December 9

Today's: Famous Birthdays - Music history

1625 - The Treaty of the Hague was signed by England and the Netherlands. The agreement was
to subsidize Christian IV of Denmark in his campaign in Germany.

1783 - The first executions at Newgate Prison took place.

1793 - "The American Minerva" was published for the first time. It was the first daily newspaper
in New York City and was founded by Noah Webster.

1803 - The 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. With the
amendment Electors were directed to vote for a President and for a Vice-President rather than for
two choices for President.

1848 - American author and creator of "Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit," Joel Chandler Harris
was born.

1854 - Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," was published in
England.

1879 - Thomas Edison organized the Edison Ore Milling Company.

1884 - Levant M. Richardson received a patent for the ball-bearing roller skate.

1892 - In London, "Widowers' Houses," George Bernard Shaw's first play, opened at the Royalty
Theater.

1907 - Christmas Seals went on sale for the first time, in the Wilmington, DE, post office.

1926 - The United States Golf Association legalized the use of steel-shafted golf clubs.

1914 - The Edison Phonograph Works was destroyed by fire.

1917 - Turkish troops surrendered Jerusalem to British troops led by Viscount Allenby.

1940 - During World War II, British troops opened their first major offensive in North Africa.
1940 - The Longines Watch Company signed for the first FM radio advertising contract with
experimental station W2XOR in New York City.

1941 - China declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy.

1942 - The Aram Khachaturian ballet "Gayane" was first performed by the Kirov Ballet.

1955 - Sugar Ray Robinson knocked out Carl Olson and regained his world middleweight
boxing title.

1958 - In Indianapolis, IN, Robert H.W. Welch Jr. and 11 other men met to form the anti-
Communist John Birch Society.

1960 - Sperry Rand Corporation unveiled a new computer known as "Univac 1107."

1960 - The first episode of "Coronation Street" was screened on ITV.

1962 - "Lawrence of Arabia" by David Lean had its world premiere in London.

1965 - Nikolai V. Podgorny replaced Anastas I. Mikoyan as president of the Presidium of the
Supreme Soviet.

1975 - U.S. President Gerald R. Ford signed a $2.3 billion seasonal loan authorization to prevent
New York City from having to default.

1978 - The first game of the Women's Pro Basketball League (WBL) was played between the
Chicago Hustle and the Milwaukee Does.

1983 - NATO foreign ministers called on the Soviet Union to join in a "comprehensive political
dialogue" to ease tensions in the world.

1985 - In Argentina, five former military junta members received sentences in prison for their
roles in the "dirty war" in which nearly 9,000 people had "disappeared."

1987 - West Bank Palestinians launched an intifada (uprising) against Israeli occupation.

1987 - In the Gaza Strip, an Israeli patrol attacked the Jabliya refugee camp.

1990 - Lech Walesa won Poland's first direct presidential election in the country's history.
1990 - Slobodan Milosovic was elected president in Serbia's first free elections in 50 years.

1990 - The first American hostages to be released by Iran began arriving in the U.S.

1991 - European Community leaders agreed to begin using a single currency in 1999.

1992 - Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation.

1992 - Clair George, former CIA spy chief, was convicted of lying to the U.S. Congress about
the Iran-Contra affair. U.S. President George H.W. Bush later pardoned George.

1992 - U.S. troops arrived in Mogadishu, Somalia, to oversee delivery of international food aid,
in operation 'Restore Hope'.

1993 - The U.S. Air Force destroyed the first of 500 Minuteman II missile silos that were marked
for elimination under an arms control treaty.

1993 - Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavor completed repairs to the Hubble Space
Telescope.

1993 - At Princeton University in New Jersey, scientists produced a controlled fusion reaction
equivalent to 3 million watts.

1994 - Representatives of the Irish Republican Army and the British government opened peace
talks in Northern Ireland.

1996 - UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali approved a deal allowing Iraq to resume its exports
of oil and easing the UN trade embargo imposed on Iraq in 1990.

1999 - The U.S. announced that it was expelling a Russian diplomat that had been caught
gathering information with an eavesdropping device at the U.S. State Department.

2002 - United Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after losing $4 billion in the previous two
years. It was the sixth largest bankruptcy filing.

2003 - In Australia, thieves broke into a home and stole two 300-year-old etchings by
Rembrandt. The 4-by-4-inch etchings, a self-portait and a depiction of the artist's mother, were
valued around $518,000.

2013 - AMR Corporation and US Airways Group completed a merger and was listed on the
NASDAQ as American Airlines Group, Inc.
DECEMBER 9 – BIRTHS – Scientists born on December 9th
  Henry Way Kendall

(source)
 Born 9 Dec 1926; died 15 Feb 1999 at age 72.
American nuclear physicist who shared the 1990 Nobel Prize for Physics with Jerome Isaac
Friedman and Richard E. Taylor for obtaining experimental evidence for the existence of the
subatomic particles known as quarks. To study the internal structure of the proton, they worked
with the 3-km linear accelerator recently opened at Stanford (SLAC). Electrons were accelerated
to an energy of 20,000 million electronvolts and directed against a target of liquid hydrogen. In
1969 Kendall helped found the Union of Concerned Scientists. In 1997, in connection with the
Kyoto Climate Summit, he helped produce a statement signed by 2,000 scientists calling for
action on global warming.
  William N. Lipscomb Jr.

(source)
 Born 9 Dec 1919; died 14 Apr 2011 at age 91.
William Nunn Lipscomb was an American physical chemist who won the Nobel Prize for
Chemistry in 1976 for his research on the structure of boranes (boron hydride compounds), work
which also answered general questions about chemical bonding. Boranes became important in
chemical research in the 1940s and ‘50s because of the need to find volatile uranium compounds
(borohydrides) for isotope separation, as well as the need to develop high-energy fuels for
rockets and jet aircraft. To map the molecular structures of boranes, Lipscomb also developed x-
ray techniques that later found application in many other areas of chemical research. Lipscomb's
research interests included the relationship of three-dimensional structure and mechanisms of
enzymes and other proteins.
  (Leo) James Rainwater

(source)
 Born 9 Dec 1917; died 31 May 1986 at age 68.
(Leo) James Rainwater was an American physicist who won a share of the Nobel Prize for
Physics in 1975 for his part in determining the asymmetrical shapes of certain atomic nuclei.
During WW II, Rainwater worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. In
1949 he began formulating a theory that not all atomic nuclei are spherical, as was then generally
believed. The theory was tested experimentally and confirmed by Danish physicists Aage N.
Bohr and Ben R. Mottelson. For their work the three scientists were awarded jointly the 1975
Nobel Prize for Physics. He also conducted valuable research on X rays and took part in Atomic
Energy Commission and naval research projects.
  Grace Hopper

(source)
 Born 9 Dec 1906; died 1 Jan 1992 at age 85.   quotes
Grace Murray Hopper (née Grace Brewster Murray) was an American mathematician and rear
admiral in the U.S. Navy. She pioneered the development of computer technology. She helped
John Presper Eckert and John William Mauchly in designing and developing the BINAC (Binary
Automatic Computer). Her ideas contributed to the first commercial electronic computer, Univac
I, and naval applications for COBOL (co-mmon b-usiness o- riented l-anguage). With a Ph.D. in
Mathematics from Yale University (1934), she taught mathematics (Vassar, 1931-43), before she
joined the Naval Reserve. In 1944, she was commissioned as a Lieutenant (Junior Grade),
assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance where she became involved in the early development of the
electronic computer. For more than four decades, she was a leader in computer applications and
programming languages.
Grace Hopper: Admiral Of The Cyber Sea, by Kathleen Broome Williams. - book suggestion.
  George Wallace Kidder

 Born 9 Dec 1902; died 1996.

American biochemist who demonstrated that a chemical distinction exists between tumorous and
normal cells. He was a protozoologist for a number of years in his early career. His study of
tetrahymena, a one-cell, pond ciliate with a basic biochemical pattern in most respects
resembling that of human cells, led to his discoveries in abnormal growths and, ultimately, in
cancerous cells. In spring of 1949, Kidder and his associates discovered that azaguanine, a
metabolic analog of guanine, would inhibit the growth of certain forms of cancer and leukemia in
mice without injuring the normal cells of the host. (Subsequently, other researchers found to be
unsuccessful in cancer treatment of humans, even toxic.)
  Joseph Needham

(source)
 Born 9 Dec 1900; died 24 Mar 1995 at age 94.   quotes
(Noël) Joseph (Terence Montgomery) Needham was an English biochemist, embryologist, and
historian of science who wrote and edited the landmark history Science and Civilisation in
China, a remarkable multivolume study of nearly every branch of Chinese medicine, science,
and technology over some 25 centuries. As head of the British Scientific Mission in China
(1942-46) he worked to assure adequate liaison between Chinese scientists and technologists and
their colleagues in the West. As an historian of science and technology he wanted to break
through the parochial, Europe-centred views of most of his colleagues by disclosing the
achievements of traditional China and the contributions made by China leading up to the
scientific revolution.
  Clarence Birdseye

(source)
 Born 9 Dec 1886; died 7 Oct 1956 at age 69.
American naturalist and inventor of the deep freezing food method and co-founder of General
Foods Corp. On Arctic trips as a field naturalist for the United States government, he noticed that
freshly caught fish, when placed onto the Arctic ice and exposed to the icy wind and frigid
temperatures, froze solid almost immediately. He learned, too, that the fish, when thawed and
eaten, still had all its fresh characteristics. He concluded that quickly freezing certain items kept
large crystals from forming, preventing damage to their cellular structure. In Sep 1922, Clarence
organized his own company, Birdseye Seafoods, Inc., New York City, where he began
processing chilled fish fillets. In 1924, he developed an entirely new type of process to freeze
dressed fish packed in cartons.   more
Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man, by Mark Kurlansky. - book suggestion.
  Fritz Haber
(source)
 Born 9 Dec 1868; died 29 Jan 1934 at age 65.   quotes
German physical chemist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1918) for his development
of a method of synthesizing ammonia (1909) directly from nitrogen and hydrogen. This led to
commercial large-scale production of nitrogen fertilizer. With the expertise of Carl Bosch, a
chemist working at the Badische Anilin- und Soda- Fabrik (BASF), obstacles which hindered the
large-scale adoption of the process were overcome and the Haber-Bosch process was born. The
Haber-Bosch high pressure process followed in the 1920s. Haber was also responsible for
introducing poison gases for chemical warfare in WW I. Being a Jew, he left Germany in 1933 to
go into exile in Britain, working in Cambridge at the Cavendish Laboratory.   more
Fritz Haber: Chemist, Nobel Laureate, German, Jew: A Biography, by Dietrich Stoltzenberg. - book
suggestion.
  Frederick Novy

(source)
 Born 9 Dec 1864; died 8 Aug 1957 at age 92.
Frederick George Novy was an American bacteriologist  who learned the fundamentals of his
field of research first hand in the laboratories of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch in Europe. On
his return to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, he taught a course in bacteriology (1889)
often regarded as the first such formal university course in the U.S.  In 1900 he served on a
commission to determine if bubonic plague was becoming endemic in San Fancisco’s
Chinatown. He was a co-founder of the Society of American Bacteriologists (1900). In his
subsequent work in microbiology, for which he invented ingenious apparatus, he is best known
for his study of trypanosomes, spirochetes and microbial respiration.«
  Comte Claude Louis Berthollet

(source)
 Born 9 Dec 1748; died 6 Nov 1822 at age 73.
French chemist who was the first to note that the completeness of chemical reactions depends in
part upon the masses of the reacting substances (1803); he thus came close to formulating the
law of mass action. Though he incorrectly concluded that elements unite in all proportions, his
resulting controversy with the chemist Joseph-Louis Proust led to the establishment of the law of
definite proportions. He continued Carl Scheele's research on chlorine, showing in 1785 how it
could be used for bleaching. He continued Joseph Priestley's investigation of ammonia, and was
the first to show it was a compound of hydrogen and nitrogen. He discovered potassium chlorate.
  Carl Wilhelm Scheele

(source)
 Born 9 Dec 1742; died 21 May 1786 at age 43.   quotes
(also Karl) Swedish chemist who discovered oxygen in 1772. Scheele, a keen experimenter,
worked in difficult and often hazardous conditions. In his only book, Chemical Observations
and Experiments on Air and Fire (1777), he stated that the atmosphere is composed of two gases,
one supporting combustion, which he named "fire air" (oxygen), and the other preventing it,
which he named "vitiated air" (nitrogen). Due to delay in his publication, he lost priority to
Priestley's discovery of oxygen in 1774. Scheele discovered many substances, such as chlorine
(1774), manganese (1774), tungsten (1781), molybdenum (1782), glycerol, hydrocyanic (prussic)
acid, citric acid, hydrogen sulphide and hydrogen fluoride. He also discovered a process
resembling pasteurization.
  Johann Winckelmann

(source)
 Born 9 Dec 1717; died 8 Jun 1768 at age 50.
Johann Joachim Winckelmann was a German archaeologist and art historian who is regarded as
the father of modern archaeology because of his observations of the excavations of Pompeii and
Herculaneum in Italy (made during three visits). The excavations, started in 1748, were carried
out secretly to find art objects. Many artefacts and wall paintings were removed for the private
collection of the Bourbon king Charles III (reigned 1759-88). Winckelmann protested the
despoiling. He produced scholarly studies of archaeology and anquities and redefined archeology
as a history of ancient art. For these, he is often credited with being the first modern art historian.
He was murdered in Trieste by a former-convict cook while robbing him.
  Chester Moor Hall
 Born 9 Dec 1703; died 17 Mar 1771 at age 67.
English jurist and mathematician who invented the achromatic lens, which he utilized in building
the first refracting telescope free from chromatic aberration (colour distortion).
  William Whiston

(source)
 Born 9 Dec 1667; died 22 Aug 1752 at age 84.   quotes
English priest and mathematician who sought to harmonize religion and science, and who is
remembered for reviving in England the heretical views of Arianism. He attended Newton's
lectures while at Cambridge and showed great promise in mathematics. Ordained in 1693. While
chaplain to the bishop of Norwich (1694-98), he wrote A New Theory of the Earth (1696), in
which he claimed that the biblical stories of the creation, flood and final conflagration could be
explained scientifically as descriptions of events with historical bases. The Flood, he believed,
was caused by a comet passing close to the Earth on 28 Nov 2349 BC. This put stress on the
Earth's crust, causing it to crack and allow the water to escape and flood the Earth. After serving
as vicar of Lowestoft (1698–1701), he returned to his alma mater, Cambridge University to
become assistant to the mathematician Sir Isaac Newton, whom he succeeded as professor in
1703.
William Whiston: Honest Newtonian, by James E. Force. - book suggestion.
  Regnier Gemma Frisius

(source)
 Born 9 Dec 1508; died 25 May 1555 at age 46.
Dutch geographer who was born Regnier Gemma, but following the convention of his times,
added a Latin name when he became a scholar. He chose Frisius after his native Friesland
province. He worked in the fields of cosmology, astronomy and mathematics. His first
publication (1529) was a corrected version of Apianus' Cosmographia (1524). Gemma Frisius
also applied his knowledge to catography, construction of globes, and making astronomical
instruments. He introduced the principle of triangulation of observed places to accurately locate
them on a map (1533). With similar trigonometric methods, he identified that comets exhibited a
“proper motion” against the fixed star background. He was also the first to explain how
measurement of longitude could be made from elapsed time measurements with a portable
timepiece.«
Nature bears long with those who wrong her. She is patient under abuse. But when
abuse has gone too far, when the time of reckoning finally comes, she is equally slow
to be appeased and to turn away her wrath. (1882) -- Nathaniel Egleston, who was
writing then about deforestation, but speaks equally well about the danger of climate
change today.
Carl Sagan: In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good
argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and
you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often
as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every
day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987) ...
(more by Sagan)

Albert Einstein: I used to wonder how it comes about that the electron is negative. Negative-
positive—these are perfectly symmetric in physics. There is no reason whatever to prefer one to
the other. Then why is the electron negative? I thought about this for a long time and at last all I
could think was “It won the fight!” ...(more by Einstein)

Richard Feynman: It is the facts that matter, not the proofs. Physics can progress without the
proofs, but we can't go on without the facts ... if the facts are right, then the proofs are a matter of
playing around with the algebra correctly. ...(more by Feynman)
DECEMBER 9 – DEATHS – Scientists died on December 9th
  Sir Patrick Moore

(source)
 Died 9 Dec 2012 at age 89 (born 4 Mar 1923).
Patrick (Alfred Caldwell) Moore, English amateur astronomer, writer and broadcaster. He was
educated at home due to childhood illness, from which time he acquired his interest in
observational astronomy. Moore is best known as the enthusiastic and knowledgeable presenter
of the BBC TV programme The Sky at Night, which he began in 1957. With a half-century of
broadcasts, this is the world's longest-running television series, and it remains so with the
original presenter. Moore has written over 60 books, including The Amateur Astronomer (1970),
The A-Z of Astronomy (1986), and Mission to the Planets (1990). As an accomplished xylophone
player, his interest in astronomy also shows in the title of one of his musical compositions:
Perseus and Andromeda (1975).«
  Karl August Folkers
(source)
 Died 9 Dec 1997 at age 91 (born 1 Sep 1906).
U.S. chemist whose research on vitamins resulted in the isolation of vitamin B12, the only
effective agent known in countering pernicious anemia.
  Mary Douglas Leakey

(source)
 Died 9 Dec 1996 at age 83 (born 6 Feb 1913).   quotes
English archaeologist and paleoanthropologist (née Nicol) who made several of the most
important fossil finds subsequently interpreted and publicized by her husband, the noted
anthropologist Louis Leakey. For every vivid claim made by Louis about the origins of man, the
supporting evidence tended to come from Mary's scrupulous scientific approach. As “the woman
who found our ancestors”, Mary's work in East Africa shed new light on human evolution. After
Louis' death in 1972, she enjoyed her most spectacular find: three trails of fossilised hominid
footprints 3.6 million years old, which she discovered at Laetoli in Tanzania (1978-9) showing
man's ancestors were walking upright at a much earlier period than previously believed.
Ancestral Passions: The Leakey Family and the Quest for Humankind's Beginnings, by Virginia
Morell. - book suggestion.
  Joseph G(ilbert) Hoffman

 Died 9 Dec 1974 at age 65 (born 19 Aug 1909).

American physicist and biophysicist who brought atomic isotopes into the battle against cancer.
During WW II, he developed a radio proximity fuse and later was a health-physics scientist with
"Manhattan Project." Hoffman studied nine accident victims of radiation disease at Los Alamos
in Aug 1945 and May 1946. This research revealed for the first time that atoms of living human
tissue could be transformed into radioactive atoms. He recognized "a completely new approach
to studying the metabolism of atoms in living tissue and a new way of probing the complicated
system of gene cells that determine heredity," and such knowledge was indispensable to
understanding the mysteries of cancer research in which he engaged for the rest of his life.«
The life and death of cells, by Joseph G Hoffman. - book suggestion.
  G. Kingsley Noble

 Died 9 Dec 1940 at age 46 (born 20 Sep 1894).

Gladwyn Kingsley Noble was an American biologist and zoologist. After WW I, he began his
life's work at the American Museum of Natural History, specializing in herpetology (the study of
reptiles and amphibians) and experimental biology investigations using techniques of
endocrinology and neurology. In an article published in Nature on 7 Aug 1926, Noble debunked
Paul Kammerer's claim that he had induced nuptial pads on midwife toads that were hereditary.
After Noble examined a preserved specimen, he revealed the pad was simulated with injected
Indian ink. This set off an academic bombshell. He died at the very height of his ability, at age
47, from a streptococcus infection of the throat.
  Nils Dalén

(source)
 Died 9 Dec 1937 at age 68 (born 30 Nov 1869).
Swedish engineer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1912 for his invention of the
automatic sun valve, or Solventil, which regulates a gaslight source by the action of sunlight,
turning it off at dawn and on at dusk or at other periods of darkness. It rapidly came into
worldwide use for buoys and unmanned lighthouses. While recovering from an accident,
convalescing at home, he noticed how much time his wife spent caring for their wood-burning
stove. He decided to invent a more efficient and cost-effective stove. In 1922, Dalen's
Amalgamated Gas Accumulator Co. patented his design and put the first AGA stoves into
production. These stoves produced a radiant heat that kept the kitchen warm. The AGA remains
popular today.
  Lafayette Benedict Mendel
(source)
 Died 9 Dec 1935 at age 63 (born 5 Feb 1872).
American biochemist whose discoveries concerning the value of vitamins and proteins helped
establish modern concepts of nutrition. Collaborating with Thomas Osborne, together they
published more than 100 papers on various aspects of nutrition (1909-28). In 1913, they showed
that rats developed xerophthalmia on diets in which lard supplied the fat. The condition was
cured by substitution of butterfat. Thus, they discovered butterfat contained a growth- promoting
factor necessary for development, soon known as fat-soluble vitamin A, (co-discovered
simultaneously by Elmer McCollum). Mendel also contributed to discovery of B complex
vitamins (1915) and linked the nutritive value of proteins to their amino acids.
  Théodule-Armand Ribot

(source)
 Died 9 Dec 1916 at age 76 (born 18 Dec 1839).   quotes
French psychologist who pioneered in experimental psychology and conducted influential
psychpathological studies. His endeavour to account for memory loss as a symptom of
progressive brain disease was published in his Les Maladies de la mémoire (1881; Diseases of
Memory), constitutes the most influential early attempt to analyze abnormalities of memory in
terms of physiology. Ribot was instrumental in introducing dynamic psychology in France. In
1885 Ribot was appointed to teach the first course in experimental psychology offered by the
Sorbonne, at the University of Paris.
  François Lenormant
 Died 9 Dec 1883 at age 46 (born 17 Jan 1837).
French Assyriologist and numismatist who recognized, from cuneiform inscriptions, a language
now known as Akkadian that proved valuable to the understanding of Mesopotamian civilization
3,000 years before the Christian era. He published his first archaeological paper at 14 and went
on to become a scholar of wide achievement.
  Carl Culmann
(source)
 Died 9 Dec 1881 at age 60 (born 10 Jul 1821).
German bridge and railway engineer whose graphic methods of structural analysis have been
widely applied to engineering and mechanics. He wrote the first book on graphic statics,
published in 1866. Stress trajectories are one of the original topics presented in this book. In
1849-1850, Culmann spent two years traveling in England and the United States to study
bridges, which he later wrote about in Germany. He designed numerous bridge structures at the
newly organized Zürich Polytechnicum. The works of Culmann, among other things, have been
taken up for the design of the central arched bridges of the Eiffel Tower, and were also quoted by
Pier Luigi Nervi in his patent on the construction of reinforced concrete-slab floors.
  Joseph Bramah

1778
(source)
 Died 9 Dec 1814 at age 66 (born 13 Apr 1748).   quotes
English engineer and inventor whose lock manufacturing shop was the cradle of the British
machine-tool industry. Central in early Victorian lockmaking and manufacturing, he influenced
almost every mechanical trade of the time. Like Henry Ford, his influence was probably greater
for the manufacturing processes he developed, than the product itself. He took out his first patent
on a safety lock (1784) and in 1795 he patented his hydraulic press, known as the Bramah press,
used for heavy forging. He devised a numerical printing machine for bank notes and was one of
the first to suggest the practicability of screw propellers and of hydraulic transmission. He
invented milling and planing machines and other machine tools, a beer-engine (1797), and a
water-closet.[left]

< 8 Dec | 10 Dec >

DECEMBER 9 – EVENTS – Science events on December 9th
  Computer mouse
(source)
  In 1968, the first demonstration of the use of a computer mouse was given at the American
Federation of Information Processing Societies' Fall Joint Computer Conference at Stanford
University, California. The mouse's inventor, Doug Engelbart and a small team of researchers
from the Stanford Research Institute stunned the computing world with an extraordinary
demonstration at a San Francisco computer conference. They debuted the computer mouse,
graphical user interface, display editing and integrated text and graphics, hyper-documents, and
two-way video-conferencing with shared workspaces. These concepts and technologies were to
become the cornerstones of modern interactive computing. Engelbart patented the mouse on 17
Nov 1970.
  Thin-film memory

(source)
  In 1960, the first electronic computer to employ thin-film memory was announced when Sperry
Rand Corporation, of St. Paul, Minn., unveiled a new computer, known as Univac 1107 [left].
Thin film magnetic memory technology was developed by Sperry Rand through government
funded research. A thin film (4 millionths of an inch thick) of iron-nickel alloy was deposited on
small glass plates. This provided very fast access times in the range of 0.67 microseconds, but
was very expensive to produce. The Univac 1107, intended for the civilian marketplace, used
thin film memory only for its 128-word general register stack. Military computers, where money
was less of a concern, used larger amounts of thin film memory.
  London Great Smog end

Flare-led bus
(source)
  In 1952, after a dense four-day killer smog in London, England, sunshine was seen again as the
fog was cleared by freshening winds and a rise in temperature. Since it began on 5 Feb 1952, it
had caused at least 4,000 deaths and chaos for transportation as visibility was reduced to a few
hundred yards. Although the London Underground had maintained service, bus service was
vitually shut down whenever visibility was reduced so severely the roads became congested.
During the time of dense fog, most flights in to London Airport were diverted to Hurn, near
Bournemouth and linked by train with Waterloo. The many deaths were of mostly among the
elderly, the very young, or those with medical problems. The cause of the smog was coal-
burning. Drastic action was needed, resulting in the Clear Air Act of 1956.«
Killer Smog: The World's Worst Air Pollution Disaster, by William Wise. - book suggestion.
  Leaded gasoline

(source)
  In 1921, tetraethyl lead was first given a laboratory test as an anti-knock additive to gasoline
fuel. The knock in the one-cylinder laboratory engine was utterly silenced. Even at a strength of
only 2-3g grams per gallon (1000 to 1 dilution), it had a remarkable ability to quiet the relentless
knocking. This invention of Thomas Midgley, Jr., of the General Motors Research Laboratories,
located in Dayton, Ohio, was first put on public sale as ethyl gasoline in the same city on 2 Feb
1923. This invention of leaded gasoline came after seven years of testing at least 33,000
compounds. Previously, on hard acceleration, an engine sometimes made knocking, popping or
crackling sounds, which sapped power and could damage the engine.
From the Periodic Table to Production: The Life of Thomas Midgley, Jr., by Thomas Midgley. - book
suggestion.
  First bicycle on U.S. stamp

(source)
  In 1902, the first U.S. stamp to show a bicycle in its design was issued. This blue 10-cent
Special Delivery "Messenger on Bicycle" stamp showed in a small way how technology was
coming in America's future, because it replaced earlier issues of a design showing a "running"
messenger. When the special delivery service was initiated with its own 10-cent stamp the
earliest known use of that stamp was on 6 Sep 1888 (which is used to date the stamp as in earlier
times there was no formal day-of-issue.) A few varieties of the same running messenger were
issued in the years prior to the 1902 Messenger on Bicycle stamp.«
  Roller skates

(source)
  In 1884, the first U.S. patent for ball-bearing roller skates was issued to Levant M. Richardson
of the Richardson Skate Company, Chicago, Illinois. This design allowed until then unseen
speed. (No. 308,990)
  Silver suture

(source)
  In 1845, J. Marion Sims (1813-83) began his experiments (1845-50) to use a fine silver wire for
sutures. In his era, the suture materials used for vaginal tears, mostly silk and catgut, absorbed
bodily fluid, caused inflammation around the wounds, promoting horrible infections that would
never heal. So he used a fine silver wire he had drawn by a jeweller. Sims successfully
performed a vesico-vaginal fistula operation on 21 Jun 1849 in Montgomery, Ala. The suture
was removed on the eight day after the operation. He reported his technique in an article "On the
Treatment of Vesico-vaginal Fistula" in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences. For his
development of techniques and instruments, Sims is known as the "Father of Modern American
Gynecology."
  Last Julian calendar day in France
  In 1582, this date, 9 Dec 1582, was the last using the Julian calendar in France. Tomorrow will
be 20 Dec 1582 on the Gregorian calendar introduced by Pope Gregoy XIII. In Italy, the change
had already taken place two months earlier, having ended use of the Julian calendar on 4 Oct
1582. Some regions that are part of present-day France, but acted independently then, continued
using the Julian calendar. The last day of the Julian calendar for these were Alsace: 5 Feb 1682;
Lorraine: 16 Feb 1670; Strasbourg: Feb 1682. However, after the French Revolution, the
Republican calendar, with twelve months of 30 days each plus five supplementary days (six in a
leap year) was adopted on 24 Nov 1793, and not abolished until 31 Dec 1805. The Gregorian
calendar was followed from 1 Dec 1806.«
Fritz Haber (1868 – 1934)
Nobel Foundation

December 9 is Fritz Haber’s birthday. Haber was a German chemist who discovered a process to
create ammonia from atmospheric gases.

The Haber-Bosch process is a reaction that fixes nitrogen to form ammonia (NH3) from nitrogen
gas (N2) and hydrogen gas (H2) under pressure over an iron catalyst. Haber discovered the
process on a laboratory scale using tabletop lab equipment. German chemical engineer Carl
Bosch converted the laboratory equipment to be used on large scale industrial equipment. The
process would earn both Haber and Bosch Nobel Prizes in Chemistry (1918 and 1931
respectively).

Modern farming uses a lot of fertilizers to increase crop yields. Prior to Haber’s discovery, much
of this fertilizer came from guano islands in South America. Countries fought wars over tiny
islands covered with accumulated bird and bat excrement. The Haber-Bosch process eliminated
the need for this source of fixed nitrogen. Today, the Haber-Bosch process accounts for 100
million tons of fertilizer per year.