Newsletter for Monday 13 January

 

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 13

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.

On 13 Jan 1943, the first use of an ejection seat to save a pilot was made. A German test pilot required its use when his plane failed to separate from the tow aircraft due to the cable release mechanism icing up. The ejection seat, made by Heinkel, was pneumatically powered and accelerated the pilot upwards at about 8-g. He landed safely. Today's Science Store pick is Eject!: The Complete History of U.S. Aircraft Escape Systems, by Jim Tuttle, an aerospace engineer with 33 years experience. His chronology covers the complete history of aircraft escape systems used in the United States up to modern gyro-stabilized, vectorable rocket capsules capable of deployment at Mach 3 and at the edge of space. The detailed descriptions of the technologies behind each ejection systems development and use are accompanied by photographs, diagrams, and fascinating firsthand accounts from pilots and crewmembers who have used escape systems. Available Used from $4.63. Yesterday's pick: The First Space Race: Launching the World's First Satellites. For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today

"I jettisoned the canopy and then pulled the release lever for the seat and was thrown clear of the aircraft without coming in contact with it. During the acceleration I did not lose consciousness or notice any disagreeable feeling. I realized I was revolving considerably and believe I executed a backward somersault, as I recall seeing the aircraft again. After a short time, I succeeded in jettisoning the catapult seat, which quickly fell away from me. I then pulled my ripcord and the parachute opened perfectly. The opening shock appeared more violent than that experienced during catapulting." - German Test Pilot Schenk describing the first emergency use of an ejection seat (13 Jan 1943) "During this time (at high school) I discovered the Public Library... It was here that I found a source of knowledge and the means to acquire it by reading, a habit of learning which I still follow to this day. I also became interested in chemistry and gradually accumulated enough test tubes and other glassware to do chemical experiments, using small quantities of chemicals purchased from a pharmacy supply house. I soon graduated to biochemistry and tried to discover what gave flowers their distinctive colours. I made the (to me) astounding discovery that the pigments I extracted changed their colours when I changed the pH of the solution." - Sydney Brenner, South African Nobel prize-winning biologist (born 13 Jan 1927) (source) "I believe that there will never again be a great world war - a war in which the terrible weapons involving nuclear fission and nuclear fusion would be used. And I believe that it is the discoveries of scientists upon which the development of these terrible weapons was based that is now forcing us to move into a new period in the history of the world, a period of peace and reason, when world problems are not solved by war or by force, but are solved in accordance with world law, in a way that does justice to all nations and that benefits all people." - Linus Pauling, who on 13 Jan 1958 presented a petition of 9,000 scientists to the U.N. asking to halt the testing of nuclear bombs. (source)

QUIZ

Births

Oskar Minkowski, born 13 Jan 1858, was a German physiologist and pathologist who uncovered the role of a certain body organ in diabetes. In an experiment with Joseph von Mering, they removed this organ from a dog, it consequently developed diabetes. Which body organ did they identify?

Deaths

Henri Braconnot (1781-1855) was a French chemist known for isolating glucose, a simple sugar, directly from certain plant materials by boiling them with acid (1819). Previously, glucose had only been derived from starch. Give examples of forms of plant material that yielded this glucose?

Events

On 13 Jan of a certain year, the first machine for reading printed matter aloud was given its first public demonstration. Using a camera with a computer, pages of printed matter could be scanned, the letters analysed, and reproduced in synthesized English speech at 150 words per minute.  In what decade was this machine first demonstrated?

On 13 Jan 1957, the first frisbee was developed when by the Wham-O Company; a representative of the company got the idea for the product when he saw some truck drivers showing Yale students how to throw something similar. From the flight of what object was the frisbee developed?

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 January 13 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers.

Fast answers for the previous newsletter for January 12: wash-and-wear fabrics; carbon dioxide; Pierre Fermat; Eiffel Tower.

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