The Milgram experiment was a famous scientific experiment of social psychology described by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram in 1974. It was intended to measure the willingness of a subject to obey an authority who instructs the subject to do something that may conflict with the subject's personal conscience. The subject is assigned the role of "teacher". He is then given simple memory tasks to give to the "learner" (an actor) and instructed to administer a shock by pressing a button each time the learner makes a mistake. He is also told that the voltage is to be raised by 15 volts after each mistake. In reality, there are no actual shocks being given to the learner - he is acting. The experiment raised questions about the ethics of scientific experimentation itself because of the extreme emotional stress suffered by the subjects. Most modern scientists would consider the experiment unethical today, though it resulted in valuable insights into human psychology.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

Today's selected anniversaries:

* 1839 - John Herschel took the first glass plate photograph. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Herschel)

* 1942 - World War II: A Japanese floatplane dropped an incendiary bomb on Oregon. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_War)

* 1982 - Princess Grace of Monaco died a day after suffering a stroke whilst driving. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Kelly)

* 2001 - Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, was assassinated in Afghanistan. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Shah_Massoud)

Wikiquote of the day:

"I like not only to be loved, but also to be told that I am loved. I am not sure that you are of the same mind. But the realm of silence is large enough beyond the grave. This is the world of light and speech, and I shall take leave to tell you that you are very dear." -- George Eliot

(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Eliot)