Newsletter for Tuesday 26 January.

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TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER • 26 JANUARY

Feature for Today

Book of the Day

On 26 Jan 1932, William Wrigley, Jr., died, the American salesman and manufacturer who made his Wrigley’s chewing gum company the world’s largest producer and distributor of this product. Today's book pick is: The Great American Chewing Gum Book, by Robert Hendrickson. This is fun book to read because there is so much more history of chewing gum than you previously knew … from the jungle rubber tree to your bedpost overnight! The Mayas manufactured it. Apaches, Commanches and Kennebecs chomped on it. Emily Post refused to mention it. Astronauts in outer space chewed on it. Read how it is made, about the brands that came and went, successes and failures, and of course Wrigley, “The Man Who Taught the World to Chew,” and a photograph of his astonishing “Palace that Gum Built” in Chicago.

It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $57.50. Used from $4.48. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)

Quotations for Today

	Palaeontology is the Aladdin’s lamp of the most deserted and lifeless regions of the earth; it touches the rocks and there spring forth in orderly succession the monarchs of the past and the ancient river streams and savannahs wherein they flourished. The rocks usually hide their story in the most difficult and inaccessible places. — Roy Chapman Andrews, American zoologist, museum administrator and explorer (born 26 Jan 1884).
	A science is any discipline in which the fool of this generation can go beyond the point reached by the genius of the last generation. — Max Gluckman, South African social anthropologist (born 26 Jan 1911).
	The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true science. He who knows it not, and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead. We all had this priceless talent when we were young. But as time goes by, many of us lose it. The true scientist never loses the faculty of amazement. It is the essence of his being. — Hans Selye, , Austrian-Canadian endocrinologist (born 26 Jan 1907).

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
	On 26 Jan, Heinrich Anton de Bary, was born, a German botanist, a founder of modern mycology and plant pathology remembered for his research into the roles of fungi and other agents in causing plant diseases. He determined the life cycles of many fungi. He coined the term (1879) still used to mean a mutually beneficial partnership between two organisms. What is this term?
	On 26 Jan 1904, Ancel Keys, was born, an American nutritionist and epidemiologist who was first to identify the role of saturated fats in causing heart disease. In 1935, he studied the physiological effects of altitude. At the onset of WW II, he designed the lightweight yet nutritious K ration used by American paratroops. The hard biscuits, dry sausage, hard candy and chocolate it contained were items he originally selected at a Minneapolis grocery store. Why were the K rations so-called?
Deaths
	Edward Jenner was an English surgeon (1749-1823) who discovered the method of vaccination for a dreaded disease. What was the disease he treated?
	Alexander Macmillan (1818-1896) was a Scottish publisher whose name is still well-known a giant in the book industry. Though not himself a professional scientist, Macmillan did much to promote science in the Victorian times. Prompted by Norman Lockyer, its first editor, Macmillan published a science journal. It remains strong in the present day, although to keep it alive, Macmillan initially tolerated losses for three decades, because of his committment to the journal's mission. Which science journal did Macmillan publish?
	A German physicist (1804-1891), working with his friend Carl Friedrich Gauss, investigated terrestrial magnetism and in 1833 devised an electromagnetic telegraph. A magnetic unit, is named after him. Can you name this physicist?
Events
	On 26 Jan of a certain year, the US Patent Office received a patent application for the cyclotron by Ernest Orlando Lawrence. Within the same decade, this atom-smashing instrument won the Nobel Prize for its inventor. In which decade was this patent application made?
	On 26 Jan 1697, a famous scientist received Jean Bernoulli’s brachistochrone mathematics problem. The scientist solved it before going to bed that same night, thus inventing the calculus of variations. When Bernoulli saw the “anonymous” solution he recognized the brilliant originality of the work and commented, “We recognize the lion by his claw.” Who was the famous scientist with the “lion's claw”?

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 26 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 25: numerical value of pi • Robert Boyle • seismology for analysis of earthquake waves • shigellosis • boring of a cannon.

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