science newsletter: Newsletter for Monday 24 September

Newsletter - September 24 - Today in Science History

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER - 24 SEPTEMBER

Feature for Today

On 24 Sep 1501, Girolamo Cardano was born, an Italian physician, mathematician, and astrologer who was the first to give a clinical description of typhus fever. His book, Ars magna ("Great Art," 1545) was one of the great achievements in the history of algebra. His mechanical inventions included a combination lock, a compass gimbal and a universal joint.

A book-length biography was written by Henry Morley, who also contributed a magazine article on the life of Girolamo Cardano to The Gentleman's Magazine in the same year (1854).

His article is a verbose exposition of the personal life of Cardarno, titled Jerome Cardan.

Book of the Day

On 24 Sep 1898, Howard Florey was born, who developed the wonder drug penicillin after Fleming's discovery. Due recognition for Florey's vital contribution to inventing an industrial scale manufacturing process is given in this book. Today's Science Store pick is The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle, by Eric Lax. The title comes from Florey's wartime plan to smuggle spores on his coat if escape was necessary after an invasion. A fascinating story of quirky individuals, conflicts, missed opportunities, medical prejudice, brilliant science, shoestring research and wartime pressures. New $~~17.00~~ Price $10.84. Used several available at about $1.18 (as of time of writing).

See more books on Medical Discoveries and Disease Detectives

Yesterday's pick: Plague: A Story of Rivalry, Science, and the Scourge That Won't Go Away. For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today
	"By these pleasures it is permitted to relax the mind with play, in turmoils of the mind, or when our labors are light, or in great tension, or as a method of passing the time. A reliable witness is Cicero, when he says 'men who are accustomed to hard daily toil, when by reason of the weather they are kept from their work, betake themselves by playing with a ball, or with knucklebones or with dice, or they may also contrive for themselves some new game at their leisure." - Girolamo Cardano, Italian physician and mathematician (born 24 Sep 1501) from his Book of Games of Chance.
	"Every creature has its own food, and an appropriate alchemist with the task of dividing it ... The alchemist takes the food and changes it into a tincture which he sends through the body to become flesh and blood. This alchemist dwells in the stomach where he cooks and works. The man eats a piece of meat, in which is both bad and good. When the meat reaches the stomach, there is the alchemist who divides it. What does not belong to health he casts away to a special place, and sends the good wherever it is needed. That is the Creator's decree ... That is the virtue and power of the alchemist in man." - Paracelus, Swiss doctor and chemist (died 24 Sep 1541)
	"By the 18th century science had been so successful in laying bare the laws of nature that many thought there was nothing left to discover. Immutable laws prescribed the motion of every particle in the universe, exactly and forever: the task of the scientist was to elucidate the implications of those laws for any particular phenomenon of interest. Chaos gave way to a clockwork world. But the world moved on ...Today even our clocks are not made of clockwork. ... With the advent of quantum mechanics, the clockwork world has become a lottery. Fundamental events, such as the decay of a radioactive atom, are held to be determined by chance, not law. " - Ian Stewart, English mathematician (born 24 Sep 1945)

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
	Pol(idore) Swings, born 24 Sep 1906, was a Belgian astrophysicist who made spectroscopic studies to identify elements and structure of stars and comets. He discovered the first interstellar molecule, a radical (1937). *What two elements were in the radical he discovered in 1937?*
	Georges Claude, born 24 Sep 1870, was a French engineer, chemist, and inventor of a still-used form of light, which he first publicly displayed on 11 Dec 1910 in Paris.. What was the form of light he invented?
Deaths
	A German physicist (1882-1945) introduced the first successful detector of individual alpha particles and other ionizing radiations. He later investigated cosmic rays, artificial radioactivity, and nuclear fission. *Can you name this man?*
Events
	On 24 Sep of a certain year, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, in Newport, Virginia. Powered by eight nuclear reactors, it does not need to carry its own fuel oil and so has more room for aviation fuel and weapons. In what decade did this occur?
	On 24 Sep 1852, a new invention, the dirigible - a semi-rigid airship - was demonstrated in a flight from Paris to Trappe. Henri Giffard (1825-82) designed in the gondola of a 147-foot-long spindle shaped coal-gas balloon. An 11 ft propeller produced a speed of 5 mph on a 3 hour trip. This was the first powered and controlled flight ever achieved. What form of power turned the propeller?

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 September 24 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers.

Fast answers for the previous newsletter for September 23: spark plug and magneto; Armand-Hippolyte-Louis Fizeau; Sigmund Freud; the decade containing the year 1846; BBC.

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