Template:Selected anniversaries/August 20: Difference between revisions
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||Corrado Segre (b. 20 August 1863) was an Italian mathematician who is remembered today as a major contributor to the early development of algebraic geometry. | ||Corrado Segre (b. 20 August 1863) was an Italian mathematician who is remembered today as a major contributor to the early development of algebraic geometry. | ||
||1872, William Robinson was issued a U.S. patent No.130,661 for electric train signalling. | |||
||Octav Onicescu (b. August 20, 1892) was a Romanian mathematician, member of the Romanian Academy, and founder of the Romanian school of probability theory and statistics. Pic. | ||Octav Onicescu (b. August 20, 1892) was a Romanian mathematician, member of the Romanian Academy, and founder of the Romanian school of probability theory and statistics. Pic. | ||
||1897, physician Sir Ronald Ross made a key breakthrough when he discovered malaria parasites while dissecting a mosquito. This day is now known as World Mosquito Day, in celebration of this important discovery. | |||
||1898: Theoretical physicist Leopold Infeld born. After the first use of nuclear weapons in 1945 Infeld, like Einstein, became a peace activist. Because of his activities, he was unjustly accused of having communist sympathies. In the strongly anti-communist climate of the time many in the Canadian government and media feared that Infled would betray nuclear weapons secrets. He was stripped of his Canadian citizenship and was widely denounced as a traitor. In actuality, Infeld's field was the theory of relativity—not directly linked to nuclear weapons research. | ||1898: Theoretical physicist Leopold Infeld born. After the first use of nuclear weapons in 1945 Infeld, like Einstein, became a peace activist. Because of his activities, he was unjustly accused of having communist sympathies. In the strongly anti-communist climate of the time many in the Canadian government and media feared that Infled would betray nuclear weapons secrets. He was stripped of his Canadian citizenship and was widely denounced as a traitor. In actuality, Infeld's field was the theory of relativity—not directly linked to nuclear weapons research. | ||
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||1908: Kingsley Davis born ... sociologist and demographer who was a world-renowned expert on population trends; he coined the terms population explosion and zero population growth and promoted methods of bringing the latter about. His specific studies of American society led him to work on a general science of world society, based on empirical analysis of each society in its habitat. Later, however, he came to be concerned about low birthrates in developed countries, fearing a shortage of educated leaders. Pic: https://www.sociosite.net/sociologists/davis_kingsley.php | ||1908: Kingsley Davis born ... sociologist and demographer who was a world-renowned expert on population trends; he coined the terms population explosion and zero population growth and promoted methods of bringing the latter about. His specific studies of American society led him to work on a general science of world society, based on empirical analysis of each society in its habitat. Later, however, he came to be concerned about low birthrates in developed countries, fearing a shortage of educated leaders. Pic: https://www.sociosite.net/sociologists/davis_kingsley.php | ||
File:Telegraph.jpg|link=Electrical telegraph (nonfiction)|1911: The first cable message sent around the world from the U.S. by commercial [[Electrical telegraph (nonfiction)|telegraph]] was transmitted from New York City. It read “This message sent around the world,” left the New York Times building at 7:00 pm and was received at 7:16 pm after travelling nearly 29,000 miles through 16 relays via the Azores, Gibraltar, India, Phillipines, Midway, Guam, Hawaii and San Francisco. | |||
||1912: Jerome Murray born ... inventor of the peristaltic pump that made open-heart surgery possible. It met the need to pump blood without damaging the cells through a method of expansion and contraction that imitates the way that peristalsis moves the contents of the digestive tract. In addition, the pump was adapted for kidney dialysis and for food processing (to pump soup into cans without crushing the peas or the celery). He decided to invent the airplane boarding ramp when on a day in 1951 at the Miami International Airport he saw passengers having to walk in the rain to the terminal. In all, he held 75 patents including a television antenna rotator, electric carving knife, high-speed dentist drill, power car seat and an audible pressure cooker. No pic. Obit: https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/11/business/jerome-murray-85-a-many-faceted-inventor.html | ||1912: Jerome Murray born ... inventor of the peristaltic pump that made open-heart surgery possible. It met the need to pump blood without damaging the cells through a method of expansion and contraction that imitates the way that peristalsis moves the contents of the digestive tract. In addition, the pump was adapted for kidney dialysis and for food processing (to pump soup into cans without crushing the peas or the celery). He decided to invent the airplane boarding ramp when on a day in 1951 at the Miami International Airport he saw passengers having to walk in the rain to the terminal. In all, he held 75 patents including a television antenna rotator, electric carving knife, high-speed dentist drill, power car seat and an audible pressure cooker. No pic. Obit: https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/11/business/jerome-murray-85-a-many-faceted-inventor.html | ||
File:Thomas Edison.jpg|link=Thomas Edison (nonfiction)|1912: [[Thomas Edison (nonfiction)|Thomas Edison]] receives U.S. patent No. 1036470 for a “Phonographic Apparatus,” and No. 1036471 for a “Storage Battery.” | |||
||1913: Roger Wolcott Sperry born ... neurobiologist, corecipient with David Hunter Hubel and Torsten Nils Wiesel of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1981 for their investigations of brain function, Sperry in particular for his study of functional specialization in the cerebral hemispheres. He was responsible for overturning the widespread belief that the left brain is dominant by showing that several cognitive abilities were localized in the right brain. He also provided experimental proof for the specificity of the reconnection of regenerating severed neurons in newts, which later led to new theories on how neurons grow. After 1965, his work turned more to psychology and philosophy. Pic. | ||1913: Roger Wolcott Sperry born ... neurobiologist, corecipient with David Hunter Hubel and Torsten Nils Wiesel of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1981 for their investigations of brain function, Sperry in particular for his study of functional specialization in the cerebral hemispheres. He was responsible for overturning the widespread belief that the left brain is dominant by showing that several cognitive abilities were localized in the right brain. He also provided experimental proof for the specificity of the reconnection of regenerating severed neurons in newts, which later led to new theories on how neurons grow. After 1965, his work turned more to psychology and philosophy. Pic. | ||
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||1923: Tom Mike Apostol born ... analytic number theorist and professor at the California Institute of Technology, best known as the author of widely used mathematical textbooks. | ||1923: Tom Mike Apostol born ... analytic number theorist and professor at the California Institute of Technology, best known as the author of widely used mathematical textbooks. | ||
||1923, the first American-built rigid dirigible was launched in Lakehurst, N.J, later christened the U.S.S. Shenandoah (“daughter of the stars”). It was the first of the Zeppelin type (ZR-1) to use helium gas, of which a supply was was available in the U.S. It was tested in flight the following month, on 3 Sep 1923, and christened 10 Oct 1923. Covered with an aluminum-painted fabric, it was 680 feet long, weighed 36 tons, could bear 55 tons, and carry enough fuel to cruise 5,000 miles at an average speed of 65 mph. It was commanded by Commander Zachery Lansdowne (1888-1925), an early Navy aviator, who died with 14 members of the crew when the airship was struck and destroyed in a violent thunderstorm on 3 Sep 1925 over Caldwell, Ohio, though 29 of the crew survived. | |||
File:John_Fleming_in_Fleming_tube.jpg|link=John Ambrose Fleming (nonfiction)|1923: Miniaturized version of [[John Ambrose Fleming (nonfiction)|John Ambrose Fleming]] delivers lecture from within Fleming tube. | File:John_Fleming_in_Fleming_tube.jpg|link=John Ambrose Fleming (nonfiction)|1923: Miniaturized version of [[John Ambrose Fleming (nonfiction)|John Ambrose Fleming]] delivers lecture from within Fleming tube. | ||
||1930: Herbert Hall Turner dies ... astronomer and seismologist. | ||1930: Herbert Hall Turner dies ... astronomer and seismologist. | ||
||In 1930, the first demonstration telecast of home television in the U.S. was received in New York City. A half-hour program was hosted by the cartoonist Harry Hirschfeld, and demonstrated on screens placed in a store in the Hotel Ansonia, the Hearst building, and a home at 98 Riverside Drive. The signal travelled about six miles, the greatest distance for TV transmission to date. The performers were in the studios were the Jenkins W2XCR (Jersey City, NJ) and the de Forest W2XCD (Passaic, NJ). | |||
||1936: Edward Weston dies ... American chemist noted for his achievements in electroplating and his development of the electrochemical cell, named the Weston cell, for the voltage standard. Pic. | ||1936: Edward Weston dies ... American chemist noted for his achievements in electroplating and his development of the electrochemical cell, named the Weston cell, for the voltage standard. Pic. | ||
||1944: Leon Chwistek dies ... avant-garde painter, theoretician of modern art, literary critic, logician, philosopher and mathematician. | ||1944: Leon Chwistek dies ... avant-garde painter, theoretician of modern art, literary critic, logician, philosopher and mathematician. | ||
||1953: The Soviet Union released the news that it had detonated its first hydrogen bomb. U.S. scientists identified it took place eight days earlier (12 Aug 1953), in Kazakhstan. The Soviet device had their own “layer cake” design of lithium-6 deuteride and tritium fuel layered with uranium. The explosion, with a yield of 400 kilotons (about 30 times the power of the bomb dropped on Japan, 6 Aug 1945), came less than 10 months after the first U.S. bomb test, Mike, (1 Nov 1952) announced by President Harry Truman on 7 Jan 1953. Notably, the Soviet bomb was more portable than the U.S. device—small enough to fit in a plane, and be easily weaponizeable, though its size limited the amount of thermonuclear fuel and explosive force. It was dubbed “Joe-4” in the U.S. The American test was designed for greater explosive power. | |||
File:Percy Williams Bridgman.jpg|link=Percy Williams Bridgman (nonfiction)|1961: Physicist and academic [[Percy Williams Bridgman (nonfiction)|Percy Williams Bridgman]] dies. He won the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the physics of high pressures. | File:Percy Williams Bridgman.jpg|link=Percy Williams Bridgman (nonfiction)|1961: Physicist and academic [[Percy Williams Bridgman (nonfiction)|Percy Williams Bridgman]] dies. He won the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the physics of high pressures. | ||
Revision as of 21:02, 15 August 2018
1672: Mathematician and politician Johan de Witt dies in a riot. The rioters will partially eat his body.
1911: The first cable message sent around the world from the U.S. by commercial telegraph was transmitted from New York City. It read “This message sent around the world,” left the New York Times building at 7:00 pm and was received at 7:16 pm after travelling nearly 29,000 miles through 16 relays via the Azores, Gibraltar, India, Phillipines, Midway, Guam, Hawaii and San Francisco.
1912: Thomas Edison receives U.S. patent No. 1036470 for a “Phonographic Apparatus,” and No. 1036471 for a “Storage Battery.”
1923: Miniaturized version of John Ambrose Fleming delivers lecture from within Fleming tube.
1961: Physicist and academic Percy Williams Bridgman dies. He won the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the physics of high pressures.
1962: Mathematician and crime-fighter Alice Beta publishes new class of Gnomon algorithm functions which detect and prevent crimes against mathematical constants.