Science Teachers’ Assocation of NSW inc 2019–20 Calendar
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The school theme for National Science Week in 2019 is “Destination Moon: more missions, more
science”. 2019 is also the UN’s International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements, with the
stated aim to enhance global awareness of, and to increase education in, the basic sciences. It marks
the 150th anniversary of the table’s creation by Mendeleev and the 100th anniversary of the founding
of IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry).
This calendar presents a selection of people and events that are linked to these two themes, showing
the nature of science as an accumulation of combined knowledge from critical experimentation.
Science history dates compiled by Sue Siwinski.
1965, Edward White, first
US astronaut to make a
spacewalk, spent 20 min
outside Gemini 4 capsule
during Earth orbit after
the launch a few hours
earlier on the same day.
3
1794, Joseph Priestley
(discovered O2 1774),
left England to pursue
scientific studies in
the US after his home
and laboratory were
set on fire because of
his unpopular political
opinions and support of
the French Revolution.
4
5
1
6
1896 birth of Robert S
Mulliken: developed the
molecular-orbital theory
of chemical bonding
with Friedrich Hund,
received 1966 Nobel
Prize for fundamental
work on chemical bonds
& electronic structure of
molecules.
7
1911 birth of Erwin
Müller, German-US
physicist, invented
FIM (field emission
microscope) and took the
first images of individual
atoms of tungsten 1951.
10
11
1905 death of Per Teodor
Cleve, Swedish chemist
and geologist who who
discovered the elements
holmium and thulium.
17
18
12
1
20
21
1960, chlorophyll “a”
was first synthesised
by Robert B Woodward
in the US. The green
pigment responsible for
photosynthesis consists
of 55 C atoms linked to
72 H atoms, 5 O atoms
and 1 Mg atom.
25
1963 death of Seth B
Nicholson, astronomer,
known for discovering
4 satellites of Jupiter.
He spent a life career at
Mt.Wilson Observatory
and in the early 1920s
measured temperatures
of the moon, planets,
stars & sunspots.
2
1999 death of Charles
Peter Conrad, US
astronaut, who was the
third man to walk on the
moon during the Apollo
12 mission, 14-24 Nov,
1969. He also worked
on Gemini and Skylab
missions.
8
14
9
2
8 9
1754 birth of Juan
D’Elhuyar, Spanish
chemist, who separated
tungsten metal from its
wolframite ore in 1783,
assisted by his younger
brother. They became the
first Basques in science
history. 1846, Prince Albert laid
the foundation stone for
the College of Chemistry
in London, providing a
means for students to
begin the systematic
study of chemistry at
moderate expense.
15 16
22 23
1965 birth of Yang Liwei,
China’s first astronaut in
his nation’s first manned
spacecraft, Shenzhou
5. Launched Oct 2003,
from the Gobi desert, the
capsule completed 14
orbits & landed safely.
19
1975, moon tremors,
caused by strikes of
Taurid meteors, were
detected on 22-26 by
the seismometers left on
the Moon’s surface by US
astronauts. The Taurid
meteor storm crosses the
Earth orbit twice a year.
24
13
1933 birth of Viktor
Patsayev, Soviet
cosmonaut: flew on
the Soyuz 11 mission,
remained in space a
record 24 days, docked
with Salyut station, but
all were killed by cabin
depressurisation during
the return to earth.
SUNDAY
1812 death of Richard
Kirwan, Irish chemist;
wrote Elements of
Mineralogy 1784, first
English systematic
treatment of the subject.
President of Royal Irish
Academy & Royal Dublin
Society, he disputed
Lavoisier’s discoveries.
26
27
3
4
1908, Kamerlingh Onnes
made helium liquid at
a temperature of 4.2K
after working for many
years to liquify this
element which persisted
as a gas to the lowest
temperature. He received
a Nobel Prize in 1913
for his low temperature
work.
10
11
— 4 —
28
1687, Principia by Isaac
Newton was published,
with an insightful
mathematical analysis of
relationships between
force, motion & time,
as in inertial motion &
acceleration. He also
outlined motion of
heavenly bodies.
1995, space shuttle
Atlantis docked with
Russian space station
Mir on a mission that
included exchange of
Russian crew and studies
of survival in space. For 5
days this spacecraft was
the largest man-made
satellite to orbit Earth.
29
1808, Humphry
Davy announced the
separation of elemental
boron. But, working
independently, Gay-
Lussac had announced
this 9 days earlier.
30
1914, first US patent
issued to Robert Goddard
who spent his lifetime
working as a rocket
scientist.
5 6 7
12 13 14