TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 23 JUNE
On 23 Jun 1857, a U.S. patent was issued to William Kelly. He had been experimenting with the steel-making process for a few years, but he had not patented it until he heard that the Englishman, Henry Bessemer, had been granted a U.S. patent on a like process. Kelly had not filed first, but he was able to convince the patent office that he was the first to invent the air-blast method of forming steel from iron in a cupula. Kelly thus held rights of priority for his patent. However, Bessemer had important additional steps worked out to mass-produce steel. Bessemer was a businessman and industrialist who made the Bessemer process profitable, but Kelly still benefitted from his share, though smaller, of the vast profits.
A Scientific American article was published in Oct 1857, giving its commentary on 'An English Opinion of the United States Patent Office Management'. It makes interesting reading to see the 19th century patent dispute, as viewed from opposite sides of the Atlantic.
To know more about the innovation to which William Kelly made claim, you can read his U.S. patent No. 17,628 (23 Jun 1857), 'Improvement in the Manufacture of Iron', which is quite short, and easy to understand.
On 23 Jun 1942, English cosmologist and astrophysicist, Martis Rees was born. He became Astronomer Royal in 1995. He has written numerous magazine and newspaper articles on scientific subjects, most for general readership—as well as a number of books. Today's book pick is: Our Final Hour: A Scientist's Warning, by Martin Rees, which highlights concerns of terror, error, and environmental disaster threats to humankind’s future. His elegantly presented arguments are provocative, but rooted firmly in science. For example, nano-machines stand poised to revolutionize technology and medicine, but what happens if these minuscule beasties break their leash and run amok? There are too many speculative TV shows to count, which are shallow and sensationalistic. But in this book you will find food for thought, soberly written. You can be your own judge of how much fear or curiosity you take away from reading this book. A review in the journal Nature called it “Provocative and educational … A twenty-first-century analogue of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.”
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $5.24. Used from $2.00. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | There is a tendency to consider anything in human behavior that is unusual, not well known, or not well understood, as neurotic, psychopathic, immature, perverse, or the expression of some other sort of psychologic disturbance. — Alfred C. Kinsey, American zoologist and sexologist (born 23 Jun 1894).  |
 | If we ever establish contact with intelligent aliens living on a planet around a distant star … They would be made of similar atoms to us. They could trace their origins back to the big bang 13.7 billion years ago, and they would share with us the universe's future. However, the surest common culture would be mathematics. — Sir Martin Rees, English cosmologist and astrophysicist (born 23 Jun 1942). |
 | Science is a Differential Equation. Religion is a Boundary Condition. — Alan M. Turing, English mathematician and logician (born 23 Jun 1912). |
| 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 | |
 | On 23 Jun 1937, English geologist and paleoclimatologist, Nicholas Shackleton was born. He helped identify carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Shackleton studied the ancient climate changes of the Quaternary period (the last 1.8 million years), during which there were periods building up massive ice sheets and mountain ice caps alternating with warm weather when the ice receded. He specified from his data, a number of years by which Ice Ages recurred. What number of years (to the nearest 10,000) did Shackleton say his data roughly showed between Ice Ages? |
 | Étienne-Louis Malus, born 23 Jun 1775, was a French physicist who discovered that light, when reflected, becomes partially … (?) … Can you complete the sentence? |
| Deaths | |
 | A U.S. physician and medical researcher (1914-1995) was the creator of the first safe and effective vaccine against poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis). Can you name this scientist? |
| Events | |
 | On 23 Jun 1982, a record low temperature was recorded at the South Pole. To the nearest ten degrees, what was this record low temperature? |
| | On 23 Jun of a certain year, Arthur Melin obtained a patent for the hula-hoop. An Australian visiting California told Melin that in his country, children twirled bamboo hoops around their waists in gym class. Melin, who started toy giant Wham-O in 1948, used savvy marketing to create the hula-hoop craze. Another of his successful simple toys was the Frisbee. In which decade did Melin obtain his hula-hoop patent? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for June 22: the development of more than one individual from a single fertilized egg cell • Hermann Minkowski • Felix Klein • he found handwriting the tickets irksome and delaying • Galileo Galilei • the decade including the year 1978.
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