6o4 



NATURE 



[July 7, 1921 



.upon Sir R. A. Falconer, president of the University 

 of Toronto, and that of D.Sc. upon Prof. E. Borel, of 

 the University of Paris. The ordinary D.Sc. degree 

 has been conferred upon Mr. J. H. J. Poole and Mr. 

 G. de P. Cotter. 



Durham. — The honorary degree of D.Sc. has been 

 conferred upon Sir E. H. Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, 

 director of naval construction, the Admiralty. 



It is proposed to confer the following honorary 

 degrees on the occasion of the forthcoming meeting of 

 the British Medical Association at Newcastle-upon- 

 Tyne : — D.C.L. : Sir William Macewen, Sir Thomas 

 Oliver, and Sir Humphry Davy Rolleston. D.Hy. : 

 Mr. T. E. Hill and Dr. J. W. Smith. D.Sc: Sir 

 Arthur Keith. D.Litt. : Sir Dawson Williams. 



Leeds, — The gas plant specially designed for ex- 

 perimental purposes which Mr. Henry Woodall is 

 erecting as an adjunct to the Department of Coal 

 Gas and Fuel Industries of the University of Leeds, 

 and as a memorial to the late Sir Corbet Woodall, is 

 now in process of construction. Mr. A. G. Glasgow, 

 having expressed his desire to associate himself with 

 this memorial, has made a donation of 500 guineas 

 for the purpose. 



Oxford. — Mr. W. C. Burnett, Worcester College, 

 has been apf>oioted secretary of the Delegacy of Local 

 Examinations in succession to the late Mr. H. T. 

 Gerrans. 



Mr. P. H. Martin, New College, has been elected 

 to the Theodore Williams scholarship in anatomy, the 

 annual value of which is 50L and tenable for two 

 years. 



Mr. a. W. Sheen has been appointed professor of 

 surgery in the Welsh National School of Medicine. 



The Joint Committee of the Royal Society and the 

 University of Sheffield has appointed Dr. N. K. Adam 

 to the Sorby research fellowship. 



Prof. H. C. Plummer, Royal Astronomer of Ire- 

 land, and Andrews professor of astronomy in the 

 University of Dublin, has been appointed professor 

 of mathematics at the Ordnance College, Woolwich. 



The London County Council has adopted a recom- 

 mendation of the Education Committee that the 

 Board of Education and the Senate of the University 

 of London be invited to explore the possibilities of the 

 Holland Park site before further action is taken 

 relating to the Bloomsbury site 



Announcement is made of the following gifts : — 

 Bristol University has received from Mr. H. H. Wills 

 the sum of 200,000!. to build and equip a new physics 

 laboratory; and Glasgow University and the Royal 

 Technical College, Glasgow, have received io,oooZ. 

 each under the will of the late W. J. Chrystal, 

 chemical manufacturer. 



An election to the Ackroyd memorial research 

 fellowship in the University of Leeds is to be made 

 shortly. The selected candidate will be expected to 

 carry out an approved scientific investigation of a 

 biological, physical, or chemical nature bearing, 

 directly or indirectly, upon the production or properties 

 of wool or other textile materials, or upon the manu- 

 facture of textile fabrics. The fellowship is of the 

 annual value of 300Z. It is tenable for one year, 

 and renewable for a second or third year. Applications 

 must be made to the Registrar of the University by, 

 at latest, July 28. 



NO. 2697, VOL. 107] 



Calendar of Scientific Pioneers. 



July 7, 1864. Georg Simon Ohm died. — The fame 

 of Ohm rests mainly on the small pamphlet, "Die 

 galvanische Kette mathematisch bearbeitet," pub- 

 lished by him in 1827, when he was professor of 

 mathematics at the Jesuit College, Cologne. His 

 well-known law was first enunciated a year or two 

 earlier. 



July 8, 1784. Torbern Olof Bergmann died.— The 

 contemporary of Scheele, Bergmann from 1767 held 

 the chair of chemistry at Upsala. He made improve- 

 ments in the methods of chemical analyses, and in 

 1775 published his essay on "Elective Attractions." 



July 9, 1716. Joseph Sauveur died. — The great 

 pioneer worker in acoustics, Sauveur was educated 

 for the Church, but in 1686 became professor of mathe- 

 matics in the College de France. His study of sound 

 covered the last twenty years of his life 



July 9, 1856. Amedeo Avogadro, Conte di Quaregna, 

 died. — Of noble parentage, Avogadro, from 1809 to 

 182 1, was professor of physics and mathematics at 

 Vercelli, where in 181 1 and 1814 he published the 

 memoirs containing the law which bears his name. 



July 10, 1910. Johann Gottfried Galle died.— When 

 assistant to Encke at Berlin, Galle and D 'Arrest, at 

 Leverrier's request, searched for Neptune with the 

 aid of Bremiker's map. GaHe first saw the planet 

 on September 23, 1846. Afterwards he was for many 

 years director of the Breslau observatory. 



July 11, 1807. George Atwood died. — A distin. 

 guished Cambridge mathematician, Atwood first de- 

 scribed his well-known machine in 1784 in his 

 treatise on the rectilinear motion and rotation of 

 bodies. 



July 11, 1909. Simon Newcomb died.— One of the 

 most distinguished astronomers of recent times, 

 Newcomb, in 1857, at the age of twenty-two, entered 

 the office of the American Nautical Almanac, of which 

 from 1877 to 1897 he was director. Like his col- 

 league Hill, he was a great master of dynamical 

 astronomy. 



July 12, 1682. Jean Picard died. — Picard has been 

 called "the father of French astronomy." He was 

 an assistant to Gassendi, visited Tycho Brahe at 

 Hven, edited the " Connaissance des Temps," 

 measured a degree of the meridian, and first used 

 the telescof>e with the quadrant. 



July 12, 1851. Louis Jacques Wande Daguerre died. 

 — One of the inventors of photography, Daguerre was 

 a successful scene painter, and part owner of a 

 diorama in Paris. Six years after the death of Niepce, 

 with whom he had collaborated, Daguerre, in 1839, 

 obtained sun pictures on silver plates covered with a 

 film of iodide. 



July 13, 1762. James Bradley died. — Recognised as 

 one of the greatest astronomers of the first half of 

 the eighteenth centur>', Bradley became Savilian pro- 

 fessor of astronomy in 1721, and in 1742 succeeded 

 Halley as Astronomer Royal. His discovery of aber- 

 ration was made known in 1729 ; that of nutation in 

 1748. His Greenwich observations are of great im- 

 portance, and w^ere reduced first by Bessel and then 

 by Auwers. 



July 13, 1896. Friedrich August Kekule von 

 Stadonitz died. — ^The friend of Gerhardt and William- 

 son, Kekul^ was especially known for his speculations 

 on structural chemistry. His work on the benzene 

 theory has been described as "the most brilliant piece 

 of scientific prediction in the whole range of organic 

 chemistry." His statue stands outside the fine 

 .chemical institute at Bonn. E. C. S. 



