Browsing: Science & Technology

A Brief History On April 14, 1775, Benjamin Franklin along with Benjamin Rush founded the first abolitionist society in the US, The Society For the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage.  Apparently, in those days catchy acronyms were not the style! Digging Deeper Ben Franklin was a man of such a variety of talents and involved in so many things we have to call him The Most Interesting Man in the World! Born in 1706 in Boston, Franklin worked as a young man as a printer.  When only 15 he scored his first of many major firsts, in…

Read More

A Brief History On April 4, 1969, Dr. Denton Cooley performed surgery to implant the first artificial (temporary) heart in history! Digging Deeper Dr. Cooley was a renowned heart surgeon and founder of the Texas Heart Institute. Having worked with Dr. Michael DeBakey (another renowned heart surgeon that invented the pump that makes heart surgery possible), Cooley was part of the team that performed the first heart transplant in the United States as well as his artificial heart work.  He also pioneered techniques using artificial heart valves which reduced mortality in heart valve replacement surgery from 70% to 8%! Unfortunately,…

Read More

A Brief History In a startling April Fools prank, the BBC program Panorama aired on April 1, 1957 and showed an astonished British audience farmers growing spaghetti on trees in Switzerland! Digging Deeper We all know people that just wait each year for April 1st to play their pranks on us, but a reputable and serious television show? Spaghetti was not in wide use in Britain in the 1950’s, so many British people were unaware of how spaghetti noodles are made, which of course is like all other noodles, with wheat flour, water and other ingredients. Seeing Swiss farmers seemingly…

Read More

A Brief History On March 30, 1939, the Heinkel 100 prototype fighter airplane flew at 463 mph in level flight, at the time the fastest airplane ever.  People have always been fascinated by fast things, whether they be people, animals or machines.  Here is a list of 10 famous fast things that at one time were the fastest of their type or currently reign as the modern speed champ. 10. The Swift. Monty Python posed the question in the movie, the Holy Grail, with the “correct” answer being another question, “European or North African?“  Actually, an entire family of birds…

Read More

A Brief History On March 17, 1968, the US Army proved just how dangerous it is to play with weapons of “maaaass” destruction!  (Yes, we went there…) Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the Army operating Dugway Proving Ground in Utah starting in 1941, a top secret testing area for chemical and biological weapons. The terrible effect of various poison gas weapons in World War I by both sides caused nervousness during World War II that somebody would once again initiate their use, especially when desperate.  The US supposedly contemplated using poison gas against Japanese dug in deeply in islands…

Read More