Newsletter for Friday 8 November

TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY NEWSLETTER - 8 NOVEMBER

Book of the Day

On 8 Nov 1656, Edmond Halley was born, the second Astronomer Royal, remembered in the name of Halley's Comet, which he predicted would return. But his significant work also includes prompting Newton to write the Prinicipia, which he editted and funded for publication. Halley predicted the transit of Venus that led to Cook's voyage to Tahiti. He made many more fundamental contributions to astronomical knowledge. Today's Science Store pick is: Edmond Halley: Charting the Heavens and the Seas, by Alan Cook, who reveals Halley's character had extraordinary breadth and depth. As a young man, he sailed to St. Helena to chart the unmapped stars of the Southern Hemisphere. Halley knew the leading artists of his age—Wren, Pepys, Handel, Purcell, and Dryden—and he travelled widely throughout Europe, meeting numerous fellow scientists and serving on a variety of diplomatic missions. He even spent a number of adventurous years as commander of a Royal Naval warship. It is available New from $19.99. Used from $12.82. (As of time of writing.). For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science History Science Store home page.

Quotations for Today
	Aristotle's opinion... that comets were nothing else than sublunary vapors or airy meteors... prevailed so far amongst the Greeks, that this sublimest part of astronomy lay altogether neglected; since none could think it worthwhile to observe, and to give an account of the wandering and uncertain paths of vapours floating in the Ether. - Edmond Halley, English astronomer, geophysicist and mathematician (born 8 Nov 1656).
	The prime goal is to alleviate suffering, and not to prolong life. And if your treatment does not alleviate suffering, but only prolongs life, that treatment should be stopped. - Christiaan Barnard, South African surgeon (born 8 Nov 1922).
	For a billion years the patient earth amassed documents and inscribed them with signs and pictures which lay unnoticed and unused. Today, at last, they are waking up, because man has come to rouse them. Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them. Layers become history and, released from the enchanted sleep of eternity, life's motley, never-ending dance rises out of the black depths of the past into the light of the present. - Hans Cloos, German geologist (born 8 Nov 1885).

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
	Swiss psychiatrist who devised the inkblot test that bears his name was born on 8 Nov 1884. The test is widely used clinically for diagnosing psychopathology. His secondary-school nickname was Kleck, meaning “inkblot,” because of his interest in sketching. Can you name this scientist?
	Edmond Halley, born 8 Nov 1656, was an English astronomer and mathematician, best known for recognizing that a bright comet (later named after him) had appeared several times, calculating its orbit (1682) and successfully predicting its return. What is the average number of years between each return of the comet?
Deaths
	Edwin Drake (1819-1880) is known for a first productive oil well the that launched the modern U.S. petroleum industry. After his well began to produce oil, other prospectors drilled wells nearby. Other men, with better business sense, grew rich from the oil boom, yet Drake died in poverty, after years of crippling illnesses. Where in the U.S. did Drake drill his well?
	John Wallis (1616-1703) was a British mathematician. He was skilled in cryptography and decoded Royalist messages for the Parliamentarians during the Civil War. He contributed substantially to the origins of calculus and was the most influential English mathematician before Newton. Wallis introduced a certain math symbol that remains commonly used. Wallis is remembered for introducing which mathematical symbol?
Events
	On 8 Nov 1931, Fredrick Allison, working in Alabama, reported (erroneously) the discovery of “alabamine,” element 85, the heaviest halogen. The first synthesis and correct identification of this element eventually happened in 1940 by other experimenters bombarding bismuth with alpha particles. By what name is “alabamine” now correctly known?
	On 8 Nov 1895, a German physicist became the first person to observe the phenomenon later named X-rays. The discovery was accidental while he was experimenting with cathode rays at W�rzburg University. Can you name this scientist?

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 November 8 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers. Fast answers for the previous newsletter for November 7: Austrian • radium • 12 oarsmen • echolocation by vocalizing ultrasonic sounds and listening to their reflections from obstacles • decade containing the year 1918 • Mercury.

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