TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 3 APRIL
On 3 Apr 1837, John Burroughs was born, an American naturalist and author whose many writings and books, celebrated nature in highly readable essays. His work significantly nurtured the conservation movement in the United States. He absorbed up much of his knowledge of the nature and country life from growing up in the Catskill Mountains. This experience became valuable to drew upon in later life, when he started writing his essays. As a clerk in the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., during the Civil War, he filled idle hours with writing about the outdoors he so loved. This became his first book, Wake-Robin. Returning to the Hudson River Valley in 1873, he began fruit farming and continued to write, publishing a new book about every two years. He traveled extensively, camping out with such friends as the naturalist John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt. Burroughs wrote in the style of Henry David Thoreau. An excerpt from Under the Apple-Trees (1916), that is a favorite of your Webmaster, is 'The Friendly Rocks.' It is a short essay. After you have enjoyed reading it, you may not look at a boulder-strewn field in the same way again. Here is a quick taste: “Time, geologic time, looks out at us from the rocks as from no other objects in the landscape.”
On 3 April 1896, Ralph A. Bagnold was born, the English geologist who was a leading authority on the mechanics of sediment transport and on eolian (wind-effect) processes. While a career soldier, serving in Egypt prior to WW II, he first studied sand dune formation and movement. Today's book pick is: The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes, by Ralph Bagnold. On this subject, he remains the authority, and he writes in an accessible style.
It is available from Amazon, typically about Used from $29.14. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | Some humans are mathematicians—others aren’t. — Jane Goodall, English primatologist, anthropologist and ethnologist (born 3 Apr 1934).  |
| | To treat your facts with imagination is one thing, to imagine your facts is quite another. — John Burroughs, American naturalist and author (born 3 Apr 1837). |
 | Sometimes I wonder whether there is any such thing as biology. The word was invented rather late—in 1809—and other words like botany, zoology, physiology, anatomy, have much longer histories and in general cover more coherent and unified subject matters. … I would like to see the words removed from dictionaries and college catalogues. I think they do more harm than good because they separate things that should not be separated… — Marston Bates, American zoologist and writer (died 3 Apr 1974). |
| 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 | |
| | Jane Goodall, born 3 Apr 1934, is a British ethologist, known for her exceptionally detailed and long-term research since 1960, the longest-running study of its kind in the natural habitat. What are the subjects of her study? |
 | Charles Wilkes, born 3 Apr 1798, was an American oceanographer, who led the first major ocean expedition (1838-42), which circled the globe, during which he identified and named a new continent. Which continent did he name? |
| Deaths | |
 | Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni (1756-1827) was a German physicist, known as the "father of acoustics" for his mathematical investigations of sound waves. Chladni figures are certain complex patterns of vibration displaying stationary nodal lines. How are Chladni figures displayed? |
| Events | |
 | On 3 Apr of a certain year, the first portable phone call was placed by inventor Martin Cooper. The phone weighed 30-oz, yet replaced replaced a car phone of the time that weighed more than 30 pounds. In which decade was the first portable phone call made? |
 | On 3 Apr of a certain year, a British patent application for the first catseye road marker was recorded for inventor Percy Shaw (1889-1975). Shaw started Reflecting Roadstuds Ltd. to manufacture these familiar reflectors which mark the lane lines that are lit up at night by the lights of passing vehicles. In which decade did Shaw record his first catseye patent? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for April 2: Field’s Medal • Hermann Rorschach • the decade including the year 1838 • Francis Crick and James Watson • Aluminum.
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