A Brief History On January 27, 1880, Thomas Edison patented the incandescent light bulb, the first truly commercially viable electric light bulb, but certainly not the first light bulb! Digging Deeper Prior to Edison’s patent, other inventors experimented with various ways to produce light from electricity, including Englishman Joseph Swann, who actually marketed the first light bulbs used to light homes and other buildings in 1881. Prior to Swann and Edison’s successes at producing viable electric light, Ebenezer Kinnersley, an English scientist, first showed how a wire heated by passing an electric current through it caused the wire to glow,…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On January 26, 2009, a single California woman gave birth to 8 babies at one time, becoming the first mother of octuplets that survived infancy. Digging Deeper Nadya Suleman was born a native Californian to parents of Lithuanian and Palestinian descent, and while she was married from 1996 to 2008, she was single when she underwent fertility treatments prior to having her 8 babies. She attended Mt. San Antonio College and earned a BS and a psychiatric technician license, applying her education to a job in a mental health facility for 3 years. Prior to the record…
A Brief History On January 25, 1585, Walter Raleigh, an English explorer and adventurer, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I of England, perhaps because he named a region of North America “Virginia” in honor of the Virgin Queen. Digging Deeper Helping to suppress Irish rebellion, defending England against the Spanish Armada, and being a key figure in the colonization of North America, Raleigh became somewhat of a celebrity of his time, although he also had some problems along the way. Plunked into jail for marrying without the Queen’s permission, Raleigh was released and chased after the mythical city of gold,…
A Brief History On January 24, 2023, the dreaded Doomsday Clock that charts the danger of nuclear war has been moved to within 90 seconds of “Midnight,” the ominous harbinger of nuclear disaster. Digging Deeper In case you are wondering, the Doomsday Clock is maintained by the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in order to provide a graphic depiction of their estimation of the danger of an imminent catastrophic nuclear war. The ongoing Russian-Ukrainian War has pushed the world closer to nuclear Armageddon than ever before, at least in their estimation. What do you…
A Brief History On January 24, 2023, the nominations for the Academy Awards, better known as the “Oscars,” have been released! The big day of the awards ceremony will be March 12, 2023, and will honor those films released in 2022. Digging Deeper Some of our favorite major nominees include: All Quiet on the Western Front for Best Picture, Austin Butler in the title role of Elvis for Best Actor, and Michelle Yeoh for Best Actress in the frenetic Everything Everywhere All at Once. You can see trailers for each of these films below. Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What…