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| NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 20 | |
| 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. | |
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| Quotations for Today | |
| "Various hypotheses had been advanced to account for the phenomenon but all failed under quantitative calculation." (describing in 1940 the "cosmic static" he found with his radio telescope that appeared to come from the Milky Way at much the same frequency as airborne radar) - Grote Reber (died 20 Dec 2002) (source) "Work, finish, publish." (Credo displayed on the laboratory wall wherever he worked) - Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech Nobel prize-winning chemist (born 20 Dec 1890) The quote is by Michael Faraday when asked the secret of his success. (source) "Success is the sum of details." Harvey S. Firestone, American rubber tyre industry pioneer (born 20 Dec 1868) | |
| QUIZ | |
| Births | |
| An American physicist, born 20 Dec 1901, invented a type of high-voltage electrostatic generator that serves as a type of particle accelerator. A dome of great radius will inhibit the electric discharge and create stored charge at a high voltage. Can you name this scientist? | |
| Deaths | |
| Carl Edward Sagan (1934-1996) was a U.S. astronomer and exobiologist and science writer, studied such diverse aspects of the solar system as the conditions of planetary surfaces and atmospheres and the possibility of extraterrestrial life; he stimulated popular interest in these subjects through his enthusiastic writings, lectures, and the television series. Can you name his TV series? | |
| Henry Horatio Dixon (1869-1953) was an Irish botanist who answered the question, "How can the sap in trees travel upwards, instead of flow down due to gravity?" Although disputed for a time, Henry's experiments confirmed his theory, and is now completely accepted. What was Henry's answer to the question? | |
| Events | |
| On 20 Dec of a certain year, the first U.S. patent was issued for a pneumatic automobile tire that could readily and easily be detached or mounted to the rim of a wheel. The inventors claimed as their improvement a wheel with an exterior grooved rim with flanges to retain a tire with an inflatable tube. In which decade was this U.S. patent for such a type of tire issued? | |
| On 20 Dec 1907, the first U.S. scientist to be so honoured received the Nobel Prize. He was physicist. Can you name this first American physicist to win a Nobel Prize? | |
| On 20 Dec 1880, New York's Broadway was first lighted by electricity. Charles F. Brush successfully demonstrated his arc lamps along Broadway. His arc lights preceded Edison's incandescent light bulb in commercial use. Arc lights were suited to applications where a bright light was needed, such as street lights and lighting in commercial and public buildings. By what name did Broadway become known as a result of this lighting? | |
| 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 December 20 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers. | |
| Fast answers for the previous newsletter for December 19: the speed of light; Robert Andrews Millikan; the decade containing the year 1871; 8800; suspenders. | |
| Feedback | |
| If you enjoy this newsletter, the website, or wish to offer encouragement or ideas, please write. |
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