science newsletter: Newsletter for Wednesday 30 January

Newsletter - January 30 - Today in Science History

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 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 Jan 1929, Roger N. Shepard was born, American psychologist whose work provided major new insights into the nature of mental processes. Today's Science Store pick is one of his works: Mind Sights: Original Visual Illusions, Ambiguities, and Other Anomalies, With a Commentary on the Play of Mind in Perception and Art, by Roger N. Shepard. Available Used from $0.76 (as of time of writing).
Yesterday's picks: The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way, The Story of Science: Newton at the Center, and The Story of Science: Einstein Adds a New Dimension. For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today

"...until we consider animal life to be worthy of the consideration and reverence we bestow upon old books and pictures and historic monuments, there will always be the animal refugee living a precarious life on the edge of extermination, dependent for existence on the charity of a few human beings." - Gerald Malcolm Durrell, naturalist, writer and founder of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (died 30 Jan 1995)

"Science is a field which grows continuously with ever expanding frontiers. Further, it is truly international in scope." - John Bardeen, American physicist, winner of two Nobel prizes in Physics (died 30 Jan 1991)

"The Day is past when colored boys will be refused work only because of race prejudice. There are other causes. First, the boy has not the nerve to apply for work after being refused at two or three places. Second, the boy should have some knowledge of mechanics. The latter could be gained at technical schools, which should be founded for the purpose. And these schools must sooner or later be established, and thereby, we should be enabled to put into the hands of our boys and girls the actual means of livelihood." - Granville T. Woods, African-American inventor (died 30 Jan 1910) (source)

QUIZ

Births

Max Theiler, born 30 Jan 1899, was an American microbiologist who won the 1951 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his research on a certain tropical disease. Theiler's discovery that mice are susceptible to this disease facilitated research and eventual development of a vaccine against the disease in humans.
What is the disease he researched?

Deaths

John Bardeen (1908-1991) was an American physicist who was cowinner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in both 1956 and 1972. He shared the 1956 prize with William B. Shockley and Walter H. Brattain for their joint invention
What was the joint invention awarded the 1956 prize?

Events

On 30 Jan of 1998, a new glue, Dermabond, able to replace painful stitches, won the unanimous vote of a medical advisory panel for the Food and Drug Administration. Dermabond can seal off certain wounds quickly, without the need for painful shots, can hold a wound closed, sterile and flexible while it is healing. It is the chemical cousin of a certain glue used in households (which is too toxic for medical use).
What is the name of the related household glue?

On 30 Jan 1868, a book by Charles Darwin was published, a follow-up work, written in response to criticisms that his theory of evolution was unsubstantiated. Darwin here supports his views via analysis of various aspects of plant and animal life, including an inventory of varieties and their physical and behavioral characteristics, and an investigation of the impact of a species' surrounding environment and the effect of both natural and forced changes in this environment.
What was the name of the book?

On 30 Jan 1790, the first of a new design of boat - the "Original" - was first tested at sea by its English builder, Henry Greathead of South Shields. The "Original" was 30ft long, twelve oars, self-righting, and had seven hundredweight of cork for buoyancy.
What was the special use for this type of boat?

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 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 January 29:
electromagnetic force; directly from nitrogen and hydrogen; DDT; ice cream cone; the decade including the year 1896

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