TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 22 JUNE
On 22 Jan 1792, an inventive Scotsman was born, named James Beaumont Neilson. Although the name of Henry Bessemer is well-known in steel-making, the name of Neilson is generally not known. Yet he made an important change to iron smelting - the hot-blast.
First it was a struggle to introduce this idea for making the iron furnaces more efficient, because he had to convince the industry to give up the cold air blast they had been using. He patented the idea, and sold the process with the promise that it made furnaces more efficient, with cost savings on lower coal consumption.
Then, it became a struggle to enforce his patents. The very people who were benefitting from using his idea went to court to avoid paying royalties. Neilson won, but the stress was exhausting, and his health suffered. Reading this biography article on Neilson will tell you much more about this interesting person. His invention revolutionized the iron smelting industry, and your attention will be rewarded to know a little more about his contribution to the Industrial Revolution
On 22 Jun 1675, the Royal Greenwich Observatory was created by Royal Warrant in England by Charles II. The building was designed by Sir Christopher Wren (who was also a Professor of Astronomy) and construction began on 10 Aug 1675. It was finished the following year. John Flamsteed was appointed as the first Astronomer Royal. Its primary uses were practical—using astronomy for navigation and timekeeping, by determination of star positions.
In 1767 the observatory began publishing The Nautical Almanac, which established the longitude of Greenwich as a baseline for time calculations. The almanac's popularity among navigators led in part to the adoption (1884) of the Greenwich meridian as the Earth's prime meridian (0° longitude) and the international time zones.
Today's book pick is: , by . This observatory is the most famous in the world, and a visitor to London has easy public transport to get there. This book gives you a background that can encourage you to make that trip when you are able.
It is available from Amazon, typically about (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | Operationally, God is beginning to resemble not a ruler, but the last fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire Cat. — Sir Julian Huxley, English biologist and writer (born 22 Jun 1887).  |
 | Integers are the fountainhead of all mathematics. — Hermann Minkowski, Russian-German mathematician (born 22 Jun 1864). |
 | What I really want is a creative person. You can always hire a Ph.D. to take care of the details. — Richard G. Drew, American inventor and engineer (born 22 Jun 1899). |
| 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 | |
 | Filippo Silvestri, born 22 Jun 1873, was an Italian entomologist, best remembered for his pioneering work in polyembryony. During the late 1930s Silvestri discovered that this type of reproduction occurs in the insect species Litomatix truncatellus. What is polyembryony? |
| | On 22 Jun 1864, a German mathematician was born. By 1907, he realised that the work of Lorentz and Einstein could be best understood in a non-euclidean space. He considered space and time, which were formerly thought to be independent, to be coupled together in a four-dimensional “space-time continuum.” This four-dimensional space is now known by his name. Can you name this man? |
| Deaths | |
 | A German mathematician (1849-1925) studied of the properties of a space that are invariant under a given group of transformations, known as the Erlanger Programm, and profoundly influenced mathematical development. He created a certain “bottle,” a one-sided closed surface, which cannot be constructed in Euclidean space. It is best pictured as a cylinder looped back through itself to join with its other end. The “bottle” is known by his name. Can you name this man? |
 | Thomas Edmondson (1792-1851) was an English inventor whose ticket printing and numbering machine pioneered a system of fare collection in the development of the railways. He evolved a process for preparing receipts in advance, serial numbering all the tickets (for accountability of monies collected), and inventing a basic stamping system on wooden blocks. Edmondson’s early wooden dating presses were developed into iron ones and mass produced. By 1843, twenty-seven English companies, and the Paris and Rouen railway were using the system, which had now become the standard one to adopt. What circumstances prompted his invention? |
| Events | |
 | In 1633, a scientist was forced by the Inquisition to “abjure, curse, and detest” his Copernican heliocentric views. “I, … do swear that I have always believed, do now believe and, with God’s aid shall believe hereafter, all that which is taught and preached by the … church. I must wholly forsake the false opinion that the sun is the center of the world and moves not, and that the earth is not the center of the world and moves." He was then condemned to the “formal prison of the Holy Office.” Can you name this scientist? |
 | On 22 Jun of a certain year, evidence of the first moon of Pluto was discovered by astronomer James W. Christy. The moon was named Charon, after the boatman in Greek mythology who took the souls of the dead across the River Styx to Pluto’s underworld. In what decade was the first moon of Pluto discovered? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for June 21: helium • Poisson • Anders Ångström • boron • Cyrus Hall McCormick • the decade including the year 1948, Yehudi Menuhin • 36 cars each carried 60 passengers = 2160.
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