TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 7 APRIL
On 7 Apr 1809, James Glaisher was born, a meteorologist who worked at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. But his activities were far-ranging. When the British Association decided to initiate a new series of balloon ascents, he rode along on 28 of them to make scientific observations.
On 5 Sep 1862, during a balloon trip made to a record height, he lost consciousness. His life was saved by his pilot, despite the disabling effects of the cold the pilot was also suffering.
Glaisher was an interesting scientist, as you will find out by reading this Obituary, (1903).
On 7 April 1911, Kenneth Oakley was born, the English physical anthropologist, geologist, and paleontologist who, in 1953, exposed a dramatic fraud—a forgery known as the “Piltdown Man.” Even today the name sends a shiver down the collective spine of the scientific community, which had been duped by it and misled for decades.
The “Piltdown Man” was an elaborate hoax that kept the scientific establishment guessing for over 50 years. The deception began when skull fragments were “unearthed” of what were unknowingly misidentified to be the “missing link” between humans and apes. The remains were “discovered” in 1912 in a gravel pit at Barkham Manor near the East Sussex village of Piltdown, in south-east England. The hoax wasn’t debunked until 1953
How was this faked “missing link” in human evolution investigated and finally exposed? Today's book pick is: The Piltdown Man Hoax: Case Closed, by Miles Russell, who presents an account like detective story as he puts the scientific findings in a readable and understandable narrative. The author addresses the obvious questions: Who committed the forgery, and why? And how came it that the fraudulent nature of the finds was not discovered when they were first examined by experts? The truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $17.73. Used from $3.52. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | The human mind prefers something which it can recognize to something for which it has no name, and, whereas thousands of persons carry field glasses to bring horses, ships, or steeples close to them, only a few carry even the simplest pocket microscope. Yet a small microscope will reveal wonders a thousand times more thrilling than anything which Alice saw behind the looking-glass. — David Fairchild, American botanist and plant explorer (born 7 Apr 1869).  |
 | The time when we could tolerate accounts presenting us the native as a distorted, childish charicature of a human being are gone. This picture is false, and like many other falsehoods, it has been killed by Science. — Bronislaw Malinowski, Polish-British anthropologist (born 7 Apr 1884). |
 | Man is a megalomaniac among animals—if he sees mountains he will try to imitate them by pyramids, and if he sees some grand process like evolution, and thinks it would be at all possible for him to be in on that game, he would irreverently have to have his whack at that too. That daring megalomania of his—has it not brought him to his present place? — Jacques Loeb, German-American physiologist and biologist (born 7 Apr 1859). |
| 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 | |
 | Kenneth Oakley, born 7 Apr 1911, was a physical anthropologist, geologist, and paleontologist best known for his work in the relative dating of fossils by analysis of the content of a certain element that that bones would gradually absorb from surrounding soil. He used this method to expose as a forgery the “Piltdown Man” skull fragments “unearthed” in 1912, that had for decades been said to represent the “missing link” in human evolution. He proved the true age of the bones to be a modern human braincase and an orangutan jawbone. The bones of the forgery had been chemically stained to appear ancient. Which chemical element was studied in Oakley’s analysis technique? |
| | Jacques Loeb, born 7 Apr 1859, was a German-born American biologist noted chiefly for his experimental work on artificial parthenogenesis, which he deomstrated with urchins and frogs. What is parthenogenesis? |
| Deaths | |
 | A French mathematician, physicist, and inventor (1746-1823) is best known for his law concerning the thermal expansion of gases that for a gas at constant pressure: its volume is directly proportional to its absolute temperature. He also was active in popularizing Benjamin Franklin’s theory of electricity. Further, he made several balloon ascents, was the first to use hydrogen for balloon inflation and invented most of the equipment that is still used in today’s balloons. What is the name of this scientist? |
| Events | |
 | On 7 Apr 1795, France adopted by law, the metre as the unit of length for a metric system. Since there had been no uniformity of French weights and measures prior to the Revolution, the Academy of Sciences had been charged to devise a better system. The new metre was thus defined in 1795 as the measure of a one ten-millionth part of a certain distance. What distance was chosen for this definition of the metre? |
 | On 7 Apr of a certain year, surgery for the removal of a brain tumor was performed. It was notable as it was the first time only a local anesthetic was used (cocaine on the scalp). The condition of the patient, Henry A. Brown, had been deemed too risky for the usual general anesthesia. He remained fully conscious while his skull was opened, able to answer the doctors’ questions and was reported to have “cooperated cheerfully”. In which decade did this first brain tumor surgery with only local anesthetic performed? [Hint: it was before any MRI as shown in the thumbnail image was available.] |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for April 6: the decade including the year 1962 • xenon • brightness of the dimly illuminated dark area of the moon, due to light reflected from Earth • biochemistry • Teflon.
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