Newsletter for Friday 22 January.

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TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER • 22 JANUARY

Feature for Today

Book of the Day

On 22 Jan 1775, André-Marie Ampère was born, a French mathematician, physicist and chemist who founded the science of electromagnetism. Today's book pick is: Andre-Marie Ampere (Cambridge Science Biographies), by Hofmann, who provides a landmark authoritative biography, the first written in English. Although he had no formal education, Ampere became one of the elite of early nineteenth-century Parisian science. He embraced the scientific optimism of the Enlightenment, and the Catholic faith. This combination of intellectual expectation and emotional spirituality made Ampère's genius both destructive and extraordinarily creative. It was said he had a photographic memory, and could recite whole articles verbatim. Ampere was skilled at devizing and utilizing experimental devices.

It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $47.00. Used from $74.54. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)

Quotations for Today

	Ipsa Scientia potestas est. For also knowledge itself is power. — Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher (born 22 Jan 1561).
	Either one or the other [analysis or synthesis] may be direct or indirect. The direct procedure is when the point of departure is known-direct synthesis in the elements of geometry. By combining at random simple truths with each other, more complicated ones are deduced from them. This is the method of discovery, the special method of inventions, contrary to popular opinion. — André-Marie Ampère, French mathematician, physicist and chemist (born 22 Jan 1775).
	Science cannot stop while ethics catches up ... and nobody should expect scientists to do all the thinking for the country. — Elvin Charles Stakman, American plant pathologist (died 22 Jan 1979).

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
	A German physicist, born 22 Jan 1865, was probably the most skillful experimental spectroscopist of his time. In 1895, he studied the spectrum of the newly discovered terrestrial element, helium. It matched identically the solar helium discovered by Janssen and Lockyer. In 1908, he discovered a new series of lines in the hydrogen spectrum, now known by his name. Can you name this scientist?
	André-Marie Ampère, born 22 Jan 1775, was a French mathematician and physicist who founded and named the science of electromagnetism. His interests also included mathematics, metaphysics, physics and chemistry. In 1811, he suggested the name of one of the halogens. What is the name of the halogen he suggested?
Deaths
	Albert Wallace Hull (1880-1966) was an American physicist who independently discovered the powder method of X-ray analysis of crystals (1917) and did work on electron tubes. He invented the first form of a magnetron (1921) which was tested as an amplifier in radio receivers and also as a low-frequency oscillator. An improved form of magnetron is now found in many homes serving what function?
	Sir Joseph Whitworth (1803-1887) was an English mechanical engineer who won international recognition as a machine toolmaker. He built machinery of high accuracy, and introduced standardization. His name is remembered the abbreviation BSW (British Standard Whitworth). To which items is the BSW description applied, as long commonly used in the UK?
Events
	On 22 Jan 1939, the uranium atom was split for the first time using an accelerator at Columbia University in New York City. Thus began the Manhattan Project, leading to the construction of the atom bomb. What type of accelerator was used for the first-ever fission experiment?
	On 22 Jan 1980, a Soviet dissident physicist, often called father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, was arrested, stripped of his honors and exiled from Moscow to Gorky. Since the 1960s, he had been outspoken about the dangers of nuclear testing and human rights. Can you name this scientist?

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 January 22 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers.

Fast answers for the previous newsletter for January 21: a rack of Indian-canoe paddles • nitrous oxide • telephone • investigating the irregularities in the motion of Uranus • magnesium • decade including the year 1954.

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