TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 10 DECEMBER
On 10 Dec 1795, Matthias Baldwin was born, an American manufacturer who developed steam-tight metal joints that enabled steam locomotives to operate at double the earlier steam pressure, giving better performance. His factory produced over 1,000 locomotives.
Reading the entry for Matthias Baldwin in The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1899) will enlighten you on how someone who started out someone that made jewelry became the foremost engine-builder in the United States. From there, it was a not surprising step to manufacturing locomotives at a time of growth of railroad traffic. The biography also tells what he did as a hobby, and how his wealth spurred him into philanthropy.
Once that article has aroused your interest, you can also read articles about M. W. Baldwin & Co.'s Locomotive Works and another called The Baldwin Locomotive Works.
On 10 Dec 1896, Alfred Nobel died, known for founding the Nobel Prizes bequeathing the fortune he amassed selling dynamite. Today's book pick is: Alfred Nobel: A Biography, by Kenne Fant, who explains how this inventor of smokeless explosives used in war came to regret his involvement with the resulting death and destruction, and the effect on him during his later life, when he withdrew in seclusion and melancholy.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $41.00. Used from $1.95. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves. [Describing Charles Babbage's machine.] — Countess of Lovelace Augusta Ada King, English mathematician (born 10 Dec 1815).  |
 | Research cannot be forced very much. There is always danger of too much foliage and too little fruit. — Theobald Smith, American pathologist and microbiologist (died 10 Dec 1934). |
| 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 | |
 | Walter Henry Zinn, born 10 Dec 1906, is a Canadian-American nuclear physicist who contributed to the U.S. atomic bomb project during World War II and to the development of the nuclear reactor. After the war Zinn started the design of an atomic reactor and, in 1951, he built the first breeder reactor. What is a breeder reactor? |
 | An American librarian, born 10 Dec 1851 was an activist in the spelling reform and metric system movements. He is credited with the invention of the vertical office file. His best known invention was a system of library cataloging still widely used today that uses numbers from 000 to 999 to cover the general fields of knowledge and designating more specific subjects by the use of decimal points. Can you name this person? |
| Deaths | |
 | An English pioneer researcher into magnetism (1544-1603) became the most distinguished man of science in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Can you name this scientist? |
 | Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) was the inventor of dynamite and other, more powerful explosives. An explosives expert like his father, in 1866 he invented a safe and manageable form of nitroglycerin he called dynamite, and later, smokeless gunpowder and (1875) gelignite. He helped to create an industrial empire manufacturing many of his other inventions. What was Nobel's nationality? |
 | Thomas Johann Seebeck (1770-1831) was a German physicist who discovered (1821) that an electric current flows between joined different conductive materials under certain conditions, known as the Seebeck effect. What conditions cause the Seebeck effect? |
| Events | |
 | On 10 Dec of a certain year, the National Science Foundation reported the discovery of the first planet outside our solar system, orbiting a star 21 million light years from Earth. In what decade was this discovery reported? |
 | On 10 Dec 1954, Lt. Col. John Paul Stapp, a flight surgeon, rode a rocket sled to 632 mph in a rocket powered sled at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. He reached the speed of 632 mph in five seconds. At the end of the ride Stapp was stopped in 1.25 seconds which subjected him to 40 Gs. What was the intended application of this experiment? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for December 9: COBOL • fish fillets • Mary Leakey • Sir Patrick Moore • computer mouse • decade containing the year 1884.
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