Newsletter for Monday 28 January

 

 

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 28

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 28 Jan 1884, Auguste Piccard was born, Swiss-Belgian physicist who explored both the great heights of the upper stratosphere and also the great depths of the sea in ships of his own design. His twin brother, Jean-Felix, born of course on this same day, also made stratospheric balloon ascents, complementing Auguste's research of cosmic rays. Today's Science Store pick is Between Earth and Sky, by Auguste Piccard who reveals in his own words his motivation, how he accomplished his astonishing achievements and the valuable data he gathered. Several decades before space travel, he explored the limits of previously inaccessible heights and depths. A few copies remain available Used from $12.00 (as of time of writing). Yesterday's pick: A Man Who Spanned Two Eras: The Story of Bridge Engineer Ralph Modjeski. For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today

"(Smoking is) ...a dirty habit that should be banned from America by the Government, instead of moderate alcoholic drinking." - Auguste Piccard (born 28 Jan 1884) "Any scientist who has ever been in love knows that he may understand everything about sex hormones but the actual experience is something quite different." - Dame Kathleen Lonsdale (born 28 Jan 1903) "Engineering is the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man." - Thomas Tredgold, English railway engineer (died 28 Jan 1829)

QUIZ

Births

Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, born 28 Jan 1903, was a  British crystallographer who developed several X-ray techniques for the study of crystal structure. Her experimental determination of the structure of the benzene ring by x-ray diffraction, which showed that all the ring C-C bonds were of the same length. She also measured the internal C-C-C bond angles. What size is the C-C-C bond angle in benzene?

Deaths

An American teacher (1948-1986) was chosen to be the first private citizen in space. Aboard the space shuttle Challenger, she was one of the seven astronauts killed when the rocket exploded 73 seconds after takeoff.  Can you name this astronaut?

John James Audubon (1785-1851) was a  artist, and naturalist known for his drawings and paintings. In 1820, he made his goal the publication of an anthology of life drawings. He travelled the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and the Great Lakes. What was the subject of his drawings?

Events

On 28 Jan of a certain year, London's Pall Mall became the first street to be illuminated by gaslight.  In what decade was gaslight introduced to Pall Mall?

On 28 Jan 1613, Galileo may have unknowingly viewed a then undiscovered planet. His observing records show a "star" that doesn't appear in modern star catalogues. When it happened to be very near Jupiter, he thought it was just a star. On two successive nights he actually noticed that it moved slightly with respect to another nearby star. Which planet is thought to have been seen, but not recognized, by Galileo?

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 January 28 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers.

Fast answers for the previous newsletter for January 27: USS Nautilus; Lewis Carroll; first U.S. astronaut to walk in space; birds; the decade including the year 1926; soil.

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