Τετάρτη 19 Δεκεμβρίου 2012

Newsletter for Wednesday 19 December

 

Newsletter - December 19 - Today in Science History  

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
 NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 19

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.
Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us HumanOn 19 Dec 1944, Richard Leakey was born, Kenyan anthropologist and paleontologist, who was a son of noted anthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey. Today's Science Store pick Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human, by Richard E. Leakey who relates an intellectual odyssey, describing his discoveries of human origins and his reflections on the nature of humanity. Where necessary, anthropological terms and theories are fully explained. Neither his explorations of human origins nor his quest to save African wildlife were stopped by years of kidney failure, near-fatal pneumonia, death threats from poachers, or even the loss of his legs in a plane crash. Leakey presents detailed science with a flair of immediacy often missing from the academic literature. 
New: $17.95 save 32% Price: $12.21. Also available Used from $2.15 (as of time of writing).
Yesterday's pick: The Lady and the Panda: The True Adventures of Ruth Harkness. For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.
Quotations for Today
"I would hazard a guess that we have found fossilized human remains of at least a thousand different specimens in South and East Africa, more or less complete at that. I think this is where the prelude to human history was primarily played out." - Richard Leakey (born 19 Dec 1944)

"The most important fundamental laws and facts of physical science have all been discovered, and these are now so firmly established that the possibility of their ever being supplemented in consequence of new discoveries is exceedingly remote ... our future discoveries must be looked for in the sixth decimal place." - Albert Michelson, German-American physicist (born 19 Dec 1852)

"We all felt the majesty of the body. As we saw the artificial heart beat the feeling was not aren't we great, but aren't we small." - Dr William C. DeVries, American heart surgeon who made the first human implant of a permanent artificial heart (born 19 Dec 1943)

QUIZ
Births
A.A. Michelson, born 19 Dec 1852, was a German-born American physicist who is best known for establishing a certain physical quantity as a fundamental constant.
Can you name this fundamental constant?
Deaths
An American physicist (1868-1953) measured the charge of single electrons with his famous oil-drop experiment in 1911. He coined the term "cosmic rays" during his study of the radiation from outer space.
Can you name this scientist?
Events
On 19 Dec of a certain year, Albert L. Jones of  New York City received the first U.S. patent for corrugated paper as an "improvement in paper for packing" (No. 122,023). He assigned his patent to Thomson and Norris Company of Brooklyn, which became the first U.S. manufacturer of corrugated paper
In which decade was this U.S. patent for corrugated paper issued?
On 19 Dec 1974, the pioneering Altair microcomputer was first put on sale in the U.S. as a do-it-yourself computer kit, for $397. It used switches for input and flashing lights as a display. It was featured on the cover of the Jan 1975 issue of Popular Electronics
Which microprocessor was used in this product?
On 19 Dec 1871, Samuel Clemens received a patent for "an improvement in adjustable and detachable garment straps" (No.121,992). He is better known as the author Mark Twain  (1835-1910). He subsequently held two more patents. One was for "Mark Twain's Self-Pasting Scrapbook" in 1873 (No. 140,245), and the other in 1885 for an educational game that helped players remember important historical dates (No. 324,535).
What would now be the common name for his "garment straps?"
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 19 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 18:  corpuscles; between the Earth's crust and mantle; "terrible reptile"; the decade containing the year 1839; Piltdown Man.
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