Newsletter for Thursday 27 May.

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TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER • 27 MAY

Feature for Today

On 27 May 1818, Frans Donders was born, an eminent Dutch physician whose study of the physiology and pathology of the eye laid the foundation for a scientific approach to correcting such defects of vision as astigmatism, nearsightedness and farsightedness.

You can read here a short Biography of Frans Donders from An Introduction to the History of Medicine (1913).

Book of the Day

On 27 May 1972, Roy K. Marshall died, an American astronomer and pioneering TV science broadcaster. He was presenting science to the public long before Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Michio Kaku or even Carl Sagan. Marshall began his four-year NBC TV show , The Nature of Things, on 5 Feb 1948 with a broadcast from the Fels Planetarium. His weekly 15-minute programs became so popular they ran year-round. Today's book pick is: The nature of things;, by Roy Kenneth Marshall. Read it for a time capsule of what science was interesting to the general reader in 1951.

It is available from Amazon, typically about Used from $22.00. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)

Quotations for Today

	Over increasingly large areas of the United States, spring now comes unheralded by the return of the birds, and the early mornings are strangely silent where once they were filled with the beauty of bird song. — Rachel Carson, American marine biologist, conservationist and writer (born 27 May 1907).
	Saying that each of two atoms can attain closed electron shells by sharing a pair of electrons is equivalent to saying that husband and wife, by having a total of two dollars in a joint account and each having six dollars in individual bank accounts, have eight dollars apiece! — Kasimir Fajans, Polish-American physical chemist (born 27 May 1887).
	The illusion of purpose and design is perhaps the most pervasive illusion about nature that science has to confront on a daily basis. Everywhere we look, it appears that the world was designed so that we could flourish. — Lawrence M. Krauss, American theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author (born 27 May 1954).

Quiz

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
	Rachel Carson, born 27 May 1907, was well known for her writings on environmental pollution and the natural history of the sea. She is most well-known for her warning to the public about the long term effects of misusing pesticides. In her book, Silent Spring (1962), she challenged the practices of agricultural scientists and the government, and called for a change in the way humankind viewed the natural world. Which particular pesticide did she identify for its harmful effects?
	Sir John Douglas Cockcroft was a British physicist, joint winner, with Ernest T.S. Walton of Ireland, of the 1951 Nobel Prize for Physics. What is the equipment known with the Cockcroft-Walton name
Deaths
	Ernst August Friedrich Ruska (1906-1988) was a German electrical engineer who invented a form of microscope. He was awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1986. What form of microscope did this scientist produce?
	Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) was an English physicist and chemist who invented the dry photographic plate, an important improvement in photography and a step in the development of modern photographic film. An invention attributed to Edison actually was made after Swan had already invented it for himself. What is the Swan invention that Edison followed?
Events
	On 27 May 1930, masking tape was patented by inventor Richard G. Drew of St. Paul, Minnesota. He assigned the rights to the company where he worked, which began marketing the new product later that year. Drew also created the first waterproof cellophane tape. Which company manufactured this new product, and under what still-famous trademark?

Answers

When you have your answers ready to all the questions above, you'll find all the information to check them, and more, on the May 27 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers.

Fast answers for the previous newsletter for May 26: Sally Ride • Geissler tube • insulin • ammonia-soda process for producing soda ash (sodium carbonate) • in his words, “very little animalcules” (bacteria and one-celled animals) • to photograph checks before they were returned to bank customers.

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