science newsletter: Newsletter for Tuesday 9 April

Newsletter - April 9 - Today in Science History

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER - 9 APRIL

Feature for Today

Book of the Day

On 9 Apr 1806, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born, rightly admired as one of the greatest of all engineers. His leading role in the transport revolution of the nineteenth century, left an indelible mark on the British landscapeand engineering history. His projects included railways, tunnels, bridges, and great steamships. If you know little about this astonishingly productive Victorian, it is time to remedy that! Today's Science Store pick is Brunel: The Life and Times of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, by Angus Buchanan, who, as Emeritus Professor of the History of Technology at the University of Bath, is well-qualified to spellbind you with Brunel's ebullience, foresight, hard work and ambition. New Price $29.95. Also available Used from $5.47 (as of time of writing).

Yesterday's pick: Otis: Giving Rise to the Modern City, by Jason Goodwin.

For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today
	"While electric railroading is perhaps the most important branch of electrical engineering, at least as regards commercial importance, considering the amount capital invested therein, nevertheless it is a remarkable fact that while most other branches of electrical engineering had been developed to a very high degree of perfection, even a few years ago theoretical investigation of electric railroading was still conspicuous by its almost entire absence. All the work was done by some kind of empirical experimenting, that is, some kind of motor was fitted up with some gearing or some sort of railway car, and then run, and if the motor burned out frequently it was replaced with a larger motor, and if it did not burn out, a trailer was put on the car, and perhaps a second trailer, until the increase of the expense account in burn-outs of the motors balanced the increased carrying capacity of the train." - Charles Steinmetz, German-American electrical engineer and inventor who founded the General Electric laboratory (born 9 Apr 1865)
	"I had come to the conclusion, that the principal alimentary matters might be reduced to the three great classes, namely the saccharine, the oily and the albuminous." - William Prout, English biochemist and physiologist (died 9 Apr 1850)
	"...those experiments be not only esteemed which have an immediate and present use, but those principally which are of most universal consequence for invention of other experiments, and those which give more light to the invention of causes; for the invention of the mariner's needle, which giveth the direction, is of no less benefit for navigation than the invention of the sails, which give the motion." - Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher remembered for his influence promoting a scientific method (died 9 Apr 1626)

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
	J(ohn) Presper Eckert, Jr., born 9 Apr 1919, was an American engineer and coinventor of the first general-purpose electronic computer, a digital machine that was the prototype for most computers in use today. In 1946, Eckert with John W. Mauchly fulfilled a government contract to build a digital computer to be used by the U.S. Army for military calculations. *What was this computer named?*
	Eadweard Muybridge, an English photographer, born 9 Apr 1830, is remembered for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion. One notable example is his series of photographs of a running horse which answered what had been a hotly debated issue. *What question about a horse's gait did Muybridge solve?*
	Isambard Kingdom Brunel, an English civil and mechanical engineer, born 9 Apr 1806, had great originality and was highly productive. His outstanding projects include railways, tunnels, bridges, viaducts and steamships (including the first transatlantic steamer). *What were the names of his three great steamships?*
Deaths
	Sir Patrick Manson (1844-1922) was a Scottish parasitologist who founded the field of tropical medicine developing it as a distinct field of study. He was the first to discover (1877-79) that an insect can be host to a developing parasite (the worm Filaria bancrofti) that is the cause of a human disease (filariasis, which occurs when the worms invade body tissues). *What was the insect responsible for transmission of this disease?*
Events
	On 9 Apr 1959, NASA announced the selection of America's first seven astronauts for project Mercury, chosen from 110 applicants. NASA required astronaut candidates to be male, not older than 40 years of age, not more than 5' 11" height and in excellent physical condition. What are the names of four of these famous astronauts? Or, try for all seven names.

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 April 9 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers.

Fast answers for the previous newsletter for April 8: radioactive isotope carbon-14 as a tracer; the pituitary; Elisha Otis; largest sunspot group ever on record; 3D motion picture, viewed by the audience with spectacles having one red and one green lens to produce the illusion of depth.

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