science newsletter: Newsletter for Friday 2 August

Παρασκευή 2 Αυγούστου 2013

Newsletter for Friday 2 August

Newsletter - August 2 - Today in Science History

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER - 2 AUGUST

Feature for Today

Book of the Day

Quotations for Today
	"A man who is all theory is like “a rudderless ship on a shoreless sea.” ... Theories and speculations may be indulged in with safety only as long as they are based on facts that we can go back to at all times and know that we are on solid ground." - American inventor, in the quiz below (born 2 Aug 1835)
	"Charles Darwin, the Abraham of scientific men—a searcher as obedient to the command of truth as was the patriarch to the command of God." - John Tyndall, Irish physicist (born 2 Aug 1820)
	When a body acts upon another one, it is always immediately or through some intermediate body; this intermediate body is in general what one calls a machine." - Lazare-Nicolas-Marguerite Carnot, French mathematician and military engineer (died 2 Aug 1823)

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
	A U.S. scientist and innovator was born on 2 Aug 1835 who would have been known to us as the inventor of the telephone if Alexander Graham bell hadn't got to the patent office before him earlier that day, resulting in a famous legal battle. Can you name this inventor?
	John Tyndall, born on 2 Aug 1820, was an Irish physicist who became known to the scientific world in 1848 as the author of a substantial work on Crystals. He studied the acoustic properties of the atmosphere and the blue colour of the sky. What did he suggest the blue sky colour was due to?
Deaths
	Louis Blériot (1872-1936) was a French aviator who was the was the first person to fly across a certain body of water on 25 Jul 1909, winning a £1,000 prize offered by the owner of the Daily Mail newspaper. *What flight over water did he make*?
	A Scottish inventor (1847-1922) had a career which was influenced by his grandfather (who published The Practical Elocutionist and Stammering and Other Impediments of Speech), his father (whose interest was the mechanics and methods of vocal communication) and his mother (who was deaf). This background set his course in developing the transmission of voice over wires. *Can you name this man?*
Events
	On 2 Aug 1870, Tower Subway, the first tube railway in the world, was opened under the River Thames in London, England. Engineer James Henry Greathead used a tunnelling shield he modified from Barlow's design to bore the 6-ft diameter tunnel near the Tower of London. A 12-seat carriage shuttled from end to end. It was not successful due to low use and frequent breakdowns, and the railway closed within three month. How was the carriage powered?
	On 2 Aug 1938, a new product, Dr. West's Miracle-Tuft toothbrush, was described in a New York Times business report. The Weco Products Company, was the first to use a new material for the bristles, for which they promised No bristle shedding, 100 per cent waterproofed, longer life, greater cleansing power.” Competition came in May 1939, as Johnson & Johnson began advertising their new Tek toothbrush. What was the older bristle material that this new toothbrush replaced, and what was the new bristle material?

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 August 2 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers.

Fast answers for the previous newsletter for August 1: isotopic tracer techniques; Maria Mitchell; Hitler, offended by a Nobel Peace Prize to a person in a Nazi concentration camp, required all Germans to decline any Nobel award; Oscar Hammerstein; metre; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Jeep.

Feedback