History and Philosophy (often of Science)
jlynch | October 13, 2007Births
1801 - Joseph Plateau, Belgian physicist
1861 - Artur Gavazzi, Croatian geographer
1914 - Raymond Davis Jr., American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1831 - Jean-Louis Pons, French astronomer
1960 - Abram Ioffe, Russian physicist
1984 - Martin Ryle, English radio astronomer and Nobel Prize laureate
jlynch | October 13, 2007
Events
1773 - The Whirlpool Galaxy (above) was discovered by Charles Messier
1892 - Edward Emerson Barnard discovers D/1892 T1 (Barnard 3), the first comet discovered by photographic means
1976 - The first electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle was obtained by F.A. Murphy at the C.D.C..
2003 - The Public Library of Science commences publication of an open access scientific journal, PLoS Biology.
Births
1820 - John William Dawson, Canadian geologist
1821 - Rudolf Virchow, German physician, pathologist, biologist, and politician
Deaths
1687 - Geminiano Montanari, Italian astronomer…
jlynch | October 12, 2007But first, your DonorsChoose update.
We seem to have stalled out at 19% of our goal. While I’m sure we can feel happy that we are positively impacting the education of 210 students (and four of our challenges have been met), it has been five days since any reader has donated.
Our masters at Seed have generously volunteered to sweeten the pot a little. In addition to the $15,000 in matching funds that they are putting up, donors can enter to win prizes, namely:
1 iPod nano
21 "Seed Hearts Threadless" tee shirts
21 ScienceBlogs mugs
21 subscriptions to Seed magazine
9 copies of "The Best…
jlynch | October 10, 2007Events
1968 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first successful manned Apollo mission, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard.
Births
1758 - Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers, German astronomer
1884 - Friedrich Bergius, German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1705 - Guillaume Amontons, French physicist and instrument maker
1811 - Johann Conrad Ammann, Swiss physician and naturalist
1889 - James Prescott Joule, English physicist
1940 - Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician and physicist
1989 - M. King Hubbert, American geophysicist
jlynch | October 10, 2007Births
1731 - Henry Cavendish, British scientist
1780 - John Abercrombie, Scottish physician
1930 - Yves Chauvin, French chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1708 - David Gregory, Scottish astronomer
1876 - Charles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, French geologist
1930 - Adolf Engler, German botanist
1986 - Gleb Wataghin, Ukrainian-Italian physicist
2006 - Michael John Rogers, English ornithologist
jlynch | October 8, 2007
Events
1604 - Supernova 1604, the most recent supernova to be observed in the Milky Way.
Births
1704 - Ján Andrej Segner, Slovak and German mathematician, physicist, and physician
1852 - Hermann Emil Fischer, German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
1873 - Karl Schwarzschild, German physicist and astronomer
1879 - Max von Laue, German physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
1933 - Peter Mansfield, British physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1562 - Gabriele Falloppio, Italian anatomist
1806 - Benjamin Banneker, American astronomer
1943 - Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist and Nobel Prize…
jlynch | October 7, 2007You know what to do ...
Events
1959 - Luna 3 transmits first ever photographs of the far side of the Moon.
Births
1927 - R. D. Laing, Scottish psychologist
1939 - Harold Kroto, English chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1911 - John Hughlings Jackson, English neurologist
1926 - Emil Kraepelin, German psychologist
1994 - Niels Kaj Jerne, English-born Danish immunologist and Nobel Prize laureate
jlynch | October 6, 2007You know what to do ...
Events
1995 - 51 Pegasi was discovered to be the first major star apart from the Sun to have a planet (and extrasolar planet) orbiting around it.
Births
1459 - Martin Behaim, German navigator and geographer (
1510 - John Caius, English physician
1803 - Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist
1903 - Ernest Walton, Irish physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
1931 - Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh, Russian astronomer
1931 - Riccardo Giacconi, Italian-born physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1873 - Sir PaweÅ Edmund Strzelecki, Polish explorer and geologist
1951 - Otto…
jlynch | October 5, 2007John Wilkins has an excellent essay on Paul Feyerabend up over at Evolving Thoughts. It begins:
Paul Feyerabend is famous for attempting to make science subject to democratic revision. How shall we assess this in the light of the present attacks on science? Is he naive, or is he merely wrong? Can epistemological dadaism of the kind that he offers resist subversion by the will of the majority?
In this talk I will attempt to show three things. First, the basis for Feyerabend’s claims are based on a liberal epistemic individualism, and ultimately a kind of rationalism. Second, that there are…
jlynch | October 4, 2007As usual, your DonorsChoose update comes first and Today in Science is below the fold. As I mentioned earlier, yesterday we hit a milestone with our first fully funded project. We’ve currently raised $549 of our $4000 goal so we’ve still got a way to go.
Births
1879 - Francis Peyton Rous, American pathologist and Nobel Prize laureate
1882 - Robert Goddard, American rocket scientist
1892 - Remington Kellogg, American naturalist
1903 - M. King Hubbert, American geophysicist
1932 - Michael John Rogers, English ornithologist
Deaths
1777 - Ján Andrej Segner, Slovak and German mathematician,…
jlynch | October 3, 2007And again, your DonorsChoose update - $430 raised so far. Thanks to all so far, and please donate.
Your TiS follows ...
Events
1957 - Launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
Births
1562 - Christian Sørensen Longomontanus, Danish astronomer
1723 - Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus, German entomologist
1916 - Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
1918 - Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
1938 - Kurt Wüthrich, Swiss chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1947 - Max Planck, German physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
2000…
jlynch | October 2, 2007But first a DonorsChoose update ... We’re currently at $190 and seventh among the Scienceblogs challenges. We can do better!
I’m working on some prizes to give to random donors. Stay tuned.
There appears to be a slight problem in that some donations are not being attributed to this challenge. If that happens to you (or has happened), please let me know and I’ll have the DonorsChoose people fix the problem.
Link to the challenge.
And now, your TIS ...
Births
1716 - Giovanni Battista Beccaria, Italian physicist
1802 - John Gorrie, American scientist
1904 - Charles J. Pedersen, American…
jlynch | October 1, 2007Births
1832 - Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist
1852 - William Ramsay, Scottish chemist
1907 - Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Scottish chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
1914 - Jack Parsons, American rocket scientist
1917 - Christian de Duve, English-born biologist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1927 - Svante Arrhenius, Swedish chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
1987 - Peter Medawar, Brazilian-born scientist and Nobel Prize laureate
2002 - Heinz von Foerster, Austrian-born physicist and philosopher
jlynch | September 30, 2007Births
1835 - Ãdám Politzer, Austrian physician
1904 - Otto Robert Frisch, Austrian-born physicist
1910 - Fritz Köberle, Austrian-born physician
1910 - José Enrique Moyal, Australian mathematical physicist
1947 - Aaron Ciechanover, Israeli biologist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1838 - Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist and industrialist
jlynch | September 29, 2007Events
1977 - The Apollo program’s ALSEP experiment packages left on the Moon are terminated.
2004 - The first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat are taken. PZ Myers is ecstatic.
Births
1530 - Geronimo Mercuriali, Italian philologist and physician
1870 - Jean Baptiste Perrin, French physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
1882 - Hans Geiger, German physicist
1905 - Nevill Francis Mott, English physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
1939 - Jean-Marie Lehn, French chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
1943 - Johann Deisenhofer, German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
1951 - Barry…
jlynch | September 29, 2007Being a little quiet here ... combination of a looming Sunday deadline, grading, and the fact that I threw my back out on Thursday afternoon and am now in constant pain. Ah, the joys of life! There will, however, be some exciting news on Monday, so stay tuned.
Here’s your Today in Science ....
Births
1898 - Trofim Lysenko, Lamarkian biologist
1901 - Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
1920 - Peter D. Mitchell, English chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
1931 - James Watson Cronin, American nuclear physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1887 - Bernhard von Langenbeck,…
jlynch | September 28, 2007Births
1605 - Ismael Bullialdus, French astronomer
1852 - Henri Moissan, French chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
1939 - Stuart Kauffman, American biologist
Deaths
1694 - Gabriel Mouton, French scientist
1895 - Louis Pasteur, French scientist
1953 - Edwin Hubble, American astronomer
1979 - John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist
jlynch | September 26, 2007
Events
1937 - Balinese Tiger (Panthera tigris balica) declared extinct after the last specimen was shot in 1925.
1956 - Milburn G. Apt becomes the first man to exceed Mach 3 while flying the Bell X-2. Shortly thereafter, the craft goes out of control and Apt is killed.
Births
1818 - Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe, German chemist
1842 - Alphonse Francois Renard, Belgian geologist
1913 - Albert Ellis, American psychologist
1918 - Martin Ryle, English radio astronomer and Nobel Prize laureate
1924 - Fred Singer, American scientist
1933 - Rodney Cotterill, Danish-English physicist
1948 - John…
jlynch | September 26, 2007Births
1877- Ugo Cerletti, Italian neurologist
1887 - Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, British scientist, engineer and inventor
Deaths
1802 - Jurij Vega, Slovenian mathematician and physicist
1877 - Hermann Grassmann, German mathematician and physicist
1951 - Hans Cloos, German geologist
1976 - Lavoslav RužiÄka, Croatian chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
jlynch | September 25, 2007Births
1644 - Ole Rømer, Danish astronomer
1773 - Agostino Bassi, Italian entomologist
1798 - Jean-Baptiste Ãlie de Beaumont, French geologist
1839 - Karl Alfred von Zittel, German palaeontologist
1866 - Thomas Hunt Morgan, American geneticist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1986 - Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist and Nobel Prize laureate