Newsletter for Monday 28 December.

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TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER • 28 DECEMBER

Feature for Today

On 28 Dec 1663, Francesco Maria Grimaldi died. He was an Italian physicist and mathematician who studied the diffraction of light, for which he coined the name, and provided evidence for later physicists to support the wave theory of light. More background can be found in this short biography article on Francesco Maria Grimaldi  from Penny Cyclopædia (1845).

Book of the Day

On 28 Dec 1903, John von Neumann was born, a Hungarian-American mathematician who made important contributions in quantum physics, logic, meteorology, and computer science. He invented game theory in mathematics and participated in the development of the hydrogen bomb. He also set quantum theory upon a rigorous mathematical basis. In computer theory, von Neumann did much and varied pioneering work in logical design. That all means, he is an intriguing subject for a biography, deserves being referred to an the greatest scientist following Einstein. Today's book pick is: John Von Neumann: The Scientific Genius Who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game Theory, Nuclear Deterrence, and Much More, by Norman MacRae

It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $49.95. Used from $37.13. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)

Quotations for Today

	Perhaps I occasionally sought to give, or inadvertently gave, to the student a sense of battle on the intellectual battlefield. If all you do is to give them a faultless and complete and uninhabited architectural masterpiece, then you do not help them to become builders of their own. — Carl-Gustaf Rossby, Swedish-American meteorologist (born 28 Dec 1898).
	The law that entropy always increases—the Second Law of Thermodynamics—holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell’s equations—then so much the worse for Maxwell’s equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation—well these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation. — Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, English astronomer, physicist and mathematician (born 28 Dec 1882).
	The electron, as it leaves the atom, crystallises out of Schrödinger’s mist like a genie emerging from his bottle. — Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, English astronomer, physicist and mathematician (born 28 Dec 1882).

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
	Kary B. Mullis, born 28 Dec 1944, is an American biochemist, cowinner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), with which billions of molecular copies can be made in a few hours. Of what does the PCR make copies?
	Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, born 28 Dec 1882, was an English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician who did his greatest work in astrophysics, investigating the motion, internal structure, and evolution of stars. However, he made an important confirmation of one of the predictions of Einstein's general theory of relativity as an outcome of the 1919 solar eclipse expeditions which he led. What prediction did Eddington confirm?
Deaths
	A French civil engineer (1832-1923) specialized in metal structures, building a number of iron bridges. He was one of the first engineers to employ compressed-air caissons in bridge building. He designed the movable dome of the observatory at Nice and the framework for the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Which is his most famous metal structure that bears his name?
	Johannes Robert Rydberg (1919-1854) was a Swedish physicist, known for the Rydberg constant. With what was Rydberg working for which he introduced his constant in an empirical formula?
Events
	On 28 Dec 1879, in Britain, the collapse of the central navigation spans of the Tay Railway Bridge, then longest bridge in the world, is one of the world’s most famous bridge failures, and to date it is still the worst structural engineering failure in the British Isles. The collapse took place during a gale, while a train was crossing the bridge. The train, 6 carriages and 75 lives were lost. Where was the bridge located?
	On 28 Dec 1931, Irène Joliot-Curie reported her study of the unusually penetrating radiation released when beryllium was bombarded by certain particles. The radiation was different from gamma rays because it released protons when passed through paraffin. Shortly, afterwards James Chadwick identified neutrons in his own experiment. Bombarding beryllium with which particles would produce only carbon nuclei and neutrons?

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 December 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 December 27: diphtheria, cholera, yellow fever, plague, rabies, anthrax, and tuberculosis • Johannes Kepler • aluminium • glass-bottle manufacturing • H.M.S. Beagle • conservation of parity.

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