100 YEARS AGO

OXFORD. – The following is the text of [a speech] delivered by Prof. Love in presenting recipients of the degree of D.Sc. honoris causa at the Encaenia, June 22, in the presence of the Chancellor of the University:-THE HON. CHARLES ALGERNON PARSONS. Duobus fere millibus abhinc annis Heron Alexandrinus turbinem quemdam per ludum excogitavit, qui vapore calido actus per tubos inflexos afflante converteretur. Carolus Algernon Parsons inter Hibernos nobilissimus, scientiae etiam laude insignis, ita Heronis vestigiis institit ut, quod ille ludendi causa finxerat, ipse in usum nostrum converteret, quo facilius homines naturae imperarent. Optime sane meritus est de omnibus qui urbes habitant, quibus vias et domos luce electrica hoc invento usus illustravit, neque minus profuit Nerea temptantibus, cum his turbinibus impulsae per altum naves celeritate inaudita ferantur recta semper carina adeo ut navigantium incommoda magna ex parte adleventur.

From Nature 7 July 1904.

50 YEARS AGO

The main point I wish to make, therefore, is that success in analysing biological molecules by X-rays may explain to us why they have the structure they have. To make a comparison once more with the mineral world, we see that silicon and oxygen together build very stable structures which are light and have a high melting point, and that is why most of the earth's crust is made of silicon and oxygen. Their tetrahedral frameworks conveniently accommodate certain other elements, and correspondingly it is found that these rank next to silicon and oxygen in order of frequency of occurrence in the rocks. On the other hand, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, together with hydrogen, build structures which are relatively unstable, but which are capable of an infinite complexity. This is so because the atoms are fastened together by bonds which have definite positions. Hence Nature has used these elements to make the complex structures of living matter. Now, as in the case of the silicates, we shall perhaps be able to see further into the reason for the arrangements of these elements which Nature actually uses. If in due course we make a voyage to Mars by a rocket-ship, we can confidently predict that mineralogy will be very much the same on Mars as it is on this globe of ours.

Sir Lawrence Bragg

From Nature 10 July 1954.