Browsing: Science & Technology

A Brief History On July 18, 1942, German aeronautical engineers reached a milestone in aviation history when the twin jet powered Messerschmitt Me 262 made its first flight under jet power.  Initial flights of the soon to be first successful jet warplane had been made with a regular propeller driving engine mounted on the nose of the prototype in order to test the airframe. Digging Deeper The Me 262 Swallow (“Schwalbe” in German) would become operational in April of 1944, much to the chagrin of Allied pilots.  The Me 262 boasted a top speed of 559 mph, more than 100…

A Brief History On July 16, 1862 and July 16, 1882, we commemorate the birthdays of 2 significant African-American women, Ida B. Wells (who first developed statistics on lynching in the US) and Violette Neatley Anderson (the first African-American woman to practice law before the United States Supreme Court).  In honor of these historic Black American Women, today we choose to highlight the accomplishments of Seven Great Black American Men, people that young Americans can look up to, especially African-American youths.  The order listed has no significance. Digging Deeper 7.  Booker T. Washington.  A multi-faceted man as an educator, author,…

A Brief History On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  This spacecraft would take 3 American astronauts to the Moon, landing 2 on its surface and return all 3 safely to Earth, less than a decade after the first manned space flight.  The US and Americans have achieved many great things, and here we list 10 of them.  Not all significant inventions or achievements are necessarily for humanitarian purposes, some of them are for war.  Some, like DDT and the polio vaccines saved millions of lives.  We list 10 that we think you…

A Brief History On July 14, 1933, the Nazi Party that had just taken power in Germany began a program of eugenics with their institution of The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring.  This law demanded the sterilization of any person deemed to have a genetic disorder. Digging Deeper The alleged goal of the this program was a purification of the gene pool, with allowing genetically “fit” people to reproduce abundantly without their children having to compete for valuable resources with genetically inferior children.  Achieving this goal would theoretically make the German people and thus the German state…

A Brief History On July 11, 1893, Mikimoto Kokochi of Japan invented a way to make cultured pearls, making pearl jewelry available to millions of women.  Many inventions over the years have been targeted toward women, sometimes welcomed with a sigh of relief and sometimes scorned.  Here we list 10 inventions oriented toward a female clientele.   Digging Deeper 10. Botox, 2002. Botulinum toxin is one of nature’s most deadly toxins, and yet people have it injected into their face to relax wrinkles.  At first a mostly female cosmetic application, many television and movie stars, newscasters, politicians, and people that can…