TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER • 14 AUGUST
On 14 Aug 1860, Ernest Thompson Seton was born, an English-American naturalist who applied these skills in over forty books on wild life, woodcraft, Indian lore and animal-fiction stories. As a capable naturalist, in his field observations he made detailed studies of morphology, physiology, distribution, and behaviour. His fame as author began with Wild Animals I Have Known(1898) - still in print a century later.
Over a period of twenty years he delivered over three thousand lectures. Believing in promoting the values of ethology and ecology, he was chairman of the committee that established the Boy Scouts in the U.S. (1910). Seton envisioned the North American Indian as a model for the movement, but Baden-Powell's military structure was adopted as in Britain.
For a longer biography of this interesting naturalist, read this article on Ernest Thompson Seton.
On 14 Aug 1883, Ernest Everett Just was born, a Black-American embryologist who pioneered understanding of cell division, researching fertilized egg cells, experimental parthenogenesis, hydration, cell division, dehydration in living cells, and the effect of ultra violet rays on egg cells. Today's book pick is: Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just, by Kenneth R. Manning. The author makes a unique contribution to not only Black history, but also to American history and to the history of science. Just suffered the outrage and absurdity of racism during a time of oppression. This book will open your eyes to how racism really held back the nation top scholars of color. Academic positions for African Americans were extremely scarce in Jim Crow America. Yet Just produced an amazing quality of work in spite of such barriers. This is a fascinating study of an all-but-ignored American scientific genius.
It is available from Amazon, typically about New from $14.92. Used from $3.20. (As of earlier time of writing - subject to change.)
 | There are still many unsolved problems about bird life, among which are the age that birds attain, the exact time at which some birds acquire their adult dress, and the changes which occur in this with years. Little, too, is known about the laws and routes of bird migration, and much less about the final disposition of the untold thousands which are annually produced. — Paul Bartsch, German-American zoologist (born 14 Aug 1871).  |
 | It appears, according to the reported facts, that the electric conflict is not restricted to the conducting wire, but that it has a rather extended sphere of activity around it … the nature of the circular action is such that movements that it produces take place in directions precisely contrary to the two extremities of a given diameter. Furthermore, it seems that the circular movement, combined with the progressive movement in the direction of the length of the conjunctive wire, should form a mode of action which is exerted as a helix around this wire as an axis. — Hans Christian Oersted, Danish physicist and chemist (born 14 Aug 1777). |
 | The Silurian Period—the grandest of all the Periods,—and, as yet, apparently the seed-time of all succeeding life. — John Jeremiah Bigsby, English physician and geologist (born 14 Aug 1792). |
| 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 | |
 | Richard Darwin Keynes, born 14 Aug 1919, was a British physiologist who was the first to trace the movements of two particular elements during the transmission of a nerve impulse by using radioactive tracers. What are two elements are involved? |
| | A Danish physicist and chemist, born 14 Aug 1777, discovered that electric current in a wire can deflect a magnetized compass needle. The importance of the phenomenon was rapidly recognized, and inspired the development of electromagnetic theory. Can you name this scientist? |
| Deaths | |
 | An Italian automobile manufacturer, designer, and racing-car driver (1898-1988) whose cars often dominated world racing competition in the second half of the 20th century. In 1947, as a former racecar driver, he built cars under his own name for the first time. Within five years, his powerful 12-cylinder cars dominated racing. Within a decade, the road models had become status symbols. Individually crafted, their fenders were pounded into shape against tree trunks, their engines were cast like statues. Can you name this man? |
 | When this French physical chemist (1900-1958) married Irène, (the daughter of Marie Curie), both husband and wife joined their surnames, by which both were then known. Following in the footsteps of the famous mother, the couple were jointly awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their discovery of artificially prepared, radioactive isotopes of new elements. Can you name this scientist? |
| Events | |
 | On 14 Aug of a certain year, the New York Eye Infirmary, the first U.S. eye hospital, opened in New York City. In which decade did this hospital open? |
 | On 14 Aug 1953, a ball that curved when it was thrown, was invented by David Mullany Sr. for his 13-year-old son. What is this ball called? |
Fast answers for the previous newsletter for August 13: Phonovision disks similar to gramophone disks. • The first rotary internal combustion engine • all of them • stethoscope • south polar cap • the decade including 1889.
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