Browsing: January 27

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…

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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…

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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,…

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A Brief History Today, January 27th, 2021 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  On this day, we commemorate the tragedy of the Holocaust, the genocide that resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jews and 11 million others. Digging Deeper This playlist presents a variety of videos by myself and my colleagues on the history of anti-Semitism before, during, and after the Holocaust. The preceding videos have covered just some of the tragic history of anti-Semitism.  It is our hope that through education, we can help prevent such tragedies from occurring again.  Question for students (and subscribers): What can be done today…

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A Brief History On January 27, 1939, one of the great American fighter planes of World War II, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, made its first flight.  Appropriately named, the Lightning was the fastest fighter in the world at that time, being the first to exceed 400 mph in level flight.  Far from an anomaly, the P-38 was not the only important twin engine fighter plane to grace the skies during combat operation in World War II and the Korean War,  Today we look at 10 of the best 2 engine fighter aircraft from the peak of the piston powered era,…

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