Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to the quiz I posted yesterday.

1)  Mr Spock (character) and George Takei (actor).

2)  b) From a chill he caught after stuffing a dead chicken with snow.

3)  c) bicycle.

4)  Ganymede.

5) True – it was part of his study into morphogenesis, the theory of growth and form in biology.

6)  The sea around South America.

7)  Patient Zero.

8)  Lord Byron.

8)  a) Hyacinth

10)  “Frankenstein”.

11)  The “gay gene”.

12)  a) 18^th – he was born in 1731.

13)  b) the Shroud of Turin.

14)  a) Germany. It was first coined by Austro-Hungarian writer Károly Mária Kertbeny in a letter dated 6 May 1868 to the sexologist Karl Heinrich Ulrichs.

15)  ♂ - Mars   ♀ - Venus

16)       A-e)  Freddie Mercury - Cirolana mercuryi

B-c)  Leonardo da Vinci - Davincia

            C-a)  Bram Stoker (author of “Dracula”) - Draculoides

            D-d)  Sheldon Cooper - Euglossa bazinga (his catchphrase)

            E-b)  Sappho - Heliconius sapho

17)  Red, yellow, green, blue and violet.

18)  c) smallpox.

19) The Roman Empire, from 218 to 222.

20) False. Leonardo never learnt Latin. He wrote in Italian.

History Month Quiz

To help your LBGT History Month celebrations go with a swing here’s a quiz for you to try out. All questions are science based. Answers tomorrow.

1)  Which two asteroids are named after a Vulcan character and an Asian-American actor from the original “Star Trek” series?

2)  Sir Francis Bacon – philosopher, statesman and pioneering experimental scientist – died as a result of what?

a)      From a nosebleed received when he was hit in the face by a barmaid,

b)      From a chill he caught after stuffing a dead chicken with snow,

c)      By decapitation by riding into an overhanging tree branch while chasing a thunderstorm.

3)   For which one of the following did Leonardo da Vinci NOT draw a design?

            a) helicopter

            b) armoured vehicle

            c) bicycle.

4)  The satellites of the planet Jupiter are all named after the god’s lovers and children. Which is the only one named after his male lover?

5) True or false? Alan Turing used maths to discover how leopards get their spots?

6) Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), a German explorer, gave his name to the Humboldt current. To which part of the Earth’s surface does this name apply?

7) Until recent research identified earlier AIDS victims, Gaetan Dugan was given which medical name, a term given to the first known victim of a disease?          

8) Ada, Countess of Lovelace, was a Victorian computer – someone who did mathematical calculations. Charles Babbage called her his Enchantress of Numbers. Who was her famous pansexual poet father?

9) Which of the following flowers and plants is named after a male lover of the Greek sun god Apllo?

            a) Hyacinth

            b) Peony

            c) Holly

10) When electricity was first discovered in the 19^th century it led to speculation that it might revive the dead. Which novel, written by a woman and revised by her bisexual husband, did this idea inspire?

11) What did gay geneticist Dean Hamer controversially claim to have located in human DNA – something which supports the “nature over nurture” side of the origins of homosexuality?

12) Benjamin Banneker has been called the first Afro-American (and probably the first gay American) scientist. In which century was he born?

a)      18^th

b)      19^th

c)      20^th

13) One of Alan Turing’s code-breaking colleagues at Bletchley Park during World War II, Noel Currer-Briggs, went on to become a leading expert in the 1960s into which mysterious artefact?

            a) the Holy Grail

            b) the Shroud of Turin

            c) the Ark of the Covenant.

14) The word “homosexuality” entered the English language in 1892. It was created by a sexologist (researcher into the biological and psychological origins of sexuality and gender) in which country?

            a) Germany

            b) Australia

            c) India

15) The astrological symbols for male and female - ♂ ♀ - were first used to signify gender in plants in 1756. They are often seen doubled and linked to create same-sex symbols. But from which planets were these gender symbols originally attributed?

16) The scientific names of many animals have come from people. Can you match up the lgbt people listed here, or something with which they are associated, to the scientific name they inspired?

            NAMES :

A) Freddie Mercury

            B) Leonardo da Vinci

            C) Bram Stoker

            D) Sheldon Cooper of “The Big Bang Theory”

            E) Sappho

            ANIMALS :

a)      Draculoides, a species of Australian arachnid

b)      Heliconius sapho, a butterfly

c)      Davincia, a genus of wasps

d)      Euglossa bazinga, a species of bee

e)      Cirolana mercuryi, a marine crustacean

17) The colours of the rainbow flag have become synonymous with the lgbt community. Even though the rainbow has been a familiar sight since time began it wasn’t until Sir Isaac Newton studied light that actual colours were attributed to it. Newton originally suggested only 5 colours of the rainbow. Which 5?

18) Whilst living in Turkey in the 1700s Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu (at one time romantically linked to her husband’s sister) saw how the Turks inoculated against a particular disease. She brought the process back to England. Thanks to inoculation, and later vaccination, this disease was declared eradicated in 1979 by WHO. Which disease was it?

            a) chicken pox

            b) cowpox

            c) smallpox

 

19) Emperor Elagabalus took his name from a large meteorite which he worshipped as the sun god El-Gabal. Over which empire did this meteorite-worshipping emperor rule?

20) True or false? Leonardo da Vinci wrote all the notes on his technical, scientific and anatomical drawing in reverse in Latin.

LGBT History Month UK

With today being the start of the official LGBT History Month I will have a general look at lgbt scientists throughout February.

When the organisers of LGBT History Month UK announced that this year’s theme would be science, maths and engineering I was perhaps just one amongst many who didn’t think there were many out scientists. But I was wrong. The more I looked through my databases the more scientists I found. In doing new research for my Ologies of the Month I have been surprised at how many universities, colleges and scientific groups have lists of lgbt members.

As this is also Black History Month in the USA I will have a more specific look later in the month at black lgbt scientists.

The lgbt group which I want to highlight this month is the National Organisation of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals – NOGLSTP (usually pronounced Noggle-step). They are base in Pasadena, California, and were founded in 1983. NOGLSTP developed out of the 1980 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which discussed homophobia in the science institutions and universities at one of their sessions. They came up with the idea of an lgbt network, and NOGLSTP emerged from it.

One reason why I am bringing this particular group to your attention is that although it is based in the US it has members and connections around the world. Another is that each year they make several awards to lgbt scientists, the only awards given to openly lgbt scientists by their peers in recognition of ground-breaking achievements in their field or in science education.

There are several categories in which NOGLSTP give their awards, and I have listed the main one below :

LGBT SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR

2004    Dr. Larry Wagner, Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff, Texas Instruments, for his work on the reliability semiconductors and microchips.

2005    Dr. Sim Aberson, research meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for research into hurricane tracking.

2006    Dr. Kerry Sieh, Professor of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology, for research into earthquake geology around the Pacific Rim, and for his services as faculty adviser to Calthech’s Student Pride Association.

2007    Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi, Professor at the University of California and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, for the use of chemical research to help answer biological questions related to health and disease.

2008    Dr. Arnold Zwicky, Visiting Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at Ohio State University, for his outstanding achievements in the field of linguistics. He has written many articles on lgbt language in the popular gay press.

2009    Dr. James Nowick, Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine, for research into molecular chemistry, and his activism for lgbt issues. He was mentioned in my 12 Gay Days of Christmas on New Year’s Day.

2010    Dr. Jesse Michael Bering, Reader at the School of History and Anthropology, and Director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture at Queen’s University, Belfast. Awarded for his research into the evolution of human psychology and comparisons to chimp psychology.

2011    Dr. Bill Hendrix of Dow AgroSciences, for research into seed pest control and for creating less toxic pesticides for developing economies. He is leader of the Dow Gay Lesbians and Allies group, and has campaigned for gender identity and partner rights in at Dow.

2012    Dr. Martin Lo of the High Capability Computing and Modeling Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and member of the Instrument Software and Science Data Section. As mentioned a few days ago Lo discovered the interplanetary superhighways – the gravitational “tunnels” – that will make space travel easier.

NOGLSTP also gives awards for LGBT Engineer of the Year and LGBT Educator of the Year, as well as the Walt Westman Award, named after a founder of the group, which is given to a NOGLSTP member in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the organisation. Later in the year, for LGBT History Month USA, I will give a full list of these awards.

All Kinds of Astronomy

The Outlist of lgbt astronomers which I mentioned in the introduction to the Ology of the Month on 8^th January contains just a handful of the living out lgbt space scientists around the world. Many other, such as Frank Kameny and Sally Ride are no longer with us.

Even using the word “astronomer” hides the wide range of areas and specialisations within the subject, each with their own qualifications and skills. Its like grouping footballers, darts players and boxers together as sportspeople.

So here’s a sample group of experts in various different aspects of astronomy.

Lisa Harvey-Smith (b.1979) – radio astronomy.

English-born Lisa is a research astronomer at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world, in Sydney, Australia. Lisa specialises in radio astronomy and is one of the leading advocates for the Square Kilometre Array, a radio telescope comprised of many separate radio telescopes linked together to form a total collecting area of, as the name suggests, about a square kilometre.

Todd B. Hawley (1961-1995) – space education and international collaboration.

When humanity finally decides to get round to space travel again, perhaps back to the Moon, some people will have been influenced by the International Space University, co-founded in 1985 by Todd Hawley. The university’s aim it to promote international co-operation in developing human space exploration. Perhaps the best way I can do justice to Todd is to direct you to this video.

Laura Kay – research into active galactic nuclei (AGN), and an “umbraphile”.

Professor and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College, Columbia University, USA. Her first research after graduating was studying auroras and cosmic rays at the Amundsen Scott station at the South Pole. Laura’s main research interest now is in AGN, galaxies with huuuge black holes in their centre, and their relationship to seyfert galaxies, galaxies with huuuuuuuuuuge black holes at their centre. She is also an out and proud umbraphile – an eclipse lover.

Martin Lo – space navigation.

Every probe launched into space needs to have its complete journey planned in advance – it needs a map. This is the responsibility of the Navigation Manager. Martin Lo has worked on many space missions plotting and calculating the best routes. Usually this is done using the gravitational pull of the sun, planets and moon. Perhaps Martin’s great achievement is his discovery of the Interplanetary Superhighway – a network of “tunnels” between the planets created by the combined gravitational forces of several planets. This superhighway is the most efficient and quickest way to navigate through the solar system.

James B. Pollack (1938-1994) – planetary atmospherics.

James, a colleague of the great Carl Sagan, studied atmospheres on other planets in our solar system, especially Mars and Venus, which is why a Martian crater is named after him. He was involved in all the interplanetary missions that NASA undertook after the Apollo missions ended. Using his studies of the evolution of the atmospheres on Venus and Mars James and Sagan came up with theories on the extinction of the dinosaurs and a nuclear winter on Earth. The theories on the nuclear winter helped campaigners to urge governments to reduce nuclear weapons and led to disarmament treaties.

Heritage Spotlight - Holocaust Memorials

In commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day I want to bring the heritage spotlight onto the Holocaust memorials around the world which specifically remember the gay victims of Nazi persecution.

In the 1980s, when the Berlin Wall came down and the country became a unified nation once more, Germany began to reassess its position in international politics and acknowledge its past role in world history. The most painful memory to address was the persecution of many sections of society during the Holocaust.

At first many people, particularly in Germany, believed that all physical evidence of the Holocaust should be destroyed because the memory of it was horrific enough. But it became apparent that preserving the old Nazi concentration camps was the only effective way to keep the horrors in people’s minds, especially as testimonies of living memory diminished with time. Many memorials were erected to the Jewish victims. As other groups persecuted by the Nazis began to realise their own losses in the Holocaust they too erected monuments.

Gay victims are remembered around the world. I have divided them into three geographical groups, and list them chronologically. If you want to know a bit more about them go to this website where there are more details and photographs.

Group 1          GERMANY

1984    Mauthausen concentration camp.

1985    Dachau concentration camp.

1985    Neuengamme concentration camp.

1989    Berlin.

1990    Buchenwald concentration camp.

1992    Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

1994    Frankfurt-am-Main, in Platz Schäfergasse.

1995    Cologne, Wallraf-Richarts-Museum.

2008    Berlin, in the Tiergarten.

Group 2          EUROPE

1987    Amsterdam, Netherlands, in Westermarkt.

1990    Bologna, Italy, in the gardens of Villa Cassarini.

1993    The Hague, Netherlands, in Koninginnegracht.

2000    Rome, Italy, near Metro Piramide.

2005    Trieste, Italy, at Risiera San Sabba, an Italian concentration camp.

2005    Laxton, Nottinghamshire, UK, at the Holocaust Centre.

2007    Saint Malo, France.

2011    Barcelona, Spain, Cuitadella Park.

Group 3          THE WORLD

1999    Achorage, Alaska, USA, in the municipal cemetery.

1999    San Francisco, USA, in the Pink Triangle Park.

2001    Palm Springs, Florida, USA.

2001    Sydney, Australia, in Green Park.

?          Winnipeg, Canada, in the grounds of Manitoba Legislative Building.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum currently has a travelling exhibition called “Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945”. It ends its occupancy at the Compass Community Centre at Lake Worth, Palm Beach County, Florida, today. It moves to the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri, which will host the exhibition from 6^th February to 10^th April. For more information go here.

A Queer Star-Gayzing Achievement

LORD MAYOR LEON

[Achievement – the name given in heraldry to the full pictorial representation of a coat of arms.]

I’m combining two of my series today – heraldry and astronomy.

A coat of arms can belong to an organisation as well as a person, among them countries, cities and towns all around the world. Some places still use coats of arms that have been around since the Middle Ages. The city where I live, Nottingham, has had a coat of arms from 1610 at the earliest.

Just like the royal arms of the UK or the Presidential seal of the USA, which are only used by the Head of state during their reign/term of office, Nottingham’s arms are used by it’s Lord Mayor in his official capacity.

As I mentioned in October the present Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Leon Unczur, is the first openly gay incumbent in that post (and the only openly gay Lord Mayor in the whole of the UK) and, as such, is the present “owner” of Nottingham’s coat of arms.

To incorporate the Ology of the Month into the mix the full achievement includes the city’s crest which represents Nottingham Castle with a star and moon sitting on top of the towers. This crest is taken from the city’s medieval seal which predates the shield design by some 200 years. When Nottingham was given city status in 1898 this seal became the crest.

The castle is an obvious reference to my old work place, Nottingham Castle. In previous posts I have mentioned that the castle had at least 2 known gay constables (here and here) – the site managers, as it were. The origin of the wavy star and crescent on the towers is obscure, but Wilfred Scott-Giles, a leading heraldist of the 20^th century, believed that both originate with the Crusades of King Richard the Lionheart. Many people put Richard on their list of lgbt royals, but I don’t. The reason is given here.

A word about the crescent first. The connection to the Crusades immediately brings to mind the crescent of Islam. But just like the English cross of St. George there was no connection at the time, it came later and wasn’t used at the time of Richard the Lionheart. It seems to be an emblem used by crusader knights (like the cross).

The wavy star is a heraldic representation of the sun, a popular dynastic emblem in England most famously referenced by Shakespeare when he gives Richard III the words “this Sun of York”. So both the star and crescent are emblems suitable for Richard the Lionheart, and both appear on his Great Seal of England. But why do they appear over Nottingham Castle?

In fact Richard the Lionheart has a significant place as the only person in history to lead a successful attack on Nottingham Castle. The basics are known to any Robin Hood aficionado. King Richard left his brother Prince John in charge of the country while he went off on crusade. John made such a pig’s ear of it – raising taxes, and squandering the ransom money raised when Richard was captured – that the Lionheart was in no mood for brotherly love when he escaped and arrived back in England. He headed straight for Prince John who was at Nottingham Castle at the time.

Prince John got wind of Richard’s return and was scared. He knew he was in trouble. He told his baronial allies to gather at Nottingham and defend the castle. In the meantime, John said, he would go and warn some of his other garrisons in other castles. So off he went, if effect running away to leave Nottingham to defend themselves.

By the time Richard arrived the castle was prepared. As a contemporary account puts it, the army arrived with “such a clangour of trumpets and clarions, that those who were in the castle … were astonished and were confounded and alarmed, but still they could  not believe that the king had come and supposed that the whole of this was done … for the purpose of deceiving them.”

Many men were killed on both sides, and it was only after an embassy was sent to the attackers that the castle garrison realised that King Richard really was there. They surrendered on the spot.

It may be because of this event that the medieval town corporation chose to commemorate the event in their seal. This is, of course, just speculation on my part, as no other satisfactory theory has ever been suggested for the castle having a star and crescent on its towers.

For just a couple more months Lord Mayor Leon will be the out and proud “owner” of the city’s coat of arms bearing a crest which commemorates the Lionheart’s taking of Nottingham Castle. 

Frank Takes Activism Into Space

It all begins and ends in space.

In the history of the gay rights movement one name puts activism among the stars – Frank Kameny (1925-2011). In one of the few quirks of fate it is homophobia that put it there. If it wasn’t for Frank’s homophobic bosses he may never have taken a lead in the gay rights movement of 1960s America. And if it wasn’t for his prominent role in that gay rights movement he may never have had asteroid 40463 named after him. In the official citation announcing the naming of the asteroid it was Frank’s activism that took up the most space behind the career from which he was fired in 1958, astronomy.

Frank Kameny studied physics at Queen’s College, Harvard, after which he became a teaching fellow there. In 1956 he graduated with a PhD in astronomy. It was his thesis which led to the asteroid being named after him. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

After receiving his PhD Frank moved to Washington DC where he taught at the Astronomy Department of Georgetown University. By the following summer he was employed as a civilian by the US Army Map Service. But he wasn’t there long. Several months later he was arrested for homosexuality and fired.

Not one to sit back and be walked all over, Frank fought back by taking the government to the Supreme Court. He didn’t win his case for reinstatement but it did begin his involvement in lgbt rights which would carry on for the rest of his life.

His achievements in the gay rights movement in America are many, and none can be said to be insignificant. From the formation of the Mattachine Society (one of the first gay rights groups) to the removal of homosexuality from classification as a mental illness, and from protesting outside the White House to the repeal of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy in the military, Frank’s voice was always one of the loudest. His achievements were recognised by the Obama administration with both an official apology for his dismissal for homosexuality in 1958, and with the awarding of the Theodore Roosevelt Award (the most prestigious honour the government can award one of it’s employees, even though Frank was no longer one of them).

But, as Dr. Jane Rigby says in the video below, Frank was the most famous astronomer that most astronomers had never heard of. Following his dismissal Frank had little involvement with astronomy. He did, however, join the American Association of Variable Star Observers. It was through this group that Frank Kameny came to have his asteroid named after him. The story behind it is related by gay astronomical technologist Richard Kinne here.

The YouTube video by Jan Rigby mentioned above gives a good overall picture of Frank’s life. At about 25 minutes in length it may seem a little slow and like a presentation at a conference, but it is worth listening to all the way through, and gives Frank’s life from a gay astronomer’s point of view.