Science Matters Quarterly Newsletter (2020) Science Matters Newsletter #1 2020 March Term 1 | Page 5

Science Teachers’ Assocation of NSW inc 2020
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
1941; Annie Cannon
died. She was a totally
deaf U.S.A. astronomer
who specialised in stellar
spectra, reorganising
stars in terms of their
surface temperatures:
O, B, A, F, G, K, M. She
catalogued over 225,000
stars for the Stellar
Spectra catalogue. 1629; birth of Dutch
physicist and astronomer
Christiaan Huygens, who
founded the wave theory
of light, discovered the
actual nature of Saturn’s
rings, discovered Titan,
the first moon of Saturn
with a lens he ground
himself, and the first
pendulum clock. 1931; Indonesian Samaun
Samadikun born. He was
an electronics engineer
known especially for
research contributions
in microelectronics
but also worked on
instrumentation for
payloads in programs
associated with U.S.
space missions. 1921; Marie Maynard
Daly, was born. She was
the first female African-
American to receive
a PhD in Chemistry
(in 1947) for studying
the composition and
metabolism of cell nuclei
components. Later she
taught biochemistry
at university.
1927; Alex Müller was born
in Switzerland. He was
a physicist who shared
the Nobel Prize of 1987
(with Georg Bednorz) for
their joint discovery of
superconductivity within
certain ceramic materials
at temperatures far above
those of metals or
alloys. 2013; Shakuntala Devi,
an Indian astrologer and
computer, died. From age
6 she had an ability to
mentally calculate answers
to additions, square- and
cube roots, and the day of
the week for any date, yet
her memory for facts or
people was not
special. 1890; Magnus Huss, a
Swedish physician who
originally coined the word
‘alcoholism’ died. He also
defined it to be a chronic,
addictive disease. The
root causes of alcohol
misuse had at times been
blamed on gender, class
or dysfunctional
society.
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2001; Anne Anastasi, a
U.S. psychologist known
for pioneering what was
called psychometrics died.
She worked on measuring
& understanding
psychological traits,
especially how trait
development can be
affected by language,
culture and training.
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1914; Haroun Tazieff was
born in Poland. He was
a French vulcanologist
fascinated with volcanoes.
His knowledge of them
was shared by the French
public through books and
TV. He was considered
one of the 6 most popular
personalities in France.
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1865; Birth of Pieter
Zeeman in Holland; he
was an authority on
magnetooptics. In 1896 he
noticed the spectral lines
emitted by excited atoms
(including hydrogen) split
into more lines when placed
within a uniform magnetic
field – supporting the
Bohr model.
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1882; Douglas Mawson
was born in Yorkshire,
but as the family moved
near Sydney before he
was 2 he was Australian.
He was a geologist and
explorer of the New
Hebrides (Vanuatu) and
the Antarctic, and his
experiences earned him
international acclaim.
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1869; Henry Dixon, an
Irish botanist, was born.
Investigating transpiration
in plants he originated the
tension theory of sap ascent
in trees. Subsequently, he
made further transpiration
experiments to consolidate
his theory which he
published in 1909
and 1914.
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1894; Marietta Blau
was born in Austria,
She proved to be a fine
student in mathematics
and physics at school and
university; her thesis: the
absorption of γ-radiation.
She developed the
photographic emulsion
technique to detect
neutrons. 1926; U.S. aviatrix Bessie
Coleman died at the age
of 34 in a crash; the first
African-American to qualify
for a pilot’s licence. In
France she learned to fly,
and on 15th June 1921 was
issued with an international
pilot’s licence. She carried
out aerobatics at
air shows.
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1872; Willem de Sitter
was born. He was a Dutch
astronomer/cosmologist
and mathematician, who
developed theoretical
models of the Universe all
based on General Relativity.
He predicted that the
Universe is expanding and
convinced Einstein
of this.
SATURDAY
17
1942; Leonid Kulik was
a Russian mineralogist
who led the first scientific
expedition to study the
Tungusta meteor impact
site in Siberia. He was
still investigating when
he was captured during
WW2 fighting the Nazis,
and died of typhus
in a prison camp.
1955; Albert Einstein died.
Recognised as one of the
most creative intellects in
history, in the first
15 years of the 20th
century Einstein advanced
a series of theories that
proposed totally new
ways of thinking about
space, time,
and gravitation.
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SUNDAY
19
1920; Indian genius
mathematician Srinivasa
Ramanujan, died, aged
32. During his short life
he was offered a position
at Cambridge University,
where his skill in number
theory, infinite series,
analysis and continued
series was
exceptional.
24 25 1852; Santiago Ramón y
Cajal was born. He was a
Spanish histologist who
shared the Nobel Prize
for Physiology/Medicine
in 1906 for establishing
the neuron, or nerve cell,
as the basic unit of nerve
structure, so identifying
its fundamental role. 1997; Australian John
Eccles died. He had shared
the 1963 Nobel Prize for
Physiology/Medicine with
Alan Hodgkin and Alan
Huxley for discovering the
way chemical signals are
transferred or repressed
by nerve cells, and how
they pass from nerve to
muscle. 2 3
1961; U.S. – The first
practical seawater
conversion plant was
opened. It was designed
to produce 3.8 ML of
water/day at a cost of
about US$0.33/KL. The
evaporation method then
used was replaced by
reverse osmosis! Why not
Australia’s rural towns? 1931; Death of the
German-U.S. physicist
Albert Michelson. He had
designed an interferometer
and used it to accurately
measure the speed of light.
Morley and he used it to
determine Earth’s speed
through the aether. The
null result
influenced Einstein! 1900; Cecilia Payne was
born, an English-U.S.
astronomer, first to realise
hydrogen and helium
are the most abundant
elements in the Universe.
It was hard to convince
her superiors she was
serious. 20 years later Fred
Hoyle finally
confirmed her claim.
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6 7 1899; Lars Nilson, a
Swedish chemist, died. In
1879 he discovered scandia
(the oxide of the element
scandium, the existence of
which had been predicted
by Mendeleef in 1817
when establishing the
periodic table of elements).
Nilson’s discovery
endorsed this. 1903; Birth of Maria
Reiche, a German-born
Peruvian archaeologist, the
self-appointed keeper of
the Nazca Lines, a series of
desert ground drawings
1000 years old, near Nazca
in southern Peru. She
investigated the lines in a
search for a rational
reason. 1934; New Zealander Roy
Kerr was born; in 1963
he resolved Einstein’s
field equations of general
relativity to describe
rotating black holes. Its
parameters are the BH’s
angular momentum and
mass, making a region in
which time and space
are dragged around. 1809; Death of Josef
Auenbrugger, an Austrian
physician, who devised the
technique of percussion
– striking a surface part of
the body with sharp taps
to diagnose the condition
of the parts below, to
estimate the amount of
fluid in the lungs and
their heart’s size.
1911; Williamina Fleming,
a Scottish-U.S. died. She
pioneered the system of
classification of stellar
spectra, and was the first
to identify the stars now
called ‘white dwarfs’.
In the next 9 years
Fleming catalogued over
10000 stars according
to her system. 1901; Hideo Shima, the
Japanese engineer who
designed and supervised
the construction of the
first “bullet train”, was
born. It began service at
220kph in 1964 linking
Tokyo and Osaka. He
also led Japan’s space
development program
until 1977. 1734; Franz Mesmer, a
German physician, was
born. Mesmerism, a system
of therapeutics he used,
was the forerunner of our
modern practice called
hypnotism. His career was
spent offering this therapy
to aristocratic clients in
several European
capitals. 1898; Helen Taussig,
a U.S. physician , was
born. who founded
paediatric cardiology She
pioneered using X-rays
and fluoroscopy to find
heart defects in infants.
With Alfred Blalock she
developed a surgical
procedure to treat
‘blue baby’
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1887; Kasimir Fajans,
a Polish–U.S. chemist
was born. Along with
Frederick Soddy, he
discovered the radioactive
displacement law; when a
radioactive atom decays,
releasing an α-particle
its atomic No. falls by 2
whilst its atomic
mass falls by 4.
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1971; The Mars-3 rocket
was launched by the
USSR, arriving at Mars on
2nd December. Its lander
was released, becoming
the first spacecraft to
land on Mars, but it failed
after sending just 15.4
seconds of video data.
The orbiter sent data
off for 264 days.
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1888; Inge Lehmann, a
Danish seismologist was
born, the first female
geophysicist in the world.
In 1936 she identified the
Lehmann Discontinuity in
the seismic structure of the
Earth marking a previously
unknown boundary at
the Earth’s solid
inner core. 1888; Death of Italian
chemist Ascanio Sobrero,
discoverer of nitroglycerin
by slowly adding glycerin
to a mixture of sulfuric and
nitric acids. When he saw
the destructive power of a
single drop in a test tube
he was horrified and made
no attempt to
develop it.
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FRIDAY
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1832; Death of French
mathematician Évariste
Galois (aged 20). He had
already become renowned
for his contributions to that
part of algebra called group
theory, after solving many
previously unanswered
questions. He was shot in a
duel related to a l
ove affair.
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