science newsletter: Newsletter for Tuesday 16 October

Τρίτη 16 Οκτωβρίου 2012

Newsletter for Tuesday 16 October

Newsletter - 16 October - Today in Science History

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER - 16 OCTOBER

Feature for Today

Book of the Day

On 16 Oct 1846 - remembered as "Ether Day" - American dentist, Dr William T.G. Morton, first publicly demonstrated ether anesthetic during a hospital operation. Today's Science Store pick Ether Day: The Strange Tale of America's Greatest Medical Discovery and the Haunted Men Who Made It, by Julie M. Fenster who tells the unpredictable story of America's first major medical discovery - the use of anesthesia - told in an absorbing narrative that traces the dawn of modern surgery through the lives of three extraordinary men. Out of print, but available used from $0.01. (as of time of writing)
Yesterday's pick: Herbert H. Dow: Pioneer in Creative Chemistry. For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today
	"Dear Sir, I write at the request of Dr. J.C. Warren to invite you to be present on Friday morning at ten o'clock, to administer to a patient, then to be operated on, the preparation which you have invented to diminish the sensibility to pain." - letter to Dr. William T.G. Morton, requesting the first ever use of ether anesthesia in the U.S. for a hospital operation to be conducted on 16 Oct 1846.
	"Scientists are human, they're as biased as any other group. But they do have one great advantage in that science is a self-correcting process." - Cyril Ponnamperuma, Ceylonese-American chemist and exobiologist (born 16 Oct 1923)
	"I have always loved to begin with the facts, to observe them, to walk in the light of experiment and demonstrate as much as possible, and to discuss the results." - Giovanni Arduino, Italian geologist (born 16 Oct 1714)

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
	An outstanding English Victorian, born 16 Oct 1803, was a civil engineer and builder of many long-span railroad bridges. He took over as manager of his father's company that built bridges, but also locomotives including the famous Rocket (1829) built by his father. *Can you name this man?*
Deaths
	An American computer scientist (1943-1998) played a pivotal role in creating and administering the Internet. In the late 1960s, he was a graduate student developing the forerunner of the Internet for use by the U.S. Dept. of Defense. He also created the Internet's address system. Can you name the forerunner of the Internet?
Events
	On 16 Oct of a certain year, the first motion picture in the U.S. of the inside of a living heart was shown at the clinical session of the New York Academy of Medicine Post Graduate Fortnightly held at Montefiore Hospital, New York City, where the film was made. A dog's heart was the subject of the 9-1/2 minute colour film, which showed the opening and closing of the mitral valve. In what decade was this event?
	On 16 Oct 1846, American dentist, Dr William Thomas Green Morton (9 Aug 1819 - 15 Jul 1868) made the first public demonstration of the administration of ether anesthetic, during an operation performed by Dr. John Collins Warren (1778-1856) at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The patient, Gilbert Abbott, age 20, had a small superficial tumor removed from beneath the left lower jaw. How was this new anesthetic administered?

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 16 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 15: Evangelista Torricelli; bromine; the decade containing the year 1990; General Electric.

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