1.
1851 in science
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The year 1851 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below. February – First public exhibition of a Foucault pendulum, at the Meridian of the Paris Observatory, a few weeks later Foucault installs one at the Panthéon. July 28 – Solar eclipse of July 28,1851, Total solar eclipse, the first correctly exposed photograph, a daguerrotype, of the solar corona is made during the total phase of the eclipse by Berkowski at Koenigsberg Observatory in Prussia. October 24 – Ariel and Umbriel, moons of Uranus, are discovered by William Lassell, the William Brydone Jack Observatory is completed at Fredericton, New Brunswick. March – English sculptor Frederick Scott Archer makes public the wet collodion photographic process. George Wilson publishes The Life of the Hon. Henry Cavendish, bernhard Riemann provides a proof of Greens theorem in his inaugural dissertation. The Royal Marsden is established as the Free Cancer Hospital by surgeon William Marsden in London, hippolyte Fizeau carries out the Fizeau experiment to measure the relative speeds of light in moving water. November 13 – First protected submarine telegraph cable laid, across the English Channel, William Armstrong introduces the weight-loaded hydraulic accumulator. Copley Medal, Richard Owen Wollaston Medal for geology, Adam Sedgwick January 19 – Jacobus Kapteyn, march 16 – Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist. April 12 – E. Walter Maunder, astronomer, July 8 – Arthur Evans, archaeologist. July 20 – Arnold Pick, neurologist, august 3 – George FitzGerald, mathematician. January 27 – John James Audubon, naturalist and illustrator, february 18 – Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, mathematician. March 9 – Hans Christian Ørsted, physicist, July 6 – Thomas Davenport, electrical engineer. July 17 – John Farey, mechanical engineer and technical writer, september 2 – William Nicol, geologist
2.
1852 in science
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The year 1852 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below. September 24 – French engineer Henri Giffard makes the first airship trip, last recognised sighting of a great auk, on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. August Beer proposes Beers law, which explains the relationship between the composition of a mixture and the amount of light it will absorb, based partly on earlier work by Pierre Bouguer and Johann Heinrich Lambert, it establishes the analytical technique known as spectrophotometry. October 23 – Francis Guthrie poses the four colour problem to Augustus De Morgan, january 15 – Nine representatives of Hebrew charitable organizations come together to form what will become the Mount Sinai Hospital, New York. February 15 – The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, London, march 2 – The first American experimental steam fire engine is tested. The mechanical semaphore line in France is superseded by the electric telegraph, captain E. M. Boxer of the Royal Arsenal devizes an improvement to the shrapnel shell by insertion of an iron diaphragm, preventing premature ignition. Copley Medal, Alexander von Humboldt Wollaston Medal for Geology, William Henry Fitton April 10 – Arthur Vierendeel, may 1 – Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish neuroscientist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. August 4 – Catharine van Tussenbroek, Dutch physician, august 30 – Jacobus van t Hoff, Dutch chemist. September 9 – John Henry Poynting, English physicist, discoverer of the Poynting–Robertson effect, september 28 – Isis Pogson, English astronomer and meteorologist. October 2 – William Ramsay, Scottish winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, october 9 – Hermann Emil Fischer, German winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. December 15 – Henri Becquerel, French physicist, january 6 – Louis Braille, French inventor. August 15 – Johan Gadolin, Finnish chemist, september 8 – Anna Maria Walker, Scottish botanist. November 10 – Gideon Mantell, English paleontologist, november 27 – Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, English computing pioneer
3.
1854 in science
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The year 1854 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below. July 22 – Discovery of the asteroid 30 Urania by John Russell Hind, George Airy calculates the mean density of the Earth by measuring the gravity in a coal mine in South Shields. Benjamin Silliman of Yale University is the first person to fractionate petroleum into its components by distillation. George Booles work on logic, An Investigation of the Laws of Thought on Which are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities. Arthur Cayley states the version of Cayleys theorem and produces the first Cayley table. Bernhard Riemann, a German mathematician, submits his habilitation thesis Ueber die Darstellbarkeit einer Function durch eine trigonometrische Reihe and it is published by Richard Dedekind in 1867. November – Florence Nightingale and her team of trained volunteer nurses arrive at Selimiye Barracks in Scutari in the Ottoman Empire to care for British Army troops invalided from the Crimean War, spanish-born vocal pedagogist Manuel García observes his own functioning glottis using a form of laryngoscope incorporating mirrors. Claude Bernard introduces the term Milieu intérieur in physiology, filippo Pacini, an Italian anatomist, discovers Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera. Louis Pasteur begins studying fermentation at the request of brewers, may 9 – Albert Fink patents the Fink truss in the United States. May 17 – Deck of Wheeling Suspension Bridge in the United States destroyed through torsional movement, July – First voyage by a seagoing steamship fitted with a compound steam engine, the screw steamer Brandon, built on the River Clyde in Scotland by John Elder. December 20 – In the case of Talbot v. Laroche, james Ambrose Cutting takes out three United States patents for improvements to the wet plate collodion process. Elisha Otis completes work on the safety elevator,10 June – The Crystal Palace reopens in Sydenham, South London with life-size dinosaur models in the grounds. Copley Medal, Johannes Peter Müller Wollaston Medal for Geology, Richard John Griffith January 27 – George Alexander Gibson, Scottish physician, January 29 – Fred Baker, American physician and naturalist. March 4 – Napier Shaw, English meteorologist, march 15 – Emil Adolf von Behring, German physiologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901. March 31 – Dugald Clerk, Scottish mechanical engineer, april 28 – Phoebe Marks, later Hertha Ayrton, English electrical engineer. April 29 – Henri Poincaré, French mathematician, may 11 – Ottmar Mergenthaler, German-born inventor. June 13 – Charles Algernon Parsons, British inventor of the steam turbine, July 12 – George Eastman, American photographic inventor. July 23 – Birt Acres, American-born cinematographic inventor, october 3 – Hermann Struve, Russian-born astronomer
4.
1859 in science
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The year 1859 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below. This is also called the Carrington event, Richard Carrington being the first known person to observe solar flares and it is also the first major solar radiation storm to be recorded. Marian Albertovich Kowalski publishes the first usable method to deduce the rotation of the Milky Way, English clergyman Thomas William Webb publishes the first edition of his popular amateur guide Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes. November 3 – Alfred Russel Wallaces paper On the Zoological geography of the Malay Archipelago, november 24 – Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species. December – Joseph Dalton Hookers Introductory Essay to the Flora Tasmaniae supports Darwins theories, isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, in the second volume of Histoire naturelle générale des Règnes organiques, introduces the term ethology. Wilhelm Peters first describes the guppy from Venezuela, rudolf Virchow publishes Vorlesungen über Cellularpathologie in ihrer Begründung auf physiologischer und pathologischer Gewebelehre, a major textbook on cellular pathology. Benjamin Collins Brodie reports the highly lamellar structure of thermally reduced graphite oxide, august von Hofmann isolates sorbic acid. Gustav Robert Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen invent an improved spectroscope, John Tyndall discovers that some gases block infrared radiation. He suggests that changes in the concentration of gases could bring climate change. The Royal Geographical Society of London is granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria, arthur Cayley produces the first Cayley–Klein metric. Bernhard Riemann publishes his paper on number theory, Ueber die Anzahl der Primzahlen unter einer gegebenen Grösse including the Riemann zeta function, florence Nightingale publishes Notes on Nursing, What it is and What it is Not in London. District nursing begins in Liverpool, England, when philanthropist William Rathbone employs Mary Robinson to nurse the sick poor in their own homes, may 2 – Isambard Kingdom Brunels Royal Albert Bridge for the Cornwall Railway at Saltash in England is officially opened. November 24 – French ironclad Gloire launched, the first ocean-going ironclad battleship, Thomas Aveling of Rochester, Kent, England, produces the first traction engine, by modification of an existing machine. Étienne Lenoir, working in Paris, produces the first single-cylinder two-stroke Lenoir cycle gas engine with an ignition system. January 19 – Alice Eastwood, Canadian-born botanist, february 14 George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. American civil engineer, inventor of the Ferris wheel, henry Valentine Knaggs, English practitioner of naturopathic medicine. February 19 – Svante Arrhenius, Swedish winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, february 28 – Florian Cajori, Swiss historian of mathematics. March 4 – Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Russian physicist, march 10 – Frank Leverett, American glaciologist
5.
1860 in science
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The year 1860 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below. July 18 – Total solar eclipse, june 30 – Debate about evolution at the new Oxford University Museum of Natural History. John Curtis publishes Farm Insects, being the history and economy of the insects injurious to the field crops of Great Britain. With suggestions for their destruction in Glasgow, joseph Dalton Hooker concludes publication of The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H. M. 1839–1843 with issue of the part of Flora Tasmaniae in London. September 3–5 – Karlsruhe Congress, the first international meeting of chemists, marcellin Berthelot rediscovers and names acetylene. Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff, using their newly improved spectroscope, discover and name caesium in mineral water from Bad Dürkheim, albert Niemann makes a detailed analysis of the coca leaf, isolating and purifying the crystalline alkaloid which he calls cocaine. Carl Wilhelm Borchardt first discovers and proves Cayleys formula in graph theory, july 9 – The Nightingale Training School and Home for Nurses, the first nursing school based on the ideas of Florence Nightingale, is opened at St Thomas Hospital in London. Gustav Fechner publishes Elemente der Psychophysik, establishing the discipline of psychophysics, april 9 – Earliest known decipherable sound recording of the human voice, a phonautogram, produced by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. Playback is impossible at this time, wollaston Medal for geology, Searles Valentine Wood. February 29 – Herman Hollerith, American statistician, punched card data processing inventor, may 2 John Scott Haldane, Scottish physiologist. May 25 – James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist, january 27 – János Bolyai, mathematician. January 27 – Thomas Brisbane, astronomer, june 29 – Thomas Addison, physician and scientist. July 1 – Charles Goodyear, inventor of the vulcanization process
6.
1861 in science
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The year 1861 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below. May 13 – Comet C/1861 J1 first observed from Australia by John Tebbutt, anton de Bary publishes his first work on fungi, describing sexual reproduction in Peronospora. March 30 – William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium, rubidium is discovered by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff, in Heidelberg, Germany, in the mineral lepidolite through the use of their spectroscope. Aleksandr Butlerov is instrumental in creating the theory of chemical structure, josef Loschmidt publishes Chemische Studien, proposing two-dimensional representations for over 300 molecules and recognising variations in atomic size. Ernest Solvay develops the Solvay process for the manufacture of soda ash, eduard Suess proposes the former existence of the supercontinent Gondwana. Paul Broca identifies the production center of the brain. Franciscus Donders introduces the term visual acuity, guillaume Duchenne describes Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Prosper Ménière reports the association of vertigo with inner ear disorders, Ádám Politzer publishes the technique of Politzerization used in otorhinolaryngology. Ignaz Semmelweis publishes Die Ätiologie, der Begriff und die Prophylaxis des Kindbettfiebers, september – First complete identified skeleton of Archaeopteryx unearthed near Langenaltheim, Germany. January 1 – First steam-powered carousel recorded, in Bolton, England, William Froude publishes the first results of his research into ship hull design. Dr. Richard J. Gatling invents the Gatling gun, james Clerk Maxwell demonstrates the principle of permanent three-colour photography. Michael Faradays Royal Institution Christmas Lectures published as The Chemical History of a Candle, copley Medal, Louis Agassiz Wollaston Medal for geology, Heinrich Bronn February 15 – Alfred North Whitehead, English mathematician. April 24 – Hedda Andersson, Swedish physician May 20 – Henry Gantt, june 9 – Pierre Duhem, French philosopher of science. July 18 – Kadambini Ganguly, Indian physician, july 26 – Ægidius Elling, Norwegian gas turbine pioneer. August 9 – Dorothea Klumpke, American astronomer, december 17 – Arthur E. Kennelly, Irish American electrical engineer. January 3 – Arnold Adolph Berthold, German physiologist, may 16 – John Stevens Henslow, English botanist. June 18 – Eaton Hodgkinson, English structural engineer, november 10 – Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French zoologist. November 13 – Sir John Forbes, Scottish-born royal physician, december 10 – Thomas Southwood Smith, English physician and sanitary reformer
7.
1867 in science
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The year 1867 in science and technology involved many significant events, listed below. April – First clear recorded use of the science in English with todays usage as restricted to the natural and physical sciences. Gorse naturalises in New Zealand and soon becomes the worst invasive weed, swiss botanist Simon Schwendener proposes his dual theory of lichens. Rosa La France, the first hybrid tea rose, is cultivated by Jean-Baptiste Guillot, the Big Trees Ranch at Felton, California, is bought by San Francisco businessman Joseph Warren Welch to preserve the giant redwoods from logging. Publication of the first volume of Das Kapital by Karl Marx, at Fountain Point, Michigan, an artesian water spring begins to gush continuously. Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel established in the United States under the directorship of Clarence King, English mathematician Rev. William Allen Whitworth publishes the first edition of his Choice and Chance, An Elementary Treatise on Permutations, Combinations, and Probability. March 16 – First publication of an article by Joseph Lister outlining the discovery of antiseptic surgery, july 17 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established as the first dental school in the United States. Yellow fever kills 3093 in New Orleans, henry Maudsley publishes The Physiology and Pathology of Mind. It will be renamed after its designer, John A. Roebling, february 17 – The first ship passes through the Suez Canal. July 2 – First elevated railroad in the United States begins service in New York, december 14 – Spanish inventor Narcís Monturiol submerges his submarine Ictineo II at Barcelona, demonstrating its chemically-fired anaerobic steam propulsion system. Pierre Michaux invents the front wheel-driven velocipede, the first mass-produced bicycle, copley Medal, Karl Ernst von Baer Wollaston Medal, George Poulett Scrope January 11 – Edward B. January 22 – Gisela Januszewska, Moravian-born public health physician, april 16 – Wilbur Wright, American pioneer aviator. June 11 – Charles Fabry, French optical physicist, october 21 – Aldred Scott Warthin, American cancer geneticist. November 7 – Maria Skłodowska, later Marie Curie, Polish-born physicist, november 26 – Emil von Dungern, German serologist. December 1 – Ignacy Mościcki, chemist and President of Poland, december 26 – John Bradfield, Australian civil engineer. January 16 – William Marsden, English surgeon, february 9 – Filippo de Filippi, Italian zoologist. March 27 – Prideaux John Selby, English ornithologist, may 29 – Margaretta Morris, American entomologist. August 25 – Michael Faraday, English chemist and physicist
8.
1858 in architecture
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The year 1858 in architecture involved some significant events. The Hamilton Mausoleum in Scotland is completed to an 1842 design by David Hamilton by David Bryce with sculptor Alexander Handyside Ritchie, Saint Isaacs Cathedral in Saint Petersburg is completed to an 1818 design by Auguste de Montferrand. Trinity Church in Norway, designed by Alexis de Chateauneuf and Wilhelm von Hanno, is consecrated, wesley Church, Melbourne, Australia, is opened. Leopoldstädter Tempel in Vienna, designed by Ludwig Förster, is built, grand Synagogue of Aden is built. Church of the Resurrection in Katowice is completed, fishergate Baptist Church in Preston, Lancashire, designed by James Hibbert and Nathan Rainford, is completed. Leeds Town Hall in Yorkshire, designed by Cuthbert Brodrick, is completed, ontario County Courthouse in Canandaigua, New York, is built. United States Customhouse and Post Office is built, the Liverpool, London and Globe Building in Liverpool, designed by C. R. Cockerell, is completed. The West of England and South Wales Bank in Bristol, designed by Bruce Gingell, the rebuilt Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, designed by Edward Middleton Barry, is completed. St Jamess Hall, Piccadilly, London, designed by Owen Jones, is opened, hownes Gill Viaduct in County Durham, England, designed by Thomas Bouch, is opened. New westwork at Speyer Cathedral, designed by Heinrich Hübsch, is completed, construction of Woodchester Mansion in Gloucestershire, England, designed by Benjamin Bucknall, is begun, work is abandoned in the 1870s. The competition to design Central Park in New York City is won by Frederick Law Olmsted, Royal Gold Medal - Friedrich August Stüler. Grand Prix de Rome, architecture, Georges-Ernest Coquart
9.
1858 in music
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January 2 – Sigismond Thalberg is given a farewell concert by the Academy of Music, New York. January 14 – While on their way to the Paris Opéra, Napoleon III of France, the emperor proceeds to attend the performance. January 30 – Hallé Orchestra founded by Charles Hallé in Manchester, february 20 – Giacomo Meyerbeer pays Mathilde Heine 4,500 francs not to publish four poems by her late husband Heinrich Heine. April 7 – Richard Wagners affair with Mathilde Wesendonck is discovered by his wife, june 17 – Modest Musorgsky resigns from the Preobrazhensky Regiment to take up music full-time. September 7 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom opens Leeds Town Hall, september 16 – 16-year-old pianist Jules Massenet gives his first recital. October 6 – Edvard Grieg enters Leipzig Conservatory, having had his talent recognised by Ole Bull, october 21 – Jacques Offenbachs operetta Orpheus in the Underworld, featuring music associated with the can-can, is first performed, at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens in Paris. Arthur Sullivan goes to Leipzig to study music, the Harvard Glee Club is founded at Harvard University. Hector Berlioz completes the score for his opera Les Troyens, the Infernal Gallop, music by Jacques Offenbach Warblings at Eve m. Henry Brinley Richards Saint-Saëns — Piano concerto No.1 Violin Concerto No
10.
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
11.
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
12.
Luxor
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Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt and the capital of Luxor Governorate. The population numbers 487,896, with an area of approximately 416 square kilometres, immediately opposite, across the River Nile, lie the monuments, temples and tombs of the West Bank Necropolis, which includes the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens. Thousands of tourists from all around the world arrive annually to visit these monuments, the name Luxor comes from the Arabic al-ʾuqṣur, lit. the palaces, from the collective pl. of qaṣr, which may be a loanword from the Latin castrum fortified camp. Luxor was the ancient city of Thebes, the capital of Egypt during the New Kingdom. Montuhotep II who united Egypt after the troubles of the first intermediate period brought stability to the lands as the city grew in stature. The city attracted peoples such as the Babylonians, the Mitanni, the Hittites of Anatolia, the Canaanites of Ugarit, the Phoenicians of Byblos and Tyre, a Hittite prince from Anatolia even came to marry with the widow of Tutankhamun, Ankhesenamun. However, as the city of the god Amon-Ra, Thebes remained the capital of Egypt until the Greek period. The main god of the city was Amon, who was worshipped together with his wife, the Goddess Mut, and their son Khonsu, the God of the moon. With the rise of Thebes as the foremost city of Egypt and his great temple, at Karnak just north of Thebes, was the most important temple of Egypt right until the end of antiquity. Later, the city was attacked by Assyrian emperor Assurbanipal who installed the Libyan prince on the throne, the city of Thebes was in ruins and fell in significance. However, Alexander the Great did arrive at the temple of Amun, where the statue of the god was transferred from Karnak during the Opet Festival, Aswan and Luxor have the hottest summer days of any other city in Egypt. Aswan and Luxor have nearly the same climate, Luxor is one of the hottest, sunniest and driest cities in the world. Average high temperatures are above 40 °C during summer while average low temperatures remain above 22 °C, during the coldest month of the year, average high temperatures remain above 22.0 °C while average low temperatures remain above 5 °C. The climate of Luxor has precipitation levels lower than even most other places in the Sahara, the desert city is one of the driest ones in the world, and rainfall does not occur every year. The air is dry in Luxor but much more humid than in Aswan. There is a relative humidity of 39. 9%, with a maximum mean of 57% during winter. In addition, Luxor, Minya, Sohag, Qena and Asyut have the widest difference of temperatures between days and nights of any city in Egypt, with almost 16 °C difference. The hottest temperature recorded was on May 15,1991 which was 50 °C, the Coptic Catholic minority established on November 26,1895 an Eparchy of Luqsor alias Thebes, on territory split off from the Apostolic Vicariate of Egypt
13.
Rhind Mathematical Papyrus
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The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus is one of the best known examples of Egyptian mathematics. It is named after Alexander Henry Rhind, a Scottish antiquarian and it dates to around 1550 BC. It is one of the two well-known Mathematical Papyri along with the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus, the Rhind Papyrus is larger than the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus, while the latter is older than the former. The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus dates to the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt and it was copied by the scribe Ahmes, from a now-lost text from the reign of king Amenemhat III. Written in the script, this Egyptian manuscript is 33 cm tall. The papyrus began to be transliterated and mathematically translated in the late 19th century, the mathematical translation aspect remains incomplete in several respects. The document is dated to Year 33 of the Hyksos king Apophis and also contains a separate later historical note on its verso likely dating from the period of his successor, Khamudi. In the opening paragraphs of the papyrus, Ahmes presents the papyrus as giving Accurate reckoning for inquiring into things, the scribe Ahmose writes this copy. Several books and articles about the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus have been published, a more recent overview of the Rhind Papyrus was published in 1987 by Robins and Shute. The first part of the Rhind papyrus consists of reference tables, the problems start out with simple fractional expressions, followed by completion problems and more involved linear equations. The first part of the papyrus is taken up by the 2/n table, the fractions 2/n for odd n ranging from 3 to 101 are expressed as sums of unit fractions. For example,2 /15 =1 /10 +1 /30. The decomposition of 2/n into unit fractions is never more than 4 terms long as in for example 2 /101 =1 /101 +1 /202 +1 /303 +1 /606. This table is followed by a smaller, tiny table of fractional expressions for the numbers 1 through 9 divided by 10. Problems 1-7, 7B and 8-40 are concerned with arithmetic and elementary algebra, problems 1–6 compute divisions of a certain number of loaves of bread by 10 men and record the outcome in unit fractions. Problems 7–20 show how to multiply the expressions 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 = 7/4 and 1 + 2/3 + 1/3 =2 by different fractions, problems 21–23 are problems in completion, which in modern notation are simply subtraction problems. Problems 24–34 are ‘’aha’’ problems, these are linear equations, problem 32 for instance corresponds to solving x + 1/3 x + 1/4 x =2 for x. Problems 35–38 involve divisions of the heqat, which is an ancient Egyptian unit of volume, problems 39 and 40 compute the division of loaves and use arithmetic progressions
14.
Alexander Henry Rhind
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Alexander Henry Rhind was a Scottish antiquarian and archaeologist. Born in Wick on 26 July 1833 in the Highlands, Rhind studied at the University of Edinburgh and he has often been erroneously referred to as a lawyer, but he never actually studied law. Rhind excavated and published a number of sites in northern Scotland in the early 1850s. Suffering from pulmonary disease, he travelled to Egypt in the winters of 1855-1857 with the intention of excavating and collecting for the newly formed National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. He collected material for his book entitled Thebes, its Tombs and their Tenants and he was a prolific writer with a methodical research style, despite continuing to battle ill health. Among the items that he collected was the Rhind Papyrus, also known as the Ahmes Papyrus after its Egyptian scribe, Rhind acquired it in 1863, and following his death shortly afterwards, it was sold to the British Museum, along with the similar Egyptian Mathematical Leather Roll. Both are mathematical treatises and both were purchased in the Luxor market, and may have previously been stolen from the Ramesseum. When chemically softened and decoded years afterward, they show the Egyptians had computed the value of π as 3.1605, Rhind died in his sleep on 3 July 1863 in Cadenabbia at the age of 30. Rhind directed that a sum from his estate at Sibster, Caithness, be used for purpose, once the interests of living parties was extinguished. Thebes, its tombs and their tenants, ancient and present Memoir of the late Alexander Henry Rhind, of Sibster by John Stuart
15.
Comet Donati
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There are three Donati comets, C/1855 L1, C/1858 L1, and C/1864 R1. Comet Donati, or Donatis Comet, formally designated C/1858 L1 and 1858 VI, is a comet named after the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Donati who first observed it on June 2,1858. After the Great Comet of 1811, it was the most brilliant comet that appeared in the 19th century and it was also the first comet to be photographed. Donati first observed the comet on 2 June from the Florence Observatory, by mid-August it had brightened sufficiently to be visible to the naked eye. In September it passed into Ursa Major, for much of its apparition it occupied a unique position in the sky and was particularly well placed for Northern Hemisphere viewers. It was nearest the Earth on October 10,1858, and for much of October was a brilliant object with a long, scimitar-like dust tail and it remained a naked-eye object until November for Southern Hemisphere observers. The final observation was by William Mann, chief assistant at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, during its apparition the comet was particularly closely studied by the astronomer George Phillips Bond and his father William Cranch Bond. Usherwoods photograph, which has not survived, showed the region around the comets nucleus. Bond also successfully photographed the comet on September 28 at Harvard College Observatory and he made several attempts with increasing exposure times, finally achieving a discernible image. He later wrote, only the nucleus and a little nebulosity 15 in diameter acted on the plate in an exposure of six minutes, the definitive orbits for the comet were calculated by Friedrich Emil von Asten and George William Hill, the latters based on nearly 1000 positions. The comet had an inclination of 116. 9°. Donati himself, an obscure figure, was propelled to the status of an astronomical hero. Donatis Comet appears as a streak and star in the evening sky of a painting by William Dyce, Pegwell Bay. It was featured in a number of sketches and at least one painting by William Turner of Oxford, the Comet at Yellham, a 1902 poem by Thomas Hardy, was inspired by his recollections of Donatis Comet. C/1857 V1, Comet Donati-van Arsdale C/1864 O1, Comet Donati-Toussaint Orbital simulation from JPL / Horizons Ephemeris
16.
Giovanni Battista Donati
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Giovanni Battista Donati Associate RAS Italian pronunciation, was an Italian astronomer. Donati graduated from the university of his city, Pisa. He was appointed director in 1864, Donati was also a pioneer in the spectroscopic study of the stars, the Sun, and comets. He observed the solar eclipse of July 18,1860, at Torreblanca in Spain. In 1862 he published a memoir, Intorno alle strie degli spettri stellari, between 1854 and 1864 he discovered six new comets, including the spectacular Comet Donati, found in 1858. An investigation of the aurora of February 4,1872, led Donati to refer such phenomena to a distinct branch of science. However, he could not follow up on the subject, as he died from cholera, which he had contracted while attending a convention in Vienna
17.
Charles Darwin
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Charles Robert Darwin, FRS FRGS FLS FZS was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, by the 1870s, the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. In modified form, Darwins scientific discovery is the theory of the life sciences. Darwins early interest in nature led him to neglect his education at the University of Edinburgh, instead. Studies at the University of Cambridge encouraged his passion for natural science, puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin began detailed investigations and in 1838 conceived his theory of natural selection. Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and he was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay that described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories. Darwins work established evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature, in 1871 he examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. His research on plants was published in a series of books, Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey. Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, on 12 February 1809, at his familys home and he was the fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor and financier Robert Darwin and Susannah Darwin. He was the grandson of two prominent abolitionists, Erasmus Darwin on his fathers side, and Josiah Wedgwood on his mothers side, both families were largely Unitarian, though the Wedgwoods were adopting Anglicanism. The eight-year-old Charles already had a taste for history and collecting when he joined the day school run by its preacher in 1817. From September 1818, he joined his older brother Erasmus attending the nearby Anglican Shrewsbury School as a boarder and he found lectures dull and surgery distressing, so neglected his studies. He learned taxidermy in around 40 daily hour-long sessions from John Edmonstone, one day, Grant praised Lamarcks evolutionary ideas. Darwin was astonished by Grants audacity, but had recently read similar ideas in his grandfather Erasmus journals, Darwin was rather bored by Robert Jamesons natural-history course, which covered geology - including the debate between Neptunism and Plutonism. He learned the classification of plants, and assisted with work on the collections of the University Museum, as Darwin was unqualified for the Tripos, he joined the ordinary degree course in January 1828. He preferred riding and shooting to studying, when his own exams drew near, Darwin focused on his studies and was delighted by the language and logic of William Paleys Evidences of Christianity. In his final examination in January 1831 Darwin did well, coming out of 178 candidates for the ordinary degree. Darwin had to stay at Cambridge until June 1831, inspired with a burning zeal to contribute, Darwin planned to visit Tenerife with some classmates after graduation to study natural history in the tropics
18.
Sir William Herschel, 2nd Baronet
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Sir William James Herschel, 2nd Baronet was a British ICS officer in India who used fingerprints for identification on contracts. He was born in Slough in Buckinghamshire, the third child and his younger brothers were Alexander Stewart Herschel and John Herschel the Younger. On 19 May 1864 he married Emma Haldane, youngest daughter of Alfred Hardcastle of Hatcham House, upon his death the baronetcy passed to his son. Herschel is credited with being the first European to note the value of fingerprints for identification and he recognized that fingerprints were unique and permanent. Herschel documented his own fingerprints over his lifetime to prove permanence and he was also credited with being the first person to use fingerprints in a practical manner. As early as the 1850s, working as a British officer for the Indian Civil Service in the Bengal region of India, the Origin of Finger-Printing at Project Gutenberg
19.
Fingerprint
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A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of fingerprints from a scene is an important method of forensic science. Fingerprints are easily deposited on surfaces by the natural secretions of sweat from the eccrine glands that are present in epidermal ridges. These are sometimes referred to as Chanced Impressions, in a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human or other primate hand. A print from the sole of the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges, deliberate impressions of fingerprints may be formed by ink or other substances transferred from the peaks of friction ridges on the skin to a relatively smooth surface such as a fingerprint card. Fingerprint records normally contain impressions from the pad on the last joint of fingers and thumbs, human fingerprints are detailed, nearly unique, difficult to alter, and durable over the life of an individual, making them suitable as long-term markers of human identity. Fingerprint analysis, in use since the early 20th century, has led to many crimes being solved and this means that many criminals consider gloves essential. In 2015, the identification of sex by use of a fingerprint test has been reported. A friction ridge is a portion of the epidermis on the digits. These are sometimes known as epidermal ridges which are caused by the interface between the dermal papillae of the dermis and the interpapillary pegs of the epidermis. These ridges may also assist in gripping surfaces and may improve surface contact in wet conditions. Before computerisation, manual filing systems were used in large fingerprint repositories, manual classification systems were based on the general ridge patterns of several or all fingers. This allowed the filing and retrieval of paper records in large collections based on friction ridge patterns alone, the most popular systems used the pattern class of each finger to form a key to assist lookup in a filing system. Classification systems include the Roscher system, the Juan Vucetich system, in the Henry system of classification, there are three basic fingerprint patterns, loop, whorl, and arch, which constitute 60–65%, 30–35%, and 5% of all fingerprints respectively. Ulnar loops start on the pinky-side of the finger, the closer to the ulna. Radial loops start on the thumb-side of the finger, the closer to the radius. Whorls may also have sub-group classifications including plain whorls, accidental whorls, double loop whorls, peacocks eye, composite, other common fingerprint patterns include the tented arch, the plain arch, and the central pocket loop. The system used by most experts, although complex, is similar to the Henry System of Classification
20.
Bengal
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Bengal is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in Asia, which is located in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Geographically, it is made up by the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta system, in 2011, the population of Bengal was estimated to be 250 million, making it the most densely populated region in South Asia. An estimated 160 million people live in Bangladesh, while 91.3 million people live in West Bengal, the predominant ethno-linguistic group are the Bengali people, who speak the Indo-Aryan Bengali language. Bengali Muslims are the majority in Bangladesh, Bengali Hindus are the majority in West Bengal. Dense woodlands, including rainforests, cover Bengals northern and eastern areas. In the littoral southwest are the Sunderbans, the worlds largest mangrove forest, in the coastal southeast lies Coxs Bazaar, the longest beach in the world at 125 km. The region has a climate, which the Bengali calendar divides into six seasons. Bengal has played a role in the history of Asia. In antiquity, its kingdoms were known as seafaring nations, at times an independent regional empire, or a bastion of larger empires, the historical region was a leading power of the Indian subcontinent and the Islamic East. Bengali culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature, music, art, architecture, sports, currency, commerce, politics and cuisine. The name of Bengal is derived from the ancient kingdom of Banga, theories on the origin of the term Banga point to the Proto-Dravidian Bong tribe that settled in the area circa 1000 BCE and the Austric word Bong. The term Bangaladesa is used to describe the region in 11th century South Indian records, the modern term Bangla is prominent from the 14th century, which saw the establishment of the Sultanate of Bengal, whose first ruler Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah was known as the Shah of Bangala. The Portuguese referred to the region as Bengala in the Age of Discovery, most of the Bengal region lies in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta, but there are highlands in its north, northeast and southeast. The Ganges Delta arises from the confluence of the rivers Ganges, Brahmaputra, the total area of Bengal is 232,752 km2—West Bengal is 88,752 km2 and Bangladesh 147,570 km2. The flat and fertile Bangladesh Plain dominates the geography of Bangladesh, the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet regions are home to most of the mountains in Bangladesh. Most parts of Bangladesh are within 10 metres above the sea level, because of this low elevation, much of this region is exceptionally vulnerable to seasonal flooding due to monsoons. The highest point in Bangladesh is in Mowdok range at 1,052 metres, a major part of the coastline comprises a marshy jungle, the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and home to diverse flora and fauna, including the royal Bengal tiger. In 1997, this region was declared endangered, West Bengal is on the eastern bottleneck of India, stretching from the Himalayas in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south
21.
Rudolf Virchow
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Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow was a German physician, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist, writer, editor, and politician, known for his advancement of public health. He is known as the father of modern pathology because his work helped to discredit humourism and he is also known as the founder of social medicine and veterinary pathology, and to his colleagues, the Pope of medicine. Born and raised in Schievelbein as a child of a working-class family. Dissuaded by his voice, he abandoned his initial interest in theology. With special military scholarship, he earned his degree from Friedrich-Wilhelms Institute under the tutelage of Johannes Peter Müller. He worked at the Charité hospital under Robert Froriep, whom he succeeded as the prosector. Although he failed to contain the 1847–1848 typhus epidemic in Upper Silesia, his report laid the foundation for health in Germany. From it, he coined a well known aphorism, Medicine is a social science and he participated in the Revolution of 1848, which led to his expulsion from Charité the next year. He published a newspaper Die medicinische Reform during this period to disseminate his social and political ideas and he took the first Chair of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Würzburg in 1849. After five years, Charité invited him back to direct its newly built Institute for Pathology, the campus of Charité is now named Campus Virchow Klinikum. He cofounded the political party Deutsche Fortschrittspartei, by which he was elected to the Prussian House of Representatives and his opposition to Otto von Bismarcks financial policy resulted in an anecdotal Sausage Duel between the two. But he ardently supported Bismarck in his campaigns, the social revolution he himself named as Kulturkampf. A prolific writer, his writings alone exceeded 2,000 in number. Among his books, Cellular Pathology published in 1858 is regarded as the root of modern pathology and this work also popularised the third dictum in cell theory, Omnis cellula e cellula, although his idea originated in 1855. He founded journals such as Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medizin, the latter is published by German Anthropological Association and the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory, the societies of which he also founded. Virchow was the first to describe and give names of diseases such as leukemia, chordoma, ochronosis, embolism. He coined scientific terms, chromatin, agenesis, parenchyma, osteoid, amyloid degeneration and his description of the transmission cycle of a roundworm Trichinella spiralis established the importance of meat inspection, which was started in Berlin. He developed the first systematic method of autopsy involving surgery of all body parts, a number of medical terms are named after him, including Virchows node, Virchow–Robin spaces, Virchow–Seckel syndrome, and Virchows triad
22.
George Bentham
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George Bentham CMG FRS was an English botanist, characterised by Duane Isely as the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century. Bentham was born in Stoke, Plymouth, on 22 September 1800 and his father, Sir Samuel Bentham, a naval architect, was the only brother of Jeremy Bentham to survive into adulthood. George Bentham had neither a school nor a college education, and he also had a remarkable linguistic aptitude. By the age of seven he could speak French, German and Russian and they eventually settled in the neighbourhood of Montpellier where Sir Samuel purchased a large estate. George Bentham became attracted to botanical studies by applying to them his uncles logical methods, while studying at Angoulême he came across a copy of A. P. de Candolles Flore française, and he became interested in the analytical tables for identifying plants. He immediately proceeded to test their use on the first plant he saw, the result was successful and he continued to apply it to every plant he came across. A visit to London in 1823 brought him contact with the brilliant circle of English botanists. In 1826, at the invitation of his uncle, he agreed to act as his secretary, at the same time entering Lincolns Inn. He was called in due time and in 1832 held his first and last brief, however, his interest in botany never flagged and he was secretary of the Horticultural Society of London from 1829 to 1840. In 1832, Jeremy Bentham died, leaving his property to his nephew, having inherited his fathers estate the previous year, he was now in a position of modest independence, and able to pursue wholeheartedly his favourite studies. For a time these were divided between botany, jurisprudence and logic, in addition to editing his fathers professional papers, Bentham married Sarah Jones, daughter of Sir Harford Jones Brydges, on 11 April 1833, they did not have children. Bentham died at his London home of 30 years,25 Wilton Place, on 10 September 1884 and he was laid to rest in Brompton Cemetery. Benthams life spanned the Darwinian revolution and, moreover, his young colleague Joseph Dalton Hooker was Darwins closest friend, Bentham was until then an unquestioning adherent of the dogma of the constancy of species. We can no more set up a typical species than a typical individual, Bentham was awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society in 1859 and elected a Fellow in 1862. He served as president of the Linnean Society of London from 1861 to 1874 and he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1866. He was appointed CMG in 1878 and his foreign awards included the Clarke Medal of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1879. It is interesting to notice that in it Bentham adopted the principle from which he never deviated and this was followed by articles on various legal subjects, on codification, in which he disagreed with his uncle, on the laws affecting larceny and on the law of real property. But the most remarkable production of this period was the Outline of a new system of logic, in this the principle of the quantification of the predicate was first explicitly stated
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Joseph Dalton Hooker
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Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM GCSI CB PRS was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the 19th century. He was a founder of botany and Charles Darwins closest friend. For twenty years he served as director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, succeeding his father, William Jackson Hooker, Hooker was born in Halesworth, Suffolk, England. From age seven, Hooker attended his fathers lectures at Glasgow University, taking an early interest in plant distribution and he was educated at the Glasgow High School and went on to study medicine at Glasgow University, graduating M. D. in 1839. In 1851 he married Frances Harriet Henslow, daughter of Darwins mentor and they had four sons and three daughters, William Henslow Hooker Harriet Anne Hooker married William Turner Thiselton-Dyer Charles Paget Hooker Maria Elizabeth Hooker died aged 6. Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker Reginald Hawthorn Hooker statistician Grace Ellen Hooker Frances Harriet Henslows contribution to his work included translating French botanical texts which Hooker edited. After his first wifes death in 1874, in 1876 he married Lady Hyacinth Jardine, daughter of William Samuel Symonds and they had two sons, Joseph Symonds Hooker Richard Symonds Hooker. Joseph Hooker died in his sleep at midnight at home, the Camp, Sunningdale in Berkshire, on 10 December 1911 after a short, the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey offered a grave near Darwins in the nave but also insisted that Hooker be cremated before. His memorial tablet in the church, with a motif of five plants, was designed by Matilds Smith. Hookers first expedition, led by James Clark Ross, consisted of two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, it was the last major voyage of exploration made entirely under sail, Hooker was the youngest of the 128-man crew. He sailed on the Erebus and was assistant to Robert McCormick, the ships sailed on 30 September 1839. Before journeying to Antarctica they visited Madeira, Tenerife, Santiago and Quail Island in the Cape Verde archipelago, St Paul Rocks, Trinidade east of Brazil, St Helena, and the Cape of Good Hope. Hooker made plant collections at each location and while travelling drew these and specimens of algae, from the Cape they entered the southern ocean. Their first stop was the Crozet Islands where they set down on Possession Island to deliver coffee to sealers and they departed for the Kerguelen Islands where they would spend several days. The expedition spent some time in Hobart, Van Diemens Land, and then moved on to the Auckland Islands and Campbell Island, and onward to Antarctica to locate the South Magnetic Pole. After spending 5 months in the Antarctic they returned to resupply in Hobart, then went on to Sydney, and they left New Zealand to return to Antarctica. They made a landing at Cockburn Island and after leaving the Antarctic, stopped at the Cape, St Helena and Ascension Island. The ships arrived back in England on 4 September 1843, the voyage had been a success for Ross as it was the first to confirm the existence of the southern continent, in 1845, Hooker applied for the Chair of Botany at the University of Edinburgh
24.
Publication of Darwin's theory
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The publication of Darwins theory brought into the open Charles Darwins theory of evolution through natural selection, the culmination of more than twenty years of work. This attracted little notice, but spurred Darwin to write an abstract of his work which was published in 1859 as his book On the Origin of Species, Darwins ideas developed rapidly from the return in 1836 of the Beagle survey expedition. By December 1838 he had developed the principles of his theory, at that time similar ideas brought others disgrace and association with the revolutionary mob. He was conscious of the need to answer all likely objections before publishing, while he continued with research as his prime hobby, his priority was an immense amount of work on geology and analysing and publishing findings from the Beagle expedition. This was repeatedly delayed by illness, Natural history at that time was dominated by clerical naturalists whose income came from the Established Church of England and who saw the science of the day as revealing Gods plan. Darwin found three close allies, Charles Lyell, Joseph Dalton Hooker and Thomas Huxley, Darwin made attempts to open discussions about his theory with his close scientific colleagues. In January 1842 Darwin sent a description of his ideas in a letter to Lyell. He worked up his Sketch into an Essay in 1844, in September 1854 Darwin had the last of his barnacle monographs ready for publication, and he turned his attention fully to questions about how species originated. He freely discussed his intention to write a book on the subject and he went over his previous notes and writings on the topic, and drew up proposals for investigations and research into the implications of his theory. One topic was explaining geographical distribution of organisms, he got information from international correspondence and he widened his investigations into variability in nature, and experimented on plant hybridisation and cross-fertilisation. He got extensive information, specimens and ideas from Edward Blyth in India, from March, he also got information and specimens from his relative William Darwin Fox who bred poultry and ducks at his rectory in the parish of Delamere, Cheshire. He recalled, during the evening and wet days, I had nothing to do, in February, Wallace completed his paper On the Law which has Regulated the Introduction of New Species which was published in September 1855 in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. This Sarawak paper countered Forbes, and showed Wallaces opinions and this was a theory of a succession of species, but referred to creation rather than explicitly citing an evolutionary mechanism. Brooke read it as either a series of creations or one growing into another. Lyells resistance to Darwins evolutionary ideas was shaken by the paper, in November 1855 Lyell began writing species notebooks, on 8 December Edward Blyth wrote from Calcutta to ask Darwin for his views on the paper. And said according to his theory, the various races of animals have been fairly developed into species. It is not known when Darwin read this letter, letters also went to Brooke, and to Wallace via his agent Samuel Stevens. In August 1856 Wallace told Stevens that specimens for Darwin were included in a shipment, in November Darwin wrote to tell William Bernhardt Tegetmeier that a box of Persian poultry specimens from Murray had arrived, and Mr Wallace is collecting in the Malay Archipelago
25.
Alfred Russel Wallace
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Alfred Russel Wallace OM FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist. He is best known for conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection. This prompted Darwin to publish his own ideas in On the Origin of Species and he was considered the 19th centurys leading expert on the geographical distribution of animal species and is sometimes called the father of biogeography. Wallace was one of the leading thinkers of the 19th century. Wallace was strongly attracted to unconventional ideas and his advocacy of spiritualism and his belief in a non-material origin for the higher mental faculties of humans strained his relationship with some members of the scientific establishment. Aside from scientific work, he was a social activist who was critical of what he considered to be an unjust social and his interest in natural history resulted in his being one of the first prominent scientists to raise concerns over the environmental impact of human activity. Since its publication in 1869 it has never been out of print, Wallace had financial difficulties throughout much of his life. Alfred Wallace was born in the Welsh village of Llanbadoc, near Usk and he was the seventh of nine children of Thomas Vere Wallace and Mary Anne Greenell. Mary Anne was English, Thomas Wallace was probably of Scottish ancestry and his family, like many Wallaces, claimed a connection to William Wallace, a leader of Scottish forces during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 13th century. Thomas Wallace graduated in law, but never practised law and he owned some income-generating property, but bad investments and failed business ventures resulted in a steady deterioration of the familys financial position. His mother was from a middle-class English family from Hertford, north of London, when Wallace was five years old, his family moved to Hertford. There he attended Hertford Grammar School until financial difficulties forced his family to him in 1836. Wallace then moved to London to board with his older brother John and this was a stopgap measure until William, his oldest brother, was ready to take him on as an apprentice surveyor. While in London, Alfred attended lectures and read books at the London Mechanics Institute, here he was exposed to the radical political ideas of the Welsh social reformer Robert Owen and of Thomas Paine. He left London in 1837 to live with William and work as his apprentice for six years, at the end of 1839, they moved to Kington, Hereford, near the Welsh border, before eventually settling at Neath in Glamorgan in Wales. Between 1840 and 1843, Wallace did land surveying work in the countryside of the west of England, by the end of 1843, Williams business had declined due to difficult economic conditions, and Wallace, at the age of 20, left in January. One result of Wallaces early travels is a controversy about his nationality. Since Wallace was born in Monmouthshire, some sources have considered him to be Welsh, one Wallace scholar has stated that the most reasonable interpretation is therefore that he was an Englishman born in Wales
26.
Natural selection
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Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in heritable traits of a population over time, Charles Darwin popularised the term natural selection, and compared it with artificial selection. Variation exists within all populations of organisms and this occurs partly because random mutations arise in the genome of an individual organism, and offspring can inherit such mutations. Throughout the lives of the individuals, their genomes interact with their environments to cause variations in traits, the environment of a genome includes the molecular biology in the cell, other cells, other individuals, populations, species, as well as the abiotic environment. Individuals with certain variants of the trait may survive and reproduce more than individuals with other, less successful, variants, therefore, factors that affect reproductive success are also important, including sexual selection and fecundity selection. Over time, this process can result in populations that specialise for particular ecological niches, in other words, natural selection is a key process in the evolution of a population. Natural selection can be contrasted with artificial selection, in which humans intentionally choose specific traits, Natural selection is one of the cornerstones of modern biology. The concept of natural selection originally developed in the absence of a theory of heredity, at the time of Darwins writing. The union of traditional Darwinian evolution with subsequent discoveries in classical genetics formed the synthesis of the mid-20th century. The addition of molecular genetics has led to developmental biology. While genotypes can slowly change by random genetic drift, natural selection remains the primary explanation for adaptive evolution, empedocles idea that organisms arose entirely by the incidental workings of causes such as heat and cold was criticised by Aristotle in Book II of Physics. He posited natural teleology in its place, and believed that form was achieved for a purpose, nevertheless, he accepted in his biology that new types of animals, monstrosities, can occur in very rare instances. And in like manner as to the parts in which there appears to exist an adaptation to an end. Yet it is impossible that this should be the true view, for teeth and all other natural things either invariably or normally come about in a given way, but of not one of the results of chance or spontaneity is this true. We do not ascribe to chance or mere coincidence the frequency of rain in winter, but frequent rain in summer we do, nor heat in the dog-days, therefore action for an end is present in things which come to be and are by nature. The struggle for existence was later described by the Islamic writer Al-Jahiz in the 9th century, the classical arguments were reintroduced in the 18th century by Pierre Louis Maupertuis and others, including Darwins grandfather, Erasmus Darwin. Until the early 19th century, the view in Western societies was that differences between individuals of a species were uninteresting departures from their Platonic ideals of created kinds. However, the theory of uniformitarianism in geology promoted the idea that simple and this theory, Lamarckism, was an influence on the Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenkos antagonism to mainstream genetic theory as late as the mid 20th century
27.
Charles Lyell
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Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, FRS was a British lawyer and the foremost geologist of his day. Principles of Geology also challenged theories popularized by Georges Cuvier, which were the most accepted and circulated ideas about geology in England at the time and he also coined the currently-used names for geological eras, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic. He incorrectly conjectured that icebergs may be the emphasis behind the transport of glacial erratics, Lyell was one of the first to believe that the world is older than 300 million years, on the basis of its geological anomalies. He was a friend of Charles Darwin, and contributed significantly to Darwins thinking on the processes involved in evolution. He helped to arrange the publication in 1858 of papers by Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace on natural selection. He later published evidence from geology of the man had existed on Earth. Lyell was born 14 November 1797 in Scotland about 15 miles north of Dundee in Kinnordy and he was the eldest of ten children. Lyells father, also named Charles Lyell, was a lawyer and botanist of minor repute, the house/place of his birth is located in the north-west of the Central Lowlands in the valley of the Highland Boundary Fault. Round the house, in the valley, is farmland. His familys second home was in a different geological and ecological area, he spent much of his childhood at Bartley Lodge in the New Forest. Lyell entered Exeter College, Oxford, in 1816, and attended William Bucklands lectures and he graduated BA second class in classics, December 1819, and M. A.1821. After graduation he took up law as a profession, entering Lincolns Inn in 1820 and he completed a circuit through rural England, where he could observe geological phenomena. In 1821 he attended Robert Jamesons lectures in Edinburgh, and visited Gideon Mantell at Lewes, in 1823 he was elected joint secretary of the Geological Society. As his eyesight began to deteriorate, he turned to geology as a full-time profession and his first paper, On a recent formation of freshwater limestone in Forfarshire, was presented in 1822. In 1832, Lyell married Mary Horner in Bonn, daughter of Leonard Horner, the new couple spent their honeymoon in Switzerland and Italy on a geological tour of the area. During the 1840s, Lyell travelled to the United States and Canada, after the Great Chicago Fire, Lyell was one of the first to donate books to help found the Chicago Public Library. In 1866, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Lyells wife died in 1873, and two years later Lyell himself died as he was revising the twelfth edition of Principles and he is buried in Westminster Abbey
28.
Evolution
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Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. Evolutionary processes give rise to biodiversity at every level of organisation, including the levels of species, individual organisms. In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the LUCA of all living on Earth. The fossil record includes a progression from early biogenic graphite, to microbial mat fossils, existing patterns of biodiversity have been shaped both by speciation and by extinction. More than 99 percent of all species that lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct. Estimates of Earths current species range from 10 to 14 million, more recently, in May 2016, scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described. In the mid-19th century, Charles Darwin formulated the theory of evolution by natural selection. This teleonomy is the quality whereby the process of natural selection creates and preserves traits that are fitted for the functional roles they perform. The processes by which the changes occur, from one generation to another, are called evolutionary processes or mechanisms, the four most widely recognized evolutionary processes are natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene migration. Natural selection and genetic drift sort variation, mutation and gene migration create variation, consequences of selection can include meiotic drive, nonrandom mating and genetic hitchhiking. In the early 20th century the modern evolutionary synthesis integrated classical genetics with Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection through the discipline of population genetics, the importance of natural selection as a cause of evolution was accepted into other branches of biology. Moreover, previously held notions about evolution, such as orthogenesis, evolutionism, evolutionary computation, a sub-field of artificial intelligence, involves the application of Darwinian principles to problems in computer science. The proposal that one type of organism could descend from another type goes back to some of the first pre-Socratic Greek philosophers, such as Anaximander, such proposals survived into Roman times. The poet and philosopher Lucretius followed Empedocles in his masterwork De rerum natura, in contrast to these materialistic views, Aristotelianism considered all natural things as actualisations of fixed natural possibilities, known as forms. This was part of a teleological understanding of nature in which all things have an intended role to play in a divine cosmic order. In the 17th century, the new method of modern science rejected the Aristotelian approach, however, this new approach was slow to take root in the biological sciences, the last bastion of the concept of fixed natural types. The biological classification introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1735 explicitly recognized the nature of species relationships. Other naturalists of this time speculated on the change of species over time according to natural laws
29.
Linnean Society of London
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The Linnean Society of London is a society dedicated to the study of, and the dissemination of information concerning, natural history and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collections and publishes academic journals and books on plant, the society also awards a number of prestigious medals and prizes for achievement. A product of the 18th century enlightenment, the society is important as the venue for the first public presentation of the Theory of Evolution. The patron of the society is Queen Elizabeth II, the Linnean Society was founded in 1788 by botanist Sir James Edward Smith. The society derives its name from the Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus, the father of taxonomy and he was known as Carl von Linné after his ennoblement, hence the spelling Linnean, rather than Linnaean. The society had a number of minor name variations before it gained its Royal Charter on 26 March 1802, in 1802, as a newly incorporated society, it comprised 228 fellows. It is the oldest extant natural history society in the world, throughout its history the society has been a non-political and non-sectarian institution, existing solely for the furtherance of natural history. The society has numbered many prominent scientists amongst its fellows, one such was the botanist Robert Brown, who was president, he named the cell nucleus and discovered Brownian motion. In 1854 Charles Darwin was elected a fellow, he is undoubtedly the most illustrious scientist ever to appear on the rolls of the society. Another famous fellow was biologist Thomas Huxley, who gained the nickname Darwins bulldog for his defence of evolution. At this meeting a joint presentation of papers by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace was made, sponsored by Joseph Hooker, in 1904 the society experienced the novelty of electing women fellows, this followed a number of years of campaigning by the botanist Marian Farquharson. Whilst the societys council was reluctant to admit women, the fellows were much less so, among the first to benefit from this were, Lilian J. Veley, a microbiologist and Annie Lorrain Smith, a lichenologist and mycologist, both formally admitted on 19 January 1905. Also amongst the first women to be elected in 1904 was the paleobotanist, the societys connection with evolution remained strong into the 20th century. Sir Edward Poulton, who was president 1912-1916, was a defender of natural selection and was the first biologist to recognise the importance of frequency-dependent selection. The first female president of the society was Irene Manton, who pioneered the use of electron microscopy. Her work revealed the structure of the flagellum and cilia, which are central to systems of cellular motility. Recent years have seen an increased interest within the society in issues of biodiversity conservation and this was highlighted by the inception in 2015 of an annual award, the John Spedan Lewis Medal, specifically honouring persons making significant and innovative contributions to conservation. Fellowship requires nomination by at least one fellow, and election by a minimum of two thirds of those electors voting, fellows may employ the post-nominal letters FLS
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Richard Francis Burton
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Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was an English explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer, and diplomat. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, according to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian and African languages. Burton defied many aspects of the pervasive British ethnocentrism of his day and his works and letters extensively criticized colonial policies of the British Empire, even to the detriment of his career. A characteristic feature of his books is the copious footnotes and appendices containing remarkable observations, Burton was a captain in the army of the East India Company, serving in India. Following this, he was engaged by the Royal Geographical Society to explore the east coast of Africa, in later life, he served as British consul in Fernando Pó, Santos, Damascus and, finally, Trieste. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and was awarded a knighthood in 1886. Burton was born in Torquay, Devon, at 21,30 on 19 March 1821, in his autobiography and he was baptized on 2 September 1821 at Elstree Church in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. His father, Lt. -Colonel Henry Peard Driscoll and Mrs Richard Graves, richards mother, Martha Baker, was the daughter and co-heiress of a wealthy English squire, Richard Baker, of Barham House, Hertfordshire, for whom he was named. Burton had two siblings, Maria Katherine Elizabeth Burton and Edward Joseph Netterville Burton, born in 1823 and 1824, Burtons family travelled considerably during his childhood. In 1825, they moved to Tours, France, Burtons early education was provided by various tutors employed by his parents. He first began an education in 1829 at a preparatory school on Richmond Green in Richmond, Surrey. Over the next few years, his family travelled between England, France, and Italy, Burton showed an early gift for languages and quickly learned French, Italian, Neapolitan, and Latin, as well as several dialects. During his youth, he was rumored to have carried on an affair with a young Roma woman, even learning the rudiments of her language, the peregrinations of his youth may have encouraged Burton to regard himself as an outsider for much of his life. As he put it, Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none, Burton matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, on 19 November 1840. Before getting a room at the college, he lived for a time in the house of Dr. William Alexander Greenhill. Here, he met John Henry Newman, whose churchwarden was Dr. Greenhill, despite his intelligence and ability, Burton was antagonised by his teachers and peers. During his first term, he is said to have challenged another student to a duel after the latter mocked Burtons moustache, Burton continued to gratify his love of languages by studying Arabic, he also spent his time learning falconry and fencing. In April 1842, he attended a steeplechase in deliberate violation of college rules and subsequently dared to tell the college authorities that students should be allowed to attend such events
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John Hanning Speke
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John Hanning Speke was an officer in the British Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search for the source of the Nile and was the first European to reach Lake Victoria, Speke was born on 4 May 1827 at Orleigh Court, Buckland Brewer, near Bideford, North Devon. In 1844 he was commissioned into the British Army and posted to India and he spent his leave exploring the Himalayan Mountains and Mount Everest and once crossed into Tibet. This was refused as Somaliland was considered rather dangerous, Speke was accepted because he had traveled in remote regions alone before, had experience collecting and preserving natural history specimens and had done astronomical surveying. Initially the party split with Burton going to Harrar, Abyssinia, during this trip Speke experienced trouble with the local guide who cheated him and after they returned to Aden, Burton who had also returned, saw that the guide was punished and jailed. This incident probably led to larger troubles later on, now all 4 men traveled to Berbera on the coast of Somaliland from where they wanted to trek inland towards the Ogaden. While camped outside Berbera they were attacked at night by 200 spear wielding Somalis, during this fracas Speke ducked under the flap of a tent to get a clearer view of the scene and Burton thought he was retreating and called for Speke to stand firm. Speke did so and then charged forward with great courage shooting several attackers, the misunderstanding of this incident laid the foundation of their disputes and dislikes much later. Stroyan was killed by a spear, Burton was seriously wounded by a javelin impaling both cheeks and Speke was wounded and the one captured, Herne came away unwounded. Speke was tied up and stabbed several times with spears, one thrust cutting through his thigh along his femur, rejoining Burton and Herne the trio eventually managed to escape with a boat passing along the coast. The expedition was a financial loss and Spekes natural history specimens from his earlier leg were used to make up for some of it. Speke handed Burton his diaries that Burton used as an appendix in his own book on his travels to Harrar. It seemed unlikely that the two would again and Burton believed that he would not lead an expedition to the interior of Africa, his fervent hope. Around the mid-1800s the only way to travel into the interior of Africa was to walk on foot away from the coast with a caravan of porters, guides. Horses were almost impossible to keep alive because of the tsetse fly, camels, oxen, and donkeys were used as pack animals, but even they suffered greatly from diseases and many died en route. So the great majority of everything that was brought along was carried on the shoulders of humans, most of the interior of Africa was terra incognita and guides from the coast as well as locally hired guides, once in the interior, were needed. Tropical diseases were not well understood, albeit quinine was considered a help against malaria, because of diseases, animals, and hostile tribes, many people on caravans died on the long journeys, which lasted up to four years. Desertions were a problem as the expeditions continued for years on end
