Science Quote: Evan Esar

Statistics: The only science that enables different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions.
Evan Esar (1899-1995), American Humorist.

January 2007

Latest News: Science

Making Animated Fluids Look More Realistic

"Technology Review has an article about recent advances in animated fluid dynamics made by Mathieu Desbrun, a computer science professor at Caltech. 'He and his team are developing an entirely new approach to fluid motion, based on new mathematics called discrete differential geometry, that use equations designed specifically to be solved by computers rather than people.' Desbrun explains that the currently in-use equations for animating fluid dynamics were not developed with computers in mind, and were simply reworkings of older equations. He claims that his new equations use about the same amount of computer resources, but with much better results. The article includes a 5 minute (flash) video demonstrating various results using his equations, ending with 2 fascinating and vivid displays: the first of a snowglobe, and the second of a cloud of smoke filling a volume in the shape of a bunny."

Transistor Made From Bose-Einstein Condensate

"US researchers have made a transistor from a Bose-Einstein condensate. They claim it to be the first step towards 'atomic circuits' that run with atoms instead of electrons. 'A small number of atoms can be used to control the flow of a large number of atoms, in much the same way that an FET uses a gate voltage to control a large electric current,' says lead research Alex Zozulya. The abstract of their paper is freely available."

Water From Wind

"[Max] Whisson's design has many blades, each as aerodynamic as an aircraft wing, and each employing 'lift' to get the device spinning... They don't face into the wind like a conventional windmill; they're arranged vertically, within an elegant column, and take the wind from any direction... The secret of Max's design is how his windmills, whirring away in the merest hint of a wind, cool the air as it passes by... With three or four of Max's magical machines on hills at our farm we could fill the tanks and troughs, and weather the drought. One small Whisson windmill on the roof of a suburban house could keep your taps flowing. Biggies on office buildings, whoppers on skyscrapers, could give independence from the city's water supply. And plonk a few hundred in marginal outback land — specifically to water tree-lots — and you could start to improve local rainfall."

Hubble Telescope's Main Camera Shuts Down

"Space.com is reporting that the aging observatory's primary camera, the ACS, has been in safe mode since the weekend. From the article: 'An initial investigation indicates the camera has stopped functioning, and the input power feed to its Side B electronics package has failed.' The camera has shut down before and been revived."

THIS DAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY

November 15

Historical: Events

Carpet recycling

In 1999, the Evergreen Nylon Recycling facility began operation in Augusta, Georgia. This was a joint venture with Honeywell Intl Inc. which patented the selective pyrolysis process that depolymerized nylon 6 waste carpet into caprolactam, the raw material of nylon 6. In the absence of oxygen, controlled heating of carpet (or other nylon 6 waste material) breaks down each resin into its monomer components, each within its own temperature range enabling the separation of the resins. Compared to making virgin caprolactam, it was expected that recycled product would offer the same quality at less than half the cost, need only one-third the energy, save petroleum and keep waste carpet out of landfills. Unanticipated costs caused the plant to close 29 Aug 2001.«

Soviet space shuttle

In 1988, the Soviet Union launched its first space shuttle, Buran ("Snowstorm"), unmanned, on its first and only orbital flight. Russia authorized its shuttle program in 1976 in response to the U.S. Space Shuttle program. Buran's only orbital flight was unmanned, as the life support system had not been checked out and the CRT displays had no software installed. The Buran was launched on the powerful Energiya booster into a 250 km orbit. Its computer's memory limitations limited the flight to 2 orbits in 206-min. before reentry and a safe automatic touchdown at Tyuratum. Afterwards, the project's funding was cut, and eventually cancelled (1993). Two other partially completed Buran shuttles were dismantled at their production site in Nov 1995.

Baby Fae died

In 1984, Baby Fae died, an infant born a month before, who had lived for 20 days with a transplanted walnut-sized young-baboon heart. At birth, she had been diagnosed with an almost always fatal heart deformity. Dr. Leonard L. Bailey, a heart surgeon at Loma Linda University Medical Center, California, suggested the experimental xenotransplant to the mother. By 1977, three such animal-heart transplants into adults had provided less than four days of life at best. However, Bailey believed the infant's underdeveloped immune system would be less likely to reject alien tissue, and a new drug cyclosporine would help. The heart sustained the baby for 20 days before she died of complications, but the heart itself had not been rejected.«

Locomotive

In 1948 the first gas-turbine electric locomotive in the U.S. was track-tested in Erie, Pa. Preliminary road tests of the 4800 hp Alco-GE locomotive included hauling of 85 loaded freight cars at speeds as high as 65 mph. In a gas-turbine engine, air is drawn through a compressor into several combustion chambers. Fuel (bunker "C" oil) is injected and the mixture burns, raising the temperature of the compressed air. Resulting gases expand and move at great velocity against the turbine blades, turning the shaft which drives both the power plant compressor and a generator supplying electric power to eight traction motors driving the wheels. The gas-turbine engine was originally designed for aircraft, in which it gives forward thrust from the reaction of its exhaust stream.

Rail detector car

In 1928, the first commercial service of a rail detector car in the U.S. began service on the Wabash Railway in Montpelier, Ohio. On its first run, SRS 102 tested 155 miles of track in 14 days, finding an average of 14 defects a day. It employed an induction method: a heavy current was induced through the rail to be tested then search coils passed through the resulting magnetic field to find perturbations in this field caused by defects. Dr. Elmer Sperry began working on railroad non-destructive testing in 1923 to detect transverse fissures in railroad rails. His first car, SRS 101, was tested 13 Jun 1928, able to examine one rail at a time. By 1930, he increased his fleet to 10 cars. Sperry was also the inventor of the gyroscope.

Niagara Falls

In 1896, the first long-distance transmission of hydroelectricity from the Niagara Falls Power Company flowed to Buffalo, N.Y., 26 miles away. Although some small-scale use of the water power of the Niagara Falls occurred earlier, this company made the first large-scale utilization for commercial purposes on 26 Aug 1895, when it began supplying power to an aluminium production plant. The power company originated 31 Mar 1886 (though incorporated under a different name). Ground was broken on 4 Oct 1890. By 24 Oct 1893, a contract had been made with the Westinghouse Electric and Mfg. Co. for three 5,000 h.p. generators (two-phase 2,200 volts at 25 cycles/sec). The first 5,000 h.p. turboalternator unit was completed within 18 months.

Dry-cell patent

In 1887, German scientist, Dr. Carl Gassner, was issued a U.S. patent (No. 373,064) for the first "dry" cell. The sealed zinc shell which contained all the chemicals was also the negative electrode. Later, he improved the shelf life of the battery by adding zinc chloride to the electrolyte to reduce corrosion of the zinc shell. Gassner's battery was much like the carbon-zinc, general-purpose batteries sold today. By 1896, the National Carbide Company (later Union Carbide and Eveready) produced the first consumer dry cell battery. Two years later, the company made the first D cell. Gassner first patented his invention in Germany (No. 37,758) on 8 Apr 1886, and also in Austria, Belgium, England, France and Hungary in the same year.« [Image: The six-inch, 1.5 volt Columbia Dry Cell marketed by NCC in 1896.]

Edison patent

In 1883, Thomas Edison received a patent for his two-element vacuum tube, the forerunner of the vacuum tube rectifier.

Magnetising metals

In 1744, Gowan Knight presented his research on magnetising metals to the Royal Society. The method he discovered for permanently magnetising hard steels. The use of steel instead of soft iron greatly improved the otherwise crude compass needles used by England's Royal Navy, which then had a much longer magnetized life. Knight took out a patent for his compass in 1766. He devised better ways to suspend compass needles, and introduced the rhomboid shape now common for compass needles. Reference: Philosophical Trans., No. 474, p. 161

Tobacco

In 1492, Christopher Columbus noted in his journal the use of tobacco among Indians - the first recorded reference to tobacco.

Historical: Births

H.U. Sverdrup

Born 15 Nov 1888; died 21 Aug 1957. Harald Ulrik Sverdrup was a Norwegian meteorologist and oceanographer known for his studies of the physics, chemistry, and biology of the oceans. He explained the equatorial countercurrents and helped develop the method of predicting surf and breakers. As scientific director of Roald Amundsen's polar expedition on Maud (1918-1925), Sverdrup worked extensively on meteorology, magnetics, atmospheric electricity, physical oceanography, and tidal dynamics on the Siberian shelf, and even on the anthropology of Chukchi natives. In 1953, Sverdrup quantified the concept of "critical depth", explaining the onset of the spring phytoplankton bloom in newly stratified water columns.

Sir Frederick Handley Page

Born 15 Nov 1885; died 21 Apr 1962. British aircraft designer who built the Handley Page 0/400, the world's first twin-engine bomber for the Royal Flying Corps, one of the largest planes used in WW I, which carried out their first large-scale bombing raids on enemy military installations and submarine bases in Nov 1916. By 1918, he had produced a four-engine bomber that could attack the industrial zones of the Saar and the Ruhr in Germany. In 1930, he produced the first 40-seat civilian airliner, the Hercules. For WW II, Page returned to producing military aircraft, the most important being the Halifax bomber. The government purchased 7,000 of these planes. He was knighted for his contribution to the war effort. After the war Page designed the four-engine jet bomber, the Victor.

August Krogh

Born 15 Nov 1874; died 13 Sep 1949. Schack August Steenberg Krogh was a Danish physiologist who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1920 for his discovery of the motor-regulating mechanism of capillaries (small blood vessels). Working with frogs, which he injected with Indian ink shortly before killing, he showed that in sample areas of resting muscle the number of visible (stained) capillaries was about 5 per square millimeter; in stimulated muscle, however, the number was increased to 190 per square millimeter. From this he concluded that there must be a physiological mechanism to control the action of the capillaries in response to the needs of the body (not just flow due to heart beating). Krogh's research linked exercise physiology with nutrition and metabolism.

Sara Josephine Baker

Born 15 Nov 1873; died 22 Feb 1945. American physician who contributed significantly to public health and child welfare in the United States. She was appointed assistant to the Commissioner for Public Health of New York City, later heading the city's Department of Health in 'Hell's Kitchen' for 25 years. Convinced of the value of well-baby care and the prevention of disease, in 1908 she founded the Bureau of Child Hygiene after visiting mothers on the lower east side, thus helping to decrease the death rate by 1200 from the previous year. Her work made the New York City infant mortality rate the lowest in the USA or Europe at the time. She set up free milk clinics, licensed midwives, and taught the use of silver nitrate to prevent blindness in newborns.

Michel Chasles

Born 15 Nov 1793; died 18 Dec 1880. French mathematician who, independently of the Swiss-German mathematician Jakob Steiner, elaborated the theory of modern projective geometry, the study of the properties of a geometric line or plane figure that remain unchanged when the figure is projected onto a plane from a point not on either the plane or the figure. In his text Traité de géométrie in 1852 Chasles discusses cross ratio, pencils and involutions, all notions which he introduced. Chasles was the victim of a celebrated fraud paying the equivalent of 20,000 pounds for various letters from famous men of science and others which turned out to be forged.

Sir William (Frederick) Herschel

Born 15 Nov 1738; died 25 Aug 1822. German-born British astronomer, the founder of sidereal astronomy for the systematic observation of the heavens. In 1773, Herschel made and began using his first telescope. With it he began a project that would continue for the rest of his life: that of systematically studying the sky. Through this study he discovered the planet Uranus, many new nebulae, clusters of stars and binary stars. Herschel hypothesized that nebulae are composed of stars, developed a theory of stellar evolution and was the first person to correctly describe the form of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. He discovered the Saturnian satellites Mimas and Enceladus (1789) and the Uranian satellites Titania and Oberon (1787). He was probably the most famous astronomer of the 18th century.

Historical: Deaths

H.U. Sverdrup

Born 15 Nov 1888; died 21 Aug 1957. Harald Ulrik Sverdrup was a Norwegian meteorologist and oceanographer known for his studies of the physics, chemistry, and biology of the oceans. He explained the equatorial countercurrents and helped develop the method of predicting surf and breakers. As scientific director of Roald Amundsen's polar expedition on Maud (1918-1925), Sverdrup worked extensively on meteorology, magnetics, atmospheric electricity, physical oceanography, and tidal dynamics on the Siberian shelf, and even on the anthropology of Chukchi natives. In 1953, Sverdrup quantified the concept of "critical depth", explaining the onset of the spring phytoplankton bloom in newly stratified water columns.

Sir Frederick Handley Page

Born 15 Nov 1885; died 21 Apr 1962. British aircraft designer who built the Handley Page 0/400, the world's first twin-engine bomber for the Royal Flying Corps, one of the largest planes used in WW I, which carried out their first large-scale bombing raids on enemy military installations and submarine bases in Nov 1916. By 1918, he had produced a four-engine bomber that could attack the industrial zones of the Saar and the Ruhr in Germany. In 1930, he produced the first 40-seat civilian airliner, the Hercules. For WW II, Page returned to producing military aircraft, the most important being the Halifax bomber. The government purchased 7,000 of these planes. He was knighted for his contribution to the war effort. After the war Page designed the four-engine jet bomber, the Victor.

August Krogh

Born 15 Nov 1874; died 13 Sep 1949. Schack August Steenberg Krogh was a Danish physiologist who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1920 for his discovery of the motor-regulating mechanism of capillaries (small blood vessels). Working with frogs, which he injected with Indian ink shortly before killing, he showed that in sample areas of resting muscle the number of visible (stained) capillaries was about 5 per square millimeter; in stimulated muscle, however, the number was increased to 190 per square millimeter. From this he concluded that there must be a physiological mechanism to control the action of the capillaries in response to the needs of the body (not just flow due to heart beating). Krogh's research linked exercise physiology with nutrition and metabolism.

Sara Josephine Baker

Born 15 Nov 1873; died 22 Feb 1945. American physician who contributed significantly to public health and child welfare in the United States. She was appointed assistant to the Commissioner for Public Health of New York City, later heading the city's Department of Health in 'Hell's Kitchen' for 25 years. Convinced of the value of well-baby care and the prevention of disease, in 1908 she founded the Bureau of Child Hygiene after visiting mothers on the lower east side, thus helping to decrease the death rate by 1200 from the previous year. Her work made the New York City infant mortality rate the lowest in the USA or Europe at the time. She set up free milk clinics, licensed midwives, and taught the use of silver nitrate to prevent blindness in newborns.

Michel Chasles

Born 15 Nov 1793; died 18 Dec 1880. French mathematician who, independently of the Swiss-German mathematician Jakob Steiner, elaborated the theory of modern projective geometry, the study of the properties of a geometric line or plane figure that remain unchanged when the figure is projected onto a plane from a point not on either the plane or the figure. In his text Traité de géométrie in 1852 Chasles discusses cross ratio, pencils and involutions, all notions which he introduced. Chasles was the victim of a celebrated fraud paying the equivalent of 20,000 pounds for various letters from famous men of science and others which turned out to be forged.

Sir William (Frederick) Herschel

Born 15 Nov 1738; died 25 Aug 1822. German-born British astronomer, the founder of sidereal astronomy for the systematic observation of the heavens. In 1773, Herschel made and began using his first telescope. With it he began a project that would continue for the rest of his life: that of systematically studying the sky. Through this study he discovered the planet Uranus, many new nebulae, clusters of stars and binary stars. Herschel hypothesized that nebulae are composed of stars, developed a theory of stellar evolution and was the first person to correctly describe the form of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. He discovered the Saturnian satellites Mimas and Enceladus (1789) and the Uranian satellites Titania and Oberon (1787). He was probably the most famous astronomer of the 18th century.