Week 29

Week 29: July 16 – 22 (Archive)

• First atomic bomb explosion occurred at Trinity Site, Alamogordo Air Force Base, NM, in 1945.

• Frederick A. Abel, born in 1827, co invented cordite; invented Abel tester for determination of flash point of petroleum.

• Robert Hooke, born 1635, researched theory of gases and combustion.
• Hendrik A. Lorentz, born 1853, researched thermodynamics and kinetic theory; explained Zeeman effect; Nobel Prize in Physics (1902).
• Roald Hoffmann, born 1937, applied molecular orbital theory to organic chemical reactions (Woodward-Hoffman Rules); Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1981).
• Hartmut Michel, born 1948, determined three-dimensional structure of photosynthetic proteins; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1988).

• Eleuthère I. du Pont began construction of a gunpowder factory (would eventually become DuPont) in 1802.
• Allene R. Jeanes, born 1906, conducted research on dextran; developed a blood expander; first woman to win the USDA Distinguished Service Award (1953).
• Rosalyn S. Yalow, born 1921, developed technique of radioimmunoassay; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1977).

• James Woodhouse was elected professor of "Chymistry" at University of Pennsylvania in 1795.
• Neil Armstrong said the first words on lunar soil, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind", in 1969.

• Georg Brandt, born 1694, one the first chemists to abandon alchemy as a science; in 1735, discovered cobalt (Co, 27).
• Henri V. Regnault, born 1810, conducted research in thermometry, specific heats, expansion of gases; found carbon tetrachloride.
• Navy asks Thomas Edison to organize the keenest, most inventive minds to find a defense against submarines in 1915.
• Rudolph A. Marcus, born 1923, Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1992).

• Selman A. Waksman, born 1888, isolated streptomycin (1943); Nobel Prize in Medicine (1952).