September
Important
dates in History
September
30: Sir
Nevill Francis Mott
(Born
September 30, 1905: Died August 8, 1966)
English physicist who shared (with
P.W. Anderson and J.H. Van Vleck of the U.S.) the 1977 Nobel Prize for Physics
for his independent researches on the magnetic and electrical properties of amorphous
semiconductors. Whereas the electric properties of crystals are described by the
Band Theory - which compares the conductivity of metals, semiconductors, and insulators
- a famous exception is provided by nickel oxide. According to band theory, nickel
oxide ought to be a metallic conductor but in reality is an insulator. Mott refined
the theory to include electron-electron interaction and explained so-called Mott
transitions, by which some metals become insulators as the electron density decreases
by separating the atoms from each other in some convenient way.
September
29: Edison
patent
In 1891,
Thomas A. Edison was issued U.S. patent No. 460122 for a "Process of and
Apparatus for Generating Electricity" and No. 460123 for a "Phonogram-Blank
Carrier."
September
28: Seymour
R. Cray
(Born
September 28. 1925: Died October 5, 1996)
American electronics engineer who
pioneered the use of transistors in computers and later developed massive supercomputers
to run business and government information networks. He was the preeminent designer
of the large, high-speed computers known as supercomputers.
September
27: William
Hume-Rothery
(Born
May 15, 1899: Died September 27, 1968)
British metallurgist, internationally
known for his work on the formation of alloys and intermetallic compounds. During
WW II, he supervised many government contracts for work on complex aluminium and
magnesium alloys. He established that the microstructure of an alloy depends on
the different sizes of the component atoms, the valency electron concentration,
and electrochemical differences.
September
26: Edward
Bausch
(Born
September 26, 1854)
Inventor and developer of microscopes and optical instruments.
In business, he became chairman Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. His father, John
J. Bausch (1830-1926), was born in Germany, emigrated to America in 1849, and
started a spectacle making business (the Vulcanite Optical Instrument Co.) with
German immigrant Henry Lomb (1828-1908). By 1866, their company was making a simple
microscope. The company name was changed to Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. in 1874,
the year they produced their first compound microscope. Edward, with brothers
William, and Henry all helped in the design and production of a full product line
of microscopes. Edward held a number of patents related to the design of microscopes.
September
25: Alfred
Lewis Vail
(Born September 25, 1807: Died January 18, 1859)
American telegraph pioneer
and an associate and financial backer of Samuel F.B. Morse in the experimentation
that made the telegraph a commercial reality. The final form of the Morse code
was perfected by Vail who simplified the whole process by introducing the telegraph
key. Vail is responsible for the efficiency of the code, using the principle that
the most frequently sent letters should have the shortest code.
September
24: Georges
Claude
(Born
September 24, 1870: Died May 23, 1960)
The French engineer, chemist, and inventor
of the neon light, Georges Claude, was born in Paris. He invented the neon light,
which was the forerunner of the fluorescent light. Claude was the first to apply
an electrical discharge to a sealed tube of neon gas, around 1902 and make a neon
lamp ("Neon" from Greek "neos," meaning "new gas.")
He first publicly displayed the neon lamp on 11 Dec 1910 in Paris. His French
company Claude Neon, introduced neon signs to the U.S. with two "Packard"
signs for a Packard car dealership in Los Angeles, purchased by Earle C. Anthony
for $24,000.
September
23: Flashbulb
patented
In
1930, Johann Ostermeyer of Athegnenber, Germany, patented his "Improvements
in flash lights used for photographic purposes." (UK patent 324,578). The
modern photographic safety flash bulb evolved from this design, which used aluminium
wire or foil in oxygen. Unfortunately, all too frequently, these versions exploded!
The flashbulb was introduced to the American market in 1930 by General Electric.
Flash cubes came along in 1966, and the percussively ignitable "Magicube"
in 1970.
September
22: Michael
Faraday
(Born
September 22, 1791: Died August 25, 1867)
English physicist and chemist whose
many experiments contributed greatly to the understanding of electromagnetism.
Although one of the greatest experimentalists, he was largely self-educated. Appointed
by Sir Humphry Davy as his assistant at the Royal Institution, Faraday initially
concentrated on analytical chemistry, and discovered benzene in 1825. His most
important work was in electromagnetism, in which field he demonstrated electromagnetic
rotation and discovered electromagnetic induction (the key to the development
of the electric dynamo and motor). He also discovered the laws of electrolysis.
He published pioneering papers that led to the practical use of electricity, and
he advocated the use of electric light in lighthouses.
September
21: Heiki
Kamerligh Onnes
(Born
September 21, 1853: Died February 21, 1926)
Dutch winner of the Nobel Prize
for Physics in 1913 for his work on low-temperature physics and his production
of liquid helium. He discovered superconductivity, the almost total lack of electrical
resistance in certain materials when cooled to a temperature near absolute zero.
September
20: Fortran
In 1954, the first FORTRAN
computer program was run. Fortran is the dominating language for technical and
scientific applications. John Backus at IBM supervised the development of the
programming language that would allow uses to express their problems in commonly
understood mathematical formulae - later to be named FORTRAN. By 1958 the language
was expanded to Fortran II, which included subroutines, functions and common blocks,
and in 1962 IBM introduced the extended Fortran IV.
September
19: Chester
F. Carlson
Died
19 Sep 1968 (born 8 Feb 1906) (Born February 8, 1906: Died September 19, 1968)
Chester Floyd Carlson was an American physicist who invented xerography, an electrostatic
dry-copying process that found applications ranging from office copying to reproducing
out-of-print books. The process involved sensitizing a photoconductive surface
to light by giving it an electrostatic charge Carlson developed it between 1934
and 1938, and initially described it as electrophotography It was immediately
protected by Carlson with an impenetrable web of patents, though it was not until
1944 that he was able to obtain funding for further development. In 1947 he sold
the commercial rights for his invention to the Haloid Company, a small manufacturer
of photographic paper (which later became the Xerox Corporation).
September
18: Siegfried
Marcus
(Born
September 18, 1831)
Inventor who built four of the world's earliest gasoline-powered
automobiles. Marcus held about 76 patents in about a dozen countries, including
an electric lamp (1877) and an igniter for explosives. He built and marketed internal
combustion engines. Marcus first started working on a self-propelled vehicle about
1860, making significant contributions in the course of further development. Photographs
of his first car, built about 1864, were taken in 1870. The second car - the landmark
- was built about 1875 in his Vienna factory. It was first equipped with a two-cycle
engine, and later, a four-cycle engine.
September
17: Mercury
vapor lamp
In
1901, the first U.S. patents for a mercury vapor lamp were issued to Peter Cooper
Hewitt of New York City, the inventor. These eight patents covered the design
of an elongated vacuum tube fitted with a mercury electrode at one end and an
iron electrode at the other end. Light was produced when an electric current passed
through the mercury vapour, through it. However, it was a garish blue-green colour,
lacking any red light. The lamps were subsequently manufactured by the Cooper
Hewitt Electric Company in New York City, in Dec 1902.
September
16: Gabriel
Fahrenheit
(Born
May 14, 1686: Died September 16, 1736)
German physicist. Invented the Fahrenheit
scale mercury thermometer. He lived in Holland for most of his life and was involved
in the manufacture of meteorological instruments. In 1714, he created the first
thermometer to use mercury instead of alcohol. He originally took as the zero
of his scale the temperature of an equal ice-salt mixture, 30° for the freezing
point of water and 90° for normal body temperature. Later, he adjusted to
32° for the freezing point of water and 212° for the boiling point of
water, the interval between the two being divided into 180 parts. He also invented
a hygrometer to measure relative humidity and experimented with other liquids
discovering that each liquid had a different boiling point that would change with
atmospheric pressure.
September
15: William
Seward Burroughs
(Born
January 28, 1855: Died September 15, 1898)
American inventor of the first
recording adding machine and pioneer of its manufacture. It was because Burroughs
began his career as a bank clerk that he was inspired to invent such a mechanical
device. In 1885, Burroughs submitted his first patent for his "calculating
machine." In 1886, Burroughs and several St. Louis businessmen formed the
American Arithmometer Co. to market the machine. Burroughs was dissatisfied with
the durability of this first model. His 1892 patent not only improved the machine
but added a printer. The company later became Burroughs Corporation (1905) and
eventually Unisys.
September
14: Charles
Du Fay
(Born
September 14, 1698: Died July 16, 1739)
Charles François de Cisternay
Du Fay was a French chemist who made early experiments in electricity. He proposed
electrical fluid existed in two types he designated "vitreous electricity"
and "resinous electricity" depending on the objects that produced the
charge. He learned that objects charged with vitreous electricity repel each other
but attract objects charged with resinous electricity. These were subsequently
given the current names of "positive" and "negative" by Benjamin
Franklin. Du Fay noted that electricity may be conducted in the gaseous matter
adjacent to a red-hot body. (The charge-carrying gaseous matter is now known as
plasma).
September
13: Taconite
In 1956, full production of
taconite began at a the first U.S. plant established for large-scale commercial
production. Taconite is a hard ore containing 25 to 30% iron. The rock was crushed,
ground and magnetically separated to yield small pellets containing about 62%
iron, with an annual prodction of 3,750,000 tons. Preliminary operations had begun
in the fall of 1955. The plant, known as the E.W. Davis Works at Silver Bay, Minn.,
was built by the Reserve Mining Company (Duluth, Minn.) and jointly owned by the
Armco Steel and Republican Steel corporations.
September
12: Richard
March Hoe
(Born
September 12, 1812: Died June 7, 1886)
American inventor who developed and
manufactured the first successful rotary printing press.
September
11: Deadly
lightning strike
In
1997, lightning killed 19 persons and injured 6 at Andhra Pradesh, India.
September
10: Waldo
Semon
(Born
September 10, 1898: Died May 26, 1999)
American chemical engineer who invented
plasticized PVC (vinyl). In 1926's, he discovered how to convert polyvinyl chloride
from a hard, unworkable substance to a pliable one. It is now used in hundreds
of products such as floor tile, garden hose, imitation leather, shower curtains,
and coatings. It is produced in larger quantities than any other plastic except
polyethylene. Semon also made pioneering contributions in polymer science, including
new rubber antioxidants. His technical leadership led to discovery of three major
new polymer families: thermoplastic polyurethane, synthetic "natural"
rubber, and oil-resistant synthetic rubbers. Semon held 116 U.S. patents.
September
9: John
Henry Poynting
(Born September 9, 1852)
British physicist who introduced a theorem (1884-85)
that assigns a value to the rate of flow of electromagnetic energy known as the
Poynting vector, introduced in his paper On the Transfer of Energy in the Electromagnetic
Field (1884). In this he showed that the flow of energy at a point can be expressed
by a simple formula in terms of the electric and magnetic forces at that point.
He determined the mean density of the Earth (1891) and made a determination of
the gravitational constant (1893) using accurate torsion balances. He was also
the first to suggest, in 1903, the existence of the effect of radiation from the
Sun that causes smaller particles in orbit about the Sun to spiral close and eventually
plunge in.
September
8: Hermann
Staudinger
(Born
March 23, 1881: Died September 8, 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.
September
7: David
Pakard
(Born
September 7, 1912: Died March 26, 1996)
American electrical engineer and entrepreneur
who cofounded the Hewlett-Packard Company, a manufacturer of computers, computer
printers, and analytic and measuring equipment.
September
6: Johann
Salamo Christoph Schweigger
(Born
April 8, 1779: Died September 6, 1857)
German physicist who invented the galvanometer
(1820), a device to measure the strength of an electric current. He developed
the principle from Oersted's experiment (1819) which showed that current in a
wire will deflect a compass needle. Schweigger realized that suggested a basic
measuring instrument, since a stronger current would produce a larger deflection,
and he increased the effect by winding the wire many times in a coil around the
magnetic needle. He named this instrument a "galvanometer" in honour
of Luigi Galvani, the professor who gave Volta the idea for the first battery.
Seebeck (1770-1831) named the innovative coil, Schweigger's multiplier. It became
the basis of moving coil instruments and loudspeakers.
September
5: Gas
pump
In 1885,
Sylvanus Bowser, inventor of the first U.S. gas pump, made his initial sale to
Jake Gumper, owner of a service station in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The pump held
one barrel of gasoline, and used marble vales and a wooden plunger. It was built
in Bowser's barn, and patented in 1887.
September
4: First
electric central station
In
1882, the first electric central station to supply light and power was the Edison
Electric Illuminating Company of New York City. It had one generator which produced
power for 800 electric light bulbs. Within 14 months, the service had 508 subscribers
and 12,732 bulbs.
September
3: Harold
DeForest Arnold
(Born
September 3, 1883: Died July 10, 1933)
American physicist whose research led
to the development of long-distance telephony and radio communication. He worked
at Western Electric on thermionic tubes, which amplified radio and telephone signals,
leading to transcontinental telephony (July 1914). Even before the transcontinental
line was completed, Arnold was directing work on the development of new higher
power tubes to extend telephone service by radio to other continents. The first
transcontinental demonstration of radio telephone (Sept. 29, 1915) was transmitted
from New York City to Arlington, Virginia, then to San Francisco and Honolulu.
Arnold later became the first director of research at Bell Telephone Labs (1925
to his death in 1933).
September
2: (René-)Maurice
Fréchet
(Born
September 2, 1878: Died June 4, 1973)
René-Maurice Fréchet was
a French mathematician known chiefly for his contribution to real analysis. He
is credited with being the founder of the theory of abstract spaces, which generalized
the traditional mathematical definition of space as a locus for the comparison
of figures; in Fréchet's terms, space is defined as a set of points and
the set of relations. In his dissertation of 1906, he investigated functionals
on a metric space and formulated the abstract notion of compactness. In 1907,
he discovered an integral representation theorem for functionals on the space
of quadratic Lebesgue integrable functions. He also made important contributions
to statistics, probability and calculus.
September
1: Dirk
Brouwer
(Born
September 1, 1902: Died January 31, 1966)
Dutch-born U.S. astronomer and geophysicist
known for his achievements in celestial mechanics, especially for his pioneering
application of high-speed digital computers for astronomical computations. While
still a student he determined the mass of Titan from its influence on other Saturnian
moons. Brouwer developed general methods for finding orbits and computing errors
and applied these methods to comets, asteroids, and planets. He computed the orbits
of the first artificial satellites and from them obtained increased knowledge
of the figure of the earth. His book, Methods of Celestial Mechanics, taught a
generation of celestial mechanicians. He also redetermined astronomical constants.
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