science newsletter: Newsletter for Monday 18 February

Newsletter - February 18 - Today in Science History

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER - 18 FEBRUARY

Feature for Today

On 18 Feb 1745, Alessandro Volta was born. He's important enough in the history of science to be in just about every physics textbook! Before starting on his Nobel Prize-winning Oil-Drop experiment, Robert Millikan, as many professors have, co-authored a textbook of physics.

A novel feature of his book is that each full-page picture of historic scientists - including the picture of Alessandro Volta - had an interesting border, in which the decoration was tiny diagrams of classic student experiments.

Sadly, the book gives no key to these diagrams. So today's feature is a challenge. Look at the illustration and see how many of these you can recognize!

See how many you can figure out. Some are easier than others. Then use the email Reply, or website Feedback, to send your ideas the the Webmaster. (Or the ideas of the students in your science class if you teach.)

Go ahead. Have fun!

Or, you might be interested to look at this picture of the monument to Volta unveiled (about a half-century after his death) at Pavia in 1878 as a memorial to his work.

Book of the Day

On 18 Feb 1894, Aleksandr Oparin was born, Russian biochemist noted for his studies on the origin of life from chemical matter. Today's first Science Store pick is The Origin of Life, by Aleksandr Oparin. This classic of biochemistry offered the first detailed exposition of the theory that living tissue was preceded upon Earth by a long and gradual evolution of nitrogen and carbon compounds. While Oparin might appear dated, he made an important intellectual step in early earth environment providing questions and suggestions for subsequent research to follow. Used from $29.99 (as of time of writing).

On 18 Feb 1967, Robert Oppenheimer died, U.S. physicist noted as director of a famous laboratory, where he was 'father of the atomic bomb.' Yet, after it was used on Hiroshima, he was the author of a radical proposal to place international controls over atomic materials and opposed the development of the much more powerful hydrogen bomb. Today's second Science Store pick is American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin. This full-scale biography takes you through the build-up and execution of Oppenheimer's triumph, then reveals his misgivings, and a terrible public humiliation when he was branded a security risk at the height of anti-Communist hysteria in 1954. The political background of this injustice is presented revealing the tragedy of his later life. Few physicists have had such a high public profile, making this biography of Oppenheimer one to read. New $~~20.00~~ save 32%, Price $13.60. Also available Used from $2.36 (as of time of writing).

Browse more titles by or about Robert Oppenheimer.

Yesterday's pick: The Insect Folk by Margaret Warner Morley.
For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today
	"Let us hope that the advent of a successful flying machine, now only dimly foreseen and nevertheless thought to be possible, will bring nothing but good into the world; that it shall abridge distance, make all parts of the globe accessible, bring men into closer relation with each other, advance civilization, and hasten the promised era in which there shall be nothing but peace and goodwill among all men." - Octave Chanute, U.S. aeronaut (born 18 Feb 1832)
	"I am become death, The Shatterer of Worlds" - Robert Oppenheimer, quoting from the 2,000-year-old Bhagavad Gita of India at the instant the first test atomic device exploded (died 18 Feb 1967)
	"...each metal has a certain power, which is different from metal to metal, of setting the electric fluid in motion..." - Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist who invented the electric battery (born 18 Feb 1745)

QUIZ
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.
Births
	An Austrian physicist, born 18 Feb 1838, established important principles of optics, mechanics, and wave dynamics. He introduced a number, still named for him, for the ratio of speed of object to speed of sound. *Can you name this scientist?*
	Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta, born 18 Feb 1745, was an Italian physicist whose invention of the electric battery (1800) provided the first source of continuous, reliable current produced by the contact of two dissimilar metals. His famous voltaic pile consisted of an alternating column of disks of silver and another metal separated by porous cardboard soaked in brine. *What was the second metal he used in his voltaic pile?*
Deaths
	J(ulius) Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) was a U.S. theoretical physicist and science administrator, noted as a laboratory director during development of the atomic bomb (1943-45). What laboratory did he direct (1943-45)?
Events
	On 18 Feb of a certain year, the planet Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh, the only planet to be found by an American astronomer. (Well, it WAS a planet when it was discovered!) *In which decade was Pluto discovered?*
	On 18 Feb 1913, chemist Frederick Soddy introduced a new term. He suggested that different elements produced in different radioactive transformations were capable of occupying the same place on the Periodic Table, and named such species from Greek words meaning "same place." *What is this term?*

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 February 18 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers.

Fast answers for the previous newsletter for February 17: the halftone screen that would convert a photograph into a pattern of tiny dots; stethoscope; Remington; the decade including the year 1938; Dmitri Mendeleev.

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