JANUARY FEBRUARY
Science Teachers ’ Assocation of NSW inc 2016 / 17 Calendar
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
1932 ; birth of US zoologist Dian Fossey , who for years made a daily study of the mountain forest gorillas of Rwanda , establishing the Karisoke Research Centre . She wrote of poachers in her 1983 book Gorillas in the Mist , and was hacked to death .
1947 ; birth of George Pinniger , Australian editor of STANSW , who is still working hard in education after 36 years in the class room . He currently hopes to get both the recentlyretired expert teachers and the finance needed to trial the flexible mentors scheme .
1925 ; death of English botanist Lillian Gibbs . She organised botanical expeditions to some of the most remote places on Earth . In 1905 she made a botanical trip to Zimbabwe , in 1907 Fiji , New Zealand and Australia , and in 1912 West New Guinea and Borneo .
1743 ; Sir Joseph Banks was born . He was an English botanist and explorer who was President of the Royal Society for over 40 years , and known for his promotion of science . He lobbied and was included in Cook ’ s first voyage on the Endeavour .
1844 ; birth of Ludwig Boltzmann , Austrian physicist who founded statistical mechanics . He also worked out a kinetic theory for gases , and the Stefan-Boltzmann law that relates between the temperature of a body and the radiation it emits .
1844 ; birth of Ludwig Boltzmann , Austrian physicist who founded statistical mechanics . He also worked out a kinetic theory for gases , and the Stefan-Boltzmann law that relates between the temperature of a body and the radiation it emits .
1706 ; birth of US statesman , scientist , inventor , diplomat , author , printer and publisher who become widely known in European scientific circles for his reports of electrical theories and experiments .
16 17 18 19 for women . 20 21 condition . 22
2006 ; death of English geologist and climatologist who helped show that CO2 is a greenhouse gas by proving that Ice Ages were linked to decreases in atmospheric CO2 and warned that the reverse is true .
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1958 ; the USA entered the space age by launching its first successful orbiting satellite , Explorer-I , four months after the Soviet launch of Sputnik on Oct 4th 1957 . Explorer-I measured cosmic radiation , hence it discovered the Van Allen belts .
30 31 1 2 3 “ missing link ”. 4 5
1918 ; birth of US geneticist Ruth Sager , whose research altered the prevailing view about where genetic material is within a cell . In particular , she noted a second set of genes are found outside the cells ’ nucleus .
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1838 ; birth of Margaret Knight , a prolific US inventor of machines and mechanisms . Her creative genius never made her rich ; unable to wait for royalties she sold the rights to her inventions outright .
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1869 ; birth of US pathologist Alice Hamilton , who is known for her research on industrial diseases and publicising the danger to workers ’ health of industrial toxic substances . She contributed to the development of safer working conditions . 27 28
1825 ; birth of Sir Edward Frankland , an English chemist , one of the first investigators of structural chemistry , who invented the chemical bond . Subsequently , he devised the theory of valence .
1923 ; birth of Arvid Carlsson , a Swedish neuro-scientist and year 2000 Nobel prize winner for work concerning signal transduction in the nervous system , via his research on synaptic transmission – the way neurons communicate .
1889 ; Gertrude Caton- Thompson , an English archaeologist , was born . She distinguished two prehistoric cultures in the Al-Fayyum depression of Upper Egypt , the older dating to about 5000 BC and the younger about 4500 BC .
1926 ; William Bateson , English biologist died . He published the first English translation of Gregor Mendel ’ s work on heredity that he confirmed with experiments of his own , also demonstrating that heredity is equally apparent in animals .
1564 ; birth of the Italian genius Galileo Galilei . His triumphs were many , in physics and astronomy . He developed the telescope , clock , the science of motion , inertia , the law of falling bodies , and parabolic trajectories .
1879 ; birth of Danish physical chemist known for a widely applicable acid-base concept identical to that of Thomas Lowry of England . Acids are recognised by an excess of H + ions , and bases have an excess of OH- ions .
1911 ; birth of Denis Burkitt , an Irish surgeon who found children in Uganda , all from areas endemic with malaria dying within weeks from fast-spreading tumours in their head and neck . It was a new type of cancer , Burkitt ’ s lymphoma .
1885 ; English physician Edward Davy , died . He was also the inventor of an electromagnetic repeater to relay telegraphic signals , He later emigrated to Adelaide , South Australia , where he was a farmer and physician .
1907 ; Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleev died . Russian chemist He developed the periodic table of the elements . In its final version he left gaps where he foretold other elements not then known would fit , and predicted the properties of 3 of them .
1854 ; birth of Dutch physician Aletta Jacobs , who pioneered family planning with the world ’ s first birth control clinic . First female at university in Holland she took medicine . Once a doctor she limited her practice to women and children .
1804 ; birth of German zoologist Carl von Siebold , whose main study was invertebrates ( such as jellyfish , intestinal worms , salamanders and freshwater fish ), also life cycles of parasites . He discovered the parthenogenesis of the honeybee .
1879 ; English botanist Agnes Arber was born . Known for studies of the comparative anatomy of plants , her book , Herbals : Their Origin and Evolution , was a standard text . She was the first female botanist to be a fellow of the Royal Society ,
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1921 ; death of US astronomer Mary Watson Whitney , who was a professor , and director of the Vassar College Observatory . She championed science education and improvement in professional opportunities
1903 ; birth of Sir John Eccles , an Australian physiologist who in 1963 won the Nobel Prize for Physiology for his discovery of the chemical means by which nerve impulses are communicated or repressed by nerve cells .
1842 ; birth of Agnes Clerke , an Irish astronomical writer . She was a diligent compiler of facts , not a working scientist , yet , by 1885 her treatise , A Popular History of Astronomy in the 19th Century was recognised as an authoritative work .
ACSTA Annual Conference Science Teachers Association of NSW – Science Education K-12 ( 2 Day ) Conference 17-18 Feb
Macquarie
1810 ; English chemist and physicist Henry Cavendish died . He determined the Earth ’ s mass and density , he showed water is a compound , and investigated the relative density and properties of hydrogen and carbon dioxide .
1840 ; birth of Sophia Jex-Blake , Britain ’ s first female doctor . It was through her determined efforts Parliament finally passed the legislation to give women the right to have access to a medical education , and become doctors .
1893 ; birth of Raymond Dart , an Australian anthropologist who discovered fossil hominids in Africa . In 1924 what at first seemed to be another primate skull was found . Dart noticed how close to human it looked , and recognised it as a
1823 ; death of William Playfair , a Scottish economist who pioneered the graphical representation of statistics , creating the line graph , bar graph and pie chart . He wrote Commercial and Political Atlas , the first work to use statistical
1564 ; death of Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarroti . Best known for his art , he made accurate anatomical drawings of the human body . He too , carried out dissections to more accurately depict bodies of saints or sinners .
1561 ; birth of Sir Francis Bacon , English philosopher remembered for his influence scientific method , insisting that the aim of scientific investigation is to use experimentally reproducible tests to identify natural laws to improve man ’ s
1897 ; the Indiana State Legislature passed a bill that defined pi to be 3.2 ! Introduced by a Senator who was a farmer for a local mathematical hobbyist , it took a university academic to explain that pi is an actual number . The bill has been postponed .
1859 ; birth of Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius , who was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “ in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered to the advancement of chemistry by his electrolytic theory of dissociation .”
1786 ; birth of François Aragó , a French physicist and astronomer . He discovered the chromosphere of the Sun , estimated the diameters of the planets , and discovered the induction of current when a copper disc is rotated near a magnet .
Science dates compiled by George Pinniger