TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 1 APRIL
On 1 April 1776, Sophie Germain was born, a French mathematician who taught herself from books and the lecture notes of friends attending the École Polytechnique which she, as a woman, was not permitted to attend.
Using a male pseudonym, M. LeBlanc, she corresponded with Lagrange who recognised her skill, and subsequently sponsored her work.
In 1816, she won a prize sponsored by Napoleon for a mathematical explanation of Chladni figures, the vibration of elastic plates. She won, although the competition was open to such great mathematicians in Paris at the time as Lagrange, Laplace, Legendre, Poisson or Fourier; but they passed the opportunity by.
Sophie Germain - The Unknown Mathematician, an article in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, (1894) lamented:
“It is very remarkable that so great a distinction as to have received the prize of the Institute of France for a profound mathematical discussion should not have preserved the name of Sophie Germain from oblivion, but it has not done so. There are probably not a score of persons in this country who have ever heard of her, and in her own country she is not usually mentioned among its famous women.”
This remarkable woman's passion for mathematics came early in life - age 13. At first her parents even discouraged her, and wanted her to turn to more ladylike pursuits. Yet her resolution was too great to give up. As you will discover as you read the article.
On 1 Apr 1889, the first U.S. commercial dishwashing machine was marketed in Chicago, designed over a number of years by Josephine Cochrane.
She received an award for her invention at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. The company she founded to sell the dishwasher to hotels, restaurants and other commercial groups was purchased in the 1920’s by the Hobart Corporation. They introduced (1949) the “KitchenAid” brand name that is known today.
Other dishwashing machine patents had been issued earlier, starting with a hand-cranked device patented by Joel Houghton on 14 May 1850, but Cochrane was the first to market her design successfully.
She was granted U.S. patent No. 355,139 on 28 Dec 1886. For more details of the state of this technology over a century ago, read the patent and its illustrations of her Dish-Washing Machine.
On 1 Apr 1950, Dr. Charles Drew died as the result of a car accident. Sadly, from that time forward to this day, has a false rumor has been perpetuated. Did the man who helped create the first American Red Cross blood bank bleed to death because a whites-only hospital refused to treat him? NO! In fact, two white surgeons in the hospital worked hard to save him, but Drew died after about an hour.
Today's book pick is: One Blood: The Death and Resurrection of Charles R. Drew, by Spencie Love The book traces both the life of Dr. Charles Drew, the famous black surgeon and blood plasma pioneer—and sets to rest the well-known, false legend about his death.
The author shows that in a generic sense, the Drew legend is true: throughout the segregated era, African Americans were turned away at hospital doors, either because the hospitals were whites-only or because the “black beds” were full. She describes the fate of a young black World War II veteran who died after being turned away from Duke Hospital following an auto accident that occurred in the same year and the same county as Drew’s accident. African Americans are shown to have figuratively “bled to death” at white hands from the time they were first brought to this country as slaves. By preserving their own stories, the author says, they have proven the enduring value of oral history.
The author provides a much-needed service to cut through myths and conspiracy theories to debunk the false narratives. Real history does matter, but it is distorted in too many books and tellings of Dr. Drew’s life and death. Too many people have grown up with the wrong story. This book not only rights the record, but fleshes out the life of Dr. Drew as a truly outstanding man who exemplified manhood, scholarship, perseverance, and uplift.
Now that's been cleared up, the next step is to read the book!
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $69.93. Used from $3.50. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | I feel that the recent ruling of the United States Army and Navy regarding the refusal of colored blood donors is an indefensible one from any point of view. As you know, there is no scientific basis for the separation of the bloods of different races except on the basis of the individual blood types or groups. (1942) — Charles Richard Drew, Black-American physician and surgeon (died 1 Apr 1950).  |
| | Algebra is but written geometry and geometry is but figured algebra. — Sophie Germain, French mathematician (born 1 Apr 1776). |
 | Science can be the religion of the nonreligious, the poetry of the non-poet, the art of the man who cannot paint, the humor of the serious man, and the lovemaking of the inhibited and shy man. Not only does science begin in wonder; it also ends in wonder. — Abraham Harold Maslow, American psychologist (born 1 Apr 1908). |
| 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 1 Apr 1578, discovered the true nature of the circulation of the blood and the function of the heart as a pump, thus making the first significant improvement in its understanding in 1,400 years. His precise methods of investigation set the pattern for experimental research. What is the name of this scientist? |
| | On 1 Apr 1908, Abraham Maslow was born, an American psychologist who believed that man has a natural drive to healthiness and knows intuitively what he needs to become physically and mentally healthy. Maslow created his now famous hierarchy of needs. At the base of a pyramid of needs, he grouped the first most basic Physiological Needs (like air, water, food, and sex). He identified three more layers, each layer with a group of needs. At the peak, in the fifth group were gathered needs comprising Self-Actualization (achieving one’s full potential and creativity). What are the named groups in the second, third and fourth layers of his hierarchy? |
| Deaths | |
 | Dame Kathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971) (née Yardley) was a British scientist who made an experimental determination of the structure of the benzene ring, which showed that all the ring C-C bonds were of the same length and all the internal C-C-C bond angles were 120 degrees. She was the first woman to be elected (1945) to the Royal Society of London. With what physical experimental method did she determine the structure of the benzene ring? |
| Events | |
 | On 1 Apr 1875, Francis Galton published the first newspaper weather map, now a standard feature in newspapers worldwide. Which newspaper, still published in the present day, printed Galton's weather map? |
 | On 1 Apr 1867, using the antiseptic methods he introduced, an English physician completed a series of treatments of 11 compound fractures that he commenced in the previous month. He chose carbolic acid as disinfectant applied to the dressings. His reports of these treatments in The Lancet forever changed surgical techniques. His book, On the Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery (1867), was the first treatise on the subject. What is the name of this surgeon that introduced antiseptic methods |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for March 31: Bunsen burner • 17th century (1596-1650) • insulin • orbit the moon • the decade that includes the year 1880.
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