This Day in Science History

yevaud · May 16, 2006

May 16 People J. Georg Bedonz Born 16 May 1950 German physicist who, with Karl Alex Müller, was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize for Physics for their joint discovery of superconductivity in a new class of materials at temperatures higher than had previously been thought attainable. They startled the world by reporting superconductivity in a layered, ceramic material at a then record-high temperature of 33 kelvin (that is 33 degrees above absolute zero, or roughly -460 degrees Fahrenheit). Their discovery set off an avalanche of research worldwide into related materials that yielded dozens of new superconductors, eventually reaching a transition temperature of 135 kelvin. Today, he develops complex oxide compounds with novel crystal structures for possible uses in microelectronics. Roy Kerr Born 16 May 1934 Roy P(atrick) Kerr is a New Zealander mathematician who solved (1963) Einstein's field equations of general relativity to describe rotating black holes, thus providing a major contribution to the field of astrophysics. He deduced a unique two-parameter family of solutions which describes the space-time around black holes in July 1963. The two parameters are the mass of the black hole and the angular momentum of the black hole. (The static solution, with zero angular momentum, was discovered by Karl Schwarzschild in Dec 1915.) Rotating black holes are often called Kerr Black Holes. He showed that there is a vortex-like region outside the event horizon, called the ergo-region, that drags space and time around with the rotating black hole. Raymond Arthur Lyttelton Died 16 May 1995 (born 7 May 1911) English mathematician and theoretical astronomer who researched stellar evolution and composition. In 1939, with Fred Hoyle, he demonstrated the large scale existance of interstellar hydrogen, refut <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 17, 2006

May 17 People Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer Born 17 May 1836; died 16 Aug 1920. British astronomer who in 1868 discovered and named the element helium that he found in the Sun's atmosphere before it had been detected on Earth. He also applied the name chromosphere for the sun's outer layer. Lockyer discovered, together with P. J. Janssen, the prominences (red flames) that surround the solar disk. He was also interested in the classification of stellar spectra and developed the meteoric hypothesis of stellar evolution. His works include the books Contributions to Solar Physics (1873), The Sun's Place in Nature (1897) and Inorganic Evolution (1900). Erwin Wilhelm Muller Died 17 May 1977 (born 13 Jun 1911) German-U.S. physicist who invented the field emission microscope (FIM), which provided magnifications in excess of one million. For the first time made it possible to take pictures of individual atoms. Images of the atomic structures of tungsten were first published in 1951 in the journal Zeitschrift für Physik. In FIM, a voltage of about 10kV is applied to a sharp metal tip, cooled to below 50 kelvin in a low-pressure helium gas atmosphere. Gas atoms are ionized by the strong electric field in the vicinity of the tip and repelled perpendicular to the tip surface. A detector images the spatial distribution of these ions giving a magnification of the curvature of the surface. Boris Borisovich Golitsyn Died 17 May 1916 (born 2 Mar 1862) (Prince) Russian physicist known for his work on methods of earthquake observations and on the construction of seismographs. He invented the first effective electromagnetic seismograph in 1906. A seismometer of this type picks up earthquake waves with a pendulum that supports a coil of insulated wire between the poles of a magnet rigidly linked to the earth. The r <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 18, 2006

May 18 People Malcolm Sim Longair Born 18 May 1941 Scottish astronomer, noted for his scholarship and teaching, who in 1980 was appointed by Royal Warrant Astronomer Royal for Scotland, a post he held until 31 Dec 1990. The title of Astronomer Royal for Scotland was created in 1834. As Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy and head of Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, UK, his research interests include the emission from dust in the distant universe, observational cosmology, galaxy formation, and gravitational lensing. He is the current Public Understanding of Physics Fellow of the Institute of Physics. Harry Fielding Reid Born 18 May 1859; died 18 Jun 1944. U.S. seismologist and glaciologist who in 1911 developed the elastic rebound theory of earthquake mechanics, still accepted today. Oliver Heaviside Born 18 May 1850; died 3 Feb 1925. English physicist who predicted the existence of the ionosphere. In 1870, he became a telegrapher, but increasing deafness forced him to retire in 1874. He then devoted himself to investigations of electricity. In 1902, Heaviside and Kennelly predicted that there should be an ionised layer in the upper atmosphere that would reflect radio waves. They pointed out that it would be useful for long distance communication, allowing radio signals to travel to distant parts of the earth by bouncing off the underside of this layer. The existence of the layer, now known as the Heaviside layer or the ionosphere, was demonstrated in the 1920s, when radio pulses were transmitted vertically upward and the returning pulses from the reflecting layer were received. Reggero Guiseppe Boscovich Born 18 May 1711; died 13 Feb 1787. Astronomer and mathematician who gave the first geometric procedure for determining t <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 19, 2006

May 19 People Abraham Pais Born 19 May 1918; died 28 Jul 2000. Dutch-American physicist and science historian whose research became the building blocks of the theory of elemental particles. He wrote Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and Life of Albert Einstein, which is considered the definitive Einstein biography. In Holland, his Ph.D. in physics was awarded on 9 Jul 1941, five days before a Nazi deadline banning Jews from receiving degrees. Later, during WW II, while in hiding to evade the Gestapo, he worked out ideas in quantum electrodynamics that he later shared when working with Niels Bohr (Jan - Aug 1946). In Sep 1946, he went to the U.S. to work with Robert Oppenheimer at Princeton, where Pais contributed to the foundations of the modern theory of particle physics. Reginald Aldworth Daly Born 19 May 1871; died 19 Sep 1957. Canadian-American geologist who independently developed the theory of magmatic stoping, whereby molten magma rises through the Earth's crust and shatters, but does not melt, the surrounding rocks. The rocks, being denser than the magma, then sink, making room for the magma to rise. This theory was instrumental in explaining the structure of many igneous rock formations. Daly understood the importance of field studies in defining key questions about geologic processes. Thus his exhaustive examination of some 400 miles of terrain along the 49th parallel led to a theory of the origin of igneous rocks. An expedition to the Samoan Islands, resulted in theories of the relationship of sea level, mediated by glacial effects, on the formation of coral atolls. John Fillmore Hayford Born 19 May 1868; died 10 Mar 1925. American civil engineer and early geodesist who established the modern science of geodesy, and made a precise determination of the ellipsoidal shape and size of th <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 20, 2006

May 20 People R.J. Mitchell Born 20 May 1895; died 11 Jun 1937. Reginald Joseph Mitchell was a British aircraft designer, developer of the eight-gun Spitfire (1936), one of the best-known fighters in World War II. He was an engineer and designer for Supermarine Aviation Works (1916-37), chief engineer (from 1919) and was also known for design of a series of flying boats and high-speed seaplanes. In the years from 1920 to 1936, he designed no less than twenty-four different aircraft. The Spitfire was a derivative of his earlier S.6B seaplane racing aircraft. George Phillips Bond Born 20 May 1825; died 17 Feb 1865. Astronomer who made the first photograph of a double star, discovered a number of comets, and with his father discovered Hyperion, the eight moon of Saturn. Sir William Congreve Born 20 May 1772; died 16 May 1828. (2nd Baronet) English artillery officer and inventor, best known for his military rocket, which was a great advance in black-powder rockets. It provided the impetus for an early wave of enthusiastic utilization of rockets for military purposes in Europe. Merle Anthony Tuve Died 20 May 1982 (born 27 Jun 1901) American research physicist and geophysicist who developed the radio-wave exploration method for the ionosphere. The observations he made provided the theoretical foundation for the development of radar. Philipp Lenard Died 20 May 1947 (born 7 Jun 1862) Philipp Edduard Anton Lenard was a German physicist and recipient of the 1905 Nobel Prize for Physics for his research on cathode rays. He discovered they could leave a cathode ray tube, penetrate thin metal sheets, and travel a short distance in the air, which would become conducting.. In 1902, he observed that a free electron (as in a c <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 21, 2006

May 21 People Andrei Dmitryevich Sakharov Born 21 May 1921; died 14 Dec 1989. Soviet nuclear physicist, an outspoken advocate of human rights in the Soviet Union. At the end of World War II, Sakharov returned to pure science and the study of cosmic rays. Two years later, he began work with a secret research group on the development of the hydrogen bomb, and he is believed to have been principally responsible for the Soviets' success in exploding their first thermonuclear bomb (1954). With I.E. Tamm, he proposed controlled thermonuclear fusion by confining an extremely hot ionized plasma in a torus-shaped magnetic bottle, known as a tokamak device. He became politically more active in the 1960s, campaigned against nuclear proliferation, and from 1980 to 1986, he was banished and kept under police surveillance. Glenn Curtiss Born 21 May 1878; died 23 Jul 1930. Glenn (Hammond) Curtiss was a pioneer in the development of U.S. aviation whose aircraft were widely used during World War I. That the Wrights made the first powered flights has generally been accepted, but the achievements of Curtiss spanned several decades and took the airplane from its wood, fabric and wire beginnings to the forerunners of modern transport aircraft. Curtiss made his first flight on his 30th birthday, 21 May 1908, in White Wing, a design of the Aerial Experiment Association, a group led by Alexander Graham Bell. White Wing was the first plane in America to be controlled by ailerons instead of the wing-warping used by the Wrights. It was also the first plane on wheels in the U.S. Nils Cristofer Duner Born 21 May 1839; died 10 Nov 1914. Swedish astronomer who studied the rotational period of the Sun. Over almost 50 years, his career spanned both classical astronomy and astrophysics. Although his PhD thesis had been theor <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 22, 2006

May 22 People Thomas Gold Born 22 May 1920; died 22 Jun 2004 Austrian-born British astronomer known for a steady-state theory of the universe, explaining pulsars, and naming the magnetosphere. In 1948, as a graduate student at Cambridge, he (together with Hermann Bondi and Fred Hoyle) proposed that, a continuous creation of matter in space is gradually forming new galaxies, maintaining the average number of galaxies in any part of the universe, despite its expansion. This is not accepted, as there is more evidence for the Big Bang theory. In 1967, Gold presented his theory on the nature of pulsars (objects in deep space that produce regularly pulsing radio waves). He suggested that they were rotating neutron stars - tiny, extraordinarily massive stars - which emit waves as they spin. Yves-Andre Rocard Born 22 May 1903; died 16 Mar 1992. French mathematician and physicist who contributed to the development of the French atomic bomb and to the understanding of such diverse fields of research as semiconductors, seismology, and radio astronomy. During WW II, as Head of the Research Department of the Free French Naval Forces in England, he learnt about radars in England and interference from strong radio emission from the Sun. After the war, Rocard returned to France and proposed that France started a project to conduct radio astronomy. In the last part of his life he studied biomagnetism and dowsing which reduced his standing in the eyes of many of his colleagues. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Born 22 May 1859 (died 7 July 1930) Scottish novelist, physician, spiritualist. His fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes emulates the scientist, diligently searching through data and to make sense of it. "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 23, 2006

May 23 People John Bardeen Born 23 May 1908; died 30 Jan 1991. American physicist who was cowinner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in both 1956 and 1972. He shared the 1956 prize with William B. Shockley and Walter H. Brattain for their joint invention of the transistor. With Leon N. Cooper and John R. Schrieffer he was awarded the 1972 prize for development of the theory of superconductors, usually called the BCS-theory. Otto Lillienthal Born 23 May 1848; died 10 Aug 1896. German inventor and aeronautical pioneer on whose studies formed a foundation for Octave Chanute and the Wright brothers. His prior inventions, such as a small steam engine that worked on a system of tubular boilers designed for safety, brought him financial success. In 1891, he built and flew in the Derwitzer Glider. Within the next five years (before he died in a crash), assisted by his brother, Gustav, he designed other gliders and made 2000 flights. He carefully studied the aerodynamics of rigid wings, inspired by the gliding flight of storks made without flapping their wings. Although his aircraft achieved only low speed and altitudes, and he had survived other crashes, he broke his spine and died the day following a crash, falling from about 56-feet. William Webster Hansen Died 23 May 1949 (born 27 May 1909) American physicist who contributed to the development of radar and is regarded as the founder of microwave technology. He developed the klystron, a vacuum tube essential to radar technology (1937). Based on amplitude modulation of an electron beam, rather than on resonant circuits of coils and condensers, it permits the generation of powerful and stable high-frequency oscillations. It revolutionized high-energy physics and microwave research and led to airborne radar. The klystron also has been used in satellite c <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 24, 2006

May 24 People Harry Hammond Hess Born 24 May 1906; died 25 Aug 1969. American geologist who made the first comprehensive attempt at explaining the phenomenon of seafloor spreading (1960). This revived Alfred Wegener's earlier theory of continental drift. Together, these provided an interpretation of the earth's crust in terms of plate tectonics. The surface of the globe is not continuous. Rather, it is broken into a number of huge plates that float on the molten rock under the crust, moved over eons of geologic time by convective currents driven by earth's internal heat. With this motion these plates rub against, collide with, or separate from other plates. Thus the nature of earthquakes and volcanoes could be explained, plus the existence of ridges of young rock mapped around the globe under the ocean where the sea floor was spreading. William Whewell Born 24 May 1794; died 6 Mar 1866. British scientist, best known for his survey of the scientific method and for creating scientific words. He founded mathematical crystallography and developed Mohr's classification of minerals. He created the words scientist and physicist by analogy with the word artist. They soon replaced the older term natural philosopher. Other useful words were coined to help his friends: biometry for Lubbock; Eocine, Miocene and Pliocene for Lyell; and for Faraday, anode, cathode, diamagnetic, paramagnetic, and ion (whence the sundry other particle names ending -ion). In metereology, Whewell devised a self-recording anemometer. He was second only to Newton for work on tidal theory. He died as a result of being thrown from his horse. Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit Born 24 May 1686; died 16 Sep 1736. German physicist and maker of scientific instruments. He is best known for inventing the alcohol thermometer (1709) and mercury t <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 25, 2006

May 25 People Jack Steinberger Born 25 May 1921. German-born American physicist who, along with Leon M. Lederman and Melvin Schwartz, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1988 for their joint discoveries of the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino. In 1951, he met Lederman at Columbia University and, later, Schwarz who became his student. In 1958, they conducted a neutrino experiment at the new Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron. The results emerged in a classic 1962 paper, and neutrino beams went on to become one of the standard tools of particle physics. When 26 years later, after receiving the Nobel, Steinberger said, "to get that prize, do your work early!" Igor Sikorsky Born 25 May 1889; died 26 Oct 1972. Igor Ivan Sikorsky was a Russian-born U.S. pioneer in aircraft design who is best known for his successful development of the helicopter. His earliest successes were with fixed-wing aircraft, including his prize-winning S-6-A (1912) which led to a position as head of the aviation subsidiary of the Russian Baltic Railroad Car Works. In this position, as a result of a mosquito-clogged carburetor and subsequent engine failure, he had the radical idea of an aircraft having more than one engine. Thus he produced the first multi-engine airplane, the four-engined "The Grand." This revolutionary aircraft featured such things as an enclosed cabin. a lavatory, upholstered chairs and an exterior catwalk atop the fuselage so passengers could take a turn about in the air. Pieter Zeeman Born 25 May 1865; died 9 Oct 1943. Dutch physicist who was an authority on magneto-optics. In 1896, he discoveredthe "Zeeman effect," the "phenomena produced in spectroscopy by the splitting up of spectral lin <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 26, 2006

May 26 People Sally Ride Born 26 May 1951 The first American woman to orbit the earth when she flew aboard Space Shuttle Challenger on 18 Jun 1983. Only two other women preceded her in space: Valentina Tereshkova (1963) and Svetlana Savitskaya (1982), both from the former Soviet Union. Ride applied to the astronaut program after reading an ad in a newspaper. Out of 8,000 applicants to the space program that year, 35 individuals were selected including six women. Accepted into the astronaut corps in 1978, she completed her training as a mission specialist in 1979, and flew on two missions with Challenger, the second in 1984. Dr. Ride, who has a Ph.D. degree in physics, was a member of the team chosen to investigate the 1986 explosion of Challenger. Richard Christopher Carrington Born 26 May 1826; died 27 Nov 1875. English astronomer who was the first to map the motions of sunspots and thus discover from them that the Sun rotates faster at the equator than near the poles (equatorial acceleration). He observed that the sunspots were not attached to any solid object, and also discovered the movement of sunspot zones toward the Sun's equator as the solar cycle progresses. On 1 Sep1859, Carrington was the first to record the observation of a solar flare. Gerald S. Hawkins Died 26 May 2003 (born 20 Apr 1928) Gerald Stanley Hawkins was a British-born American radio-astronomer who used a computer to show that the stones and other archaeological features at Stonehenge formed a pattern of alignments with 12 major lunar and solar events, suggesting that it was used as a sort of neolithic observatory or astronomical calendar. In the 18th century, William Stukely had noticed that the horseshoe of trilithons and 19 bluestones opened up in the direction of the midsummer sunrise. In the 1960s, Hawkins, a Bri <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 27, 2006

May 27 People William Webster Hansen Born 27 May 1909; died 23 May 1949. American physicist who contributed to the development of radar and is regarded as the founder of microwave technology. He developed the klystron, a vacuum tube essential to radar technology (1937). Based on amplitude modulation of an electron beam, rather than on resonant circuits of coils and condensers, it permits the generation of powerful and stable high-frequency oscillations. It revolutionized high-energy physics and microwave research and led to airborne radar. The klystron also has been used in satellite communications, airplane and missile guidance systems, and telephone and television transmission. After WW II, working with three graduate students, Hansen demonstrated the first 4.5 MeV linear accelerator in 1947. Sir John Douglas Cockcroft Born 27 May 1897; died 18 Sep 1967. British physicist, joint winner (with Ernest T.S. Walton of Ireland) of the 1951 Nobel Prize for Physics for pioneering the use of particle accelerators in studying the atomic nucleus. Together, in 1929, they devised an accelerator that generated large numbers of particles at lower energies. The Cockcroft-Walton generator they built was the first atom-smasher. In 1932, they used it to disintegrate lithium atoms by bombarding them with protons - the first artificial nuclear reaction not utilizing radioactive substances. This type of accelerator proved to be one of the most useful in the world's laboratories. They conducted further research on the splitting of other atoms and established the importance of accelerators as a tool for nuclear research. Kasimir Fajans Born 27 May 1887; died 18 May 1975. Polish-American physical chemist who discovered the radioactive displacement law simultaneously with Frederick Soddy of Great Britain. According <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 28, 2006

May 28 People Frank Drake Born 28 May 1930 Frank Donald Drake is an American astronomer who formulated the Drake Equation (1961) to estimate the number of technological civilizations that may exist in our galaxy, N = R* × fp × ne × fl × fi × fc × L. In 1960, Drake led the first search, the two-month Project Ozma to listen for patterns in radio waves with a complex, ordered pattern that might be assumed to represent messages from some extraterrestrial intelligence. Carl Sagan and Drake designed the plaques on Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 for the purpose of greeting and informing any extraterrestrial life that might find the vessels after they left the solar system. Alfred O. C. Nier Born 28 May 1911; died 16 May 1994 Alfred Otto Carl Nier was a physicist who refined the mass spectrometric process to distinguish isotopes. In 1934, with Lyman T. Aldrich he applied the decay of potassium-40 to argon-40 to measure the age of geological materials. He discovered (1936-38) a number of new isotopes of such low abundance they had not been previously detected, including S36, Ca46, Ca48, and Os186. Nier showed how the ratio of radioactive isotopes of uranium and its decay products was a second method to estimate the age of rocks. During WW-II, with others, he showed (1940) that the rarer uranium-235 undergoes fission, not common U-238. Thereafter, Nier was active in the separaton of these two isotopes, important in developing atomic bombs. Rudolph Leo B. Minkowski Born 28 May 1895; died 4 Jan 1976. German astronomer who studied spectra, distributions, and motions of planetary nebulae and more than doubled the number known. He investigated novae and supernovae and their remnants, especially the the physics and expansion of the Crab Nebula (a pulsar remnant). With Walter Baade, Minkowski divided supernovae <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 29, 2006

May 29 People Jean-Christophe Yoccoz French mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1994 for his work in dynamical systems. Such studies began with Poincaré about the turn of the 20th century, who considered the stability of the solar system. It evolves according to Newton's laws but will it remain stable or, might a planet be ejected from the system? The techniques apply also in biology, chemistry, mechanics, and ecology where stability is an issue. This work also produces aesthetically appealing objects, such as the Julia and Mandelbrot fractal sets. Yoccoz was primarily concerned with establishing criteria that gave precise bounds on the validity of stability theorems. A combinatorial method for studying the Julia and Mandelbrot sets was named "Yoccoz puzzles." Peter Higgs Born 29 May 1929 Peter Ware Higgs is an English theoretical physicist, the namesake of the Higgs boson. In the late 1960s, Higgs and others proposed a mechanism that would endow particles with mass, even though they appeared originally in a theory - and possibly in the Universe! - with no mass at all. The basic idea is that all particles acquire their mass through interactions with an all-pervading field, called the Higgs field. which is carried by the Higgs bosons. This mechanism is an important part of the Standard Model of particles and forces, for it explains the masses of the carriers of the weak force, responsible for beta-decay and for nuclear reactions that fuel the Sun. No Higgs boson has yet been detected; its mass (over 1 TeV) exceeds the capacity of any current accelerator. Chien-Shiung Wu Born 29 May 1912; died 16 Feb 1997. Chinese-born American physicist who provided the first experimental proof (1956) that parity is not conserved in weak subatomic interactions of nuclear beta decay. When two physicists, Ts <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 30, 2006

May 30 People Aleksey Arkhipovich Leonov Born 30 May 1934 Soviet cosmonaut, the first man to climb out of a spacecraft in space. On 18 Mar 1965, Voskhod 2 was launched into space carrying Leonov with Pavel Belyayev aboard. On the second orbit Leonov left the spacecraft through the air lock while still tethered to the vessel. He took motion pictures and practiced moving outside of the spacecraft for 10 minutes. Voskhod 2 made 17 orbits at about 110 miles (177 km) above earth. Ten years later, on 17 Jul 1975, Leonov commanded the Soviet Soyuz craft that linked in orbit with a U.S. Apollo craft. Joseph William Kennedy Born 30 May 1916; died 5 May 1957 American scientist, one of four co-discoverers of plutonium, (element 94) which was produced from uranium oxide bombarded with deuterons in a cyclotron at the Univ. of California at Berkeley. Subsequently, on 28 Mar 1941, Glenn Seaborg, Emilio Segrè and Joseph Kennedy demonstrated that plutonium, like U235, is fissionable with slow neutrons, thus neutrons of any speed, which implies it's a potential fission bomb material. He was a chemistry instructor while working on the research project led by Glenn Seaborg at the University of California, Berkeley. After working with Seaborg, Kennedy was chosen by J. Robert Oppenheimer to lead the Chemistry Division of the Manhattan Project. Norris Bradbury Born 30 May 1909; died 20 Aug 1997. Norris E(dwin) Bradbury was an American physicist who succeeded J. Robert Oppenheimer as director of the Los Alamos (New Mexico) Scientific Laboratory (1945-70). He joined Los Alamos in 1944 to head the assembly of the non-nuclear components of the nuclear weapons. He guided the Los Alamos facility in its conversion to peacetime work, in basic nuclear research and nuclear power applications, testing several exploratory re <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · May 31, 2006

May 31 People John Robert Schrieffer Born 31 May 1931 American physicist and winner (with John Bardeen and Leon N. Cooper) of the 1972 Nobel Prize for Physics for developing the BCS theory (for their initials), the first successful microscopic theory of superconductivity. Although first described by K. Onnes (1911), no theoretical explanation had been accepted. It explains how certain metals and alloys lose all resistance to electrical current at extremely low temperatures. The insight of the BCS theory is that at very low temperatures, under certain conditions, electrons can form bound pairs (Cooper pairs). This pair of electrons acts as a single particle in superconductivity. Schrieffer continued to focus his research on particle physics, metal impurities, spin fluctuations, and chemisorption. Charles Greeley Abbot Born 31 May 1872; died 17 Dec 1973. Charles Greeley Abbot was an American astrophysicist who is thought to have been the first scientist to suspect that the radiation of the Sun might vary over time. In 1906, Abbot became director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and, in 1928, fifth Secretary of the Smithsonian. To study the Sun, SAO established a network of solar radiation observatories around the world-- usually at remote and desolate spots chosen primarily for their high percentage of sunny days. Beginning in May 1905 and continuing over decades, his studies of solar radiation led him to discover, in 1953, a connection between solar variations and weather on Earth, allowing general weather patterns to be predicted up to 50 years ahead. James Rainwater Died 31 May 1986 (born 9 Dec 1917) Leo James Rainwater was an American physicist who won a share of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1975 for his part in determining the asymmetrical shapes of certain atomic nuclei. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Jun 1, 2006

June 1 People Sir Frank Whittle Born 1 Jun 1907; died 8 Aug 1996. English aviation engineer and pilot who was a pioneer in the field of jet propulsion, which he used to develop aircraft that could fly at faster speeds and higher altitudes than piston-engine propeller airplanes of the 1920s. While he was at Cranwell, still only 21 years of age, Whittle began to consider the possibilities of jet propulsion as applied to aircraft. By 1930, he had designed and patented a jet aircraft engine. After 11 years, Whittle's engine, tested and modified, successfully powered a Gloster-Whittle E.28/39, on a historic 17-min flight on 15 May 1941. Design work continued, and by the end of WW II, the Gloster Meteor became the RAF's first jet fighter that would fly 200-mph faster than the RAF's Spitfires and Hurricanes. Edward Charles Titschmarsh Born 1 Jun 1899; died 18 Jan 1963. English mathematician whose contributions to analysis placed him in the forefront of his profession. His contributions helped resolve the differences between the general theory of quantum mechanics and the methods used to solve particular problems in quantum theory. All Titchmarsh's work is in analysis. His early studies were on Fourier series, Fourier integrals, functions of a complex variable, integral equations and the Riemann zeta function. From 1939, Titchmarsh concentrated on the theory of series expansions of eigenfunctions of differential equations, work which helped to resolve problems in quantum mechanics. His work on this topic occupied him for the last 25 years of his life. Karl George Cristian Von Staudt Died 1 Jun 1867 (born 24 Jan 1798) German mathematician who developed the first complete theory of imaginary points, lines, and planes in projective geometry. His early work was on determining the orbit of a comet a <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Jun 2, 2006

June 2 People Eric Voice Born 2 June 1924; died 11 Sep 2004. English nuclear scientist who volunteered to ingest a minute amount of plutonium as part of European research to track plutonium in the body's metabolism. He was one of 12 volunteers aged 26 to 67 who were injected with plutonium between 1992-98. Reuters reported on 8 Aug 1999 that Voice, age 73, had volunteered again to inhale plutonium for further study 18 months earlier. The miniscule dose was a soluble compound of Pu-237, which he regarded as having little risk, and he remained in good health. Sensitive detectors measured how much and where plutonium was retained, in which organs, and how quickly expelled. He was one of the first western scientists to visit Chernobyl after the explosion (1986). He died of unrelated natural causes. Clair Cameron Patterson Born 2 June 1922; died 5 Dec 1995. U.S. geochemist who in 1953 made the first precise measurement of the Earth's age, 4.55 billion years. He pioneered in three major areas of geochemical research. (1) He provided the first reliable ages of the earth and meteorites (1962), using analysis of the isotopic compositions and concentrations of lead in terrestrial materials and meteorites. This has been a benchmark for researchers. (2) He established the patterns of isotopic evolution of lead on earth, by analysis of critical rocks, sediments and waters of the planet. Thus he created a powerful tool for identifying, tracing and evaluating the nature of the major geochemical reservoirs in the crust, mantle, and oceans. (3) He studied environmental lead pollution. Robert Morris Page Born 2 June 1903; died 15 May 1992. American physicist who, in the 1930s, invented the technology for pulse radar, a system that detects and locates distant objects through the use of short bursts of electroma <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Jun 3, 2006

June 3 People Henry Shrapnel Born 3 June 1761; died 13 Mar 1842. English soldier and inventor of the Shrapnel shell, a spherical case designed to explode in midair, spreading its content of small lead musket balls to injure enemy soldiers over a wide area. He joined the Royal Artillery shortly after his 18th birthday, and spent his life in service during which time he devised and refined his shell, invented a percussion lock for small arms (patented 1834) and other improvements in fuses, ammunition and small arms. He also prepared important artillery range tables and originated the brass tangent slide to improve the sighting of guns. Incorporating his idea of the parabolic chamber, howitzers and mortars were operated more efficiently. James Hutton Born 3 June 1726; died 26 Mar 1797. Scottish geologist, chemist, naturalist, and originator of one of the fundamental principles of geology--uniformitarianism, which explains the features of the Earth's crust by means of natural processes over geologic time. David Gregory Born 3 June 1659; died 10 Oct 1708. Scottish mathematician and astronomer. In 1702 he published a book Astronomiae physicae et geometricae elementa, an effort in the popularization of Newtonian science. However, in the matter of chromatic aberration, Gregory noted something that Newton had missed. Different kinds of glass spread the colours of the spectrum by different amounts. He suggested a suitable combination of two different kinds of glass might eliminate chromatic aberration. (A half century later, Dollond accomplished this result.) Telescopes were a special interest of his, and Gregory also experimented with making an achromatic telescope. Gregory and did important work on series. J. Presper Eckert, Jr. Died 3 June 1995 (born 9 Apr 1919) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Jun 4, 2006

June 4 People Beno Gutenberg Born 4 June 1889; died 25 Jan 1960. American seismologist noted for his analyses of earthquake waves and the information they furnish about the physical properties of the Earth's interior. With Charles Richter, he developed a method of determining the intensity of earthquakes. Calculating the energy released by present-day shallow earthquakes, they showed that three-quarters of that energy occurs in the Circum-Pacific belt. Franz Xaver Von Zach Born 4 June 1754; died 2 Sep 1832. (baron) German-Hungarian astronomer patronized by Duke Ernst of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Director of observatory near Gotha (1787-1806). There he organized in 1798 the first congress of astronomers with Josef Lalande (1732-1807) as celebrated guest. In last years of the 18th century he formed a group of 24 astronomers chosen from throughout Europe to track down a "missing" planet between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, where they instead discovered the asteroids. His greatest contribution was in the organizational area, for he maintained an enormous correspondence with all the astronomers of his time, and edited 28 volumes of Monatliche Korrespondenz zur Beforderung der Erd- und Himmelskunde (1800-13). Lloyd Viel Berkner Died 4 June 1967 (born 1 Feb 1905) U.S. physicist and engineer who first measured the extent, including height and density, of the ionosphere (ionized layers of the Earth's atmosphere), leading to a complete understanding of radio wave propagation and he helped develop radar systems, especially the Distant Early Warning system. He later investigated the origin and development of the Earth's atmosphere. Early in his career, he worked on radio navigation beacons for the Airways division of the Bureau of Lighthouses (1927-28), as radio engineer on the Byrd Antarctic expedition ( <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Jun 5, 2006

June 5 People Heinrich Rohrer Born 6 June 1933 Swiss physicist who, with Gerd Binnig, received half of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Physics for their joint invention of the scanning tunneling microscope. (Ernst Ruska received the other half of the prize.) Ruska's electron microscope of the 1930s was unable to show surface structure at the atomic level. Rohrer and Binnig began workin 1978 on a scanning tunneling microscope in which a fine probe passes within a few angstroms of the surface of the sample. A positive voltage on the probe enables electrons to move from the sample to the probe by the tunnel effect, and the detected current can used to keep the probe at a constant distance from the surface. As the probe moves in parallel lines, a 3D image of the surface can be constructed. Ferdinand Braun Born 6 June 1850; died 20 Apr 1918. Karl Ferdinand Braun was a German physicist who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909 with Guglielmo Marconi for the development of wireless telegraphy. He published papers on deviations from Ohm's law and on the calculations of the electromotive force of reversible galvanic elements from thermal sources, and discovered (1874) the electrical rectifier effect. He demonstrated the first cathode-ray oscilloscope (Braun tube) in 1897, after work on high-frequency alternating currents. Cathode-ray tubes had previously been characterized by uncontrolled rays; Braun succeeded in producing a narrow stream of electrons, guided by means of alternating voltage, that could trace patterns on a fluorescent screen. Regiomontanus Born 6 June 1436; died 6 Jul 1476. German astronomer and mathematician who was chiefly responsible for the revival and advancement of trigonometry in Europe. His book De triangulis omnimodis (1464) is a systematic account of methods for solving triangl <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

science_man · Jun 5, 2006

6/6/6 devil's day?

yevaud · Jun 5, 2006

Do not post to this thread: it is daily historical science news only. Thank you. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Jun 7, 2006

June 7 People Bernard F. Burke Born 7 June 1928 American astronomer who discovered that the giant planet Jupiter emits radio waves (1955). Burke and Kenneth L. Franklin, astronomers at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, were scanning the sky for radio waves from galaxies. By chance, they found a radio signal that resembled short bursts of static, similar to interference by lightning on home radios. After weeks of study, finding the signals were periodic, four minutes earlier each day, they pin-pointed Jupiter as the source. Never before had radio sounds from a planet in our solar system been detected. Later it was discovered that the radio waves were circularly polarized, so a magnetic field was involved. Frederick Emmons Terman Born 7 June 1900; died 19 Dec 1982. American electrical engineer whose research during WW II produced valuable radar countermeasures for the allied forces. He directed the Radio Research Laboratory at Harvard University formed for the purpose of inventing jammers of enemy radar, which included active radio transmitters, passive chaff (aluminium strips to mask targets by producing invalid reflections to enemy radar), and tunable receivers to detect radar signals. Terman also had responsibility for advising industrial contractors (such as RCA, GE, and Western Electric) concerning their manufacture. The radio electronics textbooks were popular because of his clarity. After the war, Terman worked on the design of long-distance electrical transmission and resonant transmission lines. Robert Sanderson Mullikin Born 7 June 1896; died 31 Oct 1986. American chemist and physicist who received the 1966 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for "fundamental work concerning chemical bonds and the electronic structure of molecules." In 1922, he first suggested a method of isotope separa <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

yevaud · Jun 8, 2006

June 8 People Kenneth Geddes Wilson Born 8 June 1936 American physicist who was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize for Physics for his development of a general procedure for constructing improved theories concerning the transformations of matter called continuous, or second-order, phase transitions. These take place at characteristic temperatures (or pressures), but unlike first-order transitions they occur throughout the entire volume of a material as soon as that temperature (called the critical point) is reached. One example of such a transition is the complete loss of ferromagnetic properties of certain metals when they are heated to their Curie points (about ºC for iron). Wilson's work provided a mathematical strategy for constructing theories that could apply to physical systems near the critical point. Sir Charles Tliston Bright Born 8 Jun 1832; died 3 May 1888. British engineer who superintended the laying of the first Atlantic telegraph cable. He supervised the laying of hundreds of miles of underground telegraph cables, throughout the British Isles, including the first cable under the sea between Scotland and Ireland, when just 21. He joined the new Atlantic Telegraph company as chief engineer to lay the first transatlantic cable. The first attempt (1857) ended when the cable broke 280 miles off the coast. The second attempt, a year later and was initially successful but with a weak electric signal. Queen Victoria sent a message to President James Buchanan in the USA. This cable broke after a few months. He acted as consulting engineer for the second and third transatlantic cables of 1865 and 1866. Gian Dominico Cassini Born 8 Jun 1625; died 14 Sep 1712. Italian-born French astronomer who, among others, discovered Cassini's division, the dark gap between the rings A and B of Saturn. He al <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Differential Diagnosis: "I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are." </div>

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