Browsing: January 27

A Brief History On January 27, 2010, Apple, Incorporated introduced their industry leading line of tablet computers they called the iPad. So successful was their invention, that many variations followed, such as the iPad Mini, the iPad Air, and the iPad Pro.  Apple has sold 670 million plus of these handheld computers, so many that the name, “iPad,” has become the more or less accepted generic name for tablet type computers. Digging Deeper Many products have so dominated their respective markets that their name has become the generic term for those classes of products.  Names such as Q-tip, Kleenex, Jell-O,…

A Brief History On September 7, 1978, a Bulgarian secret agent assassinated Bulgarian dissident, Georgi Markov, as the unfortunate man was strolling across the Waterloo Bridge in London.  The novel means of committing this murder was firing or jabbing a poison Ricin pellet from a specially adapted umbrella.  Markov thought little of the minor sting at the time but died four days later. Digging Deeper Some other unusual methods or weapons used in assassinations include: Edward II, King of England, had a red hot fireplace poker shoved up his butt in 1327. Alexander Litvinenko was the first ever murder victim…

A Brief History On January 27, 1961, the Soviet Navy proved how dangerous the lives of submariners can be, when the Whiskey class submarine S-80 managed to sink with all hands without any outside help, what we call an “Oops moment.” Digging Deeper The S-80 was in a prolific class of submarines with 236 built between 1950 and 1960.  About 249 feet long with a normal crew of 52, the subs were powered by the familiar diesel-electric combination motors. On the fateful day, S-80 was patrolling the Barents Sea using its snorkel to allow the use of the diesel engines…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on January 27th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On January 27, 98 AD, Trajan became Emperor of Rome, succeeding his (adoptive) father Nerva as Emperor. 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! On January 27, 1939, one of the great American fighter planes of World War II, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, made its…

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,…