P. V. H. Weems: A Personal Tribute

Abstract

The recent death of Philip Van Horn Weems, at the advanced age of 90, has removed from the field of navigation one of its most outstanding and colourful personalities. His contributions, made over a period of more than half a century, have ranged over almost every aspect of navigation: practising navigator, instrument inventor, pioneer of the GHA form of Nautical Almanac and of the first Air Almanac, introducer of the Star Altitude Curves, brilliant expositor (as his books so clearly demonstrate), successful business man who trained many thousand navigators through his training schools and correspondence courses – he devoted his whole life to navigation with boundless energy and contagious enthusiasm.This is not the place to give the factual details of his life, or to put on record his many achievements, both inside and outside his professional career. Many of his most lasting and significant contributions to the practice of navigation, although so familiar to myself, can only be appreciated by a detailed study relative to the contemporary ‘state of the art’; Weems was, above all else, an innovator of ideas many of which were developed by others and which deserve a fuller and more technical treatment.A brief summary of his career follows. Weems, left an orphan at an early age, had a hard life on the family farm in Tennessee, with little formal education.

Coordination Complexes of Manganese and Their Biomedical Applications

“…[95] Octahedral complex C 30 was synthesized using L 30 (4-(4hydroxy)-3-(2-pyrazine-2-carbonyl)hydrazonomethyl-phenyl-diazen-yl-benzene-sulfonamide). The antibacterial activities C 30 and L 30 were screened out against microorganisms representing Gram positive, Gram negative bacteria and fungi. C 30 exhibit significant antibacterial activity against S. aureus, S. epidermidis and B. subtilis (G + ) and P. vulgaris, K. pneumonia and S.flexneri (G À ) (inhibition zones = 17.4,20.3 and 18.7 mm; MIC = 7.81, 31.25 and 31.25 mg).…”

Bismuth Complexes Inhibit the SARS Coronavirus

“…In our initial set of assays, we tested the bismuth compounds for their ability to inhibit the oligonucleotide (oligo-(dT) 24 )-stimulated ATPase (ATP = adenosine 5'-triphosphate) activity of the SCV NTPase/helicase ( Figure 1). [12,22] Phosphate release owing to ATP hydrolysis was measured at various concentrations of each of the potential inhibitors and is expressed as a percentage of the ATPase rate in the absence of inhibitor (see the Supporting Information).…”

“…To investigate whether RBC specifically inhibited the RNA-or DNA-stimulated or the basal ATPase activity of the helicase, we performed three identical sets of experiments in the presence of oligo-U 24 (as an RNA mimic) in the presence of oligo-(dT) 24 (as a DNA mimic) or in the absence of oligonucleotide. As shown in Figure 1 b, RBC inhibits the DNA-and RNA-stimulated, as well as the nonstimulated, ATPase activity of the helicase to a similar extent.…”

“…As shown in Figure 1 b, RBC inhibits the DNA-and RNA-stimulated, as well as the nonstimulated, ATPase activity of the helicase to a similar extent. The IC 50 values were calculated by fitting the logistic equation for RBC inhibition to each dataset: IC 50 = 248(AE75), 350(AE82), and 377(AE92) nM for U 24 -stimulated ATPase, (dT) 24 -stimulated ATPase, and nonstimulated ATPase.…”

“…The Bi 3+ ion is known to have a high affinity for thiolate sulfur. [21,24] We therefore measured the UV absorbance spectrum of the SCV helicase, both in the absence and presence of 1 mm RBC (Figure 3 a). After the addition of RBC, a broad shoulder in the difference spectra was observed between the wavelengths of 300-350 nm, which is characteristic of the formation of Bi À S bonds.…”