A Brief History On August 29, 1915, US Navy salvage crews raised the submarine, F-4, from the seabed off Honolulu where she had sunk with all hands on March 25, 1915, the first USN sub lost and another in a long list of Naval “Oops Moments.” Digging Deeper Tiny by today’s standards, the F-4 was only 142 feet and 7 inches long with a beam of 15 feet, with a crew of only 21 on the day she sank. Her original name had been USS Skate, although it was changed before her launch. Interesting trivia regarding her salvage is that…
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A Brief History On August 24, 1998, science fiction and conspiracy theory met science fact when the first successful human implant of a radio tracker was tested in the UK. Digging Deeper Called “Radio-frequency identification, “or “RFID,” the device consists of a miniaturized radio transponder that when interrogated by a RFID “reader” sends identifying information to that reader, usually a coded number that is interpreted as whatever identity of person is assigned to the implant. Far from the conspiracy theory systems that allow satellites to observe and report on the location and movement of people with implants, for the device…
A Brief History On August 23, 1898, a new age of exploration began when the Southern Cross Expedition set sail for Antarctica in the aptly named ship, Southern Cross. Digging Deeper Thus began the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, a British venture exploring the Southernmost part of the Earth, an era that ended in 1922. Inspired by previous Antarctic explorers, Norwegian born Carsten Borchgrevink first gazed on Antarctica from the deck of a whaling ship, prompting his desire for further exploration. Carsten pursued financing in Britain and succeeded in organizing the expedition with the Southern Cross, the first such visit…
A Brief History On August 22, 2006, Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman was awarded the Fields Medal for creating the proof of the “Poincaré conjecture,” but then he refused the award, explaining, “I’m not interested in money or fame; I don’t want to be on display like an animal in a zoo.” Digging Deeper Some other people that have refused awards include: Three people have refused their Oscar statuettes, including Dudley Nichols in 1936, George Scott in 1970, and Marlon Brando in 1973. Jean-Paul Sartre turned down the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, as he previously refused France’s Legion of…
A Brief History On August 20, 1995, a horrific rail accident occurred on India’s Northern Railway. Known as the “Firozabad rail collision,” a train carrying 2,200 sleeping passengers ran into another train that stopped after hitting a giant Nilgai antelope. Officially 358 people died, although the count may have been higher. Digging Deeper There have been far worse rail accidents, including the “Bihar Train Disaster” in India of 1981, in which 500 to 800 people died, the 1917 “Ciurea Rail Disaster” in Romania which cost over 700 lives, and another 1917 disaster, the “Maurienne Derailment” in France, when 800 to…