TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 25 NOVEMBER
On 25 Nov 1816, Lewis Morris Rutherfurd was born, an American astrophysicist and spectroscopist who made the first telescopes designed for celestial photography. He produced a classification scheme of stars based on their spectra as similarly developed by the Italian astronomer. Rutherfurd spent his life working in his own observatory, built in 1856, where he photographed (from 1858) the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun, and stars down to the fifth magnitude. While using photography to map star clusters, he devised a new micrometer to measure distances between stars with improved accuracy. When Rutherford began (1862) spectroscopic studies, he devised highly sophisticated diffraction gratings. The Obituary of Lewis Morris Rutherfurd gives a full account of his life and accomplishments.
Charles Kettering (1876-1958) was an American engineer who held 140 patents for his many inventions. As vice president and director of research for General Motors Corp. (1920-47) he developed engines, quick-drying lacquer finishes, anti-knock fuels, and variable-speed transmissions. He provided intermission talks during the radio program General Motors Symphony of the Air. A collection of his scripts (1942-45) are on this site, with an index of Short Stories and Science and Invention. Although some are dated, they remain of historical interest, and together, it is interesting to know how the listeners could tune in to intelligent radio programs in that era, and how a prolific inventor could communicate with the general public.
On 25 Nov 1958, Charles Kettering died, a prolific American inventor. His patents include the electric starter, car lighting and ignition systems. In his early career, he created the first cash register with an electric motor that opened the drawer. Today's book pick is: Charles F. Kettering: A Biography, by Thomas Alvin Boyd, who as an associate of “Boss Ket” for 35 years is well-qualified to write this life story. A new reader, starting out ignorant of Kettering's accomplishments will find out why is his time, he was deservedly highly respected for his important innovations in the automotive industry. This is an engrossing story of the great inventor as a man and his philosophy. You may find it eye-opening to find how his inventions now affect our current life.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $34.95. Used from $27.94. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
| no image | Science is not, as so many seem to think, something apart, which has to do with telescopes, retorts, and test-tubes, and especially with nasty smells, but it is a way of searching out by observation, trial and classification; whether the phenomena investigated be the outcome of human activities, or of the more direct workings of nature's laws. Its methods admit of nothing untidy or slip-shod; its keynote is accuracy and its goal is truth. — Archibald Garrod, English physician and biochemist (born 25 Nov 1857).  |
 | Being the inventor of sex would seem to be a sufficient distinction for a creature just barely large enough to be seen by the naked eye. [Comment about Volvox, a freshwater green algae, which appears indetermimately plantlike and animal-like during its reproductive cycle.] — Joseph Wood Krutch, American naturalist, conservationist and conservationist (born 25 Nov 1893). |
 | Science is founded on uncertainty. Each time we learn something new and surprising, the astonishment comes with the realization that we were wrong before. — Lewis Thomas, American physician and author (born 25 Nov 1913). |
| 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 | |
 | Andrew Carnegie, born 25 Nov 1835 was a Scottish-born American industrialist who made a fortune from that career, then spent the later years of his life devoted to philanthropy. He was a benefactor of over 1700 libraries. He made his fortune in what industry? |
| Deaths | |
 | Kenneth C. Brugger (1918-1998) was an American amateur naturalist who discovered the long-sought winter home of a migrating butterflies which travelled from the U.S. to their butterfly refuge within the territory of only 200 square meters in central Mexico. He traced the migration of which butterfly? |
| Events | |
 | On 25 Nov of a certain year, cable television was invented by Ed Parsons. On Thanksgiving Day, his family watched KRSC’s inaugural broadcast, although the TV station was 150 miles away in Seattle. He had set up an antenna on top of the hotel where he lived. He strung a cable from it to his living room. When he installed a set in the hotel lobby, other people saw the programs and asked for a hookup to his high antenna. In which decade was this first use of cable television? |
 | On 25 Jan of a certain year, Dr. Christian Barnard transplanted the first human heart without the removal of the old one. In which decade did this transplant take place? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for November 24: W and Z particles • parity conservation during interaction of subatomic particles • Maxim machine gun • decade containing the year 1874 • Wilbur and Orville • The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
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