Friday, May 4, 2012


General
Leap Years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth's revolutions around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days (a tropical year) to circle once around the Sun. If we didn't add a day on February 29 nearly every 4 years, we would lose almost six hours every year. After only 100 years, our calendar would be off by approximately 24 days!

Biology
In 1947, the first closed-circuit broadcast of a surgical operation showed procedures to observers in classrooms. Dr. Alfred Blalock, at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md., demonstrated two operations on the heart. Two more heart operations were also seen and one on nerves of the spine.

Earth Science
In 1924, Harlow Shapley wrote back in reply to the letter from Edwin Hubble which presented the measurement of 300,000 parsecs as the distance to the Andromeda nebula. That was the first proof that the nebula was far outside the Milky, in fact, a separate galaxy. When Shapley had debated Heber Curtis on 26 Apr 1920, he presented his firm, life-long conviction that all the Milky Way represented the known universe (and, for instance, the Andromeda nebula was part of the Milky Way.)  On receipt of the letter, Shapley told Payne-Gaposchkin and said “Here is the letter that has destroyed my universe.” In his reply, Shapley said sarcastically that Hubble's letter was “the most entertaining piece of literature I have seen for a long time.” Hubble sent more data in a paper to the AAS meeting, read on 1 Jan 1925.

Physics
In 1932, the neutron was discovered by Dr. James Chadwick.

Chemistry
In 1900, German chemist Felix Hoffmann was issued a U.S. patent for “Acetyl Salicylic Acid” (No. 644,077). It was assigned to the Farben-Fabriken of Elberfeld Company, of New York. Hoffmann had discovered the chemical compound on 10 Aug 1897 while a researcher at the Bayer Company. It was marketed as Apirin, the familiar pain reliever, which at the time was a trademarked name. It was first sold in Germany in powder form, from 1 May 1899, and later in the more convenient tablet form, from 1 Jan 1915.

Quote

Here is a quote for you and your students to consider.

If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over? - John Wooden

Thank you for your continued support and please don't hesitate to contact me when I can be of assistance. If you know of any your colleagues who would also like to receive our "Science Newsletter" just have them contact me by email and I will be glad to add their name to our distribution list.

General
Leap Years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth's revolutions around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days (a tropical year) to circle once around the Sun. If we didn't add a day on February 29 nearly every 4 years, we would lose almost six hours every year. After only 100 years, our calendar would be off by approximately 24 days!

Biology
In 1947, the first closed-circuit broadcast of a surgical operation showed procedures to observers in classrooms. Dr. Alfred Blalock, at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md., demonstrated two operations on the heart. Two more heart operations were also seen and one on nerves of the spine.

Earth Science
In 1924, Harlow Shapley wrote back in reply to the letter from Edwin Hubble which presented the measurement of 300,000 parsecs as the distance to the Andromeda nebula. That was the first proof that the nebula was far outside the Milky, in fact, a separate galaxy. When Shapley had debated Heber Curtis on 26 Apr 1920, he presented his firm, life-long conviction that all the Milky Way represented the known universe (and, for instance, the Andromeda nebula was part of the Milky Way.)  On receipt of the letter, Shapley told Payne-Gaposchkin and said “Here is the letter that has destroyed my universe.” In his reply, Shapley said sarcastically that Hubble's letter was “the most entertaining piece of literature I have seen for a long time.” Hubble sent more data in a paper to the AAS meeting, read on 1 Jan 1925.

Physics
In 1932, the neutron was discovered by Dr. James Chadwick.

Chemistry
In 1900, German chemist Felix Hoffmann was issued a U.S. patent for “Acetyl Salicylic Acid” (No. 644,077). It was assigned to the Farben-Fabriken of Elberfeld Company, of New York. Hoffmann had discovered the chemical compound on 10 Aug 1897 while a researcher at the Bayer Company. It was marketed as Apirin, the familiar pain reliever, which at the time was a trademarked name. It was first sold in Germany in powder form, from 1 May 1899, and later in the more convenient tablet form, from 1 Jan 1915.

Quote

Here is a quote for you and your students to consider.

If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over? - John Wooden

Thank you for your continued support and please don't hesitate to contact me when I can be of assistance. If you know of any your colleagues who would also like to receive our "Science Newsletter" just have them contact me by email and I will be glad to add their name to our distribution list.