Newsletter for Wednesday 5 March

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY NEWSLETTER - 5 MARCH

Feature for Today

On 5 Mar 1830, limelight as a form of lighting was presented before scientists at the Tower of London. This invention by Thomas Drummond (1816) was adopted in lighthouses and for theatre stages. That the word "limelight" remains in the vocabulary to the present day, despite being replaced by more practical (and safer) forms of stage illumination is a testimony to the impact of the invention in its heyday. In Drummond's Inventions: The Heliostat and the Drummond Light, an extract from Memoir of Thomas Drummond (1867) you can read how limelight was created with neither of these applications in mind. In fact, Drummond was inspired to meet the needs of - would you believe it - a survey of Ireland! Another interesting extract is the Drummond Light and Lighthouse Experiments. The immense importance of lighthouses in the age of sailing ships and the dangers of rocks and reefs can be better understood if you think, perhaps, of today's airplanes flying without radar and air traffic control. A few accidents, commercial cargo and lives lost, and the government becomes intensely interested in improving the technology for air traffic safety. Thus it was, centuries ago for investigating limelight. As quaint as limelight sounds now, you can see that limelight, in its era, was potentially a major advance as a brighter light source for lighthouses.

Book of the Day

On 5 Mar 1830, �tienne-Jules Marey was born, French physiologist and chronophotographer, who while studying how blood moves in the body invented the sphygmograph. This device made a graphical record of the pulse and variations in blood pressure. Marey's methods of recording movement revolutionized our way of visualizing time and motion. He constructed a single-camera system that led the way to cinematography. Today's Science Store pick is Picturing Time: The Work of Etienne-Jules Marey, by Marta Braun, the first complete survey of Marey's work, which investigates the far reaching effects of Marey's inventions. The University Of Chicago Press book's 335 illustrations include unpublished examples of Marey's chronophotographs and cinematic work New: $42.00. Save 12% Price $36.92. (as of time of writing). Yesterday's pick: Mr Tompkins in Paperback (containing Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland and Mr. Tompkins Explores the Atom) by George Gamow. For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today
	"But in the present century, thanks in good part to the influence of Hilbert, we have come to see that the unproved postulates with which we start are purely arbitrary. They must be consistent, they had better lead to something interesting." - Julian Lowell Coolidge, American mathematician and educator (died 5 Mar 1954)
	"The language of experiment is more authoritative than any reasoning: facts can destroy our ratiocination—not vice versa." - Italian physicist in the quiz below (died 5 Mar 1827)
	"All the effects of Nature are only the mathematical consequences of a small number of immutable laws." - Pierre-Simon Laplace, French mathematician (died 5 Mar 1827)

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
	�douard Belin, born 5 Mar 1876, was a French engineer who made the first telephoto transmission, from Paris to Lyon to Bordeaux and back to Paris, using an apparatus of his own invention. In which decade was this first telephoto transmission made?
	A Flemish cartographer, born 5 Mar 1512, created form embodying a form projection now known by his name. It shows parallels and meridians as straight lines spaced so as to produce at any point an accurate ratio of latitude to longitude. He also introduced the term atlas for a collection of maps. Can you name this cartographer?
Deaths
	An Italian physicist (1745-1827) invented the electric battery that provided the first source of continuous current. It consisted of an alternating column of zinc and silver disks separated by porous cardboard soaked in brine. Can you name this famous scientist?
Events
	On 5 Mar 1830, limelight as a form of lighting was presented before scientists at the Tower of London, in a trial with two other lamp designs. It was invented by Thomas Drummond in 1816. Limelight was adopted in lighthouses and for theatre stages. However, because it required constant tending, it was willingly superceded by newer inventions. How does limelight work?
	On 5 Mar 1616, a scientists's theory was declared "false and erroneous" in a decree written by Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, and issued by the Catholic Church in Rome. Further, no  person was to be permitted to hold or teach the theory that the earth revolves around the sun. When Galileo subsequently violated the decree, he was put on trial and held under house arrest for the final eight years of his life. Can you name the scientist whose theory was declared false in this decree?

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 March 5 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers. Fast answers for the previous newsletter for March 4: Garrett Morgan; saccharin; Egyptology and deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics; Gila River; the decade including the year 1840.

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