Browsing: Science & Technology

A Brief History On March 20, 1922, the USS Langley CV-1 was commissioned as the first American aircraft carrier in the US Navy. The ship had previously been a coal hauling ship (collier) named USS Jupiter AC-3 and had been converted for use with airplanes. The US Navy had seen the value of airplanes as anti-ship weapons when Army Air Corp Maj. Gen. Billy Mitchell demonstrated his ability to sink or heavily damage battleships by aerial attack. Of course, the scouting ability of an air fleet greatly expanded the ability of a sea going commander to reconnoiter the seas around…

A Brief History On October 11, 1883, the heads of the major railroads met in Chicago to adopt our Standard Time System, which divided the country into four time zones with exactly one hour difference in each zone. The four time zones are part of the worldwide system of Standard time—a set of 24 somewhat equally spaced meridians tied to the daily cycle of daylight and darkness. Digging Deeper Since the dawn of time, mankind has always strived for what at times seemed unattainable, from learning to control fire all the way to putting a man on the moon in…

A Brief History On March 9, 1982, Krononauts (or Chrononauts) held a meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, for any and all time travelers to meet for the purpose of discussing and demonstrating methods of time travel. To our knowledge, no actual working time machines were displayed, but such an event gives us pause to consider, If time travel was possible, what event or time period would we most like to go back in time to observe? Today we will list some events we would most like to see happen first hand, but at a safe distance! Some of the events we…

A Brief History On March 8, 1862, during the American Civil War, perhaps the most important naval battle of the war began, a battle that would see the first clash of ironclad or armored warships. The ironclad Confederate States Ship, CSS Virginia set about to break the Union blockade of the Chesapeake Bay anchorage of Norfolk, Virginia by successfully attacking the wooden US Navy ships on blockade duty, with the Union ironclad USS Monitor responding to face the Virginia the next day. Digging Deeper Union strategy for winning the Civil War centered on a blockade of the South, the Anaconda…

A Brief History On March 3, 2005, Steve Fossett of the USA made a non-stop, unrefueled solo flight around the globe, the first person in aviation history to achieve that particular milestone.  Already 60 years old at the time of his historic flight, Fossett died tragically only 2 ½ years later, predictably in a plane crash. Digging Deeper Born in Tennessee, Fossett grew up in California, attending Garden Grove High School and was educated at Stanford University for undergraduate work and at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri for grad school where he earned an MBA. Like his father, Fossett…