TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 11 APRIL
On 11 Apr 1798, Macedonio Melloni was born, an Italian physicist who was the first to extensively research infrared radiation.
In a work that evolved from a Dissertation prefixed to the eighth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, James David Forbes wrote a comprehensive book as A Review of the Progress of Mathematical and Physical Science (1858), covering particularly between the years 1775 and 1850. Thus the author wrote with contemporary knowledge of Melloni, who died in 1854.
In this extract, Macedonio Melloni - Transmission and Refraction of Heat, you can read of his experiments. Of course, the heat sources he used were supplying what we know as infrared radiation that's part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Melloni was only on the leading edge of discovering the wave-like properties of radiant heat.
If Melloni occupies a niche in history you have never visited before, you'll enjoy this short article.
On 11 Apr 1986, Halley’s Comet made its closest approach to Earth this trip, 63 million km (39 million mi), on its outbound journey. With a 76 year orbit, Comet Halley will next visit Earth in 2061. This comet’s closest known approach to the Earth was 3 million miles on 10 Apr 837 AD). In 1066 when the comet was so bright that it terrified millions of Europeans. Comets have appeared throughout mankind's existence on Earth. They have spurred some of the great discoveries in the history of science. Today's book pick is: Comet, by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, who explore the origin, nature, and future of comets, and the exotic myths and portents attached to them. They also answer such intriguing questions as Who was Halley? or Are comets the building blocks from which worlds are formed?
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $8.19. Used from $0.25. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | After the planet becomes theirs, many millions of years will have to pass before a beetle particularly loved by God, at the end of its calculations will find written on a sheet of paper in letters of fire that energy is equal to the mass multiplied by the square of the velocity of light. The new kings of the world will live tranquilly for a long time, confining themselves to devouring each other and being parasites among each other on a cottage industry scale. — Primo Levi, Italian chemist and writer (died 11 Apr 1987).  |
 | Men should stop fighting among themselves and start fighting insects. — Luther Burbank, American naturalist and horticulturist (died 11 Apr 1926). |
 | That the main results of the astronomer’s work are not so immediately practical does not detract from their value. They are, I venture to think, the more to be prized on that account. Astronomy has profoundly influenced the thought of the race. In fact, it has been the keystone in the arch of the sciences under which we have marched out from the darkness of the fifteenth and preceding centuries to the comparative light of to-day. — W. Wallace Campbell, American astronomer (born 11 Apr 1862). |
| 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 | |
 | An English physician, born 11 Apr 1755, was first to recognize a burst appendix as a cause of death, wrote the first scientific article on appendicitis (1812). Yet it was the neuromuscular disease he described in his Essay on the Shaking Palsy (1817), for which he is remembered, for it is known by his name. What is the name of this physician? |
 | Masaru Ibuka, born 11 Apr 1908, was a Japanese electronics pioneer who co-founded a small post-war radio-repair company that grew into a manufacturer that changed the Japanese electronics industry from simply copying Western products to innovation with their own electronic products. What is the name of this manufacturer? |
| Deaths | |
 | Samuel Heinrich Schwabe (1875-1789) was a German astronomer whose near daily observations of the sun revealed the sunspot activity cycle (1842) whereby there is a periodicity to the number of sunspots visible on the solar disc. He also made the the first known detailed drawing of the Great Red Spot on Jupiter (1831). How many years are there in the sunspot cycle he discovered? |
| Events | |
 | On 11 Apr 1970, the third manned lunar landing mission was launched from Cape Canaveral. Two days later, a liquid oxygen tank exploded, disabling the normal supply of oxygen, electricity, light, and water. Swigert reported: “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” The lunar landing was aborted. After circling the moon, the crippled spacecraft began a difficult return to Earth. What was the name of this spacecraft? What was the name of the mission? |
 | On 11 Apr of a certain year, the U.S. Navy acquired its first submarine that was propelled by gasoline while on the surface and by electricity when submerged. The 53-foot craft, designed by Irish immigrant John P. Holland, served as a blueprint for modern submarine design. In which decade did the U.S. Navy acquire its first modern submarine? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for April 10: anti-malarial drug • aluminium • a 4x4 arrangement of 15 square numbered tiles in a tray that must be reordered by sliding one tile at a time into the vacant space. • the decade including the year 1972 • Indonesia.
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