Newsletter for Tuesday 30 October

 

 

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER - OCTOBER 30

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 30 Oct 1880, Sir Thomas Bouch died, builder of the ill-fated Tay Railway Bridge, known for the worst structural disaster in British history. Its catastrophic collapse, killing a trainload of people in 1879, happened the year after it opened, and is a historic engineering failure.Today's Science Store pick is Thomas Bouch: The Builder of the Tay Bridge, by by John Rapley. It was the longest bridge in the world until it collapsed when an express train was crossing during a storm. This account of the engineer and the tragedy will give you an insight into a significant event in Victorian history which resonates to this day. New $39.95, Price $26.37 with free shipping. Yesterday's pick: the play Oxygen. 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

"No sulfonamides without Domagk; no penicillin without sulfonamides; no antibiotics without penicillin." - Alexander Fleming acknowledging the importance of the foundation laid by Gerhard Domagk preceding penicillin's role in medicine. "The glimpses of human strength and frailty that a physician sees are with me still." -  Daniel Nathans, American Nobel prize-winning microbiologist (born 30 Oct 1928) "There is a natural opposition among men to anything they have not thought of themselves." - Barnes Wallis, inventor of the World War II dambuster bouncing bomb (died 30 Oct 1979)

QUIZ

Births

Gerhard Domagk, born 30 Sep 1895, was a German bacteriologist and pathologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery (announced in 1932) of the antibacterial effects of Prontosil, the first of the sulfonamide drugs. He refused to accept the prize, the first refusal in the history of the awards. Why did he refuse the prize?

Deaths

Edmund Cartwright  (1743-1823) was an English inventor. In 1784, Cartwright visited a factory owned by Richard Arkwright. Inspired by what he saw, he began working on a machine that would improve the speed and quality of production.  What was his invention?

Events

On 30 Oct of a certain year, the first television transmission was seen in London, England. John Baird built the transmitter in his attic from a tea chest, cardboard scanning discs, an empty biscuit box, old electric motors, darning needles, motorcycle lamp lenses, piano wire, glue, string, and sealing wax.  In what decade was this first TV transmission?

On 30 Oct 1894, Daniel M. Cooper of Rochester, N.Y. received the first U.S. patent for a new form of clock with a special use.  What was this invention?

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 30 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 29:  The Great Bone Wars; Swedish; John Glenn; decade containing the year 1945.

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