TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 11 MAY
On 11 May 1825, the New York Gas Company began laying cast iron pipes in Broadway, New York, from Canal Street to the Battery. The city streets had been previously lit with whale-oil lamps.
New York became the third U.S. city with gas street lights, after Baltimore (1817) and Boston (1822).
In this extract, Gas Lighting in New York, from Cradle Days of New York (1909), compared to candles in house windows or oil lamps, the decision was stated as “the cleanliness, the beauty and the convenience of the gas over any other light is the principal cause of its being preferred, without reference to expense.”
[Image: street gas light in Baltimore, c.1920-30.]
On 11 May 1918, Richard Feynman was born. Chances are, you have already read one or more of his books, and have one or more on your bookshelf. Whether it was his humor, or his way of making physics seem simpler to the layman, his books have been very popular. Today's book pick is: Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick, a very readable biography by a best-selling writer.
Feynman was a very imaginative thinker with new, creative ideas. His work with quantum electrodynamics won him a Nobel Prize. The book presents Feynman on a very personal, human level. He had a charismatic personality, an exciting life, and made great contributions to the field of science.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $5.75. Used from $1.99. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | For those who want some proof that physicists are human, the proof is in the idiocy of all the different units which they use for measuring energy. — Richard P. Feynman, American theoretical physicist (born 11 May 1918).  |
 | Every student who enters upon a scientific pursuit, especially if at a somewhat advanced period of life, will find not only that he has much to learn, but much also to unlearn. — Sir John Herschel, English astronomer, chemist and chemist (died 11 May 1871). |
 | I came to realize that exaggerated concern about what others are doing can be foolish. It can paralyze effort, and stifle a good idea. One finds that in the history of science almost every problem has been worked out by someone else. This should not discourage anyone from pursuing his own path. — Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-American physicist and aeronautical engineer (born 11 May 1881). |
| 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 | |
 | Ottmar Mergenthaler, a German-American inventor (1954-1899), made what is regarded as the greatest advance in printing since the development of moveable type 400 years earlier. His invention was first used in 1886 by the New York Tribune. What was Mergenthaler’s revolutionary invention? |
 | On 11 May 1875, is the birth date of the first female pilot to fly across the English channel. She was the first American woman to become a licensed pilot, but her career as a pilot lasted a mere 11 months. She died when she lost control of her plane at a flying exhibition near Quincy, Mass. What is the name of this female aviator? |
| Deaths | |
 | Thomas Andrew Knight (1759-1838) was a British botanist who experimented with the adaptive responses of plants and the changes in the direction of stem and root growth. These studies later became the basis of work on tropisms. He invented a device, named after him, to test the behavior of germinating seeds subjected to forces other than gravity. Can you describe his device? |
 | Otto von Guericke (1602-1686) was a German physicist who studied the phenomenon of vacuum and the role of air in combustion and respiration. But to so this, he had to invent something first which was the first of its kind. What was his first-of-a-kind invention? |
| Events | |
 | In 1811, the famous twins Chang and Eng emigrated from their birth country to the U.S., where they adopted the surname Bunker. From which country did they come? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for May 10: molecular weight • Augustin Jean Fresnel • Thomas Young • fuchsia • the decade including the year 1949 • blue • Sir Edward Frankland • 321.5 million volts, or 3.215 x 108 volts.
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