Browsing: Science & Technology

A Brief History On April 9, 1967, the Boeing 737 made its first flight, and would go on to become the biggest selling jet airliner of all time, with over 9400 built and 50 years later it is still in production!  Over 4400 of the latest generation are on order at this time. (Note:  On April 8, 2019, Boeing announced a stoppage of the assembly of new 737 airliners in the wake of 2 major crashes of the latest model of the aircraft.  When the problem that led to the crashes is identified and rectified, it is likely production of…

A Brief History On April 4, 1984, President Ronald Reagan made a public plea to the world to ban chemical weapons.  Already outlawed by previous treaties, the widespread use of various chemical weapons in World War I was the peak of chemical warfare, but these terrible weapons have not totally disappeared.  Today, we list 10 Fiendish, Horrible, Evil Weapons We’re Not Supposed to Use, either by International agreement or our own decision.  At times even crossbows were banned for use against “Christians,” as were square projectiles. Digging Deeper 10.  Poison Gas. Not to be confused with your baby nephew and…

A Brief History On March 31, 2017, lab rats, chemistry students, and scientists will be celebrating Bunsen Burner Day, that ubiquitous lab fixture often seen heating secret potions in science fiction film labs.  Of course, March is home to International Women’s Day (March 8th) and is Women’s History Month, but the month named after Mars, the Roman God of War, also has some other nifty days you may or may not have noticed over the past few weeks. Digging Deeper Robert Bunsen, a German chemist, invented his famous gas burner in 1852, but that was not the only invention named…

A Brief History On March 30, 1842, Dr. Crawford Long, an American surgeon, made the first known use of ether as a general anesthetic.  Previous attempts at general anesthesia were not effective, and now for the first time major surgery could be accomplished without pain. Digging Deeper Before ether, people had used a variety of natural plant based poisons and drugs to dull pain, including Opium derived from the Opium Poppy.  Alcohol was another popular attempt at easing the pain caused by surgery, but alcohol resulted in excessive bleeding and had minimal pain killing properties.  Opium may have been used…

A Brief History On March 27, 1999, Lieutenant Colonel Dale Zelko of the US Air Force became the first pilot of a stealth fighter or bomber ever shot down, in fact, the only time a warplane with stealth capabilities has been shot down. Digging Deeper While flying a Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk on a bombing mission over Yugolslavia, Zelko had the misfortune of having his supposedly undetectable light bomber detected by supposedly obsolete radar systems and shot down when the Yugoslav air defense crews fired a battery of anti-aircraft missiles (probably about 5) at his plane, one of which exploded near…