"On This Day" In Engineering History

The first regular analog television news broadcast came from W2XB in Schenectady, New York. The General Electric (GE) TV station began broadcasting farm and weather reports on May 10, 1928. Kolin Hager was the first U.S. newscaster.

W2XB, later known as WGY Television, was the second commercial station in New York. The beginning of TV broadcasting was announced by Ernst Alexanderson on January 13, 1928. Pictures were projected to 1.5 square-inch screens in the homes of Alexanderson and two GE board members. TV owners within a 15-20 mile radius, had there been any, would also have picked up the reception.

Hager, the broadcaster of the first regular programming, was considered the father of radio drama. His newscast was part of programming scheduled on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

In August 1928, Governor Alfred E. Smith was broadcast as he accepted the Democratic nomination for President. He was the first man broadcast in this manner but the station's viewership was limited to four area TVs at the time - one of which belonged to Alexanderson.

Resources:

CBS 6 Albany: WRGB History

Television History

TimesUnion.com: Got History? We Do! Schenectady Firsts!

Television History - The First 75 Years

Wikipedia: 1928 in American television

http://www.cbs6albany.com/station/history/images/boston_post.jpg [image]

The New York World's Fair was held from 1939-1940 in Flushing Meadow Park. The fair's slogan, "Dawn of a New Day", gave over 44 million visitors a glimpse of what life would be like in the distant future of 1960. The fair was created in an effort to pull the country out of the Great Depression.

The opening day was timed to coincide with the 150^th anniversary of George Washington's Presidential inauguration. President Franklin D. Roosevelt opened the fair with a speech that reached over 1,000 people on TV and many more over the radio, in addition to the 206,000 people in attendance.

The 1,216 acre fairgrounds were organized around themes such as transportation and agriculture. Two modernistic structures were built especially for the fair and were known as the "Theme Center." Tryon was spire-shaped and 700-feet tall. Perisphere was a sphere with a diameter of 180 feet. It was connected to Trylon by the world's longest escalator. The buildings were the symbol of the World's Fair.

A Sampling of the World's Fair Exhibits

• Westinghouse Time Capsule, set to be opened in the year 6939, contained seeds, toys, writings of Albert Einstein, and copies of Life Magazine.
• Introductions of technologies such as color photography, nylon, air conditioning, FM radio, robotics, fax machines, and fluorescent lamps.
• Life-size copy of the interior of Mayakovskaya station of the Moscow Metro.
• Frank Buck's Jungleland, a display of rare birds, reptiles, and wild animals.
• The fictional "Middleton family" (not to be confused with Kate Middleton's family) was used to represent the growing middle class. Modern conveniences such as the automatic dishwasher were displayed.
• General Motors' Futurama exhibit introduced visitors to highways and organized cities.
• Chrysler allowed visitors to watch the assembly of a car in its air-conditioned pavilion.
• Elsie the Cow, Borden's mascot, was on display demonstrating mechanized milking machines.

Resources:

This Day in History: Apr 30, 1939: New York World's Fair opens

Wikipedia: 1939 New York World's Fair

Wikipedia: Trylon and Perisphere [image]

Wired: April 30, 1939: The Future Arrives at New York World's Fair

The USS Monitor was a Civil War ironclad warship. It was the first commissioned by the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War in 1862. It included the first armored gun turret that rotated 360 degrees. The hull, completely underwater, was protected by an overhanging armored deck.

Design & Development

Several warships were damaged when the state of Virginia seceded from the Union. The Merrimack was only partially damaged and the Confederate States Navy refitted it with an armored casemate. This ship became CSS Virginia.

John Ericsson submitted the design the USS Monitor in response to a newspaper advertisement seeking ironclad ideas. The majority of the ship was to be below the waterline to prevent damage caused by cannon fire. The USS Monitor was 172 feet long and displaced 987 tons.

The ship was built at the Continental Iron Works in Brooklyn, NY. It was launched on January 30, 1862 and commissioned on February 25, 1862.

Civil War Battle

The Battle of Hampton Roads was the first between two ironclad ships. The USS Monitor sailed to the site from New York City to protect the immobile USS Minnesota. The CSS Virginia's shot bounced off Monitor's turret and deck. The only major damage was to the pilot house - blinding the ship's commanding officer. The CSS Virginia lost its smokestack. The battle was a tactical draw but prevented the Confederacy from gaining control of the Norfolk area.

The USS Monitor was order south to Wilmington, NC in December 1962. It was towed by USS Rhode Island.

The USS Monitor sank with 16 crew members on December 31, 1862. A storm off Cape Hatteras caused it to take on water. The ship had been in service for less than one year but was influential in warship design and several similar ships were built.

Resources:

About.com - USS Monitor

American Civil War - Union Navy Ship USS Monitor

Historic Naval Ships Association - USS Monitor

Naval History & Heritage

Wikipedia - USS Monitor

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Four 200-watt light bulbs, wired in series, were illuminated by electricity produced by nuclear energy for the first time in 1951. This occurred at the experimental breeder reactor EBR-I in Arco, Idaho. EBR-I supplied sufficient electricity to power its own building. It was decommissioned in 1964.

EBR-I was designed to validate nuclear physics theory that suggested a breeder reactor was possible. It proved Enrico Fermi's fuel breeding principle by showing it would produce more fuel atoms than it consumed.

In addition to being the first to produce electricity it was also the first breeder-reactor to use plutonium fuel. In 1962 it became the first reactor to produce electricity with a plutonium core.

ERB-I was shut down on December 30, 1963 after its testing and experiments were complete. It has been designated as a Registered Historical National Monument.

Resources:

http://www.euronuclear.org/info/encyclopedia/n/nuclear-power-plant-world-wide.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_Breeder_Reactor_I

http://www.ne.doe.gov/pdfFiles/History.pdf

http://www.anl.gov/Media_Center/logos20-1/ebr1.htm

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Roald Amundsen of Norway completed preparations for an expedition to the North Pole in 1910. Upon learning that American Robert Peary had already arrived he changed course for Antarctica in a new race against English explorer Robert F. Scott. He beat Scott by one month.

Amundsen the Explorer

Amundsen dropped out of what is now the University of Oslo to go to sea. In 1899 he sailed on the Belgica and became part of the first group to winter in Antarctica. It was not by choice; the ship became trapped in an ice pack and drifted until the following spring.

Later he planned to drift over the North Pole with Norwegian explorer Nansen on the ship the Fram. The ship was different from others in that it was specifically designed for polar travel:

• One-third as wide as it was long
• Round-bottomed
• Would respond to sideways pressure by rising up above the ice pack

South Pole Expedition

Having lost out on the opportunity to be the first to the North Pole, Amundsen changed his plans and headed for the South Pole. His party left Norway in August 1910. They carried provisions to last two years as well as 100 Greenland sled dogs to be used to complete the non-sea journey to the South Pole.

On January 14, 1911 the Fram reached the Bay of Whales in Antarctica and established a winter base called Framheim. When spring arrived, eight men with sledges pulled by 86 dogs set out for the South Pole. Colder-than-usual weather forced them to return to the base. Eventually, a team of five men departed, each with a sledge pulled by 13 dogs.

The men brought rations for themselves. They started out by feeding the dogs seal blubber but eventually shot some dogs to feed to the rest.

Roald Amundsen, Olav Olavson Bjaaland, Hilmer Hanssen, Sverre H. Hassel, and Oscar Wistling arrived at the South Pole at 3:00 p.m. on December 14, 1911. They erected a tent in which they placed a letter and then started the return journey to their base. All five men and 11 of the dogs completed the journey 39 days later.

Scott's expedition had used different tactics; these proved fatal. The team's base cam was 60 miles farther from the South Pole than Amundsen's. They used motor sledges, ponies, and dogs to make the trip. The motor sledges broke down, the ponies were shot, and the dog teams had to be returned to base. Scott and four men continued to the South Pole on foot and arrived on January 19, 1912. None of the explorers completed the return journey; all perished and the bodies of Scott and two team members were found frozen in a tent in November 1912.

Resources:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/amundsen-reaches-south-pole

http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/roald%20amundsen.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen's_South_Pole_expedition

Alfred Nobel, a chemist and inventor who worked with nitroglycerine and dynamite, left 94% of his worth after death for the establishment of five prizes. These included physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. The first Nobel Prizes were awarded on December 10, 1901 - the fifth anniversary of Nobel's death.

The First Awards Went to…

Chemistry: Jacobus H. van't Hoff (contributions in chemical thermodynamics)

Physics: Wilhelm C. Röntgen (discovered x-rays)

Physiology or Medicine: Emil A. von Behring (developed an antitoxin to treat diphtheria)

Literature: Rene F. A. Sully Prudhomme (poet)

Peace: Jean H. Dunant and Frédéric Passy (founded the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, respectively)

List of all Nobel Prize winners by year.

Resources:

http://history1900s.about.com/od/medicaladvancesissues/a/nobelhistory.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-nobel-prizes-awarded

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ed/Nobel_Prize.png/220px-Nobel_Prize.png [image]