science newsletter: Newsletter for Tuesday 11 September

Newsletter - September 11 - Today in Science History

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 11

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.

On 11 Sep 1999, Africanized "killer" bees made their first major attack in the U.S. by stinging a 65-yr-old man more than 300 times. Today's Science Store picks give information about the killer bee invasion that started in Brazil and spread north year after year. Living With Killer Bees: The Story of the Africanized Bee Invasion, by Flakus is the story of Man trying to manipulate Nature, but learning to live with the changes. Price New $12.95 (some Used at $0.68 to $2.00). The authoritative Killer Bees: The Africanized Honey Bee in the Americas, by Mark L. Winston from Harvard University Press dates from 1993, but Used books remain available from about $2.00. (Used prices as of time of writing.)
Yesterday's pick: The Cosmos of Arthur Holly Compton. For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today

"We have already considered with disfavour the possibility of the universe having been planned by a biologist or an engineer; from the intrinsic evidence of his creations, the Great Architect of the Universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician." - Sir James Jeans (born 11 Sep 1877)

"I believe in man — in his strength, his possibilities, and his reason." - Gherman Stepanovich Titov, Russian cosmonaut, first to spend more than a day in space (born 11 Sep 1935)

"I hope when I get to Heaven I shall not find the women playing second fiddle." - Mary Watson Whitney, American astronomer (born 11 Sep 1847)

"(The) weakness of biological balance studies has been aptly been illustrated by comparison with the working of a slot machine. A penny brings forth one package of chewing gum; two pennies bring forth two. Interpreted according to the reasoning of balance physiology, the first observation is an indication of the conversion of copper into gum; the second constitutes the proof." - Rudolf Schoenheimer (died 11 Sep 1941) and David Rittenberg, German-born American chemists.

"The printing and publication of works treating of the motion of the earth and the stability of the sun, in accordance with the opinion of modern astronomers, is permitted." - announcement by the College of Cardinals on 11 Sep 1822, ratified two weeks later by pope Pius VII, and thus the Catholic Church finally officially accepted the Copernican principle for which Italian scientist Galileo had been imprisoned on 22 Jun 1633 for championing.

QUIZ

Births

Sir James Jeans, born 11 Sep 1877, was an English physicist, astronomer, and mathematician who was the first to propose a certain theory explaining the present state of the universe.
What was his theory?

Carl Zeiss, born 11 Sep 1816, was a German industrialist who met the needs of scientists for fine instruments of a certain kind.
What type of instruments established his worldwide reputation?

Deaths

Norman L. Bowen (1887-1956) was a Canadian geologist who was one of the most important pioneers in the field of experimental petrology.
What is petrology?

Events

On 11 Sep 1999, the death of an 83-year-old man stung by a swarm of Africanized "killer" bees marked the latest such death in the U.S., and the first fatality by that cause in the state of California (USA). Two weeks earlier he had been stung over 50 times, causing cardiac arrest and resulting in the use of a respirator in an unsuccessful attempt to save his life. Some years before, in Texas, Africanized "killer" bees made their first major attack in the U.S. by stinging a 65-yr-old man more than 300 times, and other deaths resulted in other states as they spread. They had started in Brazil, and moved inexorably northwards.
The killer bees spread north at a rate of how many miles per year?

On 11 Sep 1831, Charles Darwin and Captain Robert Fitzroy travelled from London to Plymouth to inspect the ship on which he would sail on a voyage of discovery leading to his famous theory of evolution.
What was the name of this ship?

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 11 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 10: plasticized PVC (vinyl); the change in the wavelength of X rays when they collide with electrons in metals; diffraction; the decade including the year 1913.

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