science newsletter: Newsletter for Saturday 23 February

Newsletter - February 23 - Today in Science History

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER - 23 FEBRUARY

Feature for Today

On 23 Feb of a certain year (see quiz below), Charles M. Hall within a year of graduating from college finally accomplished the extraction of aluminium from its ore. It had been a hard-sought discovery which shortly made the price of aluminium metal drop from an expensive luxury item to commonplace.

A remarkable achievement in itself - since the search for an economical method had stymied other chemists before him - but even more remarkable for the work of such a young chemist.

Although the metal is so familiar to us now, you may know little of its facinating history, about which you can read more here.

Book of the Day

On 23 Feb 1924, Allan MacLeod Cormack was born, the South African-born American physicist who shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1979 for his pioneering contributions to the development of the CAT scanner. Today's Science Store pick is Imagining the Elephant: A Biography of Allan MacLeod Cormack, by Christopher L. Vaughan. The introduction of the CAT scanner led to a major revolution in clinical medicine, and subsequent developments of the underlying principle of tomography and associated brain imaging techniques has led to further crucial medical developments as well as important discoveries concerning the way the brain functions. This meticulous biography sets out in detail the life of Alan Cormack, who first conceived of the use of tomography in medical contexts, and demonstrated it in a pilot experiment at the University of Cape Town in September 1957. This book will especially fascinate readers who are interested in how a rotating series of images can create cross-sectional images of the body.

Yesterday's pick: How to Win the Nobel Prize: An Unexpected Life in Science, by J. Michael Bishop
For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today
	"You know that I write slowly. This is chiefly because I am never satisfied until I have said as much as possible in a few words, and writing briefly takes far more time than writing at length." - Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician (died 23 Feb 1855)
	"Since my first discussions of ecological problems with Professor John Day around 1950 and since reading Konrad Lorenz's King Solomon's Ring, I have become increasingly interested in the study of animals for what they might teach us about man, and the study of man as an animal. I have become increasingly disenchanted with what the thinkers of the so-called Age of Enlightenment tell us about the nature of man, and with what the formal religions and doctrinaire political theorists tell us about the same subject." - Allan MacLeod Cormack, South African-born American physicist (born 23 Feb 1924).
	"The word, Vitamine, served as a catchword which meant something even to the uninitiated, and it was not by mere accident that just at that time, research developed so markedly in this direction. Our view as to the fortunate choice of this name is strengthened, on the one hand, because it has become popular (and a badly chosen catchword, like a folksong without feeling, can never become popular), and on the other, because of the untiring efforts of other workers to introduce a varied nomenclature, for example, 'accessory food factors, food hormones, water-soluble B and fat-soluble A, nutramine, and auximone' (for plants). Some of these designations are certainly not better, while others are much worse than Vitamine." - Casimir Funk, Polish-American biochemist (born 23 Feb 1884)

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
	Allan MacLeod Cormack, born 23 Feb 1924, was a South African-born American physicist who formulated the mathematical algorithms that made possible the development of a powerful new diagnostic technique, the cross-sectional X-ray imaging process known CAT scanning. *What are the words which give the initials "C.A.T."*
	Casimir Funk, born 23 Feb 1884, was a Polish-American biochemist who pursued the idea that diseases such as beriberi, scurvy, rickets and pellagra were caused by lack of vital substances in the diet. He coined the name for such factors. *What is the word origin of the the name Funk coined, what name is now used, and why was it changed?*
Deaths
	Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863-1944) was an American industrial chemist who helped found the modern plastics industry through his invention of the first thermosetting plastic (a plastic that does not soften when heated). What name did he give to the plastic he invented?
Events
	On 23 Feb of a certain year, Charles M. Hall, a young U.S. chemist, completed his electrolytic process for the separation of aluminum from its ore, a mere eight months since he graduated from college. He dissolved the alumina ore in a bath of cryolyte (a mineral containing flourine, sodium and aluminum) and passed electric current through the solution. He patented the process, which was the first to become an inexpensive, commercial application. *In which decade was this discovery made?*
	On 23 Feb 1954, the first mass inoculation of children with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. *What disease was this inoculation intended to combat?*

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 23 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 22: Heineich Hertz; heat or cold is produced at the junction, depending on the direction of current flow; clinical fever thermometer - shorter for portability and quicker to respond in use; the decade including the year 1828; Steve Fossett.

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