science newsletter: Newsletter for Sunday 21 October

Newsletter - 21 October - Today in Science History

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER - 21 OCTOBER

Feature for Today

On 21 Oct, in different years, two U.K. patents were issued.

In 1852, John Fowler was issued a patent, believed to be the first for steam-powered cultivation of land, which in this application was to mechanise land drainage. You can read about his invention, and his obituary, here.

In 1824, Joseph Aspdin patented what is known as Portland cement. How it is manufactured, what distinguishes it from Roman cement, and the text of his patent, can be read here.

Book of the Day

On 21 Oct 1953, the 40-year-long hoax of the Piltdown Man ended when scientists presented convincing evidence that the intriguing Piltdown skull was faked. The purported fossil fragments had long caused excitement because they seemed to represent a species of early human who had lived in England a million years ago - the 'missing link' between apes and modern man. Today's Science Store pick is The Piltdown Forgery, by J. S. Weiner. Widely praised from its first publication in 1955, this book remains the classic account of this fraud, its many players, and how it was exposed A new introduction is added for this this fiftieth anniversary edition, and an afterword containing the latest detective-work. Price $19.95 New $11.05. Also available Used from $0.39 (as of time of writing).
Yesterday's pick: The Neutron and the Bomb: A Biography of Sir James Chadwick. For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today
	"If I have a thousand ideas and only one turns out to be good, I am satisfied." - Swedish chemist, in quiz below.
	"Briefly, in the act of composition, as an instrument there intervenes and is most potent, fire, flaming, fervid, hot; but in the very substance of the compound there intervenes, as an ingredient, as it is commonly called, a material principle and as a constituemt of the whole compound the material and principle of fire, not fire itself. This I was the first to call phlogiston." - George Ernst Stahl, German chemist who developed the phlogiston theory of combustion (born 21 Oct 1660).
	"Object, ....to effect imitation of all done by gas, so as to replace lighting by gas by lighting by electricity..." - diary entry indicating an extraordinary intensity of his commitment by Thomas Alva Edison, who on 21 Oct 1879, successfully demonstrated the first durable and commercially practical electric light bulb.

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
	A Swedish chemist and inventor of dynamite and other, more powerful explosives, was born in Stockholm on 21 Oct 1833. An explosives expert like his father, in 1866 he invented a safe and manageable form of nitroglycerin he called dynamite, and later, smokeless gunpowder and (1875) gelignite. He helped to create an industrial empire manufacturing many of his other inventions and amassed a huge fortune, much of which he left in a fund to endow the annual prizes that bear his name. Can you name this scientist?
Deaths
	James Henry Greathead (1844-1896) was a British civil engineer who improved a basic tool of a certain type of construction. It had been invented by Marc Isambard Brunel though in an unwieldy form, and subsequently modified by Peter W. Barlow. Greathead, having studied with Barlow further modified the tool and used it in construction in London. His great contribution to what type of construction?
Events
	On 21 Oct of a certain year, the first U.S. photocell or tube which was publicly demonstrated was shown by the Westinghouse Electric and Mfg Co at the Electrical Show at Grand Central Palace in New York. The sensitivity of the photocell to light was used to count objects as they passed through and interrupted a beam of light. It was also shown applied to open doors as a person or car approached. In what decade was this photocell announced?
	On 21 Oct 1879, Thomas A. Edison successfully demonstrated the first durable and commercially practical electric light bulb at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. The idea of electric lighting was not new; several people had worked on and even developed forms of electric lighting. However, nothing had been developed that was practical for home use. The difficulty was finding a suitable material for the filament. For how many hours did his first demonstration lightbulb burn? (Give your answer to the nearest 10 hours)

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 21 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 20: Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge; originated quantum mechanics and the spinning electron theory; the decade containing the year 1906; Peace.

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