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J.J. Thomson

J.J. thomson

Sir Joseph John Thomson, OM, FRS (18 December 1856 – 30 August 1940) often known as J. J. Thomson, was an English physicist, the discoverer of the electron.

Biography

Thomson was born in 1856 near Manchester in England, of Scottish parentage. He studied engineering at Owens College, Manchester, and moved on to Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1884 he became Cavendish Professor of Physics. In 1890 he married Rose Paget, and he had two children with her. One of his students was Ernest Rutherford, who would later succeed him in the post. Influenced by the work of James Clerk Maxwell as well as the discovery of the X-ray, he deduced that cathode rays (produced by Crookes tube) exhibited a single charge-to-mass ratio e/m and must be composed of a single type of negatively charged particle. He called these particles "corpuscles." The term electron had been proposed earlier, by G. Johnstone Stoney, as a fixed quantum of electric charge in electrochemistry, but Thomson realized that it was also a subatomic particle, the first one to be discovered. His discovery was made known in 1897, and caused a sensation in scientific circles, eventually resulting in his being awarded a Nobel prize (1906). In one of the greatest ironies of modern physics his son George Paget Thomson later received the prize for proving that the electron also had properties of a wave. (See wave-particle duality) Much of this work was done at the Cavendish Laboratory. Cavendish Laboratory Thomson's investigations into the action of electrostatic and magnetic fields on the nature of so called "anode rays" or "canal rays" would eventually result in the invention of the mass spectrometer (then called a parabola spectrograph) by Francis Aston, a tool which allows the determination of the mass-to-charge ratio of ions and which has since become an ubiquitous research tool in Chemistry. Prior to the outbreak of World War I, he made another ground-breaking discovery: the isotope. He was knighted in 1908, appointed to the Order of Merit in 1912 and in 1918 he became Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he remained till his death. He died in 1940 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, close to Sir Isaac Newton.

Trivia

Thomson was an esperantist and was the Vice-President of the International Esperanto Science Association.

Further reading


- Dahl, Per F., "Flash of the Cathode Rays: A History of J.J. Thomson's Electron". Institute of Physics Publishing. June, 1997. ISBN 0750304537

External links


- [http://www.nobel-winners.com/Physics/joseph_john_thomson.html About Joseph John Thomson]
- [http://www.aip.org/history/electron/ The Discovery of the Electron] Thomson, Joseph John Thomson, Joseph John Thomson, Joseph John Thomson, Joseph John Thomson, Joseph John Thomson, Joseph John Thomson, Joseph John Thomson, Joseph John ko:조지프 존 톰슨 ja:ジョセフ・ジョン・トムソン

Order of Merit

For other Orders see Order of Merit (disambiguation). The Order of Merit is a British and Commonwealth Order bestowed by the Monarch. It was established in 1902 by King Edward VII (based on the Prussian Pour le Mérite) as a reward for distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. The rarer military awards were distinguished from the civil by having a pair of crossed swords behind the central medallion. Appointments to the Order are in the Sovereign's personal gift and ministerial advice is not required. The Order is limited to the Sovereign and twenty-four members, but additional foreigners may be added as "honorary members." From the beginning the Order was open to women; Florence Nightingale was the first woman to receive the Order, in 1907. The Order confers no knighthood or other status, but recipients of this single-class Order are entitled to use the post-nominal letters "OM". The badge has the appearance of a red cross surmounted by a golden crown. The ribbon is red and blue. post-nominal letters

Current members


- Sovereign: HM The Queen
- Members:
  - HRH The Duke of Edinburgh KG KT OM GBE AC QSO PC (1968), Royal Consort
  - The Revd Owen Chadwick OM KBE (1983), Theological Historian
  - Sir Andrew Huxley OM FRS (1983), Physiologist and Nobel Laureate (Medicine)
  - Dr Frederick Sanger OM CH CBE FRS (1986), Biochemist and Double Nobel Laureate (Chemistry)
  - The Rt Hon. The Baroness Thatcher LG OM PC FRS (1990), British Prime Minister (1979-1990)
  - Dame Joan Sutherland OM AC DBE (1991), Coloratura Soprano
  - Sir Michael Atiyah OM FRS (1992), Mathematician and Fields Medalist
  - Lucian Freud OM CH (1993), Painter
  - Sir Aaron Klug OM FRS (1995), Biophysicist and Nobel Laureate (Chemistry)
  - The Rt Hon. The Lord Foster of Thames Bank OM RA (1997), Architect and Pritzker Laureate
  - Sir Denis Rooke OM CBE (1997), Industrial Engineer
  - Sir James Black OM FRS (2000), Pharmacologist and Nobel Laureate (Medicine)
  - Sir Anthony Caro OM CBE (2000), Sculptor
  - Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS (2000), Mathematical physicist
  - Sir Tom Stoppard OM CBE (2000), Playwright
  - HRH The Prince of Wales KG KT GCB OM AK QSO PC ADC (2002), Heir to the Throne
  - The Rt Hon. The Lord May of Oxford OM AC FRS (2002), Ecologist and President of the Royal Society
  - The Rt Hon. The Lord Rothschild OM GBE (2002), Philanthropist
  - Sir David Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE FRS (2005), Broadcaster
  - The Rt Hon. The Baroness Boothroyd OM PC (2005), First female speaker of the House of Commons
  - Sir Michael Howard OM CH KBE (2005), Military historian
- Honorary Members:
  - Nelson Mandela OM CC (1995), Statesman and Nobel Laureate (Peace) The recent death of Dame Cicely Saunders OM DBE has dropped the number of members to twenty-three until the Queen appoints a new member.

See also


- Members of the Order of Merit

External links


- [http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page1880.asp A history of the Order and a full list of all recipients 1902-2002] Category:British honours system Merit, Order of

18 December

December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 13 days remaining.

Events


- 218 BC - Battle of the Trebia, Hannibal's first great victory over the Roman Republic.
- 1352 - Innocent VI is elected Pope.
- 1642 - Abel Tasman lands at Mohua Golden Bay becoming the first European in New Zealand.
- 1776 - North Carolina's Constitution is ratified.
- 1787 - New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the United States Constitution
- 1865 - Slavery is abolished in the United States, with the passing of the 13th Amendment
- 1894 - Women in South Australia become the first in Australia to gain the right to vote and to be elected to Parliament.
- 1912 - Piltdown Man is "discovered"
- 1916 - The Battle of Verdun ends in World War I
- 1926 - The Makropulos Affair, an opera by the Czech composer Leoš Janáček, premieres in Brno, the Czech Republic.
- 1958 - Niger becomes an autonomous state within the French Community on December 4, 1958, after the establishment of the Fifth French Republic. Following full independence on August 3, 1960, however, membership was allowed to lapse.
- 1961 - Indonesia invades New Guinea to annex western New Guinea, formerly known as Netherlands New Guinea.
- 1965 - Japan and South Korea begin formal relations
- 1966 - Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker, and then lost for 12 years
- 1969 - Capital punishment is ended in the United Kingdom
- 1973 - The Soyuz 13 was launched.
- 1996 - "Ebonics" was declared a language or dialect by the outgoing school board of Oakland, California, whose vote was overturned by the incoming board.
- 1997 - HTML 4.0 is released by the World Wide Web Consortium
- 2001 - Fire damages a part of the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine--one of the world's largest houses of worship--in New York City.
- 2002 - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the second film in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, opens in theaters.
- 2002 - California Governor Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier; the budget issue was used to support his 2003 recall from office.

Births


- 1507 - Ouchi Yoshitaka, Japanese warlord (d. 1551)
- 1602 - Simonds d'Ewes, English antiquarian and politician (d. 1650)
- 1610 - Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, French philologist (d. 1688)
- 1620 - Heinrich Roth, German Sanskrit scholar (d. 1668)
- 1626 - Queen Christina of Sweden (d. 1689)
- 1661 - Christopher Polhem, Swedish scientist and inventor (d. 1751)
- 1662 - James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry, Scottish politician (d. 1711)
- 1724 - Louise of Great Britain, queen of Frederick V of Denmark (d. 1751)
- 1725 - Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and Bible commentator (d. 1791)
- 1786 - Carl Maria von Weber, German composer (d. 1826)
- 1835 - Lyman Abbott, American author (d. 1922)
- 1847 - Augusta Holmès, French composer (d. 1903)
- 1856 - J.J. Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
- 1863 - Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (d. 1914)
- 1870 - Saki, British writer (d. 1916)
- 1873 - Francis Burton Harrison, American political figure (d. 1957)
- 1878 - Josef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union (d. 1953)
- 1879 - Paul Klee, Swiss painter and graphic artist (d. 1940)
- 1886 - Ty Cobb, baseball player (d. 1961)
- 1888 - Robert Moses, American public works official (d. 1981)
- 1888 - Gladys Cooper, English actress (d. 1971)
- 1890 - Edwin Armstrong, American inventor (d. 1954)
- 1897 - Fletcher Henderson, American musician (d. 1952)
- 1904 - George Stevens, American director (d. 1975)
- 1912 - Benjamin O. Davis Jr., American general (d. 2002)
- 1913 - Alfred Bester, American author (d. 1987)
- 1913 - Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1992)
- 1916 - Betty Grable, American actress (d. 1973)
- 1917 - Ossie Davis, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1927 - Ramsey Clark, U.S. Attorney General
- 1927 - Romeo LeBlanc, 25th Governor General of Canada
- 1928 - Józef Glemp, Polish cardinal
- 1934 - Boris Volynov, cosmonaut
- 1939 - Michael Moorcock, British author
- 1939 - Harold E. Varmus, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1943 - Keith Richards, British guitarist (the Rolling Stones)
- 1946 - Steven Spielberg, American film director
- 1946 - Steve Biko, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 1977)
- 1948 - Bill Nelson, English musician and artist
- 1950 - Gillian Armstrong, Australian film director
- 1950 - Leonard Maltin, American film critic
- 1955 - Ray Liotta, American actor
- 1956 - Ron White, American comedian
- 1960 - Kazuhide Uekusa, Japanese economist
- 1961 - Brian Orser, Canadian figure skater
- 1963 - Karl Dorrell, American football coach
- 1963 - Brad Pitt, American actor
- 1964 - Steve Austin, American professional wrestler
- 1964 - Don Beebe, American football player
- 1970 - DMX, American rapper
- 1970 - Miles Marshall Lewis, American author
- 1970 - Cowboy Troy, American rapper
- 1971 - Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Spanish tennis player
- 1972 - DJ Lethal, American musician (Limp Bizkit)
- 1973 - Raymond Herrera, American drummer (Fear Factory)
- 1974 - Peter Boulware, American football player
- 1975 - Trish Stratus, Canadian professional wrestler
- 1975 - Masaki Sumitani, Japanese television performer
- 1976 - Koyuki, Japanese actress and model
- 1977 - Ryan Scott Ottney, American comic book writer
- 1978 - Katie Holmes, American actress
- 1980 - Christina Aguilera, American singer
- 1983 - Ryan Dowling, American musician (The Tipplin' Weigh)
- 1987 - Miki Ando, Japanese figure skater

Deaths


- 821 - Theodulf, Bishop of Orléans
- 1133 - Hildebert, French writer
- 1290 - King Magnus I of Sweden (b. 1240)
- 1442 - Pierre Cauchon, French Catholic bishop (b. 1371)
- 1495 - King Alphonso II of Naples (b. 1448)
- 1692 - Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German statesman (b. 1626)
- 1737 - Antonio Stradivari, Italian violin maker (b. 1644)
- 1787 - Francis William Drake, British admiral and Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1724)
- 1787 - Soame Jenyns, English writer (b. 1704)
- 1799 - Jean-Étienne Montucla, French mathematician (b. 1725)
- 1803 - Johann Gottfried Herder, German writer (b. 1744)
- 1843 - Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch, British Viceroy of India (b. 1748)
- 1848 - Bernard Bolzano, Czech mathematician and philosopher (b. 1781)
- 1869 - Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American composer and pianist (b. 1829)
- 1936 - Andrija Mohorovičić, Croatian seismologist (b. 1857)
- 1971 - Bobby Jones, American golfer (b. 1902)
- 1974 - Harry Hooper, baseball player (b. 1887)
- 1980 - Alexei Kosygin, Premier of the USSR (b. 1904)
- 1982 - Hans-Ulrich Rudel, German World War II pilot (b. 1916)
- 1990 - Paul Tortelier, French musician (b. 1914)
- 1991 - George Abecassis, English race car driver (b. 1913)
- 1992 - Mark Goodson, American game show producer (b. 1915)
- 1993 - Sam Wanamaker, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1994 - Roger Apéry, French mathematician (b. 1916)
- 1995 - Konrad Zuse, German engineer and computing pioneer (b. 1910)
- 1997 - Chris Farley, American actor and comedian (b. 1964)
- 1998 - Lev Demin, cosmonaut (b. 1926)
- 1999 - Robert Bresson, French film director (b. 1907)
- 2000 - Kirsty MacColl, British musician (b. 1959)
- 2001 - Gilbert Bécaud, French singer (b. 1927)
- 2002 - Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor-General of Canada (b. 1934)
- 2004 - Anthony Sampson, British journalist and biographer (b. 1926)

Holidays and observances


- Feast of Epona (during Saturnalia) - Roman Empire
- Republic Day in Niger (1958)
- International Migrants Day

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/18 BBC: On This Day] ---- December 17 - December 19 - November 18 - January 18 -- listing of all days ko:12월 18일 ja:12月18日 th:18 ธันวาคม

1856

1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 8 - Borax is discovered (John Veatch).
- January 29 - Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross
- February,1856 - The only month in recorded history to not have a full moon.
- February 18 - The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
- March 5 – Fire destroys Covent Garden Theatre
- March 9 - National Fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon is founded at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL.
- March 20 - Costa Rican troops rout Walker's soldiers
- March 30 - The Treaty of Paris (1856) is signed, ending the Crimean War
- April 7 - Foundation of Nelson College, Nelson, New Zealand
- April 10 - Theta Chi Fraternity founded at Norwich University
- May 16 - the Vigilance Committee founded in San Francisco, California. It lynches two gangsters, arrests most Democratic Party officials and disbands itself in August 18
- May 21 - Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
- May 22 - Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas"). Sumner was unable to return to duty for three years while he recovered. Brooks became a hero across the South.
- May 24 - The Pottawatomie Massacre - group of followers of radical abolitionist John Brown kill five homesteaders in Franklin County, Kansas
- June 9 - 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.
- July 31 - Christchurch, New Zealand chartered as a city.
- August 10 – A hurricane destroys Last Island, Louisiana - 400 dead. The whole island was broken up into several smaller islands by the storm.
- November 4 - U.S. presidential election, 1856: Democrat James Buchanan defeats former President Millard Fillmore, representing a coalition of "Know-Nothings" and Whigs, and John C. Frémont of the fledgling Republican Party to become the 15th President of the United States.
- November 17 - American Old West: On the Sonoita River in present-day southern Arizona, the United States Army establishes Fort Buchanan in order to help control new land acquired in the Gadsden Purchase.
- December 9 - Bushehr surrenders to the British.
- British Country and Borough Police Act extends London police model to all of England and Wales
- Western Union founded
- Kate Warner, the first female private detective, begins to work for the Pinkerton Detective Agency
- Pre-human remains found in the Neanderthal valley in Germany
- Gregor Mendel starts his research on genetics.
- National Portrait Gallery in London opened.
- Sale of Land starts suburb of Ashgrove, Queensland.
- The first session concludes at Saint Paul's School, the prestigious New England Prep School in Concord, NH.

Births


- January 11 - Christian Sinding, Norwegian composer (d. 1941)
- January 12 - John Singer Sargent, American-born artist (d. 1925)
- February 2 - Frederick William Vanderbilt, American railway magnate (d. 1938)
- February 14 - Frank Harris, Irish author and editor (d. 1931)
- March 8 - Tom Roberts, Australian artist (d. 1931)
- March 9 - Eddie Foy, American singer, dancer, and vaudeville performer (d. 1928)
- March 20 - Frederick Winslow Taylor, American inventor and efficiency expert (d. 1915)
- April 5 - Booker T. Washington, African-American educator (d. 1915)
- April 12 - William Martin Conway, British art critic and mountaineer (d. 1937)
- April 24 - Henri Philippe Pétain, French soldier and statesman (d. 1951)
- May 6 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (d. 1939)
- May 6 - Robert Peary, American Arctic explorer (d. 1920)
- May 15 - L. Frank Baum, American author (d. 1919)
- June 14 - Andrey Markov, Russian mathematician (d. 1922)
- July 2 - Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian political activist (d. 1920)
- July 10 - Nikola Tesla, Serbian inventor (d. 1943)
- July 26 - George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)
- August 13 - Alfred Deakin, second Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1919)
- September 18 - Wilhelm von Gloeden, German photographer (d. 1931)
- November 22 - Heber J. Grant, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1945)
- November 24 - Bat Masterson, American lawman (d. 1921)
- December 13 - Svetozar Boroević, Austrian field marshal (d. 1920)
- December 18 - J.J. Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
- December 22 - Frank B. Kellogg, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1937)
- December 25 - Hans von Bartels, German painter (d. 1913)
- December 25 - Sir Samuel William Knaggs, British civil servant in the West Indies (d. 1924)
- December 28 - Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1924)

Deaths


- January 16 - Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (b. 1795)
- February 17 - Heinrich Heine, German writer (b. 1797)
- May 3 - Adolphe Charles Adam, French composer (b. 1803)
- July 9 - Amedeo Avogadro, Italian chemist (b. 1776)
- July 29 - Robert Schumann , German pianist
- August 30 - Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English writer (b. 1811) Category:1856 ko:1856년 ms:1856 simple:1856 th:พ.ศ. 2399

1940

1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar).

March-April


- March 3 - In Sweden, a time bomb destroys the office of Norrskenflamman newspaper of Swedish communists - 5 dead
- March 5- Members of Soviet politburo: Stalin, Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, Mikhail Kalinin, Kliment Voroshilov and Lavrenty Beria himself, signed prepared by Beria order of execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POW, known also as Katyn massacre.
- March 12 - Soviet Union and Finland sign a peace treaty in Moscow ending the Winter War. Finns, and the World opinion, shocked by the harsh terms.
- March 18 - World War II: Axis powers - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.
- March 21 Édouard Daladier resigns as prime minister of France. He is replaced by Paul Reynaud.
- April 4 - Prime minister of Greece, Aleksandros Korizis, shoots himself - initial official explanation is "heart attack"
- April 7 - Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
- April 9 - World War II: Germany invades Denmark and Norway in operation Weserübung. The British campaign in Norway is simultaneously commenced.
- April 12 - The Faroe Islands were occupied by British troops following the invasion of Denmark by Nazi Germany. This action was taken to avert a possible German occupation of the islands, which would have had very grave consequences for the course of the Battle of the Atlantic.
- April 23 - Rhythm Night Club burns in Natchez, Mississippi - 198 dead

June


- June 4 - World War II: Dunkirk evacuation ends - British forces complete evacuating 300,000 troops from Dunkirk in France.
- June 9 - World War II: The British Commandos are created.
- June 10 - World War II: Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom.
- June 10 - World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy's actions with [ftp://webstorage2.mcpa.virginia.edu/library/nara/fdr/audiovisual/speeches/fdr_1940_0610.mp3 "Stab in the Back"] speech from the graduation ceremonies of the University of Virginia.
- June 10 - World War II: German forces, under General Erwin Rommel, reach the English Channel.
- June 10 - World War II: Canada declares war on Italy.
- June 10 - World War II: Norway surrenders to German forces.
- June 12 - World War II: 13,000 British and French troops surrender to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel at St. Valery-en-Caux.
- June 14 - World War II: Paris falls under German occupation.
- June 14 - World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Naval Expansion Act into law which aims to increase the United States Navy's tonnage by 11 %.
- June 14 - Holocaust: A group of 728 Polish political prisoners from Tarnów become the first residents of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
- June 17 - The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union.
- June 17 - World War II: Operation Ariel begins - Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
- June 17 - World War II: Luftwaffe Junkers 88 bomber sinks British ship RMS Lancastria, that was evacuating troops from near Saint-Nazaire, France. Death toll is over 2500. Wartime censorship prevents the story going public.
- June 23 - World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris in now occupied France.[http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/blhitler38.htm]

July-August

France
- July 5 - World War II: The United Kingdom and the Vichy France government break off diplomatic relations.
- July 10 - World War II: Vichy France government established. French national assembly votes full powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain
- July 10 - Tom Wintringham opens his own training school in Osterley Park for British Home Guard volunteers
- July 10 - World War II: Battle of Britain. Luftwaffe, the Air Force of Germany, in preparation for Operation Sealion begins to hit British convoys in the English Channel thus starting the battle (this start date is contested, though).
- July 14 - World War II: Andrew George Latta McNaughton takes command 7th Army Corps consisting of British, Canadian and New Zealand troops.
- July 21 - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are proclaimed to be "independent" Socialist republics.
- August 3 - Lithuania is officially incorporated in the Soviet Union as the Lithuanian SSR.
- August 5 - Latvia is officially incorporated in the Soviet Union as the Latvian SSR.
- August 6 - Estonia is officially incorporated in the Soviet Union as the Estonian SSR.
- August 20 - Ramón Mercader assassinates exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Mexico City with an ice-ax. Trotsky dies the next day.

September-October

Mexico City
- September 4 - World War II: The USS Greer becomes the first United States ship fired upon by a German submarine in the war, even though the United States is a neutral power. Tension heightens between the two nations as a result.
- September - U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division activated and ordered into federal service for one year to engage in a training program in Ft. Sill and Louisiana prior to serving in World War II.
- September 7 - Treaty of Craiova: Romania loses Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria.
- September 7 - World War II: The Blitz - Nazi Germany begins to rain bombs on London. This will be the first of 57 consecutive nights of strategic bombing.
- September 12 - The Hercules Munitions Plant in Kenvil, New Jersey explodes, killing 55 people.
- October 9 - World War II: Battle of Britain - During a nighttime air raid by the German Luftwaffe, St. Paul's Cathedral is pierced by a bomb; Musician John Lennon is born during an air-raid in Liverpool, England.
- October 15 - First release of The Great Dictator, directed by Charlie Chaplin who is cast as fascist dictator Adenoid Hynkel, clearly modeled on Führer Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany.
- October 28 - World War II: Italy invades Greece.
- October 31 - World War II: Battle of Britain ends - The United Kingdom prevents Germany from invading Britain.

November


- November 1 - French children discover Lascaux caves
- November 5 - U.S. presidential election, 1940: Democrat incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Republican challenger Wendell Willkie and becomes the United States' first third-term president.
- November 7 - In Washington, the middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapses in a windstorm, a mere four months after the bridge's completion (it opened to traffic on July 1, 1940 as the third-longest suspension bridge in the world).
- November 9 - Premiere of Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez in Barcelona, Spain.
- November 11 - World War II: Battle of Taranto - The Royal Navy launches the first aircraft carrier strike in history, on the Italian fleet at Taranto.
- November 11 - World War II: The German Hilfskreuzer (cruiser) Atlantis captures top secret British mail, and sends it to Japan
- November 11 - Armistice Day Blizzard: An unexpected blizzard kills 144 in U.S. Midwest.
- November 14 - World War II: In England, the city of Coventry is destroyed by 500 German Luftwaffe bombers (150,000 fire bombs, 503 tons of high explosives, 130 parachute mines leveled 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people were killed).
- November 16 - World War II: In response to Germany leveling Coventry two days before, the Royal Air Force begins to bomb Hamburg (by war's end, 50,000 Hamburg residents died from Allied attacks).
- November 16 - Unexploded pipe bomb founded in Consolidated Edison office building (only years later the culprit, George Metesky, is apprehended
- November 18 - World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.
- November 20 - World War II: Hungary, Romania and Slovakia join the Axis Powers.
- November 27 - In Romania, coup leader General Ion Antonescu's Iron Guard arrests and executes over 60 of exiled king Carol II of Romania's aides. Among the dead is former minister and acclaimed historian Nicolae Iorga.
- November 27 - World War II: Royal Navy and Regia Marina fight the Battle of Cape Spartivento.

December


- December 30 - California's first modern freeway, the future California State Route 110, is opened to traffic in Pasadena, California, as the Arroyo Seco Parkway. It is now called the Pasadena Freeway.

Unknown Date


- Guilin, China, acquires current name.

Ongoing Events


- Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
- World War II (1939 - 1945).

Births

See also :Category:1940 births

January-February


- January 4 - Brian David Josephson, Welsh physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- January 4 - Gao Xingjian, Chinese-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- January 6 - Penny Lernoux, American journalist and author (d. 1989)
- January 14 - Julian Bond, American civil rights activist
- January 20 - Carol Heiss, American figure skater
- January 22 - John Hurt, English actor
- February 2 - David Jason, English actor
- February 3 - Fran Tarkenton, American football player
- February 4 - George Romero, American film writer, producer, and director
- February 5 - H.R. Giger, Swiss artist
- February 6 - Tom Brokaw, American television news reporter
- February 6 - Jimmy Tarbuck, English comedian
- February 8 - Ted Koppel, American journalist
- February 8 - Joe South, American singer and songwriter
- February 9 - J. M. Coetzee, South African writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 12 - Richard Lynch, American actor
- February 19 - Smokey Robinson, American musician
- February 20 - Jimmy Greaves, English footballer
- February 21 - James Wong, Hong Kong composer (d. 2004)
- February 23 - Peter Fonda, American actor
- February 24 - Denis Law, Scottish footballer
- February 25 - Ron Santo, baseball player
- February 28 - Mario Andretti, American race car driver
- February 29 - Edward Frederic Benson, American writer

March-April


- March 3 - Germán Castro Caycedo, Colombian writer and journalist.
- March 6 - Willie Stargell, baseball player (d. 2001)
- March 7 - Rudi Dutschke, German student leader (d. 1979)
- March 9 - Raúl Juliá, Puerto Rican actor (d. 1994)
- March 10 - Chuck Norris, American actor and martial artist
- March 12 - Al Jarreau, American singer
- March 15 - Phil Lesh, American musician (Grateful Dead)
- March 16 - Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian writer and film director
- March 16 - Chuck Woolery, American game show host
- March 17 - Mark White, Governor of Texas
- March 22 - Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian actor (d. 1996)
- March 25 - Anita Bryant, American entertainer
- March 26 - Spiridon Louis, Greek runner
- March 27 - Cale Yarborough, American race car driver
- March 29 - Ray Davis, American musician (P-Funk)
- March 30 - Astrud Gilberto, Brazilian-born singer
- April 1 - Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- April 2 - Penelope Keith, English actress
- April 12 - Herbie Hancock, American musician
- April 16 - Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
- April 18 - Joseph L. Goldstein, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- April 20 - George Takei, American actor
- April 25 - Al Pacino, American actor
- April 26 - Giorgio Moroder, Austrian film composer

May-July


- May 1 - Elsa Peretti, Italian jewelry designer
- May 8 - Ricky Nelson, American singer (d. 1985)
- May 9 - James L. Brooks, American film producer and writer
- May 11 - Juan Downey, Chilean-born video artist (d. 1993)
- May 17 - Alan Kay, American computer scientist
- May 20 - Stan Mikita, Slovakian-born hockey player
- May 20 - Sadaharu Oh, Japanese baseball player
- May 22 - Bernard Shaw, American journalist and television news reporter
- May 24 - Joseph Brodsky, Russian-born poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
- May 29 - Farooq Leghari, President of Pakistan
- June - Carole Ann Ford, British actress
- June 1 - René Auberjonois, American actor
- June 2 - King Constantine II of Greece
- June 16 - Neil Goldschmidt, Governor of Oregon
- June 17 - George Akerlof, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 20 - John Mahoney, English-born actor
- June 21 - Mariette Hartley, American actress
- June 23 - Adam Faith, English singer and actor (d. 2003)
- June 23 - Lord Irvine of Lairg, Lord Chancellor of England
- June 23 - Wilma Rudolph, American athelete (d. 1994)
- June 25 - A.J. Quinnell, English writer (d. 2005)
- July 3 - César Tovar, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 1994)
- July 7 - Ringo Starr, English drummer (The Beatles)
- July 10 - Gene Alley, baseball player
- July 10 - Helen Donath, American soprano
- July 13 - Patrick Stewart, English actor
- July 18 - Joe Torre, baseball player and manager
- July 22 - Alex Trebek, Canadian game show host
- July 24 - Stanley Hauerwas, American theologian
- July 26 - Mary Jo Kopechne, American aide to Robert F. Kennedy (d. 1969)
- July 27 - Bharati Mukherjee, Indian-born novelist

August-December


- August 3 - Martin Sheen, American actor
- August 7 - Jean-Luc Dehaene, Prime Minister of Belgium
- August 9 - Beverlee McKinsey, American actress
- August 10 - Bobby Hatfield, American singer (Righteous Brothers) (d. 2003)
- August 20 - Rubén Hinojosa, American politician
- August 25 - José Van Dam, Belgian bass-baritone
- September 5 - Raquel Welch, American actress
- September 10 - David Mann, American artist (d. 2004)
- September 12 - Mickey Lolich, baseball player
- September 14 - Larry Brown, American basketball coach
- September 13 - Óscar Arias, Costa Rican politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- October 9 - John Lennon, English musician and singer (The Beatles) (d. 1980)
- October 13 - Pharaoh Sanders, American saxophonist
- October 14 - Cliff Richard, English singer
- October 15 - Peter Doherty, Australian immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- October 19 - Michael Gambon, Irish actor
- October 23 - Pelé, Brazilian footballer
- October 25 - Bobby Knight, American basketball coach
- November 1 - Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, Chief Justice of India
- November 15 - Sam Waterston, American actor
- November 21 - Richard Marcinko, U.S. Navy SEAL team member and author
- November 25 - Joe Gibbs, American football coach
- November 27 - Bruce Lee, American martial artist and actor (d. 1973)
- December 1 - Richard Pryor, American actor and comedian (d. 2005)
- December 4 - Gary Gilmore, American murderer
- December 5 - Peter Pohl, Swedish writer
- December 12 - Sharad Pawar, Indian politician
- December 12 - Dionne Warwick, American singer
- December 21 - Frank Zappa, American musician, composer, and satirist (d. 1993)
- December 22 - Noel Jones, British Ambassador to Kazakhstan (d. 1995)
- December 26 - Edward C. Prescott, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate

Deaths


- January 4 - Flora Finch, English-born actress and comedienne (b. 1869)
- January 18 - Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish poet and writer (b. 1865)
- January 27 - Isaac Babel, Ukrainian writer (b. 1894)
- February 11 - John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada (b. 1875)
- March 10 - Mikhaïl Boulgakov, Russian writer (b. 1891)
- March 16 - Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
- March 20 - Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (b. 1860)
- March 31 - Tinsley Lindley, English footballer (b. 1865)
- April 26 - Carl Bosch, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
- May 15 - Menno ter Braak, Dutch writer (b. 1902)
- May 20 - Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
- May 25 - Joe De Grasse, Canadian film director (b. 1873)
- May 28 - Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse (b. 1868)
- June 10 - Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born publisher, entrepreneur, and black nationalist (b. 1887)
- June 17 - Arthur Harden, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- June 21 - Smedley Butler, U.S. general (b. 1881)
- June 29 - Paul Klee, Swiss artist (b. 1879)
- July 4 - Robert Pershing Wadlow, tallest man in the world (infection) (b. 1918)
- August 8 - Johnny Dodds, American jazz clarinettist (b. 1892)
- August 18 - Walter Chrysler, American automobile pioneer (b. 1875)
- August 21 - Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1879)
- August 22 - Mary Vaux Walcott, American artist and naturalist (b. 1860)
- August 30 - J.J. Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
- September 27 - Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Austrian neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1857)
- October 10 - Berton Churchill, Canadian actor (b. 1876)
- November 9 - Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1869)
- December 5 - Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist (b. 1880)
- December 19 - Kyösti Kallio, President of Finland (b. 1873)
- December 21 - F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (b. 1896)
- December 25 - Agnes Ayres, American actress (b. 1898)

Date unknown


- December - Raymond Pearl, American biologist (b. 1879)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - not awarded
- Chemistry - not awarded
- Physiology or Medicine - not awarded
- Literature - not awarded
- Peace - not awarded
- ko:1940년 ms:1940 ja:1940年 simple:1940 th:พ.ศ. 2483

Physicist

A physicist is a scientist trained in physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena spanning all length scales: from the sub-atomic particles from which all ordinary matter is made (particle physics) to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole (cosmology). There are numerous different branches of physics and each has its corresponding specialists, such as astrophysicists, geophysicists, or biophysicists. Employment as a professional physicist generally requires a doctoral degree. Physicists are employed by universities as professors, lecturers, and researchers, and by laboratories in industry. Many people who are trained as physicists, however, use their skills in other parts of the economy, in particular in engineering, computing, and finance.

Astrophysicists and physical cosmologists

At the largest scale, astrophysicists and astronomers study the structure and motion of the universe. This branch of physics is one of the oldest, with its foundations in the ancient study of astronomy. Modern astronomic observation dates from the early 17th century, when Galileo Galilei made the first telescopic observations of the sky. Around the same time period, Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler made their careful study of the motion of the planets and comets, laying the groundwork for the first principles of planetary motion. Traditional tools of the astronomer include the telescope, and a device such as the quadrant or sextant to measure elevation. In the 20th century, the radio telescope extended the range of astronomical observation. This expanded range of observation led to the development of physical cosmology, the study of the structure, beginnings, and fate of the cosmos. Two of the more celebrated physicists of the modern age are Edwin Hubble and Steven Hawking. Despite enormous advances in the technology used to make observations of the universe, the majority of astrophysical observation is still a slow and painstaking job.

Particle and quantum physicists

Physicists who deal with the smallest end of the physical universe study particle physics. This is the branch of physics that deals with the structure and ultimate nature of matter. These physicists study particles and phenomena that cannot be seen with the naked eye. To conduct their research, these physicists use particle accelerators and sensitive detecting equipment. Modern particle physics was born when the Danish physicist Niels Bohr first proposed a model for the atom that would explain certain behavior of photon emission. It was soon found that the atom could be split (fission) or combined (fusion). Each process resulted in behavior that could not be explained by Bohr's model of the atom. In the atomic age, Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger developed a theory of quantum mechanics to explain the behavior of matter at the smallest scale. Modern physicists are still trying to cope with difficulties introduced by this theory. In particular, it does not fit well with our view of gravity and the universe at the large scale, although it explains the small scale very well. Today's physicists hope to reconcile the two views of the universe some day soon.

See also


- Institute of Physics (UK)
- American Institute of Physics
- List of physicists
- Nobel Prize in physics
- Engineering

External links


- [http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm Occupational Outlook Handbook]
- [http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos052.htm Physicists and Astronomers]; US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics ---- ja:物理学者 ko:물리학자 simple:Physicist th:นักฟิสิกส์

1856

1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 8 - Borax is discovered (John Veatch).
- January 29 - Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross
- February,1856 - The only month in recorded history to not have a full moon.
- February 18 - The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
- March 5 – Fire destroys Covent Garden Theatre
- March 9 - National Fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon is founded at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL.
- March 20 - Costa Rican troops rout Walker's soldiers
- March 30 - The Treaty of Paris (1856) is signed, ending the Crimean War
- April 7 - Foundation of Nelson College, Nelson, New Zealand
- April 10 - Theta Chi Fraternity founded at Norwich University
- May 16 - the Vigilance Committee founded in San Francisco, California. It lynches two gangsters, arrests most Democratic Party officials and disbands itself in August 18
- May 21 - Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
- May 22 - Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas"). Sumner was unable to return to duty for three years while he recovered. Brooks became a hero across the South.
- May 24 - The Pottawatomie Massacre - group of followers of radical abolitionist John Brown kill five homesteaders in Franklin County, Kansas
- June 9 - 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.
- July 31 - Christchurch, New Zealand chartered as a city.
- August 10 – A hurricane destroys Last Island, Louisiana - 400 dead. The whole island was broken up into several smaller islands by the storm.
- November 4 - U.S. presidential election, 1856: Democrat James Buchanan defeats former President Millard Fillmore, representing a coalition of "Know-Nothings" and