TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 25 JULY
On 25 July 1843, a Scottish chemist and inventor died. He created a waterproof cloth (1823), by pressing together two rubberized layers of cloth, and his name remains associated with a particular item of waterproof clothing made from it. His name is a part of the quiz below. You probably know it, or at least his last name.
As with many inventors, this one product may be all you know of his work. Yet, as a trained chemist, he pursued various ideas in his lifetime. If you would like to extend your knowledge, you can find out more about this man in this Biography.
On 25 Jul 1920, Rosalind Franklin was born, an English scientist whose X-ray diffraction studied of DNA, led her to suspect the helical form of the molecule. When James Watson saw her photographs, he had confirmation of the double-helix form that he and Francis Crick then published. Sadly, she died of cancer, four years before the Nobel Prize was awarded to Crick and Watson, and her crucial contribution to understanding the structure of the DNA molecule remains underappreciated. Today's book pick is: Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA, by Brenda Maddox. The author tells a powerful story of a remarkably single-minded, forthright, and tempestuous young woman who, at the age of fifteen, decided she was going to be a scientist. Her photographs of DNA have been called “among the most beautiful X-ray photographs of any substance ever taken,” but she has been effectively airbrushed out of the greatest scientific discovery of the twentieth century. As a reader, you will likely come away bristling that Franklin should be so comparatively forgotten, but you’ll know the time you spent to learn about her gives this “Dark Lady” some recompense.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $8.47. Used from $1.82. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | It is interesting to note how many fundamental terms which the social sciences are trying to adopt from physics have as a matter of historical fact originated in the social field. Take, for instance, the notion of cause. The Greek aitia or the Latin causa was originally a purely legal term. It was taken over into physics, developed there, and in the 18th century brought back as a foreign-born kind for the adoration of the social sciences. The same is true of the concept of law of nature. Originally a strict anthropomorphic conception, it was gradually depersonalized or dehumanized in the natural sciences and then taken over by the social sciences in an effort to eliminate final causes or purposes from the study of human affairs. It is therefore not anomalous to find similar transformations in the history of such fundamental concepts of statistics as average and probability. The concept of average was developed in the Rhodian laws as to the distribution of losses in maritime risks. After astronomers began to use it in correcting their observations, it spread to other physical sciences; and the prestige which it thus acquired has given it vogue in the social field. The term probability, as its etymology indicates, originates in practical and legal considerations of probing and proving. — Morris Raphael Cohen, Russian-American philosopher of science (born 25 Jul 1880).  |
 | You look at science (or at least talk of it) as some sort of demoralising invention of man, something apart from real life, and which must be cautiously guarded and kept separate from everyday existence. But science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated. — Rosalind Franklin, English physical chemist and X-ray crystallographer (born 25 Jul 1920). |
| 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 25 Jul 1884, Davidson Black was born, a Canadian physician and physical anthropologist who first postulated the existence of a distinct form of early man. In 1920 he had a position at a college in China, which gave him opportunity to participate in excavations at nearby Chou K'ou-tien. Over a period of several years, as crania, mandibles, teeth, bones and tools were uncovered, Davidson examined the fossil remains. What popular name was given to the human ancestor he found? |
 | On 25 Jul 1874, Sergey Vasilyevich Lebedev was born, a Russian chemist who developed a method for industrial production of synthetic elastic rubber. He polymerized a four-carbon molecule which he derived from ethyl alcohol. Production applying his process began in the Soviet Union in 1932-33, using potatoes and limestone as raw materials. By 1940, the Soviet Union had the world’s largest synthetic rubber industry, producing over 50,000 tons per year. Which synthetic rubber polymer did Lebedev produce? |
| Deaths | |
| | A Scottish chemist and manufacturer (1766-1843) began a career in the textile industry in a cloth bleaching business. Meanwhile, trying to find uses for the waste products from gasworks, he developed a method of waterproofing cloth (1823), by pressing together two rubberized layers of cloth. His name remains associated with the raincoat made from such cloth. Can you name this man? |
 | Charles Stark Draper, an American aeronautical engineer (1901-1987) became known as the “father of inertial navigation.” Chances are, you’ve played with a toy version of the device he incorporated into systems that stablilized and balance gunsights and bombsights, and which were later expanded to an inertial guidance system for launching long-range missiles at supersonic jet targets. What was the basic device he incorporated into bombsights and his inertial guidance system? |
| Events | |
 | On 25 Jul of a certain year, a hovercraft crossed the English Channel for the first time. Having been shipped to France by tender, the world’s first all metal hovercraft, SR.N1, crossed the Channel between Calais and Dover in 2 hours 3 minutes. In which decade did this first hovercraft crossing of the English Channel take place? |
 | On 25 Jul 1909, French aviator Louis Blériot flew in a monoplane on the world’s first international overseas airplane flight. Between which two countries did he fly? |
 | On 25 Jul 1946, the U.S. detonated the “Baker” atomic bomb as its first underwater nuclear explosion. It was to test results on a naval fleet of war-surplus and captured enemy vessels. The bomb, encased in a watertight steel caisson, was suspended 90 feet below the one of the ships. The explosion created a massive column of steam and water, and a series of huge waves. After second, the first wave struck target ship Carrier Saratoga and swept it 800 yards away. It sank eight hours later. Where did this underwater atomic bomb test take place? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for July 24: to fly around the world (not alone, but with a navigator on board) • a surveying instrument used to measure the angle of inclination, as for slopes, elevations or heights (such as a tree) • Cambridge University • lung cancer from smoking cigarettes • the decade including the year 1950 • rotary-type printing press which rolled a cylinder over stationary plates of inked type, using the cylinder to make an impression on paper.
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