1.
1897 in art
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April 3 – Vienna Secession founded by artists including Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Max Kurzweil. May 1 – Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek art museum opened in Copenhagen, may 27 – A Separate Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture is staged at Sukiennice Museum in Main Square, Kraków. August 4 – The Lady of Elche Iberian sculpture is found at LAlcúdia near Elche in Spain, september – Edvard Munch stages a major retrospective in Christiania. October 27 – First meeting of the Society of Polish Artists Sztuka in Kraków, at Giverny, Claude Monet begins painting his Water Lilies series, which will continue until the end of his life. Elbridge Ayer Burbank begins painting portraits of Native Americans in the United States from life, women photographers Zaida Ben-Yusuf and Gertrude Käsebier open portrait studios in New York City. A Book of Fifty Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley is published, bernard Berenson publishes Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance. Ogata Gekkō – Ryu sho ten J. W. and Mrs. I
2.
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
3.
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
4.
J. J. Thomson
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He was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of London and appointed to the Cavendish Professorship of Experimental Physics at the Cambridge Universitys Cavendish Laboratory in 1884. Thomson is also credited with finding the first evidence for isotopes of an element in 1913. His experiments to determine the nature of positively charged particles, with Francis William Aston, were the first use of mass spectrometry, Thomson was awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the conduction of electricity in gases. Seven of his students, including his son George Paget Thomson and his record is comparable only to that of the German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld. Joseph John Thomson was born 18 December 1856 in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, Lancashire and his mother, Emma Swindells, came from a local textile family. His father, Joseph James Thomson, ran a bookshop founded by a great-grandfather. He had a two years younger than he was, Frederick Vernon Thomson. J. J. Thomson was a devout Anglican and his early education was in small private schools where he demonstrated outstanding talent and interest in science. In 1870 he was admitted to Owens College at the young age of 14. His parents planned to enroll him as an engineer to Sharp-Stewart & Co, a locomotive manufacturer. He moved on to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1876, in 1880 he obtained his BA in mathematics. He applied for and became a Fellow of Trinity College in 1881, Thomson received his MA in 1883. Thomson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 12 June 1884, on 22 December 1884 Thomson was chosen to become Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge. The appointment caused considerable surprise, given that such as Richard Glazebrook were older. Thomson was known for his work as a mathematician, where he was recognized as an exceptional talent. In 1890, Thomson married Rose Elisabeth Paget, daughter of Sir George Edward Paget, KCB and they had one son, George Paget Thomson, and one daughter, Joan Paget Thomson. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1906, in recognition of the merits of his theoretical and experimental investigations on the conduction of electricity by gases. He was knighted in 1908 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1912, in 1914 he gave the Romanes Lecture in Oxford on The atomic theory
5.
Electron
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The electron is a subatomic particle, symbol e− or β−, with a negative elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, the electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton. Quantum mechanical properties of the include a intrinsic angular momentum of a half-integer value, expressed in units of the reduced Planck constant. As it is a fermion, no two electrons can occupy the same state, in accordance with the Pauli exclusion principle. Like all elementary particles, electrons exhibit properties of particles and waves, they can collide with other particles and can be diffracted like light. Since an electron has charge, it has an electric field. Electromagnetic fields produced from other sources will affect the motion of an electron according to the Lorentz force law, electrons radiate or absorb energy in the form of photons when they are accelerated. Laboratory instruments are capable of trapping individual electrons as well as electron plasma by the use of electromagnetic fields, special telescopes can detect electron plasma in outer space. Electrons are involved in applications such as electronics, welding, cathode ray tubes, electron microscopes, radiation therapy, lasers, gaseous ionization detectors. Interactions involving electrons with other particles are of interest in fields such as chemistry. The Coulomb force interaction between the positive protons within atomic nuclei and the negative electrons without, allows the composition of the two known as atoms, ionization or differences in the proportions of negative electrons versus positive nuclei changes the binding energy of an atomic system. The exchange or sharing of the electrons between two or more atoms is the cause of chemical bonding. In 1838, British natural philosopher Richard Laming first hypothesized the concept of a quantity of electric charge to explain the chemical properties of atoms. Irish physicist George Johnstone Stoney named this charge electron in 1891, electrons can also participate in nuclear reactions, such as nucleosynthesis in stars, where they are known as beta particles. Electrons can be created through beta decay of isotopes and in high-energy collisions. The antiparticle of the electron is called the positron, it is identical to the electron except that it carries electrical, when an electron collides with a positron, both particles can be totally annihilated, producing gamma ray photons. The ancient Greeks noticed that amber attracted small objects when rubbed with fur, along with lightning, this phenomenon is one of humanitys earliest recorded experiences with electricity. In his 1600 treatise De Magnete, the English scientist William Gilbert coined the New Latin term electricus, both electric and electricity are derived from the Latin ēlectrum, which came from the Greek word for amber, ἤλεκτρον
6.
Stockholm
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The city is spread across 14 islands on the coast in the southeast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago and the Baltic Sea. The area has settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC. It is also the capital of Stockholm County, Stockholm is the cultural, media, political, and economic centre of Sweden. The Stockholm region alone accounts for over a third of the countrys GDP and it is an important global city, and the main centre for corporate headquarters in the Nordic region. The city is home to some of Europes top ranking universities, such as the Stockholm School of Economics, Karolinska Institute and it hosts the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies and banquet at the Stockholm Concert Hall and Stockholm City Hall. One of the citys most prized museums, the Vasa Museum, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia. The Stockholm metro, opened in 1950, is known for its decoration of the stations. Swedens national football arena is located north of the city centre, Ericsson Globe, the national indoor arena, is in the southern part of the city. The city was the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics, and hosted the equestrian portion of the 1956 Summer Olympics otherwise held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Stockholm is the seat of the Swedish government and most of its agencies, including the highest courts in the judiciary, and the official residencies of the Swedish monarch and the Prime Minister. The government has its seat in the Rosenbad building, the Riksdag is seated in the Parliament House, and the Prime Ministers residence is adjacent at the Sager House. After the Ice Age, around 8,000 BCE, there were already a number of people living in the present-day Stockholm area. Thousands of years later, as the ground thawed, the climate became tolerable, at the intersection of the Baltic Sea and lake Mälaren is an archipelago site where the Old Town of Stockholm was first built from about 1000 CE by Vikings. They had a positive impact on the area because of the trade routes they created. Stockholms location appears in Norse sagas as Agnafit, and in Heimskringla in connection with the legendary king Agne, the earliest written mention of the name Stockholm dates from 1252, by which time the mines in Bergslagen made it an important site in the iron trade. The first part of the name means log in Swedish, although it may also be connected to an old German word meaning fortification, the second part of the name means islet, and is thought to refer to the islet Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm. Stockholms core, the present Old Town was built on the island next to Helgeandsholmen from the mid 13th century onward. The city originally rose to prominence as a result of the Baltic trade of the Hanseatic League, Stockholm developed strong economic and cultural linkages with Lübeck, Hamburg, Gdańsk, Visby, Reval, and Riga during this time
7.
Smethwick Engine
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The Smethwick Engine is a Watt steam engine made by Boulton and Watt, which was installed near Birmingham, England, and was brought into service in May 1779. Now at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum, it is the oldest working steam engine and the oldest working engine in the world. Originally, it was one of two engines used to pump water back up to the 491 foot summit level of the BCN Old Main Line canal at Smethwick. The other engine, also built by Boulton and Watt, was at the end of the summit level at Spon Lane. In 1804 a second Boulton and Watt engine was added alongside the 1779 engine, the engines were needed because local water sources were insufficient to supply water to operate the six locks either side of the canals original summit. The locks could have been avoided if a tunnel had been built, in the 1780s, a cutting was constructed by John Smeaton, enabling three of the six locks on each side to be removed. In the 1820s, Thomas Telford constructed a new parallel to the old in a deeper cutting, at the 453 ft Birmingham Level. It was spanned by the Galton Bridge, in 1892, a replacement engine was built in a new pumping house, now Grade II listed, next to Brasshouse Lane, as the original Smethwick Engine was considered uneconomic to repair. The original Smethwick Engine was then removed to British Waterways Ocker Hill depot where it remained until acquired by Birmingham City Council and it is now part of the collection of Birmingham Museums and is on display at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum at Millennium Point. It is the oldest working engine in the world, the engine house was demolished in 1897. Its original site and foundations can still be seen on Bridge Street North in Smethwick, the pumping station was featured in an episode of The Water Boatman presented by Alan Herd on the Discovery Shed TV channel in November 2011
8.
Birmingham Canal Navigations
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Birmingham Canal Navigations is a network of canals connecting Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and the eastern part of the Black Country. The BCN is connected to the rest of the English canal system at several junctions, at its working peak, the BCN contained about 160 miles of canals, today just over 100 miles are navigable, and the majority of traffic is from tourist and residential narrowboats. This cumbersome name was short-lived, and the company became known as the Birmingham Canal Navigations from 1794. The BCN is built on three levels, each with its own reservoirs. 453 feet O. D. the Birmingham Level,473 feet O. D. the Wolverhampton Level,408 feet O. D. the Walsall Level These levels are linked by locks at various places on the network, there are also stretches on their own levels. The Titford Canal and its branches were built at 511 feet O. D. linked to the Titford Reservoir, a feeder supplies water to the Edgbaston Reservoir. A short section of the BCN Old Main Line, at Smethwick Summit, was built at 491 feet O. D. Pumps at either end were built to water used by the locks back to the summit - one at Spon Lane locks, and one at Smethwick locks. It also linked to the general Wolverhampton Level supply of water, BCN Main Line from Aldersley Junction to Gas Street Basin, using some of the Old Main Line canal. Old Main Line, originally terminating in Birmingham at two wharfs now built upon, Old Wharf and Newhall Wharf, new Main Line, a revised route for the Birmingham Canal, double towpathed, largely progressing in straight lines using cuttings and tunnels. From 1983, it erected signposts at most of the junctions on the BCN. The Smethwick Engine Transport in Birmingham Stourport Ring Waterscape Broadbridge, S. R, the Birmingham Canal Navigations, Vol.11768 -1846. The Story of a Great Station Including Curzon Street, the Canals of the West Midlands. Canal Companion - Birmingham Canal Navigations, - canal maps and text Perrott, David, Mosse, Jonathan. Nicholson Waterways Guide 3 - Birmingham & the Heart of England, - Highly detailed printed 1,30,000 sheet map BCN Society Jim Sheads website 1973 photographs
9.
Bar-le-Duc
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Bar-le-Duc, formerly known as Bar, is a commune in the Meuse département, of which it is the capital. The department is in Grand Est in northeastern France and it is limited towards the north-east by the Marne-Rhine Canal, on the south-west by a small arm of the Ornain, called the Canal des Usines, on the left bank of which the upper town is situated. Bar-le-Duc was at one time the seat of the countship, later Duchy of Bar, though probably of ancient origin, the town was unimportant until the 10th century when it became the residence of the counts. Originally part of the medieval duchy of Upper Lorraine, at some stage in the early modern period it was acquired by the neighbouring dukes of Lorraine. The Ville Haute, which is reached by staircases and steep narrow thoroughfares, is intersected by a long, quiet street, bordered by houses of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. In this quarter are the remains of the château of the dukes of Bar, dismantled in 1670, the old clock-tower, and the college, built in the latter half of the 16th century. The lower town contains the buildings and the churches of Notre-Dame, the most ancient in the town. Among the statues of distinguished natives of the town is one to Nicolas Oudinot, other sights include the Notre-Dame Bridge, with five arches surmounted by a chapel in the middle. The highly rarefied Bar-le-duc jelly, also known as Lorraine Jelly, is a preparation of white currant or red currant fruit preserves. First referenced in the record in 1344, it is also colloquially referred to as Bar Caviar. Bar-le-Duc was the birthplace of, Jean de Lorraine, Cardinal de Lorraine, Bishop of Metz, Archbishop of Narbonne. net, photos of Bar-le-Duc
10.
Turbinia
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Turbinia was the first steam turbine-powered steamship. The vessel can still be seen at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, while her original powerplant can be found at the London Science Museum. Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine in 1884, and, having foreseen its potential to power ships. To develop this he had the experimental vessel Turbinia built in a design of steel by the firm of Brown and Hood. The Admiralty was kept informed of developments, and Turbinia was launched on 2 August 1894, despite the success of the turbine engine, initial trials with one propeller were disappointing. In trials this achieved a top speed of over 34 knots, the turbines were directly driven, as geared turbines were not introduced until 1910. Even after the introduction of geared turbines, efficiency of even the largest axial steam turbines was still below 12 percent, Turbinia was even less efficient, with its direct drive turbine moving with a tip speed of just 30 meters per second. Despite this, it was an improvement over predecessors. Photographer and cinematographer Alfred J. West took several photographs of Turbinia traveling at speed at the Review. Both vessels were later lost but although the loss of these trials ships slowed the introduction of turbines, in 1900 Turbinia steamed to Paris and was shown to French officials and then displayed at the Paris Exhibition. The first turbine-powered merchant vessel, the Clyde steamer TS King Edward, the Admiralty confirmed in 1905 that all future Royal Navy vessels were to be turbine-powered, and in 1906 the first turbine-powered battleship, the revolutionary HMS Dreadnought, was launched. On 11 January 1907, Turbinia was struck and nearly cut in two by Crosby – a ship being launched across-river from the bank of the Tyne. She was repaired and steamed alongside RMS Mauretania after the launch of the ocean liner. However, mechanical problems prevented Turbinia from accompanying Mauretania down the River Tyne to the sea, the fore section was presented in 1944 to Newcastle Corporation and placed on display in the citys Exhibition Park. In 1983 a complete reconstruction was undertaken, on 30 October 1994,100 years after her launch, Turbinia was moved to Newcastles Museum of Science and Engineering and put on display to the public in March 1996. Listed as part of the National Historic Fleet, in 2000, the gallery around Turbinia was the first area to be refurbished, with the main part of the work involving raising the roof by one storey to create viewing galleries on three levels. A detailed Museum originated blog entry by Ian Whitehead, the Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums curator charged with Turbinas care in 2013
11.
History of aspirin
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The history of aspirin and the medical use of it and related substances stretches back to antiquity, though pure ASA has only been manufactured and marketed since 1899. Medicines made from willow and other salicylate-rich plants appear in clay tablets from ancient Sumer as well as the Ebers Papyrus from ancient Egypt. Hippocrates referred to their use of tea to reduce fevers around 400 BC, and were part of the pharmacopoeia of Western medicine in classical antiquity. Willow bark extract became recognized for its effects on fever, pain. By the nineteenth century pharmacists were experimenting with and prescribing a variety of related to salicylic acid. By 1899, Bayer had dubbed this drug Aspirin and was selling it around the world, the word Aspirin was Bayers brand name, rather than the generic name of the drug, however, Bayers rights to the trademark were lost or sold in many countries. Aspirins popularity grew over the first half of the century leading to fierce competition with the proliferation of aspirin brands. Aspirins popularity declined after the development of acetaminophen/paracetamol in 1956 and ibuprofen in 1962, Aspirin sales revived considerably in the last decades of the twentieth century, and remain strong in the twenty-first with widespread use as a preventive treatment for heart attacks and strokes. Medicines derived from trees and other salicylate-rich plants have been part of pharmacopoeias at least dating back to ancient Sumer. The Ebers Papyrus, an Egyptian medical text from ca.1543 BC, mentions use of willow and myrtle to treat fever and pain. The Roman encyclopedist Celsus, in his De Medicina of ca.30 AD, suggested willow leaf extract to treat the four signs of inflammation, redness, heat, swelling, willow treatments also appeared in Dioscoridess De Materia Medica, and Pliny the Elders Natural History. By the time of Galen, willow was used throughout the Roman and Arab worlds, as a small part of a large. He collected, dried, and powdered a substantial amount of willow bark, in his letter, Stone reported consistent success, describing willow extracts effects as identical to Peruvian bark, though a little less potent. Stones letter was printed in Philosophical Transactions, and by the end of the 18th century willow was gaining popularity as a substitute for Peruvian bark. In the 19th century, as the discipline of organic chemistry began to grow in Europe, scientists attempted to isolate and purify the active components of many medicines. In 1834, Swiss pharmacist Johann Pagenstecher discovered what he thought was a new pain-reducing substance, by 1838, Italian chemist Raffaele Piria found a method of obtaining a more potent acid form of willow extract, which he named salicylic acid. The German chemist who had been working to identify the Spiraea extract, Karl Jacob Löwig, throughout the late 1800s use of salicylates grew considerably, and physicians increasingly knew what to expect from these medicines, reduction of pain, fever, and inflammation. However, the unpleasant side effects, particularly gastric irritation, limited their usefulness, by the 1880s, the German chemical industry, jump-started by the lucrative development of dyes from coal tar, was branching out to investigate the potential of new tar-derived medicines
