General
In 1994, the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued a press release
that physicists there recently cooled atoms to 700 nanokelvins, the coldest
temperature ever recorded for matter. NIST scientists chilled a cloud of cesium
atoms very close to absolute zero using lasers to catch the atoms in an optical
lattice. The atoms reached 700 nanokelvins, or 700 billionths of a degree above
absolute zero. Zero kelvin (-273ºC), or absolute zero, is the temperature at
which atomic thermal motion would cease. Since the late 1970s, physicists have
sought to use lasers to cool atoms closer to absolute zero, primarily for
improving atomic timekeeping, certain experimental measurements and lithography
processes for the semiconductor industry.
Earth
Science
In 1990, the
space probe Magellan arrived at its planned polar orbit around Venus. As the
planet rotated slowly beneath it, Magellan circled once every 3-hr 15-min,
collecting radar images of the surface in strips about 17-28 km (10-17 mi) wide
and radioed back the information. Magellan was carried into space in the
shuttle cargo bay of STS-30 Atlantis, launched 4 May 1989, and was the first
planetary spacecraft to be released from a shuttle in Earth orbit. The Magellan
mission also provided gravity, atmospheric and other measurements. On 11 Oct
1994, it was directed towards the surface, collecting data until it broke up
and partially vaporized in the atmosphere.
Physics
In 1831, Michael
Faraday wound a thick iron ring on one side with insulated wire that was
connected to a battery. He then wound the opposite side with wire connected to
a galvanometer. He found that upon closing the battery circuit, there was a
deflection of the galvanometer in the second circuit. Then he was astonished to
see the galvanometer needle jump in the opposite direction when the battery
circuit was opened. He had discovered that a current was induced in the
secondary when a current in the primary was connected and an induced current in
the opposite direction when the primary current was disconnected.
Biology
In 1947, the
first full synthesis route for vitamin A was found by Dutch chemists, Jozef
Ferdinand Arens and David Adriaan van Dorp. Later in 1947, a team headed by O.
Isler also synthesized vitamin A using a method more suitable to produce
commerical quantities. In 1913, Thomas B. Osborne and Lafayette Mendel had
shown experimentally with rats that butter contained a factor responsible for
growth development. Their work was confirmed (1913) by Elmer McCullum and Marguerite
Davis who also identified a fat-soluble nutrient in butterfat and cod liver
oil. It became known as vitamin A, and its chemical structure was determined in
1931 by Paul Karrer.
Chemistry
In 1903, the
journal Nature reported that helium gas is produced by the radioactive decay of
the radium. This key discovery by William Ramsay and Frederick Soddy helped to
reveal the structure of atoms. In 1908, Ernest Rutherford confirmed that alpha
rays and these radium emanations were one and the same: the nuclei of helium
atoms, bearing a positive electrical charge. Each were future Nobel laureates
in Chemistry. Ramsey won the Nobel Prize in 1904 for his discovery of the noble
gases. Rutherford was recognized in 1908 for his investigations into the
disintegration of the elements. Soddy was honored in 1921 for his pioneering
contributions to understanding the chemical properties of radioactive elements
such as radium and uranium.
And here is a quote for you and your students to consider.
A
science is not mere knowledge; it is knowledge which has undergone a process of
intellectual digestion. It is the grasp of many things brought together in one,
and hence is its power; for, properly speaking, it is Science that is power,
not Knowledge.., — John Henry Newman
