David E. Hughes and Carbon Microphone

Inventor of Carbon Microphone

English-born American David Edward Hughes is widely agreed as the inventor of the carbon microphone, a device important in the development of telephony. He also invented the induction balance for metal detectors and the printing telegraph system.

David Hughes was born in London, England on May 16, 1831. At the age of seven, he moved to the United States with his Welsh parents. In 1850, he became a music professor in Kentucky at the college of Bardstown. He later became a natural philosophy professor in the same school. Hughes only spent four years in the academic field, from where he began working on various devices, such as the type-printing telegraph and carbon microphone.

Thomas Wedgwood

Science Datebook: May 14

Photography Pioneer

Dubbed as godfather of photography, Thomas Wedgwood, born on May 14, 1771,  in Etruria, Staffordshire, England, is credited with his major contribution to photography and technology. He is considered the first man to develop a method to copy visible images chemically to permanent media.  He was the son of a potter, Josiah Wedgwood, a potter and an early experimenter with Sir Humphry Davy in photography.

History of Films and Cinemas

Pre-Eastman Pioneers and Innovators

A nutshell history of films and cameras, including the early movie innovators and pioneers before Eastman are highlighted. When the celluloid film rolls were produced by American George Eastman of Kodak Company the motion picture became possible.

When the celluloid film rolls were produced by American George Eastman of Kodak Company the motion picture became possible. Earlier film innovators and pioneers before Eastman are also highlighted.

Hubble Space Telescope

Speaking of the birth of time, the Big Bang theory states that all matter and energy were once contained in compressed matter. It's really unimaginable.

We don't know whatever happened between the Big Bang and the tiny time afterward known as the "Planck Time" - named after the physicist Max Planck. The first evidence to support the theory of the expanding world was found by American astronomer Edwin Hubble in 1929.

Samuel Morse and His Code

This inventor gave us the famous Morse Code

American inventor Samuel (Finley Breese) Morse was born on April 27, 1791, in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Aside from being an inventor, he was also an artist. From 1832, Morse experimented on a practical system of using electricity to send messages by telegraphy.  He developed the Morse Code to simplify the system. In 1844, Morse sent the message "What God hath wrought?" from Washington to Baltimore. He collaborated with Cyrus Field in laying the first transatlantic cable.

Theobald Böhm (Boehm): Flute Inventor

Theobald Böhm or Boehm (April 9, 1794 – November 27, 1881) was a German inventor and Bavarian court musician. He is credited for inventing the Western concert flute and its improved fingering system known as the "Boehm System."

Boehm was a virtuoso flautist and composer for the flute. He was born in Munich, Bavaria. He learned goldsmithing through his father's trade. He made his own flute and played in an orchestra at the aged of 18. At 21, he became the first flautist in the Royal Bavarian Orchestra.

Bunsen-Kirchhoff and Spectroscopy Theory

Science / Discoveries & Inventions

 

When a chemical element is heated to incandescence, it produces its own characteristic lines in the spectrum of light.

As a chemistry student moons ago, I'll never forget the Bunsen burner as a constant laboratory companion in my numerous "flame test" experiments. Bunsen developed the burner in 1855. The test is used to identify the presence of a particular metal by the colour of the flames produced. The burner's non-luminous flame is basically used as it does not interfere with the coloured flame given off by the sample metal being tested.

Bunsen-Kirchhoff Spectroscopy theory and other Discoveries

Together, Bunsen and Kirchhoff developed the first spectroscope, a device used to produce and observe a spectrum. Using their spectroscope, in 1860, they went on to discover two elements: caesium and rubidium. These discoveries ushered a new era in ways used to find new chemical elements.


The first 50 elements discovered (beyond those known since ancient times) were either the products of chemical reactions or were released by electrolysis. From 1860, however, thanks to Burner and Kirchhoff, the search was on for trace elements detectable only with the help of specialized instruments like the spectroscope. The Bunsen–Kirchhoff Award for spectroscopy is named after Bunsen and Kirchhoff.

Kirchhoff also discovered that when heated to incandescence, each chemical element produced its own characteristic lines in the spectrum. For instance, sodium (Na) has a spectrum with two yellow lines, wavelengths about 588 and 589 nanometres.  Extending experiments beyond Bunsen and Kirchhoff, later scientists were able to determine the presence of elements, for example, in the sun or stars once similar wavelengths were identified in their spectra. 

Matchbox Cars

A die cast toy that puts on happy smiles in children's faces.

Did you know that some toys were originally modeled in size and style to boxes of matches?  Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith (not related) were friends during their school days in Middlesex, England. After graduation, they went their separate ways. They found themselves together again in the navy during World War II. After the war, they decided to start their own company.

Lesney Products Launch

In 1947, the two launched Lesney Products, a die-casting business, in an abandoned pub called the Rifleman in East London. It was Rodney who had previous experience in die-casting, the process by which metal or plastic is poured into a mould. 

John Philip Holland

 Irish engineer, father of modern submarine who designed and developed the submarine, the first underwater vessel

John Philip Holland (29 February 1840 – 12 August 1914), was an Irish engineer who designed and built the first submarine formally commissioned by the U.S. Navy, and the first Royal Navy submarine, the Holland 1.

He was a school teacher in Ireland, his country of birth but in 1873, emigrated in New Jersey, USA. In 1875, he offered a submarine design to the US navy but it was rejected as not practicable. Despite this rejection, he continued his experiments.

Alessandro Volta

Science Dateline: February 18

Physicist Alessandro Volta, inventor of the battery

Alessandro (Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio) Volta was an Italian physicist known for the invention of the battery. He was born on February 18, 1745,  in Como, a town in present-day northern Italy near the Swiss border.

In 1774, he became a professor of physics at the Royal School in Como. He improved and popularized the electrophorus, a device that produced static electricity. He is often credited with its invention although a machine operating on the same principle was described in 1762 by Johan Wilcke, a Swedish experimenter.

Volta's Works

Volta studied the chemistry of gases between the years 1776-78. He discovered methane after reading a paper by Benjamin Franklin on "flammable air." In November, 1776, he found methane at Lake Maggiore. After two years he isolated it.

Inventor Thomas Alva Edison

Science / Inventions Dateline: February 11

Profiles Thomas Alva Edison, American inventor of gramophone who laid foundation of electric lighting lamp, and electronics through "Edison Effect."

Thomas Alva Edison (b. 1847-d.1931), was born on February 11, 1847,  in Milan, Ohio. Edison was the most productive American inventor of his day, receiving more than a thousand patents for applications of scientific principles. Also a businessman, he developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb.

Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park", he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large-scale teamwork to the process of invention, and because of that, he is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory.

Bon-Bons or Crackers for Christmas

Celebrating Christmas

 

Christmas crackers or bon-bons are a part Christmas celebrations in the UK and Commonwealth countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. They are also popular in Ireland. A cracker consists of a cardboard tube wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper, making it resemble an oversized sweet-wrapper.

How it is used for Christmas is like the way it's done with a wishbone. The cracker is pulled by two people. The cracker splits unevenly. The split is accompanied by a small bang produced by the effect of friction on a chemically impregnated card strip.

Alfred Bernhard Nobel

Science Datebook / Scientists: October 21


Alfred Bernhard Nobel (21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, engineer, armaments manufacturer and industrialist. Aside from being famous for Nobel Prizes, he is also best known as the inventor of dynamite.

As inventor, Nobel held 355 different patents. He invented the patent for dynamite in Great Britain in 1866 and in the U.S. in 1867.  In his last will, he used his enormous fortune acquired from the manufacture of explosives and from interests in oil fields in Russia to institute the Nobel Prizes.  The synthetic element nobelium was named after him.  His name also survives in modern-day companies such as Dynamit Nobel and Akzo Nobel,  which are descendents of the companies Nobel himself established.  Nobel Prizes was first awarded in 1901.



Resource:

"Biographical Information". Nobelprize.org. 1 Nov 2011 http://www.nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/biographical/

Image Credit:

Alfred Nobel. en.wikipedia.org / Public Domain

History of the Laser

LASER is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.  It is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons.  The emitted laser light is noted for its high degree of spatial and temporal coherence, which is unattainable using other technologies.

Laser amplifiers are used in industrial, medical, military, and commercial applications.

Spatial coherence is typically expressed through the output being a narrow beam which is diffraction-limited, often a so-called "pencil beam." Laser beams can be focused to very tiny spots, achieving a very high irradiance. They can also be launched into a beam of very low divergence in order to concentrate their power at large distances.

First Oral Contraceptive Pill

The pill for birth control, a single pill for drugs and sex.

On May 9, 1960, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA ) approved the birth control pill for use. Two days later, Enovid, the first oral contraceptive went on sale.

No one can fully say that the approval of this birth control pill could have prompted the sexual revolution.

MDMA Ecstacy Drug Invention

The love drug MDMA known as "Ecstacy"

MDMA is an entactogenic drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of drugs.  It is a colorless oil that boils at around 155 degrees Celsius or 311 degrees Fahrenheit. In chemical parlance, MDMA is referred to as MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) or Methylenedioxymethamphetamine.

MDMS / Ecstacy

In popular culture, MDMA has become widely known as "ecstasy" ("E" or "X"), usually referring to its street pill form.   The terms "molly" or "mandy" ("M") can colloquially refer to MDMA in crystalline or powder form.

History of the Bus

The Bus invention

Travel anywhere by bus, a major public transport we can't do without.

The first bus was horse-drawn, known as a carrosse. It carried eight people and was introduced in Paris in 1662 by none other but the famous Blaise Pascal, a French scientist, religious philosopher and writer, whose work, among others, involved applied sciences relating to barometer, an instrument that measures air pressure.

The Buses after Carrosse

That time, carrosses ran regularly whether there were any passengers or not. By 1823, they were being used in part of Nantes, France. It was operated by Stanislaus Baudry. Because of its popularity, Baudry expanded the service at the same time finding a name which would let people know that this was a service for the public.

History of the Helicopter

Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian High-Renaissance great thinker and a polymath, is commonly assumed as the first person to conceive the helicopter, a helicopter-like machine, as it was found among his drawings.

There is also evidence that Chinese and Renaissance Europeans had the design in mind, because among the artefacts found from these civilizations are toys that look like helicopters.

History tells us that various inventors have tried to work out a functional helicopter, but the problem was finding an engine that could make a "blade" whirl with enough power to create the "lift" or vertical thrust in order to get off the ground.

History of Swiss Army Knife

The Swiss army pocket knife is a little red and silver knife, beautifully designed, with knives, scissors, corkscrews, screwdrivers, can-openers and many more surprises slotted into its sleek chassis. It's a brainchild of Swiss cutler Karl Elsener who was financially ruined before becoming one of the world's icons.

It was 1884. After completing an apprenticeship as a cutler in Tuttlingen, Germany, Karl Elsener returns home to Ibach, in Switzerland. The 24 year old son of a milliner had his big idea. The Swiss army was being supplied with knives from the German town of Solingen. At the time, the Swiss economy was extremely unhealthy, and local lads regularly left their but mountainous nation to find jobs elsewhere. Elsener hoped to supply the army with locally-made knives and to create new jobs in the process.

Preferring not to build a factory, the enterprising Elsener formed the Swiss Cutlers' Association, gathering twenty-five other cutlers to produce knives for the army. These knives contained a blade, punch, can-opener and screwdriver.

Moore's Law

Moore's Law Prediction of Computer Chips Performance

According to Moore’s Law, the number of transistors on a computer chip doubles every 18 months or so. This prediction was conceived by Gordon Moore, co-founder and former chairman of Intel Corporation.

When Intel's co-founder predicted in 1965 that as the number of transistors on a chip doubles, performance also doubles, he thought it would hold true for about 10 years. Well, it's way past the millennium and we know that the computer chips have been shrinking, with increased performances in computers.

Gordon Moore is the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Intel Corporation, famous for Moore's Law. Under him, Intel introduced the world's first single chip microprocessor, the Intel 4004 invented by Intel engineers. Born in San Francisco on January 3, 1929, Gordon Earle Moore earned a bachelor's in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1950 and a Ph.D. in chemistry and physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1954.