November
Important
dates in History
November
30: Ebenezer
Kinnersley
(Born
November 30, 1711: Died July 4, 1778)
English-born American experiementer
and inventor who investigated electricity and invented an electrical air thermometer
(c. 1755). In 1748 Kinnersley demonstrated that the electric fluid actually passed
through water, and proved it by a trough ten feet long full of water. In 1751
he began delivering lectures on "The Newly Discovered Electrical Fire."
He was thus one of the earliest popularizers of science. His experiments discovered
the difference between the electricity that was produced by the glass and sulphur
globes, which he communicated to Benjamin Franklin at Philadelphia, since they
showed beyond a doubt that the positive and negative theory was correct. He also
sought to find ways in which to protect buildings from lightning.
November
29: Sir
John Ambrose Fleming
(Born
November 29, 1849: Died April 18, 1945)
English engineer who made numerous
contributions to electronics, photometry, electric measurements, and wireless
telegraphy. In 1904, he discovered the one directional current effect between
a positively biassed electrode, which he called the anode, and the heated filament
in an evacuated glass tube; the electrons flowed from filament to anode only.
Fleming called the device a diode because it contained two electrodes, the anode
and the heated filament. He noted that when an alternating current was applied,
only the positive halves of the waves were passed - that is, the wave was rectified
(from a.c. to d.c.). It would also take a radio frequency wave and produce d.c.corresponding
to the on and off of the Morse code transmitted signals.
November
28: 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.
November
27: Giovanni
Giorgi
(Born
November 27, 1871: Died August 19, 1950)
Italian physicist who proposed a
widely used system for the definition of electrical, magnetic, and mechanical
units of measurement. He developed the Giorgi International System of Measurement
(also known as the mksa system) in 1901. Originally, he suggested that the basic
units of scientific measurement be the metre, kilogram, second, and joule. With
the the ampere replacing the joule as a basic unit, this system was subsequently
endorsed by the General Conference of Weights and Measures (1960). Giorgi also
worked in hydroelectric power, electricity distribution networks, and urban trolley
systems.
November
26: Karl
Ziegler
(Born
NOvember 26, 1898: Died August 12, 1973)
German chemist who in 1963 shared
the Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Giulio Natta "for their discoveries in
the field of the chemistry and technology of high polymers" improving the
quality of plastics. Polymer molecules are long chains of thousands of atoms,
made by connecting together repeating units of a small molecule (the monomer).
Ziegler found peculiar electrical forces in a bond between an aluminium and a
carbon atom in a hydrocarbon chain: reactive molecules are drawn in and sandwiched
between these two atoms, increasing the length of the chain. When the chain is
long enough, detaching the aluminium stops further growth of the molecule. The
combination of aluminium compounds with other metallic compounds gives Ziegler
catalysts.
November
25: Karl
Benz
(Born
November 25, 1844: Died April 4, 1929)
Karl (Friedrich) Benz was a German
mechanical engineer who designed and in 1885 built the world's first practical
automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine. The earliest engine
he built was a two-stroke engine, which after two years' work first ran on December
31, 1879. He took out various patents on this machine, and opened a factory. After
developing financial backing, Benz designed a "motor carriage", with
an engine based on the Otto fourstroke cycle. Unlike Daimler, who installed his
engine in an ordinary carriage, Benz designed not only his engine, but the whole
vehicle as well. On January 29, 1886, he was granted a patent on it and on July
3, 1886, he introduced the first automobile in the world, produced for public
sale from 1888.
November
24: Automobile
starter
In
1903, the first U.S. patent for an automobile electric self-starter was issued
to Clyde J. Coleman of New York City (No. 745,157). He invented the self-starter
in 1899, but the invention was impractical. The license was purchased by the Delco
Company, which was taken over by the General Motors Corporation. Charles Kettering
at General Motors modified the self-starter, which was first installed on Cadillac
cars in 1911. This was a response to the death of a friend, who had died from
injuries suffered when a car hand-crank recoiled against him. Having eliminated
the dangerous job of cranking the engine, it put women behind the wheel in greater
numbers.
November
23: Crystal
rectifier
In
1874, a paper by Ferdinand Braun (1850-1918) was published in the Annalen der
Physik und Chemie describing his discovery of the electrical rectifier effect.
He observed that certain crystals of metal sulphides have a larger or smaller
resistance to an electric current, depending on its direction of flow. He used
a galena crystal, a semiconductor material composed of lead sulfide. He found
the rectifying effect especially true if at least one of the electrodes was a
pointed wire. Thus, he had discovered the point-contact rectifier effect, the
first semiconductor device. This effect wasn't used until over 30 years later
in the form of the "cat's whisker" crystal radio detector which ultimately
led to the point-contact transistor first produced in 1948.
November
22: Electric
Motor
In
1904, the first direct current, interpole, electric motor to be patented in the
U.S. was issued to Mathias Pfatischer.
November
21: Abdus
Salam
(Born
January 29, 1926: Died November 21, 1996)
Pakistani nuclear physicist who
shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physics with Steven Weinberg and Sheldon Lee Glashow.
Each had independently formulated a theory explaining the underlying unity of
the weak nuclear force and the electromagnetic force. His hypothetical equations,
which demonstrated an underlying relationship between the electromagnetic force
and the weak nuclear force, postulated that the weak force must be transmitted
by hitherto-undiscovered particles known as weak vector bosons, or W and Z bosons.
Weinberg and Glashow reached a similar conclusion using a different line of reasoning.
The existence of the W and Z bosons was eventually verified in 1983 by researchers
using particle accelerators at CERN.
November
20: Grenleaf
Whittier Pickard
In 1906, a U.S. patent was issued for the crystal detector, which was one of the
first devices widely used for receiving radio broadcasts (until superseded by
the triode vacuum tube). It was invented by Greenleaf Whittier Pickard, a U.S.
electrical engineer. His patent described it as "a means for receiving intelligence
communicated by electric waves."
November
19: Gustave-Auguste
Ferrié
(Born
November 19, 1868: Died February 16, 1932)
French scientist and army general
who contributed to the development of radio communication in France. He participated
with Guglielmo Marconi in experimental wireless telegraphy (1899) between Paris,
France and England. In 1903, Ferrié directed the installation of a transmitter
and antennas on the Eiffel Tower in Paris for long-range radiotelegraphy. Within
5 years, he had improved its effective range from 250 miles to 3,700 miles. This
led him to develop mobile military transmitters to maintain radio contact with
Paris. He also experimented with radio transmissions from aircraft to enable the
aerial direction of artillery fire. Early in WW I, (Colonel) Ferrié led
a corps of technicians who set up a network of radio direction finders.
November
18: Frank
Baldwin Jewett
(Born September 5, 1879: Died November 18, 1949)
Frank Baldwin Jewett was
the U.S. electrical engineer who directed research as the first president of the
Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., (1925-40). Jewett believed that the best science
and technology result from bringing together and nurturing the best minds. Under
his tenure Bell Labs laid the foundation for a new scientific discipline, radio
astronomy, and transformed movies by synchronizing sound to pictures. Bell Labs
was the first to transmit television over a long distance in the U.S. and designed
the first electrical digital computer. Bell Labs won its first Nobel Prize in
physics for fundamental work demonstrating the wave nature of matter.
November
17: Herman
Hollerith
(Born
February 29, 1860: Died November 17, 1929)
American inventor of a tabulating
machine that was an important precursor of the electronic computer. For the 1890
U.S. census, he invented several punched-card machines to automate the sorting
of data. The machine which read the cards used a pin going through a hole in the
card to make an electrical connection with mercury placed beneath. The resulting
electrical current activated a mechanical counter. It saved the United States
5 million dollars for the 1890 census by completing the analysis of the data in
a fraction of the time it would have taken without it and with a smaller amount
of manpower than would have been necessary otherwise. In 1896, he formed the Tabulating
Machine Company, a precursor of IBM.
November
16: First
electron tube
In 1904,
the first electron tube, a diode thermionic valve, was invented by John Ambrose
Fleming. The valve consists of a carbon or tungsten filament lamp, to which is
added a metal plate (insulated from the filament), and a connecting wire brought
through the glass wall of the bulb to a third terminal outside. When battery current
is applied to the filament making it incandescent, the space between the filament
and the insulated plate will be found to conduct elecrons in only one direction.
That means if the valve is connected in a circuit in with an oscillating current,
its one-way conductivity will convert the oscillating current into a unidirectional
current capable of actuating a telephone receiver. He notified Marconi in a November
30, 1904 letter.
November
15: Allen
B. Du Mont
(Born
January 29, 1901: Died November 15, 1965)
Allen B(alcom) Du Mont was an American
engineer who perfected the first commercially practical cathode-ray tube, which
was not only vitally important for much scientific and technical equipment but
was the essential component of the modern television receiver. The early cathode
ray tubes were imported from Germany at high cost, but they burned out after 25
or 30 hours. In the 1930's, he simplified and improved the production of cathode
ray tubes lasting a thousand hours. A financially successful by-product of his
television work was the cathode ray oscillograph. After WW II, Du Mont had become
the industry's first millionaire, investing also in broadcasting stations. The
Du Mont Broadcasting Co. he began in 1955 grew to become Metromedia, Inc.
November
14: Leo
Hendrik Baekeland
(Born
November 14, 1863: Died February 23, 1944)
U.S. industrial chemist who helped
found the modern plastics industry through his invention of Bakelite, the first
thermosetting plastic (a plastic that does not soften when heated).
November
13: Herbert
E. Ives
(Born July 31, 1882: Died November 13, 1853)
Herbert Eugene Ives was a physicist
and inventor of transmission of mechanical video pictures. Research into a television
process by the AT&T Co. at Bell Laboratories, New York was under the direction
of Dr. Herbert E. Ives. On April 7, 1927 live images of Commerce Secretary Hoover
were transmitted in the first successful long distance demonstration of television,
sent from Washington D.C. to New York, over long distance wires. On June 27, 1929
the first public demonstration of color TV showed images are a bouquet of roses
and an American flag using a mechanical system was used to transmit 50-line color
television images between New York and Washington. A two-way video telephone was
first demonstrated in 1930 by Ives in New York City.
November
12: Jacques-Alexandre-César
Charles
(Born
November 12, 1746: Died April 7, 1823)
French mathematician, physicist, and
inventor. When Benjamin Franklin visited France in 1779, Charles was inspired
to study physics. He soon became an eloquent speaker to non-scientific audiences.
His lectures and demonstrations attracted notable patrons and helped popularize
Franklin's theory of electricity and other new scientific concepts. With Nicolas
and Anne-Jean Robert, he made several balloon ascents, and was the first to use
hydrogen for balloon inflation (1783). Charles invented most of the equipment
that is still used in today's balloons. About 1787 he developed Charles's law
concerning the thermal expansion of gases that for a gas at constant pressure,
its volume is directly proportional to its absolute temperature.
November
11: Telescope
In 1851, a telescope design
was patented on this day by Alvan Clark of Cambridge, Mass. Alvan Clark was a
portrait painter who was interested in astronomy as were so many others at that
time. He had made several small lenses and mirrors as a hobby. The fact that he
could detect the small residual errors in one of the the best lenses Europe could
offer convinced him that he could do as well. After he gained a reputation in
Europe the American orders started to come in. The Alvin Clark Company became
one of the foremost producers of some of the largest lenses for telescopes in
the 1800's.
November
10: Super
collider
In 1988,
the Secretary Herrington of the Department of Energy announced that Ellis County,
Texas would be the home of a $4.4 billion atom- smashing super collider. Since
the Manhattan Project, the DOE and its predecessors had helped build most of the
large particle accelerators in the U.S. The superconducting super collider would
become the world's largest particle accelerator, the basic research tool in high
energy physics for studying the nature of matter and energy. Research at the super
collider would not only include study of the fundamental laws that govern the
universe but also the exploration of the origins of the universe. However, support
for the project declined as cost estimates soared, and Congress finally voted
in Oct 1993 to kill it.
November 9:
Blackout
In 1965, the biggest electricity grid failure in
U.S. history caused a 13-hour blackout in northeast America and parts of Canada.
The power lines from Niagra Falls to New York City were operating near their maximum
capacity. At about 5:15 pm, a transmission line relay failed. Now there was insufficient
line capacity for New York City. New England and New York are inter-connected
on a power grid, and the power that had been flowing toward New York City had
to go elswhere, instantly. Not prepared to handle this overload, generator operators
shut down to protect their equipment. Almost the entire grid failed. In the subways
of New York, 800,000 people were trapped. Overall, some 80,000 square miles, and
25 million people were affected.
November 8:
Electric
plug
In
1804, the first U.S. patent for a separable electric attachment plug was issued
to Harvey Hubbell of Bridgeport, Connecticut (No. 774,250). The plugs were first
manufactured by Harvey Hubbell, Inc.
November
7: Emil
Heinrich Du Bois-Reymond
(Born
November 7, 1818: Died December 26, 1896)
German founder of modern electrophysiology,
known for his research on electrical activity in nerve and muscle fibres. In 1849,
Du Bois-Reymond detected minute electrical discharges created by the contraction
of the muscles in his arms, using a galvanometer, a primitive device for measuring
voltages. He used pieces of saline- soaked blotting paper between the wires and
his skin to keep electrical resistance in the connection to a minimum. Realizing
that the skin still acted as a barrier to the underlying muscle signals, he induced
a blister on each arm, removed the skin and placed the paper electrodes within
the wounds. Then the electrical signals he captured were about 30 times stronger.
In 1850, he invented a nerve galvanometer with better sensitivity.
November
6: James
Bowdoin
(November
6, 1790: August 7, 1726)
American founder and first president of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences (1780). He was a scientist prominent in physics and
astronomy, and wrote several papers including one on electricity with Benjamin
Franklin, a close friend. In one of his letters to Franklin, Bowdoin suggested
the theory, since generally accepted, that the phosphorescence of the sea, under
certain conditions, is due to the presence of minute animals. Bowdoin was also
a political leader in Massachusetts during the American revolution (1775-83),
and governor of Massachusetts (1785-87). His remarkable library of 1,200 volumes,
ranged from science and math to philosophy, religion, poetry, and fiction. He
left it in his will to the Academy.
November
5: James
(Ward) Packard
(Born
November 5, 1863: Died March 20, 1928)
Engineer and inventor who founded Packard
Automobile Co. Within a few years of his graduation, while foreman for the Sawyer-Mann
Electric Co., N.Y., manufacturers of the Sawyer-Mann incandescent electric lamp,
he acquired several patents. These included a new form of incandescent lamp, a
lamp socket, and improvements in vacuum pumps for exhausting the air from incandescent
lamp bulbs. In 1889, with his brother, he started an electrical business, the
Packard Electric Company. During ten years, Packard obtained more patents manufacturing
electrical transformers, fuse boxes, measuring instruments, and cables. Later,
he designed and built his first automobile, first road tested on November 6, 1899.
Subsequently, he formed the Packard Motor Co.
November
4: Benjamin
F. Goodrich
(Born
November 4, 1841: Died August 3, 1888)
Benjamin Franklin Goodrich was the
industrialist who founded the B.F. Goodrich Rubber Co. in Akron, Ohio. After the
Civil War, during which he served as an Army surgeon, Goodrich with J.P. Morris
acquired the Hudson River Rubber Co. for $5,000.00 under a license agreement with
Charles Goodyear. This company, failed, as did their next in Melrose, NY. Goodrich
moved to Akron and began a partnership , the Goodrich, Tew Company, on December
31, 1870 and began making such rubber products as fire hoses, industrial belts
and bicycle tires on February 19, 1871. Following its reorganization, the B.F.
Goodrich Company was incorporated in 1880.
November
3: Daniel
Rutherford
(Born
November 3, 1749: Died November 15, 1819)
Scottish chemist who discovered
the portion of air that does not support combustion, now known to be nitrogen.
After letting a mouse live in a confined quantity of air until it died, he burned
a candle and burned phosphorus in the same air as long as they would burn. He
assumed the remaining gas was carbon dioxide, which he dissolved by passing it
through a strong alkali. Yet there remained gas that was incapable of supporting
respiration or combustion which he knew no longer contained oxygen or carbon dioxide.
He called it "phlogisticated air," following the phlogiston theory of
Stahl. It was later properly described by Lavoisier. Rutherford also designed
the first maximum-minimum thermometer.
November
2: Computer
"worm"
In
1988, a computer "worm" unleashed by a Cornell University graduate student,
Robert T. Morris, began replicating wildly, clogging thousands of computers around
the country. Intended as an experimental, self-replicating, self-propagating program,
Morris soon discovered that the program was infecting machines at a much faster
rate than he had anticipated. Computers were affected at many universities, military
sites, and medical research facilities. When Morris realized what was happening
he sent an anonymous message, instructing programmers how to kill the worm and
prevent reinfection. However, because the network route was clogged, this message
did not get through until it was too late. Morris, was later tried, fined and
given probation.
November
1: Robert
B. Laughlin
(Born
November 1, 1950)
American physicist who (with Daniel C. Tsui and Horst Störmer)
received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1998 for research on the fractional quantum
Hall effect. In a current-carrying conductor, the classic Hall effect is the voltage
produced at right angles to a magnetic field, as first discovered in 1879. A century
later the German physicist Klaus von Klitzing discovered that in a powerful magnetic
field at extremely low temperatures the Hall resistance of a semiconductor is
quantized in integral "steps". Using even stronger magnetic fields and
lower temperatures, Störmer and Tsui discovered fractional steps, explained
by Laughlin's theory that the electrons can form a new type of quantum fluid with
quasiparticles carrying fractions of an electron's charge.
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