1.
1769 in science
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The year 1769 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below. March 4 – French astronomer Charles Messier first records the Orion Nebula, june 3 – Transit of Venus is observed from many places in order to obtain data for measuring the distance from the Earth to the Sun. The weather in Pondicherry is cloudy that day, le Gentil had also missed the 1761 transit through bad luck. November 9 – Transit of Mercury, james Cook observes this from Mercury Bay in New Zealand. Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovers a method of mass-producing phosphorus, in September he completes a full-size experimental engine at Kinneil House in Scotland. July 3 – Richard Arkwright is granted a British patent for a spinning frame able to spin thread mechanically. October 23 – Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot demonstrates a steam-powered artillery tractor in France, march 16 – Louis Antoine de Bougainville returns to Saint-Malo following a three-year circumnavigation of the world with the ships La Boudeuse and Étoile, with the loss of only seven out of 330 men
2.
1775 in science
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The year 1775 in science and technology involved some significant events. May 25 – Joseph Priestleys account of his isolation of oxygen in the form of a gas is read to the Royal Society of London, torbern Bergmans De attractionibus electivis is published, containing the largest tables of chemical affinity ever published. Lagranges Recherches dArithmétique develops a theory of binary quadratic forms. English surgeon Percivall Pott finds the first occupational link to cancer, german physician Melchior Adam Weikard anonymously publishes the textbook Der Philosophische Arzt including the earliest description of symptoms resembling attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. February 21 – La Specola, Florences Museum of Zoology and Natural History, johan Christian Fabricius publishes his Systema entomologiæ. James Watts 1769 steam engine patent is extended to June 1800 by Act of Parliament of Great Britain, jacques-Constantin Périer operates a paddle steamer on the Seine, but it proves to be underpowered. Thomas Crapper patents a flush toilet in London, edinburgh confectioner Charles Spalding devizes improvements to the diving bell, adding a system of balance-weights. Pierre-Simon Girard, age 74, invents a water turbine, december 30 – John Arnold takes out his first patent for improvements in the construction of marine chronometers in Britain, including the first for a compensation balance
3.
1783 in science
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The year 1783 in science and technology involved some significant events, February 26 – Caroline Herschel discovers NGC2360. May – John Goodricke presents his conclusions that the variable star Algol is what comes to be known as an eclipsing binary to the Royal Society of London, august 18 – Great Meteor passes over Great Britain, exciting scientific interest. November 27 – John Michell proposes the existence of black holes, june 5 – The Montgolfier brothers send up at Annonay, near Lyon, a 900 m linen hot air balloon as a public demonstration. Its flight covers 2 km and lasts 10 minutes, to an altitude of 1600–2000 metres. August 27 – Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers launch the first hydrogen balloon in Paris. November 21 – The first free flight by humans in a balloon is made by Pilâtre de Rozier, jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard publishes his Dictionnaire Elémentaire de Botanique, contributing to the spread of Linnaean terminology, particularly in mycology. Erasmus Darwin begins publication of A System of Vegetables, a translation of Linnaeus in which he coins many common English language names of plants, discovery of tungsten – José and Fausto Elhuyar find an acid in wolframite which they reduce with charcoal to isolate tungsten. February 5–March 28 – Calabrian earthquakes in Kingdom of Two Sicilies, june 8 – The volcano Laki in Iceland begins a major eruption with extensive climatic consequences on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. August 4 – Mount Asama, the most active volcano in Japan, begins climactic eruption, exacerbating a famine, german physician Melchior Adam Weikard publishes a biography of microscopist Wilhelm Friedrich von Gleichen, Biographie des Herrn Wilhelm Friedrich v. Gleichen genannt Rußwurm. Jean-Paul Marat publishes Mémoire sur lélectricité médicale, henry Cort of Funtley, England, invents the grooved rolling mill for producing bar iron. Thomas Bell patents a method of printing on fabric from engraved cylinders, horace-Bénédict de Saussure publishes Essai sur lhygrométrie, recording his experiments with the hair hygrometer
4.
1773 in architecture
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The year 1773 in architecture involved some significant events. July 30 - Following the discovery of the waters in the civil parish of Fraião. The municipal government contracts master mason Paulo Vidal to construct a fountain for 80$000 réis. for the people with better hygiene, comfort, caspar Frederik Harsdorff is commissioned to redesign the Hercules Pavilion at Rosenborg Palace, Copenhagen, Denmark. His design with niches and statues gives the building its current name, domenico Merlini becomes the Royal Architect in Poland. Pulteney Bridge in Bath, England, designed by Robert Adam, august 30 - Mihály Pollack, Hungarian Neoclassical architect March 1 - Luigi Vanvitelli, Italian engineer and architect
5.
Science
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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
6.
Technology
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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
7.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
8.
Astronomy
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Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It applies mathematics, physics, and chemistry, in an effort to explain the origin of those objects and phenomena and their evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, galaxies, and comets, while the phenomena include supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, more generally, all astronomical phenomena that originate outside Earths atmosphere are within the purview of astronomy. A related but distinct subject, physical cosmology, is concerned with the study of the Universe as a whole, Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history, such as the Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Egyptians, Nubians, Iranians, Chinese, during the 20th century, the field of professional astronomy split into observational and theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring data from observations of astronomical objects, theoretical astronomy is oriented toward the development of computer or analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena. The two fields complement each other, with theoretical astronomy seeking to explain the results and observations being used to confirm theoretical results. Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can play an active role, especially in the discovery. Amateur astronomers have made and contributed to many important astronomical discoveries, Astronomy means law of the stars. Astronomy should not be confused with astrology, the system which claims that human affairs are correlated with the positions of celestial objects. Although the two share a common origin, they are now entirely distinct. Generally, either the term astronomy or astrophysics may be used to refer to this subject, however, since most modern astronomical research deals with subjects related to physics, modern astronomy could actually be called astrophysics. Few fields, such as astrometry, are purely astronomy rather than also astrophysics, some titles of the leading scientific journals in this field includeThe Astronomical Journal, The Astrophysical Journal and Astronomy and Astrophysics. In early times, astronomy only comprised the observation and predictions of the motions of objects visible to the naked eye, in some locations, early cultures assembled massive artifacts that possibly had some astronomical purpose. Before tools such as the telescope were invented, early study of the stars was conducted using the naked eye, most of early astronomy actually consisted of mapping the positions of the stars and planets, a science now referred to as astrometry. From these observations, early ideas about the motions of the planets were formed, and the nature of the Sun, Moon, the Earth was believed to be the center of the Universe with the Sun, the Moon and the stars rotating around it. This is known as the model of the Universe, or the Ptolemaic system. The Babylonians discovered that lunar eclipses recurred in a cycle known as a saros
9.
Charles Messier
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Charles Messier was a French astronomer most notable for publishing an astronomical catalogue consisting of nebulae and star clusters that came to be known as the 110 Messier objects. The purpose of the catalogue was to help astronomical observers, in particular comet hunters such as himself, Messier was born in Badonviller in the Lorraine region of France, being the tenth of twelve children of Françoise B. Grandblaise and Nicolas Messier, a Court usher, six of his brothers and sisters died while young and in 1741, his father died. Charles interest in astronomy was stimulated by the appearance of the spectacular, great six-tailed comet in 1744, in 1751 he entered the employ of Joseph Nicolas Delisle, the astronomer of the French Navy, who instructed him to keep careful records of his observations. Messiers first documented observation was that of the Mercury transit of 6 May 1753, according to Meyer, Messier is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, in Section 11. Messiers occupation as a comet hunter led him to come across fixed diffuse objects in the night sky which could be mistaken for comets. He compiled a list of them, in collaboration with his friend and assistant Pierre Méchain, the entries are now known to be galaxies, planetary nebulae, other types of nebulae, and star clusters. Messier did his observing with a 100 mm refracting telescope from Hôtel de Cluny, in downtown Paris, the list he compiled contains only objects found in the area of the sky he could observe, from the north celestial pole to a declination of about −35. 7°. They are not organized scientifically by object type, or even by location, the first version of Messiers catalogue contained 45 objects and was published in 1774 in the journal of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris. In addition to his own discoveries, this version included objects previously observed by other astronomers, by 1780 the catalog had increased to 80 objects. The final version of the catalogue was published in 1781, in the 1784 issue of Connaissance des Temps, the final list of Messier objects had grown to 103. These seven objects, M104 through M110, are accepted by astronomers as official Messier objects, the crater Messier on the Moon and the asteroid 7359 Messier were named in his honor. Deep sky object List of Messier objects Messier object Messier marathon Caldwell catalogue OMeara, deep Sky Companions, The Messier Objects. Charles Messier Biography at Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, retrieved July 2007 Short biography of Charles Messier and history of the Messier Object Catalog by Jon Zander at OurDarkSkies. com. Retrieved July 2007 Life of a Comet Hunter, Messier and Astrobiology Professor Mark Brake and Martin Griffiths, Astrobiology Magazine European Edition, retrieved July 2007 Interactive Messier Catalog Greenhawk Observatory Amateur Photos of Charles Messier Objects Biography - Messier website. Messier Marathon Attempts to find as many Messier objects as possible in one night, retrieved July 2007 Clickable table of Messier objects Charles Messier explains his catalog on YouTube
10.
Whirlpool Galaxy
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The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a, M51a, or NGC5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy, recently it was estimated to be 23 ±4 million light-years from the Milky Way, but different methods yield distances between 15 and 35 million light-years. Messier 51 is one of the best known galaxies in the sky, the galaxy and its companion, NGC5195, are easily observed by amateur astronomers, and the two galaxies may even be seen with binoculars. The Whirlpool Galaxy is also a target for professional astronomers. Its companion galaxy, NGC5195, was discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain, the advent of radio astronomy and subsequent radio images of M51 unequivocally demonstrated that the Whirlpool and its companion galaxy are indeed interacting. Sometimes the designation M51 is used to refer to the pair of galaxies, in case the individual galaxies may be referred to as M51A. Located within the constellation Canes Venatici, M51 is found by following the easternmost star of the Big Dipper, Eta Ursae Majoris, M51 is visible through binoculars under dark sky conditions and can be resolved in detail with modern amateur telescopes. When seen through a 100 mm telescope the basic outlines of M51, under dark skies, and with a moderate eyepiece through a 150 mm telescope, M51s intrinsic spiral structure can be detected. With larger instruments under dark sky conditions, the spiral bands are apparent with HII regions visible. As is usual for galaxies, the extent of its structure can only be gathered from inspecting photographs. In January 2005 the Hubble Heritage Project constructed a 11477 × 7965-pixel composite image of M51 using Hubbles ACS instrument, the image highlights the galaxys spiral arms, and shows detail into some of the structures inside the arms. With the recent SN 2005cs derived estimate of 23 Mly distance, overall the galaxy is about 35% the size of the Milky Way. Its mass is estimated to be 160 billion solar masses, a black hole, surrounded by a ring of dust, is thought to exist at the heart of the spiral. The dust ring stands almost perpendicular to the relatively flat spiral nebula, a secondary ring crosses the primary ring on a different axis, a phenomenon that is contrary to expectations. A pair of ionization cones extend from the axis of the main dust ring, stars are usually formed in the center of the galaxy. The center part of M51 appears to be undergoing a period of enhanced star formation and it is estimated that the current high rate of star formation can last no more than another 100 million years or so. Induced spiral structure in the galaxy is not the only effect of the interaction. Significant compression of gas occurs that leads to the development of starbirth regions
11.
Interacting galaxy
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Interacting galaxies are galaxies whose gravitational fields result in a disturbance of one another. An example of an interaction is a satellite galaxys disturbing the primary galaxys spiral arms. An example of an interaction is a galactic collision, which may lead to a galaxy merger. A giant galaxy interacting with its satellites is common and that can possibly trigger a small amount of star formation. Colliding galaxies are common during galaxy evolution, the extremely tenuous distribution of matter in galaxies means these are not collisions in the traditional sense of the word, but rather gravitational interactions. Colliding may lead to merging if two collide and do not have enough momentum to continue traveling after the collision. In that case, they fall back into other and eventually merge into one galaxy after many passes through each other. If one of the galaxies is much larger than the other. The larger galaxy will look much the same, while the smaller galaxy will be stripped apart, when galaxies pass through each other, unlike during mergers, they largely retain their material and shape after the pass. Dynamical friction slows the relative motion galaxy pairs, which may merge at some point. The most common result of the merger between two or more galaxies is an irregular galaxy, but elliptical galaxies may also result. It has been suggested that galactic cannibalism is currently occurring between the Milky Way and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, streams of gravitationally-attracted hydrogen arcing from these dwarf galaxies to the Milky Way is taken as evidence for the theory. The result would be the conversion of low-luminosity spiral galaxies into dwarf spheroidals, evidence for the hypothesis has been found by studying early-type dwarf galaxies of the Virgo Cluster and finding structures, such as disks and spiral arms. That suggests they are former disk systems, transformed by the mentioned interactions, astronomers have estimated the Milky Way galaxy, will collide with the Andromeda galaxy in about 4.5 billion years. It is thought that the two galaxies will eventually merge to become an elliptical galaxy or perhaps a large disk galaxy. NGC7318 Galaxy Collisions Galactic cannibalism Galactic Collision Simulation GALMER, Galaxy Merger Simulations
12.
Grand design spiral galaxy
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A grand design spiral galaxy is a type of spiral galaxy with prominent and well-defined spiral arms, as opposed to multi-arm and flocculent spirals which have subtler structural features. The spiral arms of a grand design galaxy extend clearly around the galaxy through many radians, as of 2002, approximately 10 percent of all currently known spiral galaxies are classified as grand design type spirals, including M81, M51, M74, M100, and M101. Density wave theory is the explanation for the well-defined structure of grand design spirals. According to this theory, the arms are created inside density waves that turn around the galaxy at different speeds from the stars in the galaxys disk. Stars are clumped in these regions due to gravitational attraction towards the dense material. This causes material to clump in the dense regions, at the center of these galaxies are supermassive black holes
13.
Constellation
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A constellation is formally defined as a region of the celestial sphere, with boundaries laid down by the International Astronomical Union. The constellation areas mostly had their origins in Western-traditional patterns of stars from which the constellations take their names, in 1922, the International Astronomical Union officially recognized the 88 modern constellations, which cover the entire sky. They began as the 48 classical Greek constellations laid down by Ptolemy in the Almagest, Constellations in the far southern sky are late 16th- and mid 18th-century constructions. 12 of the 88 constellations compose the zodiac signs, though the positions of the constellations only loosely match the dates assigned to them in astrology. The term constellation can refer to the stars within the boundaries of that constellation. Notable groupings of stars that do not form a constellation are called asterisms, when astronomers say something is “in” a given constellation they mean it is within those official boundaries. Any given point in a coordinate system can unambiguously be assigned to a single constellation. Many astronomical naming systems give the constellation in which an object is found along with a designation in order to convey a rough idea in which part of the sky it is located. For example, the Flamsteed designation for bright stars consists of a number, the word constellation seems to come from the Late Latin term cōnstellātiō, which can be translated as set of stars, and came into use in English during the 14th century. It also denotes 88 named groups of stars in the shape of stellar-patterns, the Ancient Greek word for constellation was ἄστρον. Colloquial usage does not draw a distinction between constellation in the sense of an asterism and constellation in the sense of an area surrounding an asterism. The modern system of constellations used in astronomy employs the latter concept, the term circumpolar constellation is used for any constellation that, from a particular latitude on Earth, never sets below the horizon. From the North Pole or South Pole, all constellations south or north of the equator are circumpolar constellations. In the equatorial or temperate latitudes, the term equatorial constellation has sometimes been used for constellations that lie to the opposite the circumpolar constellations. They generally include all constellations that intersect the celestial equator or part of the zodiac, usually the only thing the stars in a constellation have in common is that they appear near each other in the sky when viewed from the Earth. In galactic space, the stars of a constellation usually lie at a variety of distances, since stars also travel on their own orbits through the Milky Way, the star patterns of the constellations change slowly over time. After tens to hundreds of thousands of years, their familiar outlines will become unrecognisable, the terms chosen for the constellation themselves, together with the appearance of a constellation, may reveal where and when its constellation makers lived. The earliest direct evidence for the constellations comes from inscribed stones and it seems that the bulk of the Mesopotamian constellations were created within a relatively short interval from around 1300 to 1000 BC
14.
Canes Venatici
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Canes Venatici /ˈkeɪniːz vᵻˈnætᵻsaɪ/ is one of the 88 official modern constellations. It is a northern constellation that was created by Johannes Hevelius in the 17th century. Its name is Latin for hunting dogs, and the constellation is depicted in illustrations as representing the dogs of Boötes the Herdsman. The stars of Canes Venatici are not bright, in classical times, they were listed by Ptolemy as unfigured stars below the constellation Ursa Major in his star catalogue. In medieval times, the identification of these stars with the dogs of Boötes arose through a mistranslation, some of Boötess stars were traditionally described as representing the club of Boötes. When the Arabic text was translated into Latin, the translator Gerard of Cremona mistook the Arabic word كلاب for kilāb, meaning dogs. In 1533, the German astronomer Peter Apian depicted Boötes as having two dogs with him and these spurious dogs floated about the astronomical literature until Hevelius decided to specify their presence in the sky by making them a separate constellation in 1687. Hevelius chose the name Asterion for the dog and Chara for the southern dog, as Canes Venatici. In his star catalogue, the Czech astronomer Bečvář assigned the names Asterion to β CVn, Canes Venatici is bordered by Ursa Major to the north and west, Coma Berenices to the south, and Boötes to the east. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is CVn, the official constellation boundaries, as set by Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 14 sides. In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between 12h 06. 2m and 14h 07. 3m, while the coordinates are between +27. 84° and +52. 36°. Covering 465 square degrees, it ranks 38th of the 88 constellations in size, Canes Venatici contains no bright stars, α and β CVn being only of 3rd and 4th magnitude respectively. Flamsteed catalogued 25 stars in the constellation, labelling them 1 to 25 Canum Venaticorum, α CVn is the constellations brightest star, named by Sir Charles Scarborough in memory of King Charles I, the deposed king of Britain. Legend has it that α CVn was brighter than usual during the Restoration, cor Caroli is a wide double star, with a primary of magnitude 2.9 and a secondary of magnitude 5.6, the primary is 110 light-years from Earth. The primary also has an unusually strong variable magnetic field, β CVn is a yellow-hued main sequence star of magnitude 4.2,27 light-years from Earth. Its common name comes from the word for joy, Y CVn is a semiregular variable star that varies between magnitudes 5.0 and 6.5 over a period of around 158 days. It is a star and is being deep red in color. AM CVn, a blue star of magnitude 14, is the prototype of a special class of cataclysmic variable stars, in which the companion star is a white dwarf
15.
Joseph-Louis Lagrange
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Joseph-Louis Lagrange, born Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia or Giuseppe Ludovico De la Grange Tournier, was an Italian and French Enlightenment Era mathematician and astronomer. He made significant contributions to the fields of analysis, number theory, in 1787, at age 51, he moved from Berlin to Paris and became a member of the French Academy of Sciences. He remained in France until the end of his life, Lagrange was one of the creators of the calculus of variations, deriving the Euler–Lagrange equations for extrema of functionals. He also extended the method to take into account possible constraints and he proved that every natural number is a sum of four squares. His treatise Theorie des fonctions analytiques laid some of the foundations of group theory, in calculus, Lagrange developed a novel approach to interpolation and Taylor series. Born as Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia, Lagrange was of Italian and French descent and his mother was from the countryside of Turin. He was raised as a Roman Catholic, a career as a lawyer was planned out for Lagrange by his father, and certainly Lagrange seems to have accepted this willingly. He studied at the University of Turin and his subject was classical Latin. At first he had no enthusiasm for mathematics, finding Greek geometry rather dull. It was not until he was seventeen that he showed any taste for mathematics – his interest in the subject being first excited by a paper by Edmond Halley which he came across by accident. Alone and unaided he threw himself into mathematical studies, at the end of a years incessant toil he was already an accomplished mathematician, in that capacity, Lagrange was the first to teach calculus in an engineering school. In this Academy one of his students was François Daviet de Foncenex, Lagrange is one of the founders of the calculus of variations. Starting in 1754, he worked on the problem of tautochrone, Lagrange wrote several letters to Leonhard Euler between 1754 and 1756 describing his results. He outlined his δ-algorithm, leading to the Euler–Lagrange equations of variational calculus, Lagrange also applied his ideas to problems of classical mechanics, generalizing the results of Euler and Maupertuis. Euler was very impressed with Lagranges results, Lagrange published his method in two memoirs of the Turin Society in 1762 and 1773. Many of these are elaborate papers, the article concludes with a masterly discussion of echoes, beats, and compound sounds. Other articles in volume are on recurring series, probabilities. The next work he produced was in 1764 on the libration of the Moon, and an explanation as to why the face was always turned to the earth
16.
Ellipsoid
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An ellipsoid is a surface that may be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a surface, that is a surface that may be defined as the zero set of a polynomial of degree two in three variables. Among quadric surfaces, an ellipsoid is characterized by any of the two following properties, every planar cross section is either an ellipse, or is empty, or is reduced to a single point. It is bounded, which means that it may be enclosed in a large sphere. An ellipsoid has three perpendicular axes of symmetry which intersect at a center of symmetry, called the center of the ellipsoid. The line segments that are delimited on the axes of symmetry by the ellipsoid are called the principal axes, if the three axes have different lengths, the ellipsoid is said to be tri-axial or scalene, and the axes are uniquely defined. If two of the axes have the length, then the ellipsoid is an ellipsoid of revolution. In this case, the ellipsoid is invariant under a rotation around the third axis, if the third axis is shorter, the ellipsoid is an oblate spheroid, if it is longer, it is prolate spheroid. If the three axes have the length, the ellipsoid is a sphere. The points, and lie on the surface, the line segments from the origin to these points are called the semi-principal axes of the ellipsoid, because a, b, c are half the length of the principal axes. They correspond to the axis and semi-minor axis of an ellipse. If a = b > c, one has an oblate spheroid, if a = b < c, one has a prolate spheroid, if a = b = c, one has a sphere. It is easy to check, The intersection of a plane, remark, The contour of an ellipsoid, seen from a point outside the ellipsoid or from infinity, is in any case a plane section, hence an ellipse. The ellipsoid may be parameterized in several ways, which are simpler to express when the ellipsoid axes coincide with coordinate axes. A common choice is x = a cos cos , y = b cos sin , z = c sin and these parameters may be interpreted as spherical coordinates. More precisely, π /2 − θ is the polar angle, and φ is the azimuth angle of the point of the ellipsoid. More generally, an arbitrarily oriented ellipsoid, centered at v, is defined by the x to the equation T A =1. The eigenvectors of A define the axes of the ellipsoid and the eigenvalues of A are the reciprocals of the squares of the semi-axes
17.
Urea
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Urea, also known as carbamide, is an organic compound with the chemical formula CO2. This amide has two groups joined by a carbonyl functional group. Urea serves an important role in the metabolism of nitrogen-containing compounds by animals and is the main nitrogen-containing substance in the urine of mammals and it is a colorless, odorless solid, highly soluble in water, and practically non-toxic. Dissolved in water, it is neither acidic nor alkaline, the body uses it in many processes, most notably nitrogen excretion. The liver forms it by combining two molecules with a carbon dioxide molecule in the urea cycle. Urea is widely used in fertilizers as a source of nitrogen and is an important raw material for the chemical industry, Friedrich Wöhlers discovery in 1828 that urea can be produced from inorganic starting materials was an important conceptual milestone in chemistry. More than 90% of world production of urea is destined for use as a nitrogen-release fertilizer. Urea has the highest nitrogen content of all solid nitrogenous fertilizers in common use, therefore, it has the lowest transportation costs per unit of nitrogen nutrient. The standard crop-nutrient rating of urea is 46-0-0, many soil bacteria possess the enzyme urease, which catalyzes conversion of urea to ammonia or ammonium ion and bicarbonate ion. Thus urea fertilizers rapidly transform to the form in soils. Ammonium and nitrate are readily absorbed by plants, and are the dominant sources of nitrogen for plant growth, Urea is also used in many multi-component solid fertilizer formulations. Urea is highly soluble in water and is also very suitable for use in fertilizer solutions. For fertilizer use, granules are preferred over prills because of their particle size distribution. The most common impurity of synthetic urea is biuret, which impairs plant growth, Urea is usually spread at rates of between 40 and 300 kg/ha but rates vary. Smaller applications incur lower losses due to leaching, during summer, urea is often spread just before or during rain to minimize losses from volatilization. Because of the nitrogen concentration in urea, it is very important to achieve an even spread. The application equipment must be calibrated and properly used. Drilling must not occur on contact with or close to seed, Urea dissolves in water for application as a spray or through irrigation systems
18.
Carl Wilhelm Scheele
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Carl Wilhelm Scheele was a Swedish Pomeranian and pharmaceutical chemist. Isaac Asimov called him hard-luck Scheele because he made a number of discoveries before others who are generally given the credit. For example, Scheele discovered oxygen, and identified molybdenum, tungsten, barium, hydrogen, Scheele discovered organic acids tartaric, oxalic, uric, lactic, and citric, as well as hydrofluoric, hydrocyanic, and arsenic acids. He preferred speaking German to Swedish his whole life, as German was commonly spoken among Swedish pharmacists, Scheele was born in Stralsund, in western Pomerania, which at the time was a Swedish Dominion inside the Holy Roman Empire. Scheeles father Joachim Christian Scheele, was a dealer and brewer from a respected German family. His mother was Margaretha Eleanore Warnekros, friends of Scheeles parents taught him the art of reading prescriptions and the meaning of chemical and pharmaceutical signs. Then, in 1757, at age fourteen Carl was sent to Gothenburg as an apprentice pharmacist with another family friend, Scheele retained this position for eight years. During this time he ran experiments late into the night and read the works of Nicolas Lemery, Caspar Neumann, Johann von Löwenstern-Kunckel, much of Scheeles later theoretical speculations were based upon Stahl. Scheele arrived in Stockholm between 1767 and 1769 and worked as a pharmacist, during this period he discovered tartaric acid and with his friend, Retzius, studied the relation of quicklime to calcium carbonate. While in the capital, he became acquainted with many luminaries, such as, Abraham Bäck, Peter Jonas Bergius, Bengt Bergius. In the fall of 1770 Scheele became director of the laboratory of the pharmacy of Locke. The laboratory supplied chemicals to Professor of Chemistry Torbern Bergman, a friendship developed between Scheele and Bergman after Scheele analyzed a reaction which Bergman and his assistant Johan Gottlieb Gahn could not resolve. The reaction was between melted saltpetre and acetic acid produced a red vapor. Further study of this later led to Scheeles discovery of oxygen. Based upon this friendship and respect Scheele was given use of Bergmans laboratory. Both men were profiting from their working relationship, in 1774 Scheele was nominated by Peter Jonas Bergius to be a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and was elected February 4,1775. In 1775 Scheele also managed for a time a pharmacy in Köping. Between the end of 1776 and the beginning of 1777 Scheele established his own business there, after his return to Köping he devoted himself, outside of his business, to scientific researches which resulted in a long series of important papers
19.
Joseph Priestley
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He is usually credited with the discovery of oxygen, having isolated it in its gaseous state, although Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Antoine Lavoisier also have a claim to the discovery. However, Priestleys determination to defend phlogiston theory and to reject what would become the chemical revolution eventually left him isolated within the scientific community, Priestleys science was integral to his theology, and he consistently tried to fuse Enlightenment rationalism with Christian theism. In his metaphysical texts, Priestley attempted to combine theism, materialism, and determinism and he believed that a proper understanding of the natural world would promote human progress and eventually bring about the Christian Millennium. Priestley, who believed in the free and open exchange of ideas, advocated toleration and equal rights for religious Dissenters. He spent his last ten years in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania and these educational writings were among Priestleys most popular works. Priestley was born to an established English Dissenting family in Birstall and he was the oldest of six children born to Mary Swift and Jonas Priestley, a finisher of cloth. To ease his mothers burdens, Priestley was sent to live with his grandfather around the age of one and he returned home, five years later, after his mother died. When his father remarried in 1741, Priestley went to live with his aunt and uncle, during his youth, Priestley attended local schools where he learned Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. Around 1749, Priestley became seriously ill and believed he was dying, raised as a devout Calvinist, he believed a conversion experience was necessary for salvation, but doubted he had had one. This emotional distress eventually led him to question his upbringing, causing him to reject election. As a result, the elders of his church, the Independent Upper Chapel of Heckmondwike. Priestleys illness left him with a permanent stutter and he gave up any thoughts of entering the ministry at that time, in preparation for joining a relative in trade in Lisbon, he studied French, Italian, and German in addition to Aramaic, and Arabic. Priestley eventually decided to return to his studies and, in 1752, matriculated at Daventry. Because he had read widely, Priestley was allowed to skip the first two years of coursework. He continued his study, this, together with the liberal atmosphere of the school, shifted his theology further leftward. Abhorring dogma and religious mysticism, Rational Dissenters emphasised the rational analysis of the natural world, Priestley later wrote that the book that influenced him the most, save the Bible, was David Hartleys Observations on Man. Hartleys psychological, philosophical, and theological treatise postulated a theory of mind. Hartley aimed to construct a Christian philosophy in both religious and moral facts could be scientifically proven, a goal that would occupy Priestley for his entire life
20.
James Cook
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Captain James Cook FRS RN was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755 and he saw action in the Seven Years War, and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec. This helped bring Cook to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society, in three voyages Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail, as he progressed on his voyages of discovery he surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage, Cook was attacked and killed while attempting to kidnap the native chief of Hawaii during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific in 1779. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge which was to influence his successors well into the 20th century, and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him. James Cook was born on 7 November 1728 in the village of Marton in Yorkshire and baptised on 14 November in the church of St Cuthbert. He was the second of eight children of James Cook, a Scottish farm labourer from Ednam in Roxburghshire, in 1736, his family moved to Airey Holme farm at Great Ayton, where his fathers employer, Thomas Skottowe, paid for him to attend the local school. In 1741, after five years schooling, he work for his father. For leisure, he would climb a hill, Roseberry Topping, enjoying the opportunity for solitude. Cooks Cottage, his parents last home, which he is likely to have visited, is now in Melbourne, having moved from England and reassembled, brick by brick. In 1745, when he was 16, Cook moved 20 miles to the village of Staithes. Historians have speculated that this is where Cook first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window. After 18 months, not proving suitable for work, Cook travelled to the nearby port town of Whitby to be introduced to friends of Sandersons, John. The Walkers, who were Quakers, were prominent local ship-owners in the coal trade and their house is now the Captain Cook Memorial Museum. Cook was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice in their fleet of vessels. His first assignment was aboard the collier Freelove, and he spent several years on this and various other coasters, sailing between the Tyne and London. As part of his apprenticeship, Cook applied himself to the study of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, navigation and his three-year apprenticeship completed, Cook began working on trading ships in the Baltic Sea
21.
Antarctic Circle
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The Antarctic Circle is the most southerly of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. The region south of this circle is known as the Antarctic, the position of the Antarctic Circle is not fixed, as of 9 April 2017, it runs 66°33′46. 6″ south of the Equator. Its latitude depends on the Earths axial tilt, which fluctuates within a margin of 2° over a 40, 000-year period, consequently, the Antarctic Circle is currently drifting southwards at a speed of about 15 m per year. Directly on the Antarctic Circle these events occur, in principle, exactly once per year, at the December and June solstices, respectively. That is true at sea level, those limits increase with elevation above sea level, in previous centuries some semi-permanent whaling stations were established on the continent, and some whalers would live there for a year or more. At least three children have been born in Antarctica, albeit in stations north of the Antarctic Circle, the Antarctic Circle is roughly 17,662 kilometres long. The area south of the Circle is about 20,000,000 km2, the continent of Antarctica covers much of the area within the Antarctic Circle
22.
Tobias Furneaux
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Captain Tobias Furneaux was an English navigator and Royal Navy officer, who accompanied James Cook on his second voyage of exploration. He was one of the first men to circumnavigate the world in both directions, and later commanded a British vessel during the American Revolutionary War, Furneaux was born at Swilly House near Stoke Damerel, Plymouth-Dock, son of William Furneaux of Swilly, and Susanna Wilcocks. He entered the Royal Navy and was employed on the French and African coasts, on this expedition Furneaux was twice separated from his leader. On the former occasion he explored a part of the south and east coasts of Van Diemens Land. After Adventure was finally separated from Resolution off New Zealand in October 1773, Furneaux returned home alone and this first South Sea Islander to travel to Great Britain returned to Tahiti with Cook in 1776–1777. Furneaux was made a captain in 1775, during the American Revolutionary War, he commanded Syren in the British attack of 28 June 1776 upon Charleston, South Carolina. Syren, with Furneaux in command, was wrecked near Point Judith, by 10 November Furneaux and his crew were prisoners in Providence, awaiting later exchange. RIMAP has also noted that the Syren is one of at least five ships associated with Captain Cook, european and American voyages of scientific exploration Hough, Richard. Marx, Robert F. Shipwrecks in the Americas, British Warships in the Age of Sail,1714 to 1792. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Furneaux. Works by Tobias Furneaux at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Tobias Furneaux at Internet Archive
23.
Van Diemen's Land
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Van Diemens Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The name was changed from Van Diemens Land to Tasmania in 1856, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to land on the shores of Tasmania in 1642. Between 1772 and 1798, only the portion of the island was visited. Tasmania was not known to be an island until Matthew Flinders, after receiving no response from the Spanish government, Peyroux proposed it to the French government, as Mémoire sur les avantages qui résulteraient dune colonie puissante à la terre de Diémen. In 1802 and 1803, the French expedition commanded by Nicolas Baudin explored DEntrecasteaux Channel and Maria Island, the demonym for Van Diemens Land was Van Diemonian, though contemporaries used the spelling Vandemonian. In 1856, the colony was granted responsible self-government with its own parliament. Main articles, Port Arthur, Tasmania, Convicts on the West Coast of Tasmania From the 1800s to the 1853 abolition of penal transportation, following the suspension of transportation to New South Wales, all transported convicts were sent to Van Diemens Land. In total, some 75,000 convicts were transported to Van Diemens Land, male convicts served their sentences as assigned labour to free settlers or in gangs assigned to public works. Only the most difficult convicts were sent to the Tasman Peninsula prison known as Port Arthur, female convicts were assigned as servants in free settler households or sent to a female factory. There were five female factories in Van Diemens Land, Convicts completing their sentences or earning their ticket-of-leave often promptly left Van Diemens Land. Many settled in the new colony of Victoria, to the dismay of the free settlers in towns such as Melbourne. Anthony Trollope used the term Vandemonian, They are united in their declaration that the cessation of the coming of convicts has been their ruin, in 1856, Van Diemens Land was renamed Tasmania, meaning that it technically still exists but under a different name. This removed the unsavoury criminal connotations with the name Van Diemens Land, while honouring Abel Tasman, the last penal settlement in Tasmania at Port Arthur closed in 1877. The film was nominated for a Rose dOr, an Irish Film and Television Award, the feature film Van Diemens Land focuses on the true story of convict Alexander Pearce and his infamous escape from Macquarie Harbour in 1822. Van Diemens Land is the title of the track from the rock band U2s album Rattle. The lyrics were written and sung by The Edge, the song is dedicated to a Fenian poet named John Boyle OReilly, who was deported to Australia because of his poetry. Steeleye Span does a rendition of the folk song on their album They Called Her Babylon The chorus to the English folk song Maggie May says Theyve sent you to Van Diemens cruel shore. Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band record a version of Van Diemens Land in No Roses Carla Bruni sings the poem If You Were Coming In The Fall, the song includes a reference to Van Diemens land subtracting till my fingers dropped, into Van Diemens Land
