science newsletter: Newsletter for Sunday 27 January

Newsletter - January 27 - Today in Science History

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 27

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 27 Jan 1861, Ralph Modjeski was born, Polish-American bridge designer and builder who was outstanding for the number, variety, and innovative character of his projects. Today's Science Store pick is A Man Who Spanned Two Eras: The Story of Bridge Engineer Ralph Modjeski, by Jozef Glomb, translated by Peter Obst, who gives this nearly forgotten engineer some well deserved, posthumous recognition The bulk Modjeski's projects are permanent fixtures on American interstates and railroads, and include bridges he designed that stretched further and supported more than any preceding structure, designing bridges that stretched further and supported more than any preceding structure. The methods he introduced into modern bridge building paved the way for greater and safer bridges around the world, while also breaking world records in cantilever and suspension bridge spans. One example of his work is the 9,570 foot Benjamin Franklin Bridge (1926) which crosses the Delaware River, now over 75 years old and in continuous use. This book is still available Used from $21.95 (as of time of writing).
Yesterday's pick: The Great American Chewing Gum Book. For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today

"Some of the ideas I try to get across to the people who work for me are the following:
1. More than ambition, more than ability, it is rules that limit contribution; rules are the lowest common denominator of human behavior. They are a substitute for rational thought.
2. Sit down before fact with an open mind. Be prepared to give up every preconceived notion. Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads, or you learn nothing. Don't push out figures when facts are going in the opposite direction.
3. Free discussion requires an atmosphere unembarrassed by any suggestion of authority or even respect.
4. All men are by nature conservative but conservatism in the military profession is a source of danger to the country.
5. Success teaches us nothing; only failure teaches..." - Admiral Hyman G. Rickover (born 27 Jan 1900)

(When a character is one of his novels said: )"One can't believe impossible things." (The reply was:) "I dare say you haven't had much practice ... When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. - Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (born 27 Jan 1832)

"I can now rejoice even in the falsification of a cherished theory, because even this is a scientific success." - John Carew Eccles, Australian Nobel prize-winning research physiologist (born 27 Jan 1903)

QUIZ

Births

Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, born 27 Jan 1900, served on active duty with the United States Navy for more than 63 years. He is known as the Father of the Nuclear Navy for under his leadership, an atomic-powered submarine was built (1954).
What was this submarine named?

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, born 27 Jan 1832, was a mathematician who lectured at Oxford, but is remembered as a novelist who wrote two popular children's stories.
What was this mathematician's pen name?

Deaths

Edward H. White (1930-1967) was an American astronaut who in 1967 was one of the first casualties of the U.S. space program, killed during a flight simulation. Previously, he had made an orbital flight in Gemini 4, launched on 3 Jun 1965, and made an important "first" in the history of U.S. space flight.
What was White's historic "first" as a U.S. 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 27 Jan of a certain year, John Logie Baird, a Scottish inventor, gave the first public demonstration of a true television system in London, launching a revolution in communication and entertainment.
In what decade did Baird make this demonstration?

On 27 Jan 1950, Science magazine announced the new antibiotic terramyacin. It was found effective against pneumonia, dysentery, and other infections. It was developed from 20 million tests for bacteria-fighting organisms found in 135,000 samples collected worldwide.
What was collected for these samples?

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 27 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 26: symbiosis; from the initial of Keys's name; smallpox; the decade including the year 1932; Isaac Newton.

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