 | TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY NEWSLETTER - 25 DECEMBER |
| Feature for Today |
 On 25 Dec 1642, Isaac Newton was born, an English physicist and mathematician who made seminal discoveries in several areas of science, and was the leading scientist of his era. There is so much to know about his scientific life and times, chances are you'll find something new (or at least a reminder of things half-remembered) in this biography, a chapter from Sarah Bolton's Famous Men of Science (1889). If you come across a different listing of Newton's birthdate as 4 Jan 1643, and wonder which is correct—they both are, sort of! Puzzled? If so, you need to check the meaning of Old Style (Julian calendar) and New Style (Gregorian calendar) dates. Pope Gregory's calendar was adopted to correct an accumulated discrepancy since ancient Roman times, but that didn't happen in Britain until 2 Sep 1752, which was followed by 14 Sep 1752. Newton was long dead by then, so any calendar hanging on the wall on his birthday would have said it was 25 Dec 1642. That's why the Webmaster prefers that date. |
| Book of the Day | ||
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| Quotations for Today | |
| | I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. - Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician (born 25 Dec 1642).  |
 | A drug is a substance which, if injected into a rabbit, produces a paper. - Otto Loewi, German-American physician, physiologist and pharmacologist (died 25 Dec 1961). |
 | A considerable number of persons are able to protect themselves against the outbreak of serious neurotic phenomena only through intense work. - Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst (died 25 Dec 1925). |
| 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 | |
 | Ernst August Friedrich Ruska, born 25 Dec 1906, was a German electrical engineer. In 1928 Ruska attempted to focus an electron beam with an electromagnetic lens. He went on to add a second lens and thus produced a new and very useful invention, for which he shared the 1986 Nobel Prize for Physics.  What was Ruska's invention? |
 | Herman Frasch, born 25 Dec 1851, was a German-born American scientist who devised the Frasch Process for mining�a drilling, melting and pumping process. It made possible the exploitation of extensive deposits of a certain substance otherwise obtainable only at prohibitive expense. What substance is mined using the Frasch process? |
 | On 25 Dec 1821, an American woman was born who became a a nursing pioneer during the American Civil War, and was instrumental in the founding of the American Red Cross. Can you name this “Angel of the Battlefield”? |
| Deaths | |
 | Eugen Goldstein (1850-1930) was a German physicist known for his work on electrical phenomena in gases and on cathode rays. He coined the term “cathode ray” (1876) emitted from a cathode, and is also credited with discovering canal rays (1886). What are canal rays? |
| Events | |
 | On 25 Dec 1960, Dr Irving Cooper received a Christmas gift that inspired his invention of the first cryosurgery device (to freeze tissue). It was a simple household device using a capsule of compressed carbon dioxide. He observed the gas was very cold when released and he could direct small squirts from it to freeze tiny areas on the palm of his hand and watch them thaw. He also observed the freezing effect was very localized and isolated from the surrounding tissue. What was this gift? |
 | On 25 Dec of a certain year, the first U.S. ovariotomy (the surgical removal of an ovarian tumour) was performed at his Danville, Kentucky, practice by Dr. Ephraim McDowell, the “Father of Ovariotomy.” His published account created a sensation. His statue stands in the U.S. Capitol. In which decade was the first U.S. ovariotomy performed? |
| 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 December 25 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers. Fast answers for the previous newsletter for December 24: first law of thermodynamics • Sequoia and Yosemite • decade containing the year 1948 • phosphorus-32. |
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| Copyright |
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