Newsletter for Tuesday 20 August

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY NEWSLETTER - 20 AUGUST

Feature for Today

On 20 Aug 1831, the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess was born. He helped establish the fields of paleogeography and tectonics. He coined the name Gondwanaland for an ancient supercontinent that he proposed existed eons ago, but due to tectonic activity, broke apart into the continents we know today. By reading an obituary of a scientist, often interesting sidelights are revealed. Such is the case with The Sketch of the Life of Eduard Suess by Pierre Termier, translated in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution. “Suess's water” was the way residents of Vienna referred to the new, purer water supply for which Suess spent three years convincing the municipal council of the need to switch from the unwholesome water of the Danube and lakes. Instead, he advised, there were mountain springs which would provide a greater purity and freshness. Seven years later, when this healthier water was brought to flow in the city, the obituary writer records that mortality in the city washalved. This geologist saved lives!

Book of the Day

On 20 Aug 1953, the Soviet Union released the news that it had detonated its first hydrogen bomb, eight days earlier (12 Aug 1953), in Kazakhstan. It came less than 10 months after the first U.S. bomb test, "Mike," (1 Nov 1952) announced by President Harry Truman on 7 Jan 1953. Notably, the Soviet bomb was more portable than the U.S. device—small enough to fit in a plane, and be easily weaponizeable, though its size limited the amount of thermonuclear fuel and explosive force. The Arms Race kicked into high gear. Today's Science Store pick is Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, by Richard Rhodes, who earlier won the Pulitzer Prize for his book The Making of the Atomic Bomb. In Dark Sun, another monumental work of history, Rhodes provides  the definitive, often shocking story of the politics and the science behind the development of the hydrogen bomb and the birth of the Cold War. Based on secret files in the United States and the former Soviet Union, this engrossing book discloses how and why the United States decided to create the bomb that would dominate world politics for more than forty years. Rhodes targets a general audience and with great success, balances the consequent need for clarity with depth and technical detail. Whereas his earlier book on the atomic bomb told the story of scientists and the cooperation between nations to defeat the Nazis, Dark Sun tells the story of how weapons of mass destruction polarized scientists, nations, military sects, and political mindsets. That it has 40 five-star reviews on the Amazon site.  It is available on Kindle for $11.74, New from $5.99 or Used from $0.99 (as of time of writing). For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today
	"Most discussions of the population crisis lead logically to zero population growth as the ultimate goal, because any growth rate, if continued, will eventually use up the earth... Turning to the actual measures taken we see that the very use of family planning as the means for implementing population policy poses serious but unacknowledged limits the intended reduction in fertility. The family-planning movement, clearly devoted to the improvement and dissemination of contraceptive devices, states again and again that its purpose is that of enabling couples to have the number of children they want." (With the publication of this article 'zero population growth' and the acronym 'ZPG' came into general use.) - Kingsley Davis, American sociologist and demographer (born 20 Aug 1908)
	"The habit of an opinion often leads to the complete conviction of its truth, it hides the weaker parts of it, and makes us incapable of accepting the proofs against it." - J�ns Jacob Berzelius  (born 20 Aug 1779)
	"It is often held that scientific hypotheses are constructed, and are to be constructed, only after a detailed weighing of all possible evidence bearing on the matter, and that then and only then may one consider, and still only tentatively, any hypotheses. This traditional view however, is largely incorrect, for not only is it absurdly impossible of application, but it is contradicted by the history of the development of any scientific theory. What happens in practice is that by intuitive insight, or other inexplicable inspiration, the theorist decides that certain features seem to him more important than others and capable of explanation by certain hypotheses. Then basing his study on these hypotheses the attempt is made to deduce their consequences. The successful pioneer of theoretical science is he whose intuitions yield hypotheses on which satisfactory theories can be built, and conversely for the unsuccessful (as judged from a purely scientific standpoint)." Co-author with British astronomer, Raymond Arthur Lyttleton (1911-95). - Sir Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and mathematician (died 20 Aug 2001)

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
	Valentin Petrovich Glushko, born 20 Aug 1908 was a Soviet rocket scientist, a pioneer in rocket propulsion systems, and a major contributor to Soviet space and defense technology. He worked with renowned rocket designer Sergey Korolyov from 1932 to 1966. The two had a triumphant year in 1957, when they launched the first intercontinental ballistic missile in August and sent the first artificial satellite into orbit in October. What was the name of this satellite?
	Akutsu Tetsuzo (left), Eduard Suess and J�ns Jacob Berzelius were each born on 20 Aug, though in different years. Not in the same order, they were notable for postulating the existence of the giant land mass Gondwanaland; building the first artificial heart that was implanted and kept an animal alive; and the development of modern chemical symbols (such as Fe). Can you match each scientist to his claim to fame?
Deaths
	Sir Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) coined the term “Big Bang.” Can you describe the theory of the universe he believed in?
	Percy Williams Bridgman (1882-1961) was an American experimental physicist noted for his studies of materials at high temperatures and pressures. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1946 for his “invention of an apparatus to produce extremely high pressures.” To the nearest power of ten, how many atmospheres of pressure was he eventually able to produce?
Events
	On 20 Aug 1977, NASA launched "Voyager Two," an unmanned spacecraft towards Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune. It carried a 12-inch copper phonograph record. What did the recording contain?
	On 20 Aug  of a certain year, the first demonstration telecast of home television in the U.S. was received in New York City. A half-hour program was hosted by the cartoonist Harry Hirschfeld, and demonstrated on screens placed in a store in the Hotel Ansonia, the Hearst building, and a home at 98 Riverside Drive. The signal travelled about six miles, the greatest distance for TV transmission to date. In what decade did this TV demonstration take place?

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 20 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 19: Philco; Greenwich Observatory; James Watt; all of them; two dogs; daguerreotype.

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