1961 In Science
The year 1961 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below. Astronomy and space exploration * January 31 – Ham (chimpanzee), Ham, a 37-pound male chimpanzee, is rocketed into space in a test of the Project Mercury capsule designed to carry United States, U.S. astronauts into space. * April 12 – Yuri Gagarin is the first human in space, making a single Low Earth orbit in Vostok 1 before parachuting to the ground. * April 15 – R. N. Schwartz and Charles Hard Townes publish "Interstellar and Interplanetary Communication by Optical Masers" in ''Nature (journal), Nature'', providing a basis for Optical SETI. * May 19 – Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first manmade object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (however the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and does not send back any data). * May 25 – Apollo program: John F. Kennedy, President Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to initiate ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Apollo Program
The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in space. It was conceived in 1960 as a three-person spacecraft during President Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal for the 1960s of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in an address to United States Congress, Congress on May 25, 1961. It was the third American human spaceflight program to fly, preceded by Project Gemini conceived in 1961 to extend spaceflight capability in support of Apollo. Kennedy's goal was accomplished on the Apollo 11 mission when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their Apollo Lunar Module (LM) on July 20, 1969, and walked on the lunar surface, while Michael Collins ( ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Genetics
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian friar working in the 19th century in Brno, was the first to study genetics scientifically. Mendel studied "trait inheritance", patterns in the way traits are handed down from parents to offspring over time. He observed that organisms (pea plants) inherit traits by way of discrete "units of inheritance". This term, still used today, is a somewhat ambiguous definition of what is referred to as a gene. Phenotypic trait, Trait inheritance and Molecular genetics, molecular inheritance mechanisms of genes are still primary principles of genetics in the 21st century, but modern genetics has expanded to study the function and behavior of genes. Gene structure and function, variation, and distribution are studied within the context of the Cell (bi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Genetic Code
Genetic code is a set of rules used by living cell (biology), cells to Translation (biology), translate information encoded within genetic material (DNA or RNA sequences of nucleotide triplets or codons) into proteins. Translation is accomplished by the ribosome, which links proteinogenic amino acids in an order specified by messenger RNA (mRNA), using transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules to carry amino acids and to read the mRNA three nucleotides at a time. The genetic code is highly similar among all organisms and can be expressed in a simple table with 64 entries. The codons specify which amino acid will be added next during protein biosynthesis. With some exceptions, a three-nucleotide codon in a nucleic acid sequence specifies a single amino acid. The vast majority of genes are encoded with a single scheme (see the Codon tables, RNA codon table). That scheme is often called the canonical or standard genetic code, or simply ''the'' genetic code, though #Variations, variant codes (suc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brattleboro Rat
The Brattleboro rat is a strain of laboratory rat descended from a litter born in West Brattleboro, Vermont in 1961 without the ability to produce the hormone vasopressin, which helps control kidney function. The rats' lack of vasopressin was the result of a naturally occurring genetic mutation. The rats were being raised for laboratory use by Dr. Henry A. Schroeder and technician Tim Vinton, who noticed that the litter of 17 drank and urinated excessively. The researchers determined that the rats failed to produce vasopressin, an antidiuretic hormone, and they gave the rats to Dartmouth Medical School (DMS). Researchers there determined that the rats had a mutation in the gene that regulates the production of vasopressin. The DMS researchers bred the rats for distribution to scientists around the world to use in testing the possible role of vasopressin in any given biological function. The Brattleboro rat was an early and naturally occurring precursor of the knockout rat. S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Biochemical Journal
The ''Biochemical Journal'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal which covers all aspects of biochemistry, as well as cell and molecular biology. It is published by Portland Press and was established in 1906. History The journal was established in 1906 by Benjamin Moore, holder of the first UK chair of biochemistry at the University of Liverpool, with financial support from Edward Whitley, an heir of the Greenall Whitley brewers.Clark J. Biochemical Journal Centenary (2006) (accessed 30 September 2007) The two served as the first editors and the journal was initially published by the [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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University Of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, second-oldest continuously operating university globally. It expanded rapidly from 1167, when Henry II of England, Henry II prohibited English students from attending the University of Paris. When disputes erupted between students and the Oxford townspeople, some Oxford academics fled northeast to Cambridge, where they established the University of Cambridge in 1209. The two English Ancient university, ancient universities share many common features and are jointly referred to as ''Oxbridge''. The University of Oxford comprises 43 constituent colleges, consisting of 36 Colleges of the University of Oxford, semi-autonomous colleges, four permanent private halls and three societies (colleges that are depar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sir William Dunn School Of Pathology
The Sir William Dunn School of Pathology is a department within the University of Oxford. Its research programme includes the cellular and molecular biology of pathogens, the immune response, cancer and cardiovascular disease. It teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the medical sciences. The school is named for Sir William Dunn, 1st Baronet, of Lakenheath, whose will provided the initial funding. It is located towards the east end of South Parks Road, to the north of the city centre. __TOC__ History The first course of Pathology teaching in the University of Oxford was given in 1894 by Professor John Burdon Sanderson, Professor of Physiology, (Regius Professor of Medicine from 1895 to 1905), and Dr James Ritchie, who, in 1897, was appointed as the first University Lecturer in Pathology. The first Department of Pathology was opened in 1901 and functioned until 1927 when it was handed over to Pharmacology on completion of the new purpose-built Sir William Dunn School ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Edward Abraham
Sir Edward Penley Abraham, (10 June 1913 – 8 May 1999) was an English biochemist instrumental in the development of the first antibiotics penicillin and cephalosporin. Early life and education Abraham was born on 10 June 1913 at 47 South View Road, Shirley, Southampton. From 1924 Abraham attended King Edward VI School, Southampton, before achieving a First in Chemistry at The Queen's College, Oxford. Abraham completed his DPhil at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Sir Robert Robinson, during which he was the first to crystallise lysozyme, an enzyme discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming and shown to have antibacterial properties, and was later the first enzyme to have its structure solved using X-ray crystallography, by Lord David Phillips. Research In 1938 Abraham won a Rockefeller Foundation travel fellowship and spent a year in Stockholm at the Biokemiska Institut. He then moved back to Oxford and became part of a research team led by Sir Howard ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Guy Newton
Guy Geoffrey Frederick Newton (1919–1969) was a British rower and biochemist. He was the co-discoverer of cephalosporin C. Newton was born in St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, the son of Bernard Newton a gentleman farmer of Fairfield Bury, St Ives and his wife Antoinette Gerard. He was educated at Oundle School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He rowed at Cambridge and in 1949 was runner up in the Double Sculls Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, partnering Humphrey Warren. Newton was described as "an outstanding young organic chemist with a passion for Aston Martin cars". During the 1950s at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Newton and Edward Abraham Sir Edward Penley Abraham, (10 June 1913 – 8 May 1999) was an English biochemist instrumental in the development of the first antibiotics penicillin and cephalosporin. Early life and education Abraham was born on 10 June 1913 at 47 South V ... discovered, purified and established the structure of cephalosporin C, t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cephalosporin C
Cephalosporin C is an antibiotic of the cephalosporin class. It was isolated from a fungus of the genus '' Acremonium'' and first characterized in 1961. Although not a very active antibiotic itself, synthetic analogs of cephalosporin C, such as cefalotin, became some of the first marketed cephalosporin antibiotic drugs. Cephalosporin C strongly absorbs ultraviolet light, is stable to acid, is non-toxic and has ''in vivo'' activity in mice. Cephalosporin C, which has a similar structure to penicillin N, was never commercialized. Cephalosporin C was a lead compound for the discovery and production of many other cephalosporins. Cephalosporins are drugs used for some people who are allergic to penicillin. Uses Cephalosporins are used to treat bacterial infections such as respiratory tract infections, skin infections and urinary tract infections. When a cephalosporin or any other antibiotic An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Frank Drake
Frank Donald Drake (May 28, 1930 – September 2, 2022) was an American astrophysicist and astrobiologist. He began his career as a radio astronomer, studying the planets of the Solar System and later pulsars. Drake expanded his interests to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), beginning with Project Ozma in 1960, an attempt at extraterrestrial communication. He developed the Drake equation, Physics Today 14 (4), 40–46 (1961). which attempts to quantify the number of intelligent lifeforms that could potentially be discovered. Working with Carl Sagan, Drake helped to design the Pioneer plaque, the first physical message flown beyond the Solar System, and was part of the team that developed the Voyager Golden Record. Drake designed and implemented the Arecibo message in 1974, an extraterrestrial radio transmission of astronomical and biological information about Earth. He is the father of Advanced SETI. Drake worked at the National Radio Astronomy ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |