science newsletter: Newsletter for Monday 22 October

Newsletter - October 22 - Today in Science History

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER - OCTOBER 22

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 22 Oct 1938, xerography was invented by Chester Carlson. Xerography was so unusual and nonintuitive that it was not until 1960 that his great persistence finally resulted in the introduction of the xerox office machine. The first plain-paper office copier prototype was built with parts scrounged from junkyards, cleaning brushes made of hand-sewn rabbit fur, and a built-in fire extinguisher. Today's Science Store pick is Copies in Seconds: How a Lone Inventor and an Unknown Company Created the Biggest Communication Breakthrough Since Gutenberg - Chester Carlson and the Birth of Xerox, by David Owen who reveals the persistence, courage, and imagination of an extraordinary group of physicists, engineers, and corporate executives.
Yesterday's pick: The Piltdown Forgery. For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.

Browse the new Science Store pages of Science Titles in Bargain Books.

Quotations for Today

"It is, I believe, justifiable to make the generalization that anything an organic chemist can synthesize can be made without him. All he does is increase the probability that given reactions will 'go.' So it is quite reasonable to assume that given sufficient time and proper conditions, nucleotides, amino acids, proteins, and nucleic acids will arise by reactions that, though less probable, are as inevitable as those by which the organic chemist fulfills his predictions. So why not self-duplicating virus-like systems capable of further evolution?" - George Wells Beadle, American geneticist (born 22 Oct 1903)

"The distinctive quality of human anxiety arises from the fact that man is a valuing animal, who interprets his life and world in terms of symbols and meanings." - Rollo May, American psychologist, (died 22 Oct 1994)

"If any student comes to me and says he wants to be useful to mankind and go into research to alleviate human suffering, I advise him to go into charity instead. Research wants real egotists who seek their own pleasure and satisfaction, but finds it solving the puzzles of nature." - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Hungarian Nobel prize-winning biochemist (died 22 Oct 1986)

QUIZ

Births

Charles Glen King, born 22 Oct 1896, was a biochemist who in 1932 isolated a vitamin after five years of painstaking research extracting components from lemon juice. The vitamin is also known as ascorbic acid, (a- = not, without; scorbus = scurvy),
Can you name this vitamin?

Deaths

Guillaume Le Gentil (1725-1792) was a French astronomer who attempted to observe a particular astronomical event by travelling to India in 1761. He failed to arrive in time due to an outbreak of war. He stayed in India to see the next occurrence of the event which came eight years later. This time, he was denied a view because of cloudy weather, and so returned to France. There, he found his heirs had assumed he was dead and taken his property.
What event did he go to India to observe?

Events

On 22 Oct of a certain year, xerography was demonstrated by Chester F. Carlson. With his assistant, Otto Kornei, Carlson used a sulphur coating on a zinc plate, vigorously rubbed with a handkerchief to apply an electrostatic charge. A glass slide was prepared using India ink to write "10-22-38 ASTORIA," then laid on the sulphur surface in a darkened room. After illuminating them with a bright incandescent lamp for a few seconds, the slide was removed. When lycopodium powder was sprinkled on the sulphur surface and blown off, there remained a near-perfect image of the writing. Permanent copies were made by transferring the powder images to wax paper and heating the sheets to melt the wax. Xerox is a term coming from "xerography" which means dry writing and is a trademark.
In what decade was this demonstration made?

On 22 Oct 1797, the first parachute jump was made by André-Jacques Garnerin, released from a balloon 2,230-ft above the Parc Monceau, Paris. He rode in a gondola fixed to the lines of a 23-ft diameter parachute, which was supported by a wooden pole and had its 32 white canvas gores folded like a closed umbrella. Garnerin descended with violent oscillations, and suffered the first case of airsickness.
What design feature was missing from his parachute that caused the oscillations during the descent?

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 October 22 web page of Today in Science History.

Or, try this link first for just the brief answers.

Fast answers for the previous newsletter for October 21: Alfred Nobel; tunneling shield, the basic tool of underwater tunneling; the decade containing the year 1925; 40 hours.

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