caught fish, when placed onto the Arctic ice in the frigid wind, froze solid almost immediately. From this idea, he developed the frozen foods industry. What was this new frozen food? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for November 2: George Boole • Piltdown Man • decade containing the year 1931 • The Spruce Goose.
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