Newsletter for Friday 11 October

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY NEWSLETTER - 11 OCTOBER

Feature for Today

On 11 Oct 1844, Henry John Heinz was born, one of those people whose name is instantly recognizable - in this case because of his famous “57 varieties” of food products. Yet, like a number of those other people, he remains enigmatic - seemingly so well-known - but someone you really don't know. For example, do you know: How did he get started in the business? What did he believe in to create his success? How extensive was his philanthropy? These questions are answered, with more background on this remarkable man, in a chapter on Henry John Heinz from Financial Giants of America (1893).

Book of the Day

On 11 Oct 1957, the Jodrell Bank radio telescope, the world's largest radio telescope, designed by Sir Bernard Lovell, began operating. Today's Science Store pick is: Voice of the Universe: Building the Jodrell Bank Telescope; Revised and Updated Edition (Convergence), by Bernard Lovell, the man without whose perserverance, energy and faith the project would not have succeeded. He recounts the fascinating story of this huge telescope, fraught with mishaps and frustrations including financial and political. Though the telescope is popularly known for tracking and communicating with man-made satellites, its prime function is the study of the universe by means of radio waves emitted by distatant stars. The radiation received from meteors, the moon, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the Milky Way offers new information daily about the origins of life on this planet and the possibilities of life on other worlds. The building of the telescope was fraught with mishaps and frustrations-financial, political, and otherwise; yet, through his perseverance, Sir Bernard Lovell made its creation a reality. In this book, Lovell tells the project's history, drawn largely from personal diaries, and documents the complex conflicts among scientists, bureaucrats, and politicians which arose out of this monumental endeavor. It is available New from $30.35. Used from $11.99. (As of time of writing.). For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science History Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today
	To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success. A favorite maxim. - Henry John Heinz, American businessman (born 11 Oct 1844).
	The animal frame, though destined to fulfill so many other ends, is as a machine more perfect than the best contrived steam-engine�that is, is capable of more work with the same expenditure of fuel. - James Prescott Joule, English physicist (died 11 Oct 1889).
	Permanence of instinct must go with permanence of form...The history of the present must teach us the history of the past. [Referring to studying fossil remains of the weevil, largely unchanged to the present day.] - Jean Henri Fabre, French entomologist and author (died 11 Oct 1915).

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 German astronomer and physician, born 11 Oct 1758, is known for a paradox which asks “why is the night sky dark if there are so many bright stars all around to light it?” Can you name this scientist?
	Fausto Elhuyar, born 11 Oct 1755, was a Spanish chemist and mineralogist who in partnership with his brother Juan Jos� was the first to isolate a new metallic element. (Carl Scheele in 1781 was first to recognize its elemental nature. It was found in a mineral which had been known since about 1758 by a Swedish name meaning “heavy stone.”) Can you name this element?
Deaths
	James Prescott Joule (1818-1889) was an English physicist and inventor who established that the various forms of energy - mechanical, electrical, and heat - are basically the same. This knowledge became the basis of which law?
Events
	On 11 Oct of a certain year, the last hand-cranked (magneto) telephones in the United States went out of service as 440 telephone customers in Bryant Pond, Maine, were switched to direct-dial service. In what decade was the hand-cranked telephone finally retired in the U.S.?
	On 11 Oct of a certain year, at Jodrell Bank, the world's largest radio telescope, designed by Sir Bernard Lovell, began operating. Though the telescope is popularly known for tracking and communicating with man-made satellites, its prime function is the study of the universe by means of radio waves emitted by distatant stars. In which decade did the Jodrell Bank radiotelescope become operational?

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 October 11 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers. Fast answers for the previous newsletter for October 10: a beam of electrons scattered by a crystal produces a diffraction pattern • hydrogen • automatic lubrication • the decade containing the year 1933 • celluloid.

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Copyright

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