Newsletter - December 30 - Today in Science History | TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY |
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| NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 30 |
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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 30 Dec 1931, Sir John Houghton was born, a Welsh meteorologist, who since the late 1960s has been drawing attention to the buildup of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere, and its result of global warming. Today's Science Store pick is Global Warming, The Complete Briefing, by John T. Houghton, who explores the scientific basis of global warming, its impact of climate change on human society, and the action that should be taken by governments, industry and individuals to mitigate the effects. He writes with crystalline clarity, outlining the evidence and state of knowledge that existed up to his book's publication in 1997 - much before the public's recent awareness. Available Used from $3.25 (as of time of writing).
 Choose your own book on Climate Change from this Book List,
Yesterday's pick: The Goodyear Story: An Inventor's Obsession and the Struggle for a Rubber Monopoly. For picks from earlier newsletters, see the Today in Science Science Store home page. | |
| Quotations for Today |
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| "We should do astronomy because it is beautiful and because it is fun. We should do it because people want to know. We want to know our place in the universe and how things happen." (1990)- John Bahcall, American astrophysicist (born 30 Dec 1934) "ur long-term security is threatened by a problem at least as dangerous as chemical, nuclear or biological weapons, or indeed international terrorism: human-induced climate change. ... The impacts of global warming are such that I have no hesitation in describing it as a 'weapon of mass destruction.' Like terrorism, this weapon knows no boundaries. It can strike anywhere, in any form..." (2003) John Houghton, Welsh meteorologist (born 30 Dec 1931) "For I took an Earthen Vessel, in which I put 200 pounds of Earth that had been dried in a furnace, which I moystened with Rain-water, and I implanted therein the Trunk of Stem of a Willow Tree, weighing five pounds: and about three ounces: But I moystened the Earthen Vessel with Rain-water, or distilled water (alwayes when there was need) and it was large, and implanted into the Earth and leaft of the vessel, with an Iron-Plate covered with Tin, and easily passable with many holes, I computed not the weight of the leaves that fell off in the four Autumnes. At length I again dried the Earth of the vessel, and there were found the same 200 pounds, wanting about two ounces. Therefore 164 pounds of Wood, Barks, and Roots, arose out of water onely." - Johannes Baptista van Helmont, Belgian chemist, physiologist and physician (died 30 Dec 1644) |
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| QUIZ |
| Births |
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Asa Griggs Candler, born 30 Dec 1851, was a manufacturer of a national product in the U.S. that had been developed by druggist John "Doc" Pemberton.
What is the name of this product? |
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| Deaths |
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An Anglo-Irish chemist and natural philosopher (1627-91) was noted for his pioneering experiments on the properties of gases and his espousal of a corpuscular view of matter that was a forerunner of the modern theory of chemical elements. In 1661, he reported to the Royal Society on the relationship of the volume of gases and pressure.
Can you name this scientist? |
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| Events |
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On 30 Dec 1982, a second full moon of the month was visible in the U.S. Although there were 41 such occurrences in the twentieth century, this was the only one to happen with a total eclipse.
What is the common name for the uncommon second full moon of the month? |
On 30 Dec In 1913, Dr William David Coolidge patented a method for making ductile a certain metal for the purpose of making filaments for electric lamps. This was the solution to his task of replacing the fragile carbon filaments in electric light bulbs with metal filaments. Until he discovered the method he patented, the preferred metal he used was difficult to work and draw into suitable fine filaments.
What was the metal he made into lamp filaments? |
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| Answers |
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| 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 30 web page of Today in Science History. Or, try this link first for just the brief answers.
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Fast answers for the previous newsletter for December 29: Klaus Fuchs; sulphur; by pressing together two layers of cloth with rubberized surfaces created by evaporating a naptha solution of rubber; a greater proportion of gasoline can be obtained than by common distillation. Longer molecules are reformed into the shorter molecules suitable for gasoline; 326 days. |
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