1.
1753 in science
–
The year 1753 in science and technology involved some significant events. Ruđer Boškovićs De lunae atmosphaera demonstrates the lack of atmosphere on the Moon, may 1 – Publication of Linnaeus Species Plantarum, the start of formal scientific classification of plants. June – Establishment in Florence of the Accademia dei Georgofili, the worlds oldest society devoted to agronomy, claude François Geoffroy demonstrates that bismuth is distinct from lead and tin. January 1 – Retrospectively, the date value for a datetime field in an SQL Server due to this being the first full year since Britains adoption of the Gregorian calendar. James Lind publishes the first edition of A Treatise on the Scurvy, benjamin Franklin invents the lightning rod, to ring a bell when struck by lightning, following his 1752 kite and key tests. George Semple uses hydraulic lime cement in rebuilding Essex Bridge in Dublin
2.
1759 in science
–
The year 1759 in science and technology involved several significant events. Halleys comet returns, a team of three mathematicians, Alexis Clairaut, Jérome Lalande and Nicole Reine Lepaute, had—for the first time—predicted the date, caspar Friedrich Wolffs dissertation at the University of Halle Theoria Generationis supports the theory of epigenesis. Kew Gardens established in England by Augusta of Saxe-Coburg, the mother of George III, giovanni Arduino proposes dividing the geological history of Earth into four periods, Primitive, Secondary, Tertiary and Volcanic, or Quaternary. Posthumous publication of Émilie du Châtelets French translation and commentary on Newtons Principia, angélique du Coudray publishes Abrégé de lart des accouchements. English clockmaker John Harrison produces his No.1 sea watch, james Brindley is engaged by the Duke of Bridgewater to construct a canal to transport coal to Manchester from the dukes mines at Worsley, in North West England. October 16 – Smeatons Tower, John Smeatons Eddystone Lighthouse off the coast of South West England, is first illuminated
3.
Science
–
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. The formal sciences are often excluded as they do not depend on empirical observations, disciplines which use science, like engineering and medicine, may also be considered to be applied sciences. However, during the Islamic Golden Age foundations for the method were laid by Ibn al-Haytham in his Book of Optics. In the 17th and 18th centuries, scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of physical laws, over the course of the 19th century, the word science became increasingly associated with the scientific method itself as a disciplined way to study the natural world. It was during this time that scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, Science in a broad sense existed before the modern era and in many historical civilizations. Modern science is distinct in its approach and successful in its results, Science in its original sense was a word for a type of knowledge rather than a specialized word for the pursuit of such knowledge. In particular, it was the type of knowledge which people can communicate to each other, for example, knowledge about the working of natural things was gathered long before recorded history and led to the development of complex abstract thought. This is shown by the construction of calendars, techniques for making poisonous plants edible. For this reason, it is claimed these men were the first philosophers in the strict sense and they were mainly speculators or theorists, particularly interested in astronomy. In contrast, trying to use knowledge of nature to imitate nature was seen by scientists as a more appropriate interest for lower class artisans. A clear-cut distinction between formal and empirical science was made by the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides, although his work Peri Physeos is a poem, it may be viewed as an epistemological essay on method in natural science. Parmenides ἐὸν may refer to a system or calculus which can describe nature more precisely than natural languages. Physis may be identical to ἐὸν and he criticized the older type of study of physics as too purely speculative and lacking in self-criticism. He was particularly concerned that some of the early physicists treated nature as if it could be assumed that it had no intelligent order, explaining things merely in terms of motion and matter. The study of things had been the realm of mythology and tradition, however. Aristotle later created a less controversial systematic programme of Socratic philosophy which was teleological and he rejected many of the conclusions of earlier scientists. For example, in his physics, the sun goes around the earth, each thing has a formal cause and final cause and a role in the rational cosmic order. Motion and change is described as the actualization of potentials already in things, while the Socratics insisted that philosophy should be used to consider the practical question of the best way to live for a human being, they did not argue for any other types of applied science
4.
Technology
–
Technology is the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation. Technology can be the knowledge of techniques, processes, and the like, the human species use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The steady progress of technology has brought weapons of ever-increasing destructive power. It has helped develop more advanced economies and has allowed the rise of a leisure class, many technological processes produce unwanted by-products known as pollution and deplete natural resources to the detriment of Earths environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and raise new questions of the ethics of technology, examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, and the challenges of bioethics. Philosophical debates have arisen over the use of technology, with disagreements over whether technology improves the condition or worsens it. The use of the technology has changed significantly over the last 200 years. Before the 20th century, the term was uncommon in English, the term was often connected to technical education, as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The term technology rose to prominence in the 20th century in connection with the Second Industrial Revolution, the terms meanings changed in the early 20th century when American social scientists, beginning with Thorstein Veblen, translated ideas from the German concept of Technik into technology. In German and other European languages, a distinction exists between technik and technologie that is absent in English, which translates both terms as technology. By the 1930s, technology referred not only to the study of the industrial arts, dictionaries and scholars have offered a variety of definitions. Ursula Franklin, in her 1989 Real World of Technology lecture, gave another definition of the concept, it is practice, the way we do things around here. The term is used to imply a specific field of technology, or to refer to high technology or just consumer electronics. Bernard Stiegler, in Technics and Time,1, defines technology in two ways, as the pursuit of life by other than life, and as organized inorganic matter. Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to some value. In this usage, technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems and it is a far-reaching term that may include simple tools, such as a crowbar or wooden spoon, or more complex machines, such as a space station or particle accelerator. Tools and machines need not be material, virtual technology, such as software and business methods. W. Brian Arthur defines technology in a broad way as a means to fulfill a human purpose
5.
Halley's Comet
–
Halleys Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–76 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is visible to the naked eye from Earth. Halley last appeared in the parts of the Solar System in 1986. Halleys returns to the inner Solar System have been observed and recorded by astronomers since at least 240 BC, clear records of the comets appearances were made by Chinese, Babylonian, and medieval European chroniclers, but were not recognized as reappearances of the same object at the time. The comets periodicity was first determined in 1705 by English astronomer Edmond Halley, Comet Halley is commonly pronounced /ˈhæli/, rhyming with valley, or /ˈheɪli/, rhyming with daily. Spellings of Edmond Halleys name during his lifetime included Hailey, Haley, Hayley, Halley, Hawley, Halley was the first comet to be recognized as periodic. Until the Renaissance, the consensus on the nature of comets. This idea was disproved in 1577 by Tycho Brahe, who used parallax measurements to show that comets must lie beyond the Moon, many were still unconvinced that comets orbited the Sun, and assumed instead that they must follow straight paths through the Solar System. In 1687, Sir Isaac Newton published his Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, in which he outlined his laws of gravity and his work on comets was decidedly incomplete. Halley thus concluded that all three comets were, in fact, the same object returning every 76 years, a period that has since been amended to every 75–76 years. After a rough estimate of the perturbations the comet would sustain from the attraction of the planets. Halley died in 1742 before he could observe this himself, Halleys prediction of the comets return proved to be correct, although it was not seen until 25 December 1758, by Johann Georg Palitzsch, a German farmer and amateur astronomer. It did not pass through its perihelion until 13 March 1759 and this effect was computed prior to its return by a team of three French mathematicians, Alexis Clairaut, Joseph Lalande, and Nicole-Reine Lepaute. The confirmation of the return was the first time anything other than planets had been shown to orbit the Sun. It was also one of the earliest successful tests of Newtonian physics, the comet was first named in Halleys honour by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1759. Some scholars have proposed that first-century Mesopotamian astronomers already had recognized Halleys Comet as periodic and this theory notes a passage in the Bavli Talmud that refers to a star which appears once in seventy years that makes the captains of the ships err. It was necessary to use ancient Chinese comet observations to constrain their calculations, Halleys orbital period over the last 3 centuries has been between 75–76 years, although it has varied between 74–79 years since 240 BC. Its orbit around the Sun is highly elliptical, with an eccentricity of 0.967
6.
Edmond Halley
–
Edmond Halley, FRS was an English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist who is best known for computing the orbit of Halleys Comet. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed, Halley was born in Haggerston, in east London. His father, Edmond Halley Sr. came from a Derbyshire family and was a wealthy soap-maker in London, as a child, Halley was very interested in mathematics. He studied at St Pauls School, and from 1673 at The Queens College, while still an undergraduate, Halley published papers on the Solar System and sunspots. While at Oxford University, Halley was introduced to John Flamsteed, influenced by Flamsteeds project to compile a catalog of northern stars, Halley proposed to do the same for the Southern Hemisphere. In 1676, Halley visited the south Atlantic island of Saint Helena, while there he observed a transit of Mercury, and realised that a similar transit of Venus could be used to determine the absolute size of the Solar System. He returned to England in May 1678, in the following year he went to Danzig on behalf of the Royal Society to help resolve a dispute. Because astronomer Johannes Hevelius did not use a telescope, his observations had been questioned by Robert Hooke, Halley stayed with Hevelius and he observed and verified the quality of Hevelius observations. In 1679, Halley published the results from his observations on St. Helena as Catalogus Stellarum Australium which included details of 341 southern stars and these additions to contemporary star maps earned him comparison with Tycho Brahe, e. g. the southern Tycho as described by Flamsteed. Halley was awarded his M. A. degree at Oxford, in 1686, Halley published the second part of the results from his Helenian expedition, being a paper and chart on trade winds and monsoons. The symbols he used to represent trailing winds still exist in most modern day weather chart representations, in this article he identified solar heating as the cause of atmospheric motions. He also established the relationship between pressure and height above sea level. His charts were an important contribution to the field of information visualisation. Halley spent most of his time on lunar observations, but was interested in the problems of gravity. One problem that attracted his attention was the proof of Keplers laws of planetary motion, Halleys first calculations with comets were thereby for the orbit of comet Kirch, based on Flamsteeds observations in 1680-1. Although he was to calculate the orbit of the comet of 1682. They indicated a periodicity of 575 years, thus appearing in the years 531 and 1106 and it is now known to have an orbital period of circa 10,000 years. In 1691, Halley built a bell, a device in which the atmosphere was replenished by way of weighted barrels of air sent down from the surface
7.
10th edition of Systema Naturae
–
The 10th edition of Systema Naturae is a book written by Carl Linnaeus and published in two volumes in 1758 and 1759, which marks the starting point of zoological nomenclature. In it, Linnaeus introduced binomial nomenclature for animals, something he had already done for plants in his 1753 publication of Species Plantarum, before 1758, most biological catalogues had used polynomial names for the taxa included, including earlier editions of Systema Naturae. The first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature across the kingdom was the 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Names published before that date are unavailable, even if they would otherwise satisfy the rules, during Linnaeus lifetime, Systema Naturae was under continuous revision. The Animal Kingdom, Animals enjoy sensation by means of an organization, animated by a medullary substance, perception by nerves. They have members for the different purposes of life, organs for their different senses and they all originate from an egg. Their external and internal structure, their anatomy, habits, instincts. The list has been broken down into the six classes Linnaeus described for animals, Mammalia, Aves, Amphibia, Pisces, Insecta. These classes were created by studying the internal anatomy, as seen in his key. Warm, red blood Viviparous, Mammalia Oviparous, Aves Heart with 1 auricle,1 ventricle, cold, red blood Lungs voluntary, Amphibia External gills, Pisces Heart with 1 auricle,0 ventricles. Linnaeus described mammals as, Animals that suckle their young by means of lactiferous teats, in external and internal structure they resemble man, most of them are quadrupeds, and with man, their natural enemy, inhabit the surface of the Earth. The largest, though fewest in number, inhabit the ocean and they are areal, vocal, swift and light, and destitute of external ears, lips, teeth, scrotum, womb, bladder, epiglottis, corpus callosum and its arch, and diaphragm. They breathe by means of gills, which are united by a bony arch, swim by means of radiate fins. Many of them are without a head, and most of them without feet. They are principally distinguished by their tentacles, by the Ancients they were not improperly called imperfect animals, as being destitute of ears, nose, head, eyes and legs, and are therefore totally distinct from Insects. In addition to repeating the species he had listed in his Species Plantarum. The species from Species Plantarum were numbered sequentially, while the new species were labelled with letters, new plant species described in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae include, The original 1758 Systema Naturae Linnaeus 1758 Classification of Animals on the Taxonomicon
8.
Patent
–
A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for detailed public disclosure of an invention. An invention is a solution to a technological problem and is a product or a process. Patents are a form of intellectual property, the procedure for granting patents, requirements placed on the patentee, and the extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between countries according to national laws and international agreements. Typically, however, a patent application must include one or more claims that define the invention. A patent may include many claims, each of which defines a specific property right and these claims must meet relevant patentability requirements, such as novelty, usefulness, and non-obviousness. Nevertheless, there are variations on what is patentable subject matter from country to country, the word patent originates from the Latin patere, which means to lay open. More directly, it is a version of the term letters patent. Similar grants included land patents, which were land grants by early state governments in the USA, and printing patents, a precursor of modern copyright. In modern usage, the term patent usually refers to the granted to anyone who invents any new, useful. The additional qualification utility patent is used to distinguish the primary meaning from these other types of patents. Particular species of patents for inventions include biological patents, business method patents, chemical patents, the period of protection was 10 years. These were mostly in the field of glass making, as Venetians emigrated, they sought similar patent protection in their new homes. This led to the diffusion of patent systems to other countries, by the 16th century, the English Crown would habitually abuse the granting of letters patent for monopolies. After public outcry, King James I of England was forced to revoke all existing monopolies, the Statute became the foundation for later developments in patent law in England and elsewhere. Important developments in patent law emerged during the 18th century through a process of judicial interpretation of the law. During the reign of Queen Anne, patent applications were required to supply a complete specification of the principles of operation of the invention for public access. Influenced by the philosophy of John Locke, the granting of patents began to be viewed as a form of property right. The English legal system became the foundation for patent law in countries with a common law heritage, including the United States, New Zealand, in the Thirteen Colonies, inventors could obtain patents through petition to a given colonys legislature
9.
Calcining
–
Authorities differ on the meaning of calcination. The IUPAC defines it as heating to temperatures in air or oxygen. A calciner is a cylinder that rotates inside a heated furnace. The product of calcination is usually referred to in general as calcine, calcination is carried out in furnaces or reactors of various designs including shaft furnaces, rotary kilns, multiple hearth furnaces, and fluidized bed reactors. Calcination reactions usually take place at or above the decomposition temperature or the transition temperature. This temperature is defined as the temperature at which the standard Gibbs free energy for a particular calcination reaction is equal to zero. For example, in limestone calcination, a process, the chemical reaction is CaCO3 → CaO + CO2 The standard Gibbs free energy of reaction is approximated as ΔG°r =177,100 −158 T. The standard free energy of reaction is 0 in this case when the temperature, T, is equal to 1121 K, see also calcination equilibrium of calcium carbonate In some cases, calcination of a metal results in oxidation of the metal. Jean Rey noted that lead and tin when calcinated gained weight, in alchemy, calcination was believed to be one of the 12 vital processes required for the transformation of a substance. Alchemists distinguished two kinds of calcination, actual and potential, actual calcination is that brought about by actual fire, from wood, coals, or other fuel, raised to a certain temperature
10.
Zinc sulfide
–
Zinc sulfide is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula of ZnS. This is the form of zinc found in nature, where it mainly occurs as the mineral sphalerite. Although this mineral is black because of various impurities, the pure material is white. In its dense synthetic form, zinc sulfide can be transparent, ZnS exists in two main crystalline forms, and this dualism is often a salient example of polymorphism. In each form, the geometry at Zn and S is tetrahedral. The more stable form is known also as zinc blende or sphalerite. The hexagonal form is known as the mineral wurtzite, although it also can be produced synthetically, the transition from the sphalerite form to the wurtzite form occurs at around 1020 celsius. When silver is used as activator, the color is bright blue. Using manganese yields a color at around 590 nanometers. Copper gives long-time glow, and it has the familiar greenish glow-in-the-dark, copper-doped zinc sulfide is used also in electroluminescent panels. It also exhibits phosphorescence due to impurities on illumination with blue or ultraviolet light, zinc sulfide is also used as an infrared optical material, transmitting from visible wavelengths to just over 12 micrometers. It can be used planar as a window or shaped into a lens. It is made as microcrystalline sheets by the synthesis from hydrogen gas and zinc vapour, and this is sold as FLIR-grade. This material when hot isostatically pressed can be converted to a form known as Cleartran. Early commercial forms were marketed as Irtran-2 but this designation is now obsolete, zinc sulfide is a common pigment, sometimes called sachtolith. When combined with barium sulfate, zinc sulfide forms lithopone, fine ZnS powder is an efficient photocatalyst, which produces hydrogen gas from water upon illumination. Both sphalerite and wurtzite are intrinsic, wide-bandgap semiconductors and these are prototypical II-VI semiconductors, and they adopt structures related to many of the other semiconductors, such as gallium arsenide. The cubic form of ZnS has a gap of about 3.54 electron volts at 300 kelvin
11.
Oxide
–
An oxide /ˈɒksaɪd/ is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen atom and one other element in its chemical formula. Oxide itself is the dianion of oxygen, an O2– atom, Metal oxides thus typically contain an anion of oxygen in the oxidation state of −2. Most of the Earths crust consists of oxides, the result of elements being oxidized by the oxygen in air or in water. Hydrocarbon combustion affords the two principal carbon oxides, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, even materials considered pure elements often develop an oxide coating. For example, aluminium foil develops a skin of Al2O3 that protects the foil from further corrosion. Individual elements can form multiple oxides, each containing different amounts of the element. Certain elements can form many different oxides, such those of nitrogen, due to its electronegativity, oxygen forms stable chemical bonds with almost all elements to give the corresponding oxides. Noble metals are prized because they resist direct chemical combination with oxygen, two independent pathways for corrosion of elements are hydrolysis and oxidation by oxygen. The combination of water and oxygen is even more corrosive, virtually all elements burn in an atmosphere of oxygen, or an oxygen rich environment. In the presence of water and oxygen, some elements— sodium—react rapidly, even dangerously, in part for this reason, alkali and alkaline earth metals are not found in nature in their metallic, i. e. native, form. Caesium is so reactive with oxygen that it is used as a getter in vacuum tubes, the surface of most metals consists of oxides and hydroxides in the presence of air. A well-known example is aluminium foil, which is coated with a film of aluminium oxide that passivates the metal. The aluminium oxide layer can be built to greater thickness by the process of electrolytic anodising, though solid magnesium and aluminium react slowly with oxygen at STP—they, like most metals, burn in air, generating very high temperatures. Finely grained powders of most metals can be explosive in air. Consequently, they are used in Solid-fuel rockets. In dry oxygen, iron forms iron oxide, but the formation of the hydrated ferric oxides, Fe2O3−x2x. Free oxygen production by photosynthetic bacteria some 3.5 billion years ago precipitated iron out of solution in the oceans as Fe2O3 in the important iron ore hematite. Oxides have a range of different structures, from molecules to polymeric
12.
Retort
–
In a chemistry laboratory, a retort is a glassware device used for distillation or dry distillation of substances. It consists of a vessel with a long downward-pointing neck. The liquid to be distilled is placed in the vessel and heated, the neck acts as a condenser, allowing the vapors to condense and flow along the neck to a collection vessel placed underneath. Such industrial-scale retorts are used in oil extraction and the production of charcoal. A process of heating oil shale to shale oil, oil shale gas. In the food industry, pressure cookers are often referred to as retorts, meaning canning retorts, with the invention of the alembic, a kind of retort, the alchemist Jābir ibn Hayyān developed the process of distillation into what it is today. Retorts were widely used by alchemists, and images of retorts appear in many drawings, before the advent of modern condensers, retorts were used by many prominent chemists, such as Antoine Lavoisier and Jöns Berzelius. An early method for producing phosphorus starts by roasting bones, however, some laboratory techniques that involve simple distillation and do not require sophisticated apparatus may use a retort as a substitute for more complex distillation equipment. A retort is a reactor that has the ability to pyrolyze pile-wood, or wood logs over 30 centimetres long and up to 18 centimetres in diameter
13.
Obstetrics
–
Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynaecology under the discipline known as obstetrics, prenatal care is important in screening for various complications of pregnancy. The newer integrated screen can be done at 10 plus weeks to 13 plus weeks with an ultrasound of the fetal neck and it gives an accurate risk profile very early. A second blood screen at 15 to 20 weeks refines the risk more accurately, the cost is higher than an AFP-quad screen due to the ultrasound and second blood test, but it is quoted to have a 93% pick up rate as opposed to 88% for the standard AFP/QS. This is a standard of care in the United States. If positive, the woman receives IV penicillin or ampicillin while in labor—or, if she is allergic to penicillin, glucose loading test - screens for gestational diabetes, if >140 mg/dL, a glucose tolerance test is administered, a fasting glucose >105 mg/dL suggests gestational diabetes. Specialised ultrasound equipment can also evaluate the flow velocity in the umbilical cord. X-rays and computerized tomography are not used, especially in the first trimester, due to the ionizing radiation, no effects of magnetic resonance imaging on the foetus have been demonstrated, but this technique is too expensive for routine observation. Instead, obstetric ultrasonography is the method of choice in the first trimester and throughout the pregnancy, because it emits no radiation, is portable. The safety of frequent ultrasound scanning has not be confirmed, despite this, increasing numbers of women are choosing to have additional scans for no medical purpose, such as gender scans, 3D and 4D scans. A normal gestation would reveal a gestational sac, yolk sac, the gestational age can be assessed by evaluating the mean gestational sac diameter before week 6, and the crown-rump length after week 6. Multiple gestation is evaluated by the number of placentae and amniotic sacs present, other tools used for assessment include, Fetal screening is used to help assess the viability of the fetus, as well as congenital abnormalities. Fetal karyotype can be used for the screening of genetic diseases, Fetal lung maturity is associated with how much surfactant the fetus is producing. Reduced production of surfactant indicates decreased lung maturity and is a risk factor for infant respiratory distress syndrome. Typically a lecithin, sphingomyelin ratio greater than 1.5 is associated with increased lung maturity, diabetes mellitus and pregnancy deals with the interactions of diabetes mellitus and pregnancy. Risks for the child include miscarriage, growth restriction, growth acceleration, feotal obesity, polyhydramnios, systemic lupus erythematosus and pregnancy confers an increased rate of foetal death in utero and spontaneous abortion, as well as of neonatal lupus. Thyroid disease in pregnancy can, if uncorrected, cause adverse effects on foetal and maternal well-being, the deleterious effects of thyroid dysfunction can also extend beyond pregnancy and delivery to affect neurointellectual development in the early life of the child. Demand for thyroid hormones is increased during pregnancy, and may cause a previously unnoticed thyroid disorder to worsen, hypercoagulability in pregnancy is the propensity of pregnant women to develop thrombosis
14.
Scottish people
–
The Scottish people, or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century, and are thought to have been ethnolinguistically Celts. Later, the neighbouring Cumbrian Britons, who spoke a Celtic language, as well as Germanic-speaking Anglo-Saxons. In modern usage, Scottish people or Scots is used to refer to anyone whose linguistic, cultural, the Latin word Scotti, originally the word referred specifically to the Gaels, but came to describe all inhabitants of Scotland. Considered archaic or pejorative, the term Scotch has also used for Scottish people. John Kenneth Galbraith in his book The Scotch documents the descendants of 19th-century Scottish pioneers who settled in Southwestern Ontario and he states the book was meant to give a true picture of life in the community in the early decades of the 20th century. People of Scottish descent live in countries other than Scotland. Scottish emigrants took with them their Scottish languages and culture, large populations of Scottish people settled the new-world lands of North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. Canada has the highest level of Scottish descendants per capita in the world, Scotland has seen migration and settlement of many peoples at different periods in its history. The Gaels, the Picts and the Britons have their origin myths. The Venerable Bede tells of the Scotti coming from Spain via Ireland, Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxons, arrived beginning in the 7th century, while the Norse invaded and colonized parts of Scotland from the 8th century onwards. In the High Middle Ages, from the reign of David I of Scotland, there was emigration from France, England. Some famous Scottish family names, including bearing the names which became Bruce, Balliol, Murray. Today Scotland is one of the countries of the United Kingdom, culturally, these peoples are grouped according to language. Most of Scotland until the 13th century spoke Celtic languages and these included, at least initially, the Britons, as well as the Gaels and the Picts. Germanic peoples included the Angles of Northumbria, who settled in south-eastern Scotland in the region between the Firth of Forth to the north and the River Tweed to the south. They also occupied the south-west of Scotland up to and including the Plain of Kyle and their language, south-east of the Firth of Forth, then in Lothian and the Borders, a northern variety of Old English, also known as Early Scots, was spoken. The Northern Isles and some parts of Caithness were Norn-speaking, from 1500 on, Scotland was commonly divided by language into two groups of people, Gaelic-speaking Highlanders and the Inglis-speaking Lowlanders
15.
Physician
–
Both the role of the physician and the meaning of the word itself vary around the world. Degrees and other qualifications vary widely, but there are common elements, such as medical ethics requiring that physicians show consideration, compassion. Around the world the term refers to a specialist in internal medicine or one of its many sub-specialties. This meaning of physician conveys a sense of expertise in treatment by drugs or medications and this term is at least nine hundred years old in English, physicians and surgeons were once members of separate professions, and traditionally were rivals. Henry VIII granted a charter to the London Royal College of Physicians in 1518 and it was not until 1540 that he granted the Company of Barber/Surgeons its separate charter. In the same year, the English monarch established the Regius Professorship of Physic at the University of Cambridge, newer universities would probably describe such an academic as a professor of internal medicine. Hence, in the 16th century, physic meant roughly what internal medicine does now, currently, a specialist physician in the United States may be described as an internist. Another term, hospitalist, was introduced in 1996, to describe US specialists in internal medicine who work largely or exclusively in hospitals, such hospitalists now make up about 19% of all US general internists, who are often called general physicians in Commonwealth countries. In such places, the more general English terms doctor or medical practitioner are prevalent, in Commonwealth countries, specialist pediatricians and geriatricians are also described as specialist physicians who have sub-specialized by age of patient rather than by organ system. Around the world, the term physician and surgeon is used to describe either a general practitioner or any medical practitioner irrespective of specialty. This usage still shows the meaning of physician and preserves the old difference between a physician, as a practitioner of physic, and a surgeon. The term may be used by state medical boards in the United States of America, in modern English, the term physician is used in two main ways, with relatively broad and narrow meanings respectively. This is the result of history and is often confusing and these meanings and variations are explained below. In the United States and Canada, the term physician describes all medical practitioners holding a professional medical degree, the American Medical Association, established in 1847, as well as the American Osteopathic Association, founded in 1897, both currently use the term physician to describe members. However, the American College of Physicians, established in 1915, does not, its title uses physician in its original sense. A physician trained in the United States has either a Doctor of Medicine degree, all boards of certification now require that physicians demonstrate, by examination, continuing mastery of the core knowledge and skills for a chosen specialty. Recertification varies by particular specialty between every seven and every ten years, graduates of osteopathic medical schools in the United States should not be confused with osteopaths, who are trained in the European and Commonwealth nations. Their training is similar to physical therapy and they are not licensed to prescribe medications or perform surgeries, also in the United States, the American Podiatric Medical Association defines podiatrists as physicians and surgeons that fall under the department of surgery in hospitals
16.
Francis Home
–
Prof Francis Home FRSE FRCPE was a Scottish physician, and the first Professor of Materia Medica at the University of Edinburgh, known to make the first attempt to vaccinate against measles, in 1758. In 1783 he was one of the founders of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Francis Home was the third son of John Home, an advocate residing at Eccles, Berwickshire. He received his education at Duns Grammar School and he was then apprenticed to Dr Rattray, a surgeon in Edinburgh. From 1742 to 1748 he served as surgeon of dragoons in Flanders in the Seven Years War, studying at Leyden University during the intervals of the campaigns. Leaving the army, he graduated M. D. at University of Edinburgh in 1750, with a treatise on intermittent fever, after graduation, Home worked as a physician in Edinburgh, from 1749. He was appointed in 1768 the first professor of materia medica in the University of Edinburgh, the subject being then dissociated from botany. He held this post till 1798, and as one of the professors of medicine at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary experimented on the actions of several novel drugs. Home served as president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and he was a founding member of both the Royal Medical Society and of the Select Society. He was the father of James Home FRSE, Professor of Materia Nedica at Edinburgh University, Home was an important figure in Edinburgh during the Enlightenment. His 1756 essay Experiments on Bleaching, which won a medal was awarded by the trustees for the improvement of manufactures in North Britain, was translated into French. It was also a presentation of the chemical principles underlying plant nutrition. As a professor he speculated somewhat rashly, but carefully treated the physical characters and his ‘Principia Medicinæ’ was a valuable work in its day, and was used as a text-book by several continental professors. Home was also the first to call attention to croup as a disease in his tractate on the subject. 236, terms a ‘careful and most philosophical inquiry, ’ deciding the dependence of the symptoms on pathological changes in the larynx, dissertatio de Febre Intermittente, ’ Edinburgh,1750, 4to, republished in Smellies ‘Thesaurus Medicus, ’1778. Principia Medicinæ, Edinburgh,1758, 3rd edition,1770, Medical Facts and Experiments, Edinburgh,1759. An Inquiry into the Nature, Cause, and Cure of the Croup, Edinburgh,1765, French translation,1810, clinical Experiments, Histories, and Dissections, Edinburgh,1780, 3rd edition, London,1783. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Bettany
17.
Roger Joseph Boscovich
–
He was nicknamed the Croatian Leibniz by Werner Heisenberg. In 1753 he also discovered the absence of atmosphere on the Moon, Boscovich was born on 18 May 1711 in Dubrovnik to Nikola Bošković, a Ragusan merchant, and Paola Bettera, daughter of a local noble of Italian origin. He was baptized on 26 May 1711 by Marinus Carolis, curatus et sacristia, the name Ruđer/Ruggiero may have been given to him because both his great-grandfather Agostino Bettera and his mothers brother were called Ruggiero, the godparent was his uncle Ruggiero Bettera. He was the child of the family and the second youngest. His father was a merchant born in 1642, at Orahov Do near Ravno in what was then the Ottoman Empire and is now Bosnia and she was a robust and active woman with a happy temperament who lived to 103. Paola Bettera left nothing in writing, but Boscovichs aunt, her sister and their sons, Ruđers cousins and playmates, Antun Bošković and Franjo Bošković, grew up into good Latinists. His own brothers and sisters were all older than himself, except his sister Anica Bošković, two years his junior. His eldest sister Mare Bošković, nineteen years his senior, was the member of the family to marry. His eldest brother Božo Bošković, thirteen years older, joined the service of the Ragusa Republic and his brother Bartolomej Bošković, born in 1700 and educated at the Jesuit school in Dubrovnik, left home when Ruđer was 3 to become a scholar and a Jesuit priest in Rome. He also wrote verse in both Latin and Illyrian, but eventually burnt some of his manuscripts out of a scrupulous modesty. His brother Petar Bošković, six years his senior, became a poet like his grandfather and he too was schooled by the Jesuits, then served as an official of the Republic and made his reputation as a translator of Ovid, Corneilles Cid and of Molière. A volume of his religious verse, Hvale Duhovne, was published in Venice in 1729, during his early studies Roger Boscovich showed a distinct propensity for further intellectual development. He gained a reputation at school for having an easy memory, on 16 September 1725, Ruđer Bošković left Dubrovnik for Rome. There, he studied mathematics and physics, and so brilliant was his progress in sciences that in 1740 he was appointed professor of mathematics in the college. In 1742 he was consulted, with men of science, by Pope Benedict XIV, as to the best means of securing the stability of the dome of St. Peters, Rome. His suggestion of placing five concentric iron bands was adopted, in 1744 he was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood. In 1745 Bošković published De Viribus Vivis in which he tried to find a way between Isaac Newtons gravitational theory and Gottfried Leibnizs metaphysical theory of monad-points. He developed a concept of impenetrability as a property of hard bodies which explained their behavior in terms of force rather than matter, stripping atoms of their matter, impenetrability is disassociated from hardness and then put in an arbitrary relationship to elasticity
18.
Atomic theory
–
In chemistry and physics, atomic theory is a scientific theory of the nature of matter, which states that matter is composed of discrete units called atoms. The word atom comes from the Ancient Greek adjective atomos, meaning indivisible, 19th century chemists began using the term in connection with the growing number of irreducible chemical elements. In fact, in extreme environments, such as neutron stars. Since atoms were found to be divisible, physicists later invented the term elementary particles to describe the uncuttable, though not indestructible, parts of an atom. The field of science which studies subatomic particles is particle physics, the idea that matter is made up of discrete units is a very old one, appearing in many ancient cultures such as Greece and India. However, these ideas were founded in philosophical and theological reasoning rather than evidence, because of this, they could not convince everybody, so atomism was but one of a number of competing theories on the nature of matter. Near the end of the 18th century, two laws about chemical reactions emerged without referring to the notion of an atomic theory. The first was the law of conservation of mass, formulated by Antoine Lavoisier in 1789, the second was the law of definite proportions. For example, Proust had studied tin oxides and found that their masses were either 88. 1% tin and 11. 9% oxygen or 78. 7% tin and 21. 3% oxygen. Dalton noted from these percentages that 100g of tin will combine either with 13. 5g or 27g of oxygen,13.5 and 27 form a ratio of 1,2, Dalton found that an atomic theory of matter could elegantly explain this common pattern in chemistry. In the case of Prousts tin oxides, one tin atom will combine with one or two oxygen atoms. Dalton hypothesized this was due to the differences in mass and complexity of the gases respective particles, indeed, carbon dioxide molecules are heavier and larger than nitrogen molecules. This marked the first truly scientific theory of the atom, since Dalton reached his conclusions by experimentation and examination of the results in an empirical fashion, in 1803 Dalton orally presented his first list of relative atomic weights for a number of substances. This paper was published in 1805, but he did not discuss there exactly how he obtained these figures, the method was first revealed in 1807 by his acquaintance Thomas Thomson, in the third edition of Thomsons textbook, A System of Chemistry. Finally, Dalton published an account in his own textbook. Dalton estimated the atomic weights according to the ratios in which they combined. However, Dalton did not conceive that with some elements atoms exist in molecules—e. g and he also mistakenly believed that the simplest compound between any two elements is always one atom of each. This, in addition to the crudity of his equipment, flawed his results, adopting better data, in 1806 he concluded that the atomic weight of oxygen must actually be 7 rather than 5.5, and he retained this weight for the rest of his life
19.
John Dollond
–
John Dollond FRS was an English optician, known for his successful optics business and his patenting and commercialization of achromatic doublets. Dollond was the son of a Huguenot refugee, a silk-weaver at Spitalfields, London and he followed his fathers trade, but found time to acquire a knowledge of Latin, Greek, mathematics, physics, anatomy and other subjects. In 1752 he abandoned silk-weaving and joined his eldest son, Peter Dollond, who in 1750 had started in business as a maker of optical instruments and his reputation grew rapidly, and in 1761 he was appointed optician to the king. Leonhard Euler in 1747 had suggested that achromatism might be obtained by the combination of glass, for this achievement the Royal Society awarded him the Copley Medal in 1758, and three years later elected him one of its fellows. Dollond also published two papers on apparatus for measuring small angles, John Dollond was the first person to patent the achromatic doublet. However, it is known that he was not the first to make achromatic lenses. Optician George Bass, following the instructions of Chester Moore Hall, made, in the late 1750s, Bass told Dollond about Halls design, Dollond saw the potential and was able to reproduce them. Dollond appears to have known of the work and refrained from enforcing his patent. After his death, his son, Peter, did take action to enforce the patent, a number of his competitors, including Bass, Benjamin Martin, Robert Rew and Jesse Ramsden, took action. Dollonds patent was upheld, as the found that the patent was valid due to Dollonds exploitation of the invention while prior inventors did not. Several of the opticians were ruined by the expense of the legal proceedings, the patent remained valid until it expired in 1772. Following the expiry of the patent, the price of achromatic doublets in England dropped by half, more details on this invention are in History of the telescope. Dollond & Aitchison List of astronomical instrument makers An account of experiments concerning the different refrangibility of light. 50,1759, p.733 Media related to John Dollond at Wikimedia Commons John Dollond in libraries
20.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
–
Philosophical Transactions, titled Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society from 1776, is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a venture of the Royal Societys secretary. It became an official society publication in 1752 and it was established in 1665, making it the first journal in the world exclusively devoted to science, and therefore also the worlds longest-running scientific journal. The use of the word Philosophical in the title refers to natural philosophy, in 1887 the journal expanded and divided into two separate publications, one serving the physical sciences and the other focusing on the life sciences. Both journals now publish themed issues and issues resulting from papers presented at the Discussion Meetings of the Royal Society, primary research articles are published in the sister journals Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biology Letters, Journal of the Royal Society Interface, and Interface Focus. The first issue, published in London on 6 March 1665, was edited and published by the Societys first secretary, Henry Oldenburg, four-and-a-half years after the Royal Society was founded. Oldenburg published the journal at his own expense and seems to have entered into an agreement with the societys council allowing him to keep any resulting profits. He was to be disappointed, however, since the journal performed poorly from a point of view during his lifetime. Oldenburg put out 136 issues of the Transactions before his death in 1677, the familiar functions of the scientific journal – registration, certification, dissemination and archiving − were introduced at inception by Philosophical Transactions. The printed journal replaced much of Oldenburgs letter-writing to correspondents, at least on scientific matters, Oldenburg also described his journal as one of these philosophical commonplace books, indicating his intention to produce a collective notebook between scientists. The final article of the issue concerned The Character, Lately Published beyond the Seas, of an Eminent Person, not Long Since Dead at Tholouse, the eminent person recently deceased was Pierre de Fermat, although the issue failed to mention his last theorem. In the aftermath of the Interregnum, the potential for censorship was very real, by reporting ongoing and often unfinished scientific work that may otherwise have not been reported, the journal had a central function of being a scientific news service. Foundation, print was heavily regulated, and there was no such thing as a free press, in fact, the first English newspaper, The London Gazette, did not appear until after Phil. Oldenburgs compulsive letter writing to foreign correspondents led to him being suspected of being a spy for the Dutch, a rival took the opportunity to publish a pirate issue of Philosophical Transactions, with the pretense of it being Issue 27. Oldenburg repudiated the issue by publishing the real 27 upon his release, upon Oldenburgs death, following a brief hiatus, the position of Editor was passed down through successive secretaries of the Society as an unofficial responsibility and at their own expense. Robert Hooke changed the name of the journal to Philosophical Collections in 1679 – a name that remained until 1682, the position of editor was sometimes held jointly and included William Musgrave and Robert Plot. By the mid-eighteenth century, the most notable editors, besides Oldenburg, were Hans Sloane, James Jurin, in virtually all cases the journal was edited by the serving secretary of the society. These editor-secretaries carried the burden of publishing the Philosophical Transactions
21.
Doublet (lens)
–
In optics, a doublet is a type of lens made up of two simple lenses paired together. Such an arrangement allows more optical surfaces, thicknesses, and formulations, with additional degrees of freedom, optical designers have more latitude to correct more optical aberrations more thoroughly. The lenses are made from glasses with different refractive indices and different amounts of dispersion, often one element is made from crown glass and the other from flint glass. This combination produces an image than a simple lens. Some Trilobites, which are now extinct, had natural doublet lenses in their eyes, apochromats can also be made as doublets. Doublets can be air-spaced, cemented, or oiled, oiled doublets hold the optical fluid in place with surface tension alone. In a cemented doublet, the lenses are held together by an adhesive with mechanical strength, canada balsam was traditionally used for this purpose. These are called un-cemented, air-spaced or broken contact doublets
22.
Achromatic lens
–
An achromatic lens or achromat is a lens that is designed to limit the effects of chromatic and spherical aberration. Achromatic lenses are corrected to bring two wavelengths into focus in the same plane, the most common type of achromat is the achromatic doublet, which is composed of two individual lenses made from glasses with different amounts of dispersion. The lens elements are mounted next to other, often cemented together. In the most common type, the power of the crown lens element is not quite equalled by the negative power of the flint lens element. Together they form a positive lens that will bring two different wavelengths of light to a common focus. Negative doublets, in which the negative-power element predominates, are also made, theoretical considerations of the feasibility of correcting chromatic aberration were debated in the 18th century following Newtons statement that such a correction was impossible. Credit for the invention of the first achromatic doublet is often given to an English barrister, Hall wished to keep his work on the achromatic lenses a secret and contracted the manufacture of the crown and flint lenses to two different opticians, Edward Scarlett and James Mann. They in turn sub-contracted the work to the person, George Bass. He realized the two components were for the client and, after fitting the two parts together, noted the achromatic properties. Hall failed to appreciate the importance of his invention, and it remained known to only a few opticians, in the late 1750s, Bass mentioned Halls lenses to John Dollond, who understood their potential and was able to reproduce their design. Dollond applied for and was granted a patent on the technology in 1758, dollonds son Peter invented the apochromat, an improvement on the achromat, in 1763. Several different types of achromat have been devised and they differ in the shape of the included lens elements as well as in the optical properties of their glass. In the following, R denotes the radius of the spheres that define the optically relevant refracting lens surfaces, by convention, R1 denotes the first lens surface counted from the object. A doublet lens has four surfaces with radii R1 to R4, uses an equiconvex crown glass lens with R1=R2, and a second flint glass lens with R3=-R2. The back of the flint glass lens is flat, a Littrow doublet can produce a ghost image between R2 and R3 because the lens surfaces of the two lenses have the same radii. When used in a telescope, it may produce a ghost image between the flat R4 surface and rear of the tube. The first lens has positive refractive power, the second negative, R1 is set greater than R2, and R2 is set close to, but not equal to, R3. R4 is usually greater than R3, in a Fraunhofer doublet, the dissimilar curvatures of R2 and R3 are mounted close, but not in contact
23.
Crown glass (optics)
–
Crown glass is a type of optical glass used in lenses and other optical components. It has relatively low refractive index and low dispersion, crown glass is produced from alkali-lime silicates containing approximately 10% potassium oxide and is one of the earliest low dispersion glasses. As well as the specific material named crown glass, there are other optical glasses with similar properties that are also called crown glasses, generally, this is any glass with Abbe numbers in the range 50 to 85. For example, the borosilicate glass Schott BK7 is a common crown glass. Borosilicates contain about 10% boric oxide, have good optical and mechanical characteristics, other additives used in crown glasses include zinc oxide, phosphorus pentoxide, barium oxide, fluorite and lanthanum oxide. A concave lens of flint glass is commonly combined with a lens of crown glass to produce an achromatic doublet. The dispersions of the glasses partially compensate for other, producing reduced chromatic aberration compared to a singlet lens with the same focal length
