TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 13 MAY
On 13 May 1857, Ronald Ross was born, who became the first Briton to become a Nobelist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1902 for his work on malaria, about which he made a significant discovery concerning its mode of transmission.
In 1899, he published a pamphlet titled Instructions For the Prevention of Malarial Fever For the Use of Residents of Malarious Places. This forms an excellent short article for readers of the Feature for Today to enjoy “in his own words.”
On 13 May 1884, Cyrus Hall McCormick died. His father had been unsuccessful, after years of trying, to produce a successful machine for a certain task. Cyrus some years later was successful in that goal, and in 1843 participated in a widely publicized competition against a rival. By winning he had a healthy promotional start for his manufacturing business for that machine, and he remains recognized for developing its first commercially successful design. (Which machine was that? Well it’s the question in the quiz below.)
Today's book pick is: Cyrus Hall McCormick: His Life and Work (Business Biographies), by Herbert N. Casson. McCormick lived in that heroic period of industrial advancement, when great things were done by great individuals. Chances are, his name is familiar to you, and you found it easy to name his invention in the quiz below. In which case you know how important and revolutionary it was. And yet, he was a decent man that contrasts with the behavior of many of the other industrial barons of his era. That aspect of his life may be unfamiliar to you, and that is a good reason to look more extensively into this great man’s biography!
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $34.95. Used from $36.31. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | The observer listens to nature: the experimenter questions and forces her to reveal herself. — Baron Georges Cuvier, French zoologist, statesman, anatomist and paleontologist (died 13 May 1832).  |
 | I, however, believe that for the ripening of experience the light of an intelligent theory is required. People are amused by the witticism that the man with a theory forces from nature that answer to his question which he wishes to have but nature never answers unless she is questioned, or to speak more accurately, she is always talking to us and with a thousand tongues but we only catch the answer to our own question. — Friedrich Gustav Jacob de Henle, German pathologist and anatomist (died 13 May 1885). |
| | The Panama Canal was dug with a microscope. — Sir Ronald Ross, English physician, bacteriologist and mathematician (born 13 May 1857). |
 | The sciences are like a beautiful river, of which the course is easy to follow, when it has acquired a certain regularity; but if one wants to go back to the source, one will find it nowhere, because it is everywhere; it is spread so much [as to be] over all the surface of the earth; it is the same if one wants to go back to the origin of the sciences, one will find only obscurity, vague ideas, vicious circles; and one loses oneself in the primitive ideas. — Lazare-Nicolas-Marguerite Carnot, French mathematician and military engineer (born 13 May 1753). |
| 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 | |
| | Sir Ronald Ross, born 13 May 1857 was a British bacteriologist who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1902 for his work on malaria. What did Ronald Ross find about the way in which malaria is transmitted? |
| Deaths | |
 | Cyrus Hall McCormick, an American industrialist and inventor (1809-1884) is generally credited with the development of the first commercially successful design for a certain type of machine. To establish its functionality, he participated in a widely publicized competition with a rival, which he won. This launched his manufacturing business. What was his important invention? |
 | An American scientist (1797-1878) was one of the first great ones after Benjamin Franklin. He was also the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. But it was his discovery of self-inductance for which he is most remembered and his name is now used for the SI the unit of inductance. What is the name of this scientist? |
| Events | |
 | In 1958, the trademark name for a certain new type of fastener was registered in the U.S. The inventor was inspired by burrs sticking to his clothes. What is the trademark name of this fastener? |
| | In 1913, Igor Sikorsky of Russia built and was the first to fly an airplane with a certain number of engines. How many engines were on Sikorsky’s airplane that was the first of its type, flown in 1913? |
| | In 1637, Cardinal Richelieu in France created a replacement for the dagger, in at least this civilized use. He had the point rounded off. What was the use for his new design? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for May 12: The decade including the year 1964 • Justus Liebig • polytetrafluoroethylene, Teflon • Dvorak keyboard • eagle.
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