March
Important dates in History
March
31:
George Green
(Born
July 14, 1793: Died March 31, 1841)
George Green was an English mathematician,
born near Nottingham, who was first to attempt to formulate a mathematical theory
of electricity and magnetism. He was a baker while, remarkably, he became a self-taught
mathematician. In March 1828 he published An Essay on the Application of Mathematical
Analysis to the Theories of Electricity and Magnetism. He became an undergraduate
at Cambridge in October 1833 at the age of 40. Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) subsequently
saw, was excited by the Essay. Through Thomson, Maxwell, and others, the general
mathematical theory of potential developed by an obscure, self-taught miller's
son heralded the beginning of modern mathematical theories of electricity.
March
30:
Phototransistor
In
1950, the invention of the phototransistor was announced. This was a transistor
operated by light rather than electric current, invented by Dr. John Northrup
Shive of the Bell Telephone Laboratories at Murray Hill, N.J. It used a tiny chip
of germanium, a semiconductor material, but only a single collector wire. The
tip of this wire rests in a small dimple ground into one side of the germanium
disk. At this point the germanium disk is only three thousandths of an inch thick.
Light focussed on the opposite, un-dimpled side of the disk can control the flow
of current in the wire, thus making a control device similar in function to a
photo-electric cell.
March
29:
Francesco Zantedeschi
Born 1797: Died March 29, 1873)
Italian priest and physicist. He published
papers (1829, 1830) on the production of electric currents in closed circuits
by the approach and withdrawal of a magnet, thereby anticipating Faraday's classic
experiment (1831). Researching the solar spectrum, Zantedeschi was among the first
to recognize the marked absorption by the atmosphere of the red, yellow, and green
rays. Though not confirmed, he also thought that he had detected a magnetic action
on steel needles of ultra-violet light (1838), showing the connection between
light and magnetism was suspected many years before the announcement in 1867 by
Clerk-Maxwell of the electromagnetic theory of light (1867).
March
28:
Jean-Maurice-Emile Baudot
(Born September 11, 1845: Died March
28, 1903)
French engineer who, in 1874, received a patent on a telegraph code
that by the mid-20th century had supplanted Morse Code as the most commonly used
telegraphic alphabet. He dedicated his life to the development of a fast-printing
telegraph. After successively improved versions, he demonstrated at the International
Exhibition of Electronics a perfected model which could transmit six simultaneous
messages. The Baudot system was used throughout the world for terrestrial and
undersea links for over 70 years.
March
27:
Johann Wilhelm Hittorf
(Born
March 27, 1824: Died November 28, 1914)
German physicist who was a pioneer
in electrochemical research. His early investigations were on the allotropes (different
physical forms) of phosphorus and selenium. He was the first to compute the electricity-
carrying capacity of charged atoms and molecules (ions), an important factor in
understanding electrochemical reactions. He investigated the migration of ions
during electrolysis (1853-59), developed expressions for and measured transport
numbers. In 1869, he published his laws governing the migration of ions. For his
studies of electrical phenomena in rarefied gases, the Hittorf tube has been named
for him. Hittorf determined a number of properties of cathode rays, including
(before Crookes) the deflection of the rays by a magnet.
March
26:
David Packard
(Born
September 7, 1912: Died March 26, 1996)
U.S. entrepreneur and electrical engineer
who cofounded the Hewlett-Packard Co., a leading manufacturer computers, computer
printers, and analytic and measuring equipment. In 1939, he formed a partnership
known as Hewlett-Packard Company with William R. Hewlett, a friend and Stanford
classmate. HP's first product was a resistance-capacitance audio oscillator based
on a design developed by Hewlett when he was in graduate school. The company's
first "plant" was a small garage in Palo Alto, and the initial capital
amounted to $53.
March
25:
Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin
(Born
March 25, 1833: Died June 12, 1885)
British engineer noted for his work in
establishing units of electrical measurement. After earning an M.A. (1851), he
worked for the next 10 years with engineering firms engaged in the design and
manufacture of submarine telegraph cables and equipment for laying them. In 1861
his friend William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) procured Jenkin's appointment as
reporter for the Committee of Electrical Standards of the British Association
for the Advancement of Science. He helped compile and publish
reports that established the ohm as the absolute unit of electrical resistance
and described methods for precise resistance measurements.
March
24:
Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker
(Born
October 24, 1873: Died March 24, 1956)
English mathematician who made pioneering
contributions to the area of the special functions, which is of particular interest
in mathematical physics. Whittaker is best known work is in analysis, in particular
numerical analysis, but he also worked on celestial mechanics and the history
of applied mathematics and physics. He wrote papers on algebraic functions and
automorphic functions. His results in partial differential equations (described
as most sensational by Watson) included a general solution of the
Laplace equation in three dimensions in a particular form and the solution
of the wave equation. On the applied side of mathematics he was interested in
relativity theory and he also worked on electromagnetic theory.
March
23:
Max Mason
(Born
October 26, 1877: Died March 23, 1961)
American mathematical physicist, educator,
and science administrator. During World War I he invented several devices for
submarine detection - several generations of the Navy's "M," or multiple-tube,
passive submarine sensors. This apparatus focused sound to ascertain its source.
To determine the direction from which the sound came, the operator needed only
to seek the maximum output on his earphones by turning a dial. The final device
had a range of 3 miles. Mason's special interest and contributions lay in mathematics
(differential equations, calculus of variations), physics (electromagnetic
theory), invention (acoustical compensators, submarine-detection devices),
and the administration of universities and foundations.
March
23:
Pierre-Simon Laplace
(Born
March 23, 1749: Died March 5, 1827)
(marquis) French mathematician, astronomer,
and physicist who is best known for his investigations into the stability of the
solar system.
March
23:
Hermann Staudiniger
(March
23, 1881: September 9, 1965)
German chemist who won the 1953 Nobel Prize for
Chemistry for demonstrating that polymers are long-chain molecules. His work laid
the foundation for the great expansion of the plastics industry later in the 20th
century.
March
22:
John Canton
(Born
July 31, 1718: Died March 22, 1772)
British physicist and teacher. After educating
himself about science, he developed a new method of preparing artificial magnets
and won election to the Royal Society (1749). In July 1752, he was the first Englishman
to repeat French experiments verifying Franklin’s hypothesis that lightning was
just a huge electric spark, (as seen from charged Leyden jars). Following this,
he studied the polarity of the charge on a cloud. He invented a portable electroscope
to detect charge present in a system, and he remains well-known for electrostatic
induction experiments. Canton proved that water is slightly compressible (1762).
Noting compass needle irregularities during a prominent aurora borealis he made
the first observations of magnetic storms (1756-9).
March
21:
Exclusion principle
In
1925, Wolfgang Pauli published his "exclusion principle." At the young
age of 24, in an article in Zeitschrift für Physik, Pauli introduced the
idea that two nearby electrons cannot be in exactly the same state at the same
time. For this, now fundamental, contribution to quantum mechanics, he was awarded
a Nobel Prize in 1945.
March
20:
Volta announces his battery
In
1800, Alessandro Volta gave notification of his invention of the electric battery
to Sir Joseph Banks of the Royal Society, London.
March
19:
Louis-Victor de Broglie
(Born
August 15, 1892: Died March 19, 1987)
French physicist best known for his
research on quantum theory and for his discovery of the wave nature of electrons.
He was awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize for Physics.
March
18:
Superconductivity
In
1987, the discovery of "high-temperature" superconductivity was announced
to thousands of scientists at a packed meeting of the American Physical Society
in New York City. The phenomenon, discovered 1911, was at first known to occur
at only 4 degrees above absolute zero, when all electrical resistance in a metal
sample disappeared. In 1986, researchers discovered a ceramic material that was
a superconductor at a temperature of more than 30 degrees above absolute zero.
When published in September of that year, that news stirred the wider scientific
community into action. By the time of the APS meeting, further discoveries had
been made. The scene of excitement at the meeting was dubbed the "Woodstock
of Physics."
March
17:
Charles Francis Brush
(Born March 17, 1849: Died June 15, 1929)
U.S. inventor and industrialist
who devised an electric arc lamp and a generator that produced a variable voltage
controlled by the load and a constant current. It was adopted throughout the United
States and abroad during the 1880's. The arc light preceded Edison's incandescent
light bulb in commercial use and was suited to applications where a bright light
was needed, such as street lights and lighting in commercial and public buildings.
He assembled his first dynamo in the summer of 1876, resulting in a patent for
his Improvement in Magneto-Electric Machines, issued April 24, 1877 (US No. 189997).
He then developed an arc light that was regulated by a combination of electrical
and mechanical means limited by a "ring clutch".
March
16:
Georg Simon Ohm (Ohm's Law)
(Born
March 16, 1789: Died July 6, 1854)
German physicist who showed by experiment
(1825) that there are no "perfect" electrical conductors. All conductors
have some resistance. He stated the famous Ohm's law (1826): "If the given
temperature remains constant, the current flowing through certain conductors is
proportional to the potential difference (voltage) across it." or V=iR.
March
15:
Sir Henry Bessemer
(Born
January 19, 1813: Died March 15, 1898)
English inventor and engineer who developed
the first process for manufacturing steel inexpensively (1856), leading to the
development of the Bessemer converter. Bessemer invented his steel making process
to solve a specific problem vexing another of his inventions, the self-spinning
artillery shell. The converter removed impurities from molten pig iron by oxidation
through air being blown through the molten iron. The oxidation also raised the
temperature of the iron mass, keeping it molten. The oxidation process removed
impurities such as silicon, manganese, and carbon as oxides, which oxides either
escapd as gas or formed a solid slag. He also solved problems about the chemistry
of ores, fuels, and steel. He held 110 patents at his death.
March
14:
Pieter van Musschenbroek
(Born
March 14, 1692: Died September 19, 1761)
Dutch mathematician and physicist
who invented the Leyden jar, the first effective device for storing static electricity.
He grew up in a family that manufactured scientific instruments such as telescopes,
microscopes and air pumps. Before Musschenbroek's invention, static electricity
had been produced by Guericke using a sulphur ball, with minor effects. In Jan
1746, Musschenbroek placed water in a metal container suspended on silk cords,
and led a brass wire through a cork into the water. He built up a charge in the
water. When an unwary assistant touched the metal container and the brass wire,
the discharge from this apparatus delivered a substantial shock of static electricity.
The Leyden name is linked to the discovery having being made at the University
of Leiden.
March
13:
Elihu Thomson
(Born
March 29, 1853: Died March 13, 1937)
U.S. electrical engineer and inventor
whose discoveries in the field of alternating current phenomena led to the development
of successful alternating current motors. Thomson invented electric welding and
other important inventions in electric lighting and power among his lifetime total
of about 700 patents. Thomson was also a cofounder of the General Electric Company
(in 1892, in a merger with the Edison Company) industry.
March
12:
Leo Esaki
Born
March 12, 1925
Japanese physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics
(1973) in recognition of his 
pioneering
work on electron tunneling in solids. From some deceptively simple experiments
published in 1958, he was able to lay bare the tunneling processes in solids,
a phenomena which had been clouded by questions for decades. Tunneling is a quantum
mechanical effect in which an electron passes through a potential barrier even
though classical theory predicted that it could not. Dr. Esaki's discovery led
to the creation of the Esaki diode, an important component of solid state physics
with practical applications in high-speed circuits found in computers and communications
networks.
March
11:
Vannevar Bush
(Born
March 11, 1890: Died June 28, 1974)
American electrical engineer and administrator
who and oversaw government mobilization of scientific research during World War
II. At the age of 35, in 1925, he developed the differential analyzer, the world's
first analog computer. It was capable of solving differential equations. He put
into concrete form that which began 50 years earlier with the incomplete efforts
of Babbage, and the theoretical details developed by Kelvin. This machine filled
a 20 x 30 foot room. He innovated one of the largest growing media in our time,
namely hypermedia as fulfilled in the Internet with hypertext links.
March
10:
Charles Hatchett
(Born
January 2, 1765: Died March 10, 1847)
English manufacturer, chemist, and discoverer
in 1801 of niobium, which he called columbium. Forty years later another chemist,
Heinrich Rose of Germany, rediscovered the metal and named it niobium. The metal
itself was first prepared in 1864 by reducing the chloride by heating it in a
hydrogen atmosphere. Niobium is a steel-gray, lustrous, ductile and malleable
metallic element that burns when heated in air and combines with nitrogen, hydrogen
and the halogens. Niobium is used in arc-welding rods for stabilized grades of
stainless steel. Large amounts of niobium have been used in advanced air frame
systems like the Gemini space program. Superconductive magnets have been made
with Nb-Zr wire.
March
9:
Howard Hathaway Aiken
(Born
March 9, 1900: Died March 14, 1973)
American mathematician who invented the
Harvard Mark I, forerunner of the modern electronic digital computer. While a
graduate student and instructor Harvard University, Aiken's research had led to
a system of differential equations which could only be solved using numerical
techniques, for which he began planning large computer. His idea was to use an
adaptation of Hollerith's punched card machine. When eventually built, (1943)
it weighed 35 tons, had 500 miles of wire and could compute to 23 significant
figures. There were 72 storage registers and central units to perform multiplication
and division. It was controlled by a sequence of instructions on punched paper
tapes, and used punched cards to enter data and give output from the machine.
March
8:
Emory Leon Chaffee
(Born
April 15, 1885: Died March 8, 1975)
U.S. physicist known for his work on thermionic
vacuum (electron) tubes.
March
7:
Ludwig Mond
(Born March 7, 1839: Died December 11, 1909)
German-born
British chemist and industrialist who perfected a method of soda manufacture by
improving the Solvay alkali process. Mond devised a process for the extraction
of nickel when with his assistants, he accidentally discovered metal carbonyl
compounds while investigating why nickel valves were corroded by carbon monoxide.
Further research led to the synthesis of more metal carbonyls, which Lord Kelvin
described as "metals with wings" and to the Mond nickel carbonyl process
for refining nickel. The term “fuel cell” was coined in 1889 by Ludwig Mond and
Charles Langer, who attempted to build the first practical device using air and
industrial coal gas, to generate electricity by reacting hydrogen with oxygen.
March
6:
First American AC power plant
In
1886, America's first alternating current power plant began operation in Great
Barrington, Mass. It started producing commercial power two weeks later, but subsequently
became damaged by an accident and was abandoned. The first successful A.C. electricity
generating plant was opened in November of the same year at Buffalo, NY, by the
Westinghouse Co.
March
5:
William Oughtred
(Born
March 5, 1574: Died June 30, 1660)
English mathematician and Episcopal minister
who invented the earliest form of the slide rule, two identical linear or circular
logarithmic scales held together and adjusted by hand. Improvements involving
the familiar inner rule with tongue-in-groove linear construction came later.
He introduced the familiar multiplication sign x in a 1631 textbook, along with
the first use of the abbreviations sin, cos and tan.
March
4:
Cray supercomputer
In
1977, the first Freon-cooled Cray-1 supercomputer, costing $19,000,000, was shipped
to Los Alamos Laboratories, NM, and was used to help the defense industry create
sophisticated weapons systems. This system had a peak performance of 133 megaflops
and used the newest technology, integrated circuits and vector register technology.
The Cray-1 looked like no other computer before or since. It was a cylindrical
machine 7 feet tall and 9 feet in diameter, weighed 30 tons and required its own
electrical substation to provide it with power (an electric bill around $35,000/month).
The inventor, Seymour Cray, died 5 Oct 1996 in an auto accident. His innovations
included vector register technology, cooling technologies, and magnetic amplifiers.
March
3:
Gerhard Herzberg
(Born
December 25, 1904: Died March 3, 1999)
German-Canadian physicist and winner
of the 1971 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work in determining the electronic
structure and geometry of molecules, especially free radicals: groups of atoms
that contain odd numbers of electrons. Herzberg is noted for his extensive work
on the technique and interpretation of the spectra of molecules. He elucidated
the properties of many molecules, ions, and radicals and also contributed to the
use of spectroscopy in astronomy (e.g., in detecting hydrogen in space). His work
included the first measurements of the Lamb shifts (important in quantum electrodynamics)
in deuterium, helium, and the positive lithium ion.
March
2:
Harry E. Soref
(Born
March 2, 1887: Died March 1, 1957)
Locksmith, inventor of the laminated steel
padlock, and founder of Master Lock Company (1921). Shortly after WW I, Soref
conceived the idea for a better padlock, built with laminations of layer on layer
of steel for greater strength, as seen with bank vault doors and battleships.
Soref filed for a patent on his laminated padlock. For the next several years,
he was very busy developing a durable padlock that could be manufactured and marketed
at a reasonable price. In 1924, the patent was granted, and Master Lock opened
its first tiny factory in Milwaukee, Wisc. In 1928 Master Lock gained national
recognition for shipping 147,600 padlocks to federal prohibition agents in New
York for locking up the speakeasies they raided.
March
1:
Seymour Papert
(Born
March 1, 1928)
Computer scientist who invented the Logo computer programming
language, an educational computer programming language for children. He studied
under Piaget, absorbing his educational theories. He has studied ways to use mathematics
to understand better how children learn and think, and about the ways in which
computers can aid in a child's learning. With Marvin Minsky, he co-founded the
Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT. In the mid-80’s he worked in Costa Rica to
develop a nationwide program of intensive computer use throughout the public education
system. Costa Rica, which now has the highest literacy rate in the Americas, continues
to serve as a model for large-scale deployment of computer technology in education.
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