November Science History Tidbits

General

In 1869, the first issue was published of the journal Nature, edited by astronomer Sir Norman Lockyer. The first issue included articles on astronomy, plants, moths, science teaching in schools, an obituary for Thomas Graham, paleontology and meeting notices. Nature remains one of the most popular and well respected science journals in the world, printing research articles from across a wide range of scientific fields.

Biology

In 1939, a rabbit conceived by artificial impregnation, was the first such animal in the U.S. to be displayed. The event was the 12th Annual Graduate Fortnight at the New York Academy of Medicine. Dr. Gregory Pincus, an American biologist, had removed an egg from the ovary of a female rabbit and fertilized it with a salt solution. The egg was then transferred to the uterus of a second rabbit, which functioned an "incubator." The young rabbit was born in Oct 1939. Dr. Pincus, of Clark University conducted his experiments at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. In the same year, Pincus and colleagues were the first to show how oocytes of various animals would undergo maturation if released from their follicle and cultured in vitro.

Earth Science

In 1572, a supernova was first noted by Wolfgang Schuler of Wittenberg (?-1575) in the W-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia but was seen by many observers throughout Europe and in the Far East. It appeared as a new star, adjacent to the fainter star seen just northwest of the middle of the "W." Tycho Brahe first noticed this new star on 11 Nov 1572, and he began to meticulously record its appearance. Although he was not the first to see it, he gained fame from his book Stella Nova (Latin: "new star"). For two weeks it was brighter than any other star in the sky and visible in daytime. By month's end, it began to fade and change colour, from bright white to yellow and orange to faint reddish light. It was visible to the naked eye for about 16 months until Mar 1574.

Physics

In 1845, Michael Faraday, working in his laboratory at the Royal Institution, hung a piece of heavy glass between the poles of an electro-magnet and observed that the glass aligned itself across the lines of force of the magnet. He further experimented on many other substances, with similar results, a phenomena that he named diamagnetism. These investigations showed Faraday that magnetism was inherent within matter. This led to his lecture "Thoughts on Ray-vibrations" in April 1846, which he expanded in the following years into his field theory of electro-magnetism. This was the progenitor for mathematical descriptions formed by Thomson, and especially for the seminal work of James Clerk Maxwell.

Chemistry

In 1931, The DuPont Company, of Wilmington, Delaware, announced the first synthetic rubber this day. It was known as DuPrene, now renamed neoprene. Many scientists were trying to make natural rubber in the 1920s and 30s. One of the Carothers team, Gerard Berchet, happened to leave a sample of vinyl acetylene in a jar with hydrochloric acid (HCl) for about five weeks. Then another member of team, Arnold M. Collins happened to look in that jar and found a rubbery white material. The HCl had reacted with the vinylacetylene, making chloroprene, which then polymerized to become polychloroprene. The new rubber was expensive, but resisted oil and gasoline, which natural rubber didn't. It was the first good synthetic rubber.