This Month in the Archives

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Dear Reader, We celebrate March with a brief history of the life, contributions and musings on physics of Stephen Hawking, two years after his death. More dismally, coronavirus is very much in the news, so we don’t need to go into that here, but we ought to consider the biology of other viruses—some of which are described as “useful.” And although epidemiologists might not like it, mass transit keeps a city running, and has for well over a century. And for our 175th anniversary year, more gems from Scientific American’s history can be found at Artifacts from the Archive.

I hope you enjoy the journey! Dan Schlenoff, Editor of “50, 100 & 150 Years Ago”

Stephen Hawking’s Physics

The quintessential black-hole diagram argued that everything inside an event horizon, even light, is drawn by gravity into a singularity. Hawking disagreed (July 1996)

January 1977: Hawking points out in "The Quantum Mechanics of Black Holes" that energy and information can in fact escape the gravity well. July 1996: Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose have a chat—and a bit of a disagreement—on "The Nature of Space and Time." October 2010: Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow explain why we really can’t find a “Theory of Everything.”

Considering Viruses Corn-leaf hoppers that have been infected with a certain virus can go on to feed on other leaves such as aster or carrot (August 1960). August 1960: Some viruses are helpful: tulips are infected to get interesting streaks; leaf corn-hoppers can eat leaves infected with a useful (to them) virus. July 1993: Viral genetic structures range from stable to dynamic. Stable ones (like polio) are easier to find vaccines for. Coronavirus, we’ll have to see. May 2018: Resurgent outbreaks of infectious diseases are sickening thousands in the U.S., and the causes are societal.   Access 175 Years of Scientific Knowledge Rapid Transit San Francisco’s cable cars were a clean and efficient alternative to steam engines (September 1881). September 1881: San Francisco’s cable-powered railways were an early attempt at providing urban mass transit. Most of it is still running. November 1915: Expanding urban and suburban transit systems meshed well with growing electricity-supply networks; this example is from Philadelphia. July 2011 Cities grow, transport networks do too. Here’s an article on constructing the new Q line in New York City (and very comfy it is, too). Current Issue: March 2020 Check out the latest issue of Scientific American For more highlights from the archives, you can read March's 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago column.   Questions?   Comments? Download the Scientific American App To view this email as a web page, go here. You received this email because you opted-in to receive email from Scientific American. To ensure delivery please add news@email.scientificamerican.com to your address book. Unsubscribe    Email Preferences    Privacy Policy    Contact Us