On this day in 1941 the German heavy cruiser Bismarck sank the British battle cruiser Hood. The few shots fired (either three or five in different reports) were fired from a range of 15 miles, so a certain amount of luck was involved. First in landing a shot on the deck so quickly, and apparently there were rockets stored in lightly armored lockers on the deck which set the ships main magazines off. The Hood was greatly outclassed, but she was the pride of the fleet, no effort was spared in avenging her loss.
Many early scientists made multiple contributions to knowledge, and William Gilbert was no exception. His work in electricity and magnetism would have put him in an elite group. But his real contribution was what we now call the scientific process, in which a hypothesis is stated, an experiment is designed and performed to test the hypothesis, and the results are examined before proceeding. Seems obvious now, but breakthroughs are like that. Today's quotes touch on science in his honor.
In the item on the Brooklyn Bridge it is mentioned that the construction manager came down with an incapacitating case of "caisson disease." The two towers that hold the bridge up required excavating well below the water, and the work was done in pressurized air. The malady, then unfamiliar to medicine, is now known as "the bends" and is normally suffered by divers in a hurry. Many of us thought that the vernacular was first introduced into the catholic mass in the '60s, but note in today's holidays that this was history repeating something that happened eleven centuries earlier in the Slavic countries.
1883 - The privately-financed Brooklyn Bridge opened for business with a special grand-opening fare of one cent, raised to three cents. Bridge designer John A. Roebling died while surveying exact location of Brooklyn tower, son Washington Roebling continued project, was struck by "caisson disease" and supervised the construction from bed, sending messages by his wife.
1941 - The German battleship Bismarck, supported by the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, sinks the British battle cruiser Hood off the Iceland coast after firing only five rounds from her 380mm guns. There are only 3 survivors out of a crew of 1,419 on the Hood, the pride of the British fleet, but the Bismarck is damaged, chased and hit again by aircraft torpedo. On the 26th the Bismarck is hit by a torpedo from a Royal Navy flying boat, and on the 27th dozens of ships close in and sink her.
Saints Cyril and Methodius Day, Bulgaria and Macedonia - The ninth century monks Cyril and Methodius are, with Saint Benedict, the patron saints of Europe, but because of their missionary work with the Slavs, their introduction of the vernacular into worship, and Cyril's invention of the alphabet used for Slavic languages they are particularly revered here.
Battle of Pichincha Day, Ecuador - Anniversary of the 1822 Spanish defeat in which Simon Bolivar secured the independence of Quito from the Spanish.
1544
- William Gilbert, English physician, physicist - Born in Colchester,
and also known as William of Colchester, fellow of Saint John's college
Cambridge 1561, medical degree 1569. First to describe earth's magnetic
field, suggested relationship between electricity and magnetism, coined
the term electricity, among first to understand that the atmosphere only
extended a short distance above the earth. Most importantly, he was the
first to use a series of carefully designed experiments to investigate
physics, possibly the first true scientific investigator. Personal physician
to Queen Elizabeth. Died at London on 30 November 1603.
1819 - Alexandrina Victoria, British politician - Born at Kensington Palace in London, privately tutored, she came to the British throne in 1837 and her coronation on 28 June 1838 at Westminster Abbey proclaimed her Victoria Regina, Queen of the United Kingdom and Ireland. She married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1840, they had nine children (seven in the first ten years) and Victoria had 31 living grandchildren when she died. She married her progeny into every royal house in Europe, thus was called the Grandmother of Europe. Albert died in 1861. Victoria added Empress of India to her title in 1876. Hers was the longest reign in the history of England when she died of natural causes at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight on 22 January 1901.
The natural history of science is the study of the unknown. If you fear
it, then you're not going to study it, and you're not going to make any
progress.
- Dr. Michael E. DeBakey
The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.
- Albert Einstein
In art nothing worth doing can be done without genius; in science even
a very moderate capacity can contribute to a supreme achievement.
- Bertrand Russell
A lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math. That's why I like them.
If we could find a way to tax people who are bad at English, science and
history I'd be a happy camper.
- Dana Blankenhorn
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