Newsletter for Tuesday 15 June.

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TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER • 15 JUNE

Feature for Today

On 15 Jun 1869, John Wesley Hyatt and Isaiah Hyatt received a U.S. patent for the first plastic.

You can read the Hyatts’ Patent No. 91,341, to learn about its manufacture.

Book of the Day

On 15 Jun 1916, Herbert A. Simon was born, an American social scientist who was a pioneer of the development of computer artificial intelligence. Today's book pick is: The Sciences of the Artificial - 3rd Edition, by Herbert A Simon. “Every page issues a challenge to conventional thinking, and the layman who digests it well will certainly understand what the field of artificial intelligence hopes to accomplish. I recommend it in the same spirit that I recommend Freud to people who ask about psychoanalysis, or Piaget to those who ask about child psychology: If you want to learn about a subject, start by reading its founding fathers.” (from review by George A. Miller).

It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $24.69. Used from $8.31. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)

Quotations for Today

	What was Freud’s Galapagos, what species fluttered what kinds of wings before his searching eyes? It has often been pointed out derisively: his creative laboratory was the neurologist’s office, the dominant species hysterical ladies. — Erik H. Erikson, German-American psychoanalyst (born 15 Jun 1902).
	The science and technology which have advanced man safely into space have brought about startling medical advances for man on earth. Out of space research have come new knowledge, techniques and instruments which have enabled some bedridden invalids to walk, the totally deaf to hear, the voiceless to talk, and, in the foreseeable future, may even make it possible for the blind to “see.” — Hubertus Strughold, , German-American physiologist (born 15 Jun 1898).
	It is to geometry that we owe in some sort the source of this discovery [of beryllium]; it is that [science] that furnished the first idea of it, and we may say that without it the knowledge of this new earth would not have been acquired for a long time, since according to the analysis of the emerald by M. Klaproth and that of the beryl by M. Bindheim one would not have thought it possible to recommence this work without the strong analogies or even almost perfect identity that Citizen Haüy found for the geometrical properties between these two stony fossils. — Comte de Antoine Francois Fourcroy, French chemist (born 15 Jun 1755).

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
	Georg Adolf Otto Wüst, born on 15 Jun 1890, was a German oceanographer who, by collecting and analyzing many systematic observations, developed the first essentially complete understanding of the physical structure and deep circulation a certain ocean. Which ocean did he study?
Deaths
	William Le Baron Jenney (1832-1907) was an American civil engineer and architect whose technical innovations were of primary importance in the development of a new way of building certain structures. What type of structure did he pioneer?
	A certain American inventor and manufacturer (1799-1869) pioneered in the industrial use of graphite and many other innovations. As a printer and a photographer, he designed a mirror in a camera that was the forerunner of the viewfinder, patented a double-crank steam engine, evolved a method of printing banknotes to foil counterfeiters, and patented a new method for tunneling under water. As a manufacturer and entrepreneur, he produced the first pencil made in the U.S. and was responsible for the development of the graphite industry there. When he died, his company was the largest manufacturer of graphite products in the world. His name is still associated with pencils. Can you name this man?
Events
	On 15 Jun 1844, a certain inventor received his first patent for “An Improvement in India-Rubber Fabrics,” a vulcanization process to produce stronger and elastic rubber, that was not sticky in hot weather. He had spent five years trying to improve natural rubber. When testing some mixed with powdered sulphur, he accidentally dropped a blob on a hot stove, and found heat completed the process he needed. Although he died in poverty in 1860, his name is still associated with rubber products. Who was this inventor?
	On 15 Jun of a certain year, Ben Franklin's kite-flying experiment proved lightning and electricity were related while flying a kite with a key attached. The same year, he equipped his house with a lightning rod, connecting it to bells that ring when the rod is electrified. He explained how to perform a kite experiment in the Pennsylvania Gazette. In what decade was this experiment conducted?
	On 15 Jun 1869, John Wesley Hyatt and Isaiah Hyatt invented the first plastic. Can you name this plastic?

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 June 15 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers.

Fast answers for the previous newsletter for June 14: Alois Alzheimer • the force between two electrical charges is proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them • Phonovision disks similar to gramophone disks. • DDT • the decade including the year 1834 • Thomas Edison.

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