#george westinghouse bridge

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 3.5

363 – Roman emperor Julian leaves Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death. 1046 – Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama. 1279 – The Livonian Order is defeated in the Battle of Aizkraukle by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. 1496 – King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands. 1616 – Nicolaus Copernicus's book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres is added to the Index of Forbidden Books 73 years after it was first published. 1766 – Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans. 1770 – Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including Crispus Attucks, are fatally shot by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence) five years later. 1811 – Peninsular War: A French force under the command of Marshal Victor is routed while trying to prevent an Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese army from lifting the Siege of Cádiz in the Battle of Barrosa. 1824 – First Anglo-Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma. 1825 – Roberto Cofresí, one of the last successful Caribbean pirates, is defeated in combat and captured by authorities. 1836 – Samuel Colt patents the first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber. 1850 – The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened. 1860 – Parma, Tuscany, Modena and Romagna vote in referendums to join the Kingdom of Sardinia. 1868 – Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito, receives its premiere performance at La Scala. 1872 – George Westinghouse patents the air brake. 1906 – Moro Rebellion: United States Army troops bring overwhelming force against the native Moros in the First Battle of Bud Dajo, leaving only six survivors. 1912 – Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, employing them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines. 1931 – The British Raj: Gandhi–Irwin Pact is signed. 1933 – Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party receives 43.9% at the Reichstag elections, which allows the Nazis to later pass the Enabling Act and establish a dictatorship. 1936 – First flight of K5054, the first prototype Supermarine Spitfire advanced monoplane fighter aircraft in the United Kingdom. 1939 – Spanish Civil War: The National Defence Council seizes control of the republican government in a coup d'etat, with the intention of negotiating an end to the war. 1940 – Six high-ranking members of the Soviet politburo, including Joseph Stalin, sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, in what will become known as the Katyn massacre. 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces capture Batavia, capital of Dutch East Indies, which is left undefended after the withdrawal of the KNIL garrison and Australian Blackforce battalion to Buitenzorg and Bandung. 1943 – First Flight of the Gloster Meteor, Britain's first combat jet aircraft. 1944 – World War II: The Red Army begins the Uman–Botoșani Offensive in the western Ukrainian SSR. 1946 – Cold War: Winston Churchill coins the phrase "Iron Curtain" in his speech at Westminster College, Missouri.

[thetruekyle]

I will to be the live-action Philoctetes

I will to be a Lionhearted Crusader

I will to be Super Saiyan

I will to share the Biographs of George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla

I will to teach wizards

I will to train dragon riders

I will to raise dragon pit-fighters

I will to stand alongside my Power Girl

I will to find atlantis

I will to wife up Artemis

I will to accidentally add an Xtra ingredient to my concoction to create the perfect little girls

I will to raid tombs with her, again & again

I will to mete out justice from a hardware store like a vigilante handyman

I will to adventure 'round the Old Republic dual light sabers in hand

I will to swashbuckle on the high seas

I will to save the world from a plague-of-Rome

I will to build a bridge that saves a town

I will to command a mountain to crumble down to a heap of dusty stone

I will to get lost on the Oregon trail and endure and survive at all costs

I will to pioneer the civilization of Antarctica

I will to fly to and from my fortress of solitude as a boxed in doctor who's an alien superman boss

I will to be the life and times of the late, great, Stan Lee

I will to be a one punch man, or a soul eater, or a bebop-er, or an alchemist dog of the military- if a humanoid typhoon isn't otherwise in the cards for me

I will to win the rainy day counting remake cards

I will to be a better foster parent than my own grands were to all of their "retards"

I will to be the bad guy or a villain no more than I justly should

I will to accept any exceptional role in between and do it really, especially good

I will to be all this and more

I will to attain fame for His glory

I will to refrain from the temptations of being a hollywood whore

I will to be seen for all the way I Am blessed im Jesus' name

I will to be as wealthy that my charity far outstrips my measly fame

I will to be gracious and loving and kind and true

I will to be the man I always dreamed of being

I will to always be loved and cherish by you

I will to His path and exacting standard

I will to obey because He wants the greatest good for me

I will to all ways graciously be~

[bobmccullochny]

History

October 6, 1927 - The first "talkie" opened in New York. The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson was the first full-length feature film using spoken dialogue.

October 6, 1928 - Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek became president of the Republic of China upon the introduction of a new constitution.

October 6, 1949 - "Tokyo Rose" (Iva Toguri d'Aquino) was sentenced in San Francisco to 10 years imprisonment and fined $10,000 for treason. She had broadcast music and Japanese propaganda to American troops in the Pacific during World War II. She was pardoned by President Gerald Ford in 1977.

October 6, 1973 - The Yom Kippur War started as Egypt and Syria launched attacks on Israeli positions on the East Bank of the Suez and the Golan Heights.

October 6, 1978 - Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini was granted asylum in France after being expelled from Iran for his opposition to the Shah.

October 6, 1981 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (1918-1981) was assassinated in Cairo by Muslim fundamentalists while watching a military parade. He had shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize with Menachem Begin of Israel. He had signed an American-sponsored peace accord with Israel, but had been denounced by other Arab leaders.

Birthday - Engineer and inventor George Westinghouse (1846-1914) was born in Central Bridge, New York. He developed air brakes for trains and was later responsible for the adoption of alternating current (AC) systems for electric power transmission in the U.S. He was also the first employer to give his employees paid vacations.

Birthday - Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl was born in Larvik, Norway, October 6, 1914. He used Kon-Tiki and other primitive ocean-going vessels to prove the possibility of transoceanic contact between ancient, widely separated civilizations.

[beyondcuckoo]

Obelisks and the Theory of Wireless Energy Reception has been published on Elaine Webster - http://elainewebster.com/obelisks-and-the-theory-of-wireless-energy-reception/

New Post has been published on http://elainewebster.com/obelisks-and-the-theory-of-wireless-energy-reception/

Obelisks and the Theory of Wireless Energy Reception

Obelisks and the Theory of Wireless Energy Reception (shared with Mu the Motherland)

Who doesn’t love an obelisk? In the USA, the Washington Monument stands over 555 feet tall—a fusion of ancient inspiration and modern engineering. Similarly, the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, with its massive pyramid and accompanying obelisk, pays homage to ancient Egyptian architecture, albeit in a commercial and entertainment context. The word “obelisk” comes from the Greek “obeliskos,” which means “small spit” or “pointed pillar.” This is a testament to the Greeks’ fascination with these structures when they encountered them during their historical interactions with Egypt.

Beyond physical structures, the obelisk has found its way into modern culture as a symbol. In literature, film, and art, obelisks often represent power, endurance, and the mysteries of ancient civilizations. They serve as a bridge between the ancient and the modern, reminding us of the timeless nature of human achievement.

Obelisks were iconic symbols of the ancient Egyptians—primarily granite they were often inscribed with hieroglyphics that celebrated the reigns of the pharaohs or paid homage to the gods. The top of the obelisk was commonly covered in electrum (a mix of gold and silver) which would shine brilliantly under the sun. There’s a broader theory that prehistorical civilizations, particularly the Atlanteans, had access to advanced technology that has since been lost to time. The construction of the pyramids, the precision of their astronomical observations, and the building of massive structures like obelisks, all fuel this speculation.

One theory is that obelisks were used as receivers for wireless energy in ways that were lost with the Atlanteans. The Edgar Cayce readings say that the renowned inventor, Nikola Tesla, was the reincarnation of an Atlantean engineer who was in charge of the ancient energy grid. Nikola Tesla had a vision of providing the world with wireless energy. He believed that energy could be transmitted through the air, without the need for wires. Tesla’s experiments, particularly those at his Wardenclyffe Tower, aimed to demonstrate this possibility. Some proponents draw parallels between Tesla’s towers and ancient obelisks, suggesting that ancient civilizations might have had knowledge of wireless energy transmission.

In 1900 Tesla obtained two patents pertaining to wireless energy. In 1943 the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged Tesla’s full patent rights for the invention of the radio denying Marconi’s claim to fame. Tesla further demonstrated that by the use of alternating current (AC) electricity could be sent long distances. For better or for worse, he got involved with the major industrialists of the time including George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison. Corporate profits were dependent on owning a wired power grid and charging customers for electricity. Tesla felt that stringing wires over the planet had many limitations and he continued to insist that wireless transmission was better.

The Wardenclyffe Tower was an experimental wireless transmission station, built on Long Island in 1902 that could transmit voice, written, and even facsimile images across the Atlantic to England. His idea, however, to compete with Marconi’s telegraph system met with disapproval of funds from business magnates such as J.P. Morgan, who couldn’t see how to earn high profits from the endeavor. Tesla never could find new funds and the tower was sold for scrap and the property foreclosed upon.

The physical structure of the Wardenclyffe Tower was an obelisk with a copper based hemispherical structure on the top. Inside the supporting building were various electromechanical devices, electrical generators, electrical transformers, glass blowing equipment, X-ray devices, Tesla Coils, a remote-controlled boat, cases with bulbs and tubes, wires, cables, a library, and an office. Underground tunnels housed many experiments that added to the mystery of the man and place. Tesla continued to pursue financing from many of the mega-wealthy of the time to no avail. Tesla continued to argue (until his death and the confiscation of his research by the FBI in 1943) that clean, cheap, limitless electrical energy could be transmitted without the wires, we are so used to seeing, strung across almost every section of the planet. Today, we take similar technology and the Wi-Fi tower systems for granted. However, these satellite systems do not use the beautiful and mystical obelisks as transmitters; leaving us to wonder if our attraction to them is simply that they make us feel peaceful, powerful, and enlightened.

[route22ny]

“Aerial view of Westinghouse Bridge, Turtle Creek, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Until this bridge was constructed, Turtle Creek (suburb of Pittsburgh) presented the most congested bottleneck on the Lincoln Highway. The old highway skirted the entire plant of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company in the bottom of the valley. The new route is carried above the Westinghouse plant and the main lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It cost $3,500,000 and saves its users $1,500,000 a year. This work is directly attributable to John S. Fisher, Lincoln Highway State Consul and Governor of Pennsylvania during the period of construction.”

Quoted text accompanies this 1930s photo in the University of Michigan’s online Lincoln Highway archive.

[architectureforsuicides]

I Am Not Okay with This. S1/E4: “Stan by Me″ (Jonathan Entwistle, 2020) Westinghouse Bridge / George Westinghouse Memorial Bridge East Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - North Versailles, Pennsylvania (USA) Bridge over the Turtle creek Type: arch bridge.

[janinebiunno]

[cidnangarlond]

tell me about ur beef with thomas edison...

OKAY SO

There are two big things he's known for: the war of the currents and stuff involving animals. The former was a competition between AC (alternating current) and DC (direct current) electricity. AC was high voltage, DC low voltage. Edison was a DC man I think. Now I'm boiling things down a lot here but to get to Edison's role in things, he didn't like how George Westinghouse was a new competitor on the electricity market (Edison still dabbled in electricity at the time) and was like "Hey I have an idea. Let's make sure the first electric chairs are powered by Westinghouse electricity to show people how dangerous it is and then everyone will favor me instead" so he worked with Westinghouse's main rival and did exactly that and Edison "won" through some deeply underhanded means but that's important for later, to show he's a piece of shit

The OTHER thing is the animals. I won't go into it but just take my word for it that it was not good by any means

My main issue with him, save for the everything about animals I won't go into is my personal one-man crusade championing Louis Le Prince over Thomas Edison as the father of film and I'll die screaming it.

The oldest surviving film is from 1888, only a couple seconds long if that, called "Roundhay Garden Scene" as filmed by Louis Le Prince featuring family members. It predates Edison, the Lumiere brothers, everyone that's ever mentioned in film history, Le Prince's film comes before ALL of them. That is a historical fact. He also shot a few other short films, like "Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge" which is likewise two seconds, and those were on his single lens camera, before that was his 16 lens camera which was patented in 1886-87 I believe? Anyway, Le Prince in 1890 is gonna head to England to do some more patents but stops to visit family first within France before heading to England. His brother sees him off at the train station, and that's the last Louis Le Prince is ever seen because he never made it to his destination. He was gone, his luggage was gone, there was no trace of the man and he was declared legally dead in 1897. I personally don't subscribe to the "he killed himself" theory for a variety of reasons it just doesn't make sense but just because someone doesn't appear outwardly suicidal doesn't mean they aren't so on and so on

Back in college I had a podcast (crowd boo's) and one episode I did was on Thomas Edison and Louis Le Prince because I'd known about it for years. So I do digging as I'm writing the script and I find this article about I believe an NYU student who was doing a paper or project on Edison and found an old journal in this library, I can't remember the minute details but they believed the diary to be his due to drawings and dates and inventions and so on. One of the entries is dated a few days after Le Prince's disappearance wherein Edison writes that "It is done" and Le Prince is dead and murder "wasn't his thing" and the student got permission to check out the diary and get handwriting analysis etc etc the diary is confirmed to be Edison's. To be fair handwriting analysis is an interesting forensics field to say the least of I don't want to say dubious quality but it's very tricky and complicated like most fields of forensics that don't rely on like hard science.

But if it IS the case that was Edison's journal, then he hired someone or multiple someone's to kill Louis Le Prince before some years later Edison could roll up and be like "hey guys I have a GREAT new invention." Though it would not be the first time he stole an idea or anything from anyone and certainly was not the last! Man was a menace

There's also a trial of his company versus this other company Mutoscope that was like "Hey you didn't invent film" and Edison's company was like "Uh yeah we did" and Mutoscope called up Le Prince's widow to testify as well as their son, Adolphe, who worked closely with his dad. The caveat is they couldn't introduce any of Le Prince's cameras or works into the trial because then they'd be testifying on HIS behalf and not Mutoscope's so the trial very quickly went to and ruled in Edison's favor but that was overturned some time after. His son, I don't remember how old he was he was in his 20s at least, during the trial said something along the lines of how he "knew too much" then a bit later after the trial was found dead when he was duck hunting on Fire Island and they couldn't determine if he died in accident, shot himself, or was murdered, but Le Prince's widow/Adolphe's mom is convinced Edison's people took her son out

Like it's a LOT of stuff about Edison there's a lot more to him and I'm picking the few things I know a little to a lot about. I know less about his role in the war of the currents than I do the film side of Edison, but basically fuck Edison I'll meet him in hell and my friends in college knew better than to get me started on him because I will not shut the fuck up until everyone knows he (probably) had a man murdered for an invention so that's my beef with him <3

[aryburn-trains]

Pennsy’s 'Juniata'

Tuscan-red E8s roll the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Chicago–New York Juniata beneath the George Westinghouse Bridge, which carried the Lincoln Highway over Turtle Creek Valley east of Pittsburgh, in the mid-1950s.

Photo by Ralph E. Hallock

[poroussoul]

A visit to the George Westinghouse Bridge.  I parked on the east side and walked out along the sidewalk that runs along the bridge’s south side.  Just over the railing was the Turtle Creek valley and the RIDC Keystone Commons development on reclaimed brownfields once occupied by Westinghouse industrial buildings.

Since the Lincoln Highway no longer carries the bulk of east-west traffic, it was possible to hop the concrete barrier and safely walk across the four lanes to view sights to the north.  A rail yard and various tracks dominated the foreground along the creek, with the renowned Edgar Thomson Works of US Steel slightly to the northeast in the Braddock area.

Photos from September 15, 2019

Source:  route22ny

[cleverwordsandotherstuffilike]

Inventions

Adrenaline: (isolation of) John Jacob Abel, U.S., 1897.

Aerosol can: Erik Rotheim, Norway, 1926.

Air brake: George Westinghouse, U.S., 1868.

Air conditioning: Willis Carrier, U.S., 1911.

Airship: (non-rigid) Henri Giffard, France, 1852; (rigid) Ferdinand von Zeppelin, Germany, 1900.

Aluminum manufacture: (by electrolytic action) Charles M. Hall, U.S., 1866.

Anatomy, human: (De fabrica corporis humani, an illustrated systematic study of the human body) Andreas Vesalius, Belgium, 1543; (comparative: parts of an organism are correlated to the functioning whole) Georges Cuvier, France, 1799–1805.

Anesthetic: (first use of anesthetic—ether—on humans) Crawford W. Long, U.S., 1842.

Antibiotics: (first demonstration of antibiotic effect) Louis Pasteur, Jules-François Joubert, France, 1887; (discovery of penicillin, first modern antibiotic) Alexander Fleming, England, 1928; (penicillin’s infection-fighting properties) Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, England, 1940.

Antiseptic: (surgery) Joseph Lister, England, 1867.

Antitoxin, diphtheria: Emil von Behring, Germany, 1890.

Appliances, electric: (fan) Schuyler Wheeler, U.S., 1882; (flatiron) Henry W. Seely, U.S., 1882; (stove) Hadaway, U.S., 1896; (washing machine) Alva Fisher, U.S., 1906.

Aqualung: Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Emile Gagnan, France, 1943.

Aspirin: Dr. Felix Hoffman, Germany, 1899.

Astronomical calculator: The Antikythera device, first century B.C., Greece. Found off island of Antikythera in 1900.

Atom: (nuclear model of) Ernest Rutherford, England, 1911.

Atomic theory: (ancient) Leucippus, Democritus, Greece, c. 500 B.C.; Lucretius, Rome c.100 B.C.; (modern) John Dalton, England, 1808.

Atomic structure: (formulated nuclear model of atom, Rutherford model) Ernest Rutherford, England, 1911; (proposed current concept of atomic structure, the Bohr model) Niels Bohr, Denmark, 1913.

Automobile: (first with internal combustion engine, 250 rpm) Karl Benz, Germany, 1885; (first with practical high-speed internal combustion engine, 900 rpm) Gottlieb Daimler, Germany, 1885; (first true automobile, not carriage with motor) René Panhard, Emile Lavassor, France, 1891; (carburetor, spray) Charles E. Duryea, U.S., 1892.

Autopilot: (for aircraft) Elmer A. Sperry, U.S., c.1910, first successful test, 1912, in a Curtiss flying boat.

Avogadro’s law: (equal volumes of all gases at the same temperature and pressure contain equal number of molecules) Amedeo Avogadro, Italy, 1811.

Bacteria: Anton van Leeuwenhoek, The Netherlands, 1683.

Balloon, hot-air: Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier, France, 1783.

Barbed wire: (most popular) Joseph E. Glidden, U.S., 1873.

Bar codes: (computer-scanned binary signal code):

(retail trade use) Monarch Marking, U.S. 1970; (industrial use) Plessey Telecommunications, England, 1970.

Barometer: Evangelista Torricelli, Italy, 1643.

Bicycle: Karl D. von Sauerbronn, Germany, 1816; (first modern model) James Starley, England, 1884.

Big Bang theory: (the universe originated with a huge explosion) George LeMaitre, Belgium, 1927; (modified LeMaitre theory labeled “Big Bang”) George A. Gamow, U.S., 1948; (cosmic microwave background radiation discovered, confirms theory) Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson, U.S., 1965.

Blood, circulation of: William Harvey, England, 1628.

Boyle’s law: (relation between pressure and volume in gases) Robert Boyle, Ireland, 1662.

Braille: Louis Braille, France, 1829.

Bridges: (suspension, iron chains) James Finley, Pa., 1800; (wire suspension) Marc Seguin, Lyons, 1825; (truss) Ithiel Town, U.S., 1820.

Bullet: (conical) Claude Minié, France, 1849.

Calculating machine: (logarithms: made multiplying easier and thus calculators practical) John Napier, Scotland, 1614; (slide rule) William Oughtred, England, 1632; (digital calculator) Blaise Pascal, 1642; (multiplication machine) Gottfried Leibniz, Germany, 1671; (important 19th-century contributors to modern machine) Frank S. Baldwin, Jay R. Monroe, Dorr E. Felt, W. T. Ohdner, William Burroughs, all U.S.; (“analytical engine” design, included concepts of programming, taping) Charles Babbage, England, 1835.

Calculus: Isaac Newton, England, 1669; (differential calculus) Gottfried Leibniz, Germany, 1684.

Camera: (hand-held) George Eastman, U.S., 1888; (Polaroid Land) Edwin Land, U.S., 1948.

“Canals” of Mars:Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italy, 1877.

Carpet sweeper: Melville R. Bissell, U.S., 1876.

Car radio: William Lear, Elmer Wavering, U.S., 1929, manufactured by Galvin Manufacturing Co., “Motorola.”

Cells: (word used to describe microscopic examination of cork) Robert Hooke, England, 1665; (theory: cells are common structural and functional unit of all living organisms) Theodor Schwann, Matthias Schleiden, 1838–1839.

Cement, Portland: Joseph Aspdin, England, 1824.

Chewing gum: (spruce-based) John Curtis, U.S., 1848; (chicle-based) Thomas Adams, U.S., 1870.

Cholera bacterium: Robert Koch, Germany, 1883.

Circuit, integrated: (theoretical) G.W.A. Dummer, England, 1952; (phase-shift oscillator) Jack S. Kilby, Texas Instruments, U.S., 1959.

Classification of plants: (first modern, based on comparative study of forms) Andrea Cesalpino, Italy, 1583; (classification of plants and animals by genera and species) Carolus Linnaeus, Sweden, 1737–1753.

Clock, pendulum: Christian Huygens, The Netherlands, 1656.

Coca-Cola: John Pemberton, U.S., 1886.

Combustion: (nature of) Antoine Lavoisier, France, 1777.

Compact disk: RCA, U.S., 1972.

Computers: (first design of analytical engine) Charles Babbage, 1830s; (ENIAC, Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator, first all-electronic, completed) 1945; (dedicated at University of Pennsylvania) 1946; (UNIVAC, Universal Automatic Computer, handled both numeric and alphabetic data) 1951.

Concrete: (reinforced) Joseph Monier, France, 1877.

Condensed milk: Gail Borden, U.S., 1853.

Conditioned reflex: Ivan Pavlov, Russia, c.1910.

Conservation of electric charge: (the total electric charge of the universe or any closed system is constant) Benjamin Franklin, U.S., 1751–1754.

Contagion theory: (infectious diseases caused by living agent transmitted from person to person) Girolamo Fracastoro, Italy, 1546.

Continental drift theory: (geographer who pieced together continents into a single landmass on maps) Antonio Snider-Pellegrini, France, 1858; (first proposed in lecture) Frank Taylor, U.S.; (first comprehensive detailed theory) Alfred Wegener, Germany, 1912.

Contraceptive, oral: Gregory Pincus, Min Chuch Chang, John Rock, Carl Djerassi, U.S., 1951.

Converter, Bessemer: William Kelly, U.S., 1851.

Cosmetics: Egypt, c. 4000 B.C.

Cosamic string theory: (first postulated) Thomas Kibble, 1976.

Cotton gin: Eli Whitney, U.S., 1793.

Crossbow: China, c. 300 B.C.

Cyclotron: Ernest O. Lawrence, U.S., 1931.

Deuterium: (heavy hydrogen) Harold Urey, U.S., 1931.

Disease: (chemicals in treatment of) crusaded by Philippus Paracelsus, 1527–1541; (germ theory) Louis Pasteur, France, 1862–1877.

DNA: (deoxyribonucleic acid) Friedrich Meischer, Germany, 1869; (determination of double-helical structure) Rosalind Elsie Franklin, F. H. Crick, England, James D. Watson, U.S., 1953.

Dye: (aniline, start of synthetic dye industry) William H. Perkin, England, 1856.

Dynamite: Alfred Nobel, Sweden, 1867.

Electric cooking utensil: (first) patented by St. George Lane-Fox, England, 1874.

Electric generator (dynamo): (laboratory model) Michael Faraday, England, 1832; Joseph Henry, U.S., c.1832; (hand-driven model) Hippolyte Pixii, France, 1833; (alternating-current generator) Nikola Tesla, U.S., 1892.

Electric lamp: (arc lamp) Sir Humphrey Davy, England, 1801; (fluorescent lamp) A.E. Becquerel, France, 1867; (incandescent lamp) Sir Joseph Swann, England, Thomas A. Edison, U.S., contemporaneously, 1870s; (carbon arc street lamp) Charles F. Brush, U.S., 1879; (first widely marketed incandescent lamp) Thomas A. Edison, U.S., 1879; (mercury vapor lamp) Peter Cooper Hewitt, U.S., 1903; (neon lamp) Georges Claude, France, 1911; (tungsten filament) Irving Langmuir, U.S., 1915.

Electrocardiography: Demonstrated by Augustus Waller, 1887; (first practical device for recording activity of heart) Willem Einthoven, 1903, Dutch physiologist.

Electromagnet: William Sturgeon, England, 1823.

Electron: Sir Joseph J. Thompson, England, 1897.

Elevator, passenger: (safety device permitting use by passengers) Elisha G. Otis, U.S., 1852; (elevator utilizing safety device) 1857.

E = mc2: (equivalence of mass and energy) Albert Einstein, Switzerland, 1907.

Engine, internal combustion: No single inventor. Fundamental theory established by Sadi Carnot, France, 1824; (two-stroke) Etienne Lenoir, France, 1860; (ideal operating cycle for four-stroke) Alphonse Beau de Roche, France, 1862; (operating four-stroke) Nikolaus Otto, Germany, 1876; (diesel) Rudolf Diesel, Germany, 1892; (rotary) Felix Wankel, Germany, 1956.

Evolution: (organic) Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, France, 1809; (by natural selection) Charles Darwin, England, 1859.

Exclusion principle: (no two electrons in an atom can occupy the same energy level) Wolfgang Pauli, Germany, 1925.

Expanding universe theory: (first proposed) George LeMaitre, Belgium, 1927; (discovered first direct evidence that the universe is expanding) Edwin P. Hubble, U.S., 1929; (Hubble constant: a measure of the rate at which the universe is expanding) Edwin P. Hubble, U.S., 1929.

Falling bodies, law of: Galileo Galilei, Italy, 1590.

Fermentation: (microorganisms as cause of) Louis Pasteur, France, c.1860.

Fiber optics: Narinder Kapany, England, 1955.

Fibers, man-made: (nitrocellulose fibers treated to change flammable nitrocellulose to harmless cellulose, precursor of rayon) Sir Joseph Swann, England, 1883; (rayon) Count Hilaire de Chardonnet, France, 1889; (Celanese) Henry and Camille Dreyfuss, U.S., England, 1921; (research on polyesters and polyamides, basis for modern man-made fibers) U.S., England, Germany, 1930s; (nylon) Wallace H. Carothers, U.S., 1935.

Frozen food: Clarence Birdseye, U.S., 1924.

Gene transfer: (human) Steven Rosenberg, R. Michael Blaese, W. French Anderson, U.S., 1989.

Geometry, elements of: Euclid, Alexandria, Egypt, c. 300 B.C.; (analytic) René Descartes, France; and Pierre de Fermat, Switzerland, 1637.

Gravitation, law of: Sir Isaac Newton, England, c.1665 (published 1687).

Gunpowder: China, c.700.

Gyrocompass: Elmer A. Sperry, U.S., 1905.

Gyroscope: Léon Foucault, France, 1852.

Halley’s Comet: Edmund Halley, England, 1705.

Heart implanted in human, permanent artificial:Dr. Robert Jarvik, U.S., 1982.

Heart, temporary artificial: Willem Kolft, 1957.

Helicopter: (double rotor) Heinrich Focke, Germany, 1936; (single rotor) Igor Sikorsky, U.S., 1939.

Helium first observed on sun: Sir Joseph Lockyer, England, 1868.

Heredity, laws of: Gregor Mendel, Austria, 1865.

Holograph: Dennis Gabor, England, 1947.

Home videotape systems (VCR): (Betamax) Sony, Japan, 1975; (VHS) Matsushita, Japan, 1975.

Ice age theory: Louis Agassiz, Swiss-American, 1840.

Induction, electric: Joseph Henry, U.S., 1828.

Insulin: (first isolated) Sir Frederick G. Banting and Charles H. Best, Canada, 1921; (discovery first published) Banting and Best, 1922; (Nobel Prize awarded for purification for use in humans) John Macleod and Banting, 1923; (first synthesized), China, 1966.

Intelligence testing: Alfred Binet, Theodore Simon, France, 1905.

Interferon: Alick Isaacs, Jean Lindemann, England, Switzerland, 1957.

Isotopes: (concept of) Frederick Soddy, England, 1912; (stable isotopes) J. J. Thompson, England, 1913; (existence demonstrated by mass spectrography) Francis W. Ashton, 1919.

Jet propulsion: (engine) Sir Frank Whittle, England, Hans von Ohain, Germany, 1936; (aircraft) Heinkel He 178, 1939.

Kinetic theory of gases: (molecules of a gas are in a state of rapid motion) Daniel Bernoulli, Switzerland, 1738.

Laser: (theoretical work on) Charles H. Townes, Arthur L. Schawlow, U.S., N. Basov, A. Prokhorov, U.S.S.R., 1958; (first working model) T. H. Maiman, U.S., 1960.

Lawn mower: Edwin Budding, John Ferrabee, England, 1830–1831.

LCD (liquid crystal display): Hoffmann-La Roche, Switzerland, 1970.

Lens, bifocal: Benjamin Franklin, U.S., c.1760.

Leyden jar: (prototype electrical condenser) Canon E. G. von Kleist of Kamin, Pomerania, 1745; independently evolved by Cunaeus and P. van Musschenbroek, University of Leyden, Holland, 1746, from where name originated.

Light, nature of: (wave theory) Christian Huygens, The Netherlands, 1678; (electromagnetic theory) James Clerk Maxwell, England, 1873.

Light, speed of: (theory that light has finite velocity) Olaus Roemer, Denmark, 1675.

Lightning rod: Benjamin Franklin, U.S., 1752.

Locomotive: (steam powered) Richard Trevithick, England, 1804; (first practical, due to multiple-fire-tube boiler) George Stephenson, England, 1829; (largest steam-powered) Union Pacific’s “Big Boy,” U.S., 1941.

Lock, cylinder: Linus Yale, U.S., 1851.

Loom: (horizontal, two-beamed) Egypt, c. 4400 B.C.; (Jacquard drawloom, pattern controlled by punch cards) Jacques de Vaucanson, France, 1745, Joseph-Marie Jacquard, 1801; (flying shuttle) John Kay, England, 1733; (power-driven loom) Edmund Cartwright, England, 1785.

Machine gun: (hand-cranked multibarrel) Richard J. Gatling, U.S., 1862; (practical single barrel, belt-fed) Hiram S. Maxim, Anglo-American, 1884.

Magnet, Earth is: William Gilbert, England, 1600.

Match: (phosphorus) François Derosne, France, 1816; (friction) Charles Sauria, France, 1831; (safety) J. E. Lundstrom, Sweden, 1855.

Measles vaccine: John F. Enders, Thomas Peebles, U.S., 1953.

Metric system: revolutionary government of France, 1790–1801.

Microphone: Charles Wheatstone, England, 1827.

Microscope: (compound) Zacharias Janssen, The Netherlands, 1590; (electron) Vladimir Zworykin et al., U.S., Canada, Germany, 1932–1939.

Microwave oven: Percy Spencer, U.S., 1947.

Motion, laws of: Isaac Newton, England, 1687.

Motion pictures: Thomas A. Edison, U.S., 1893.

Motion pictures, sound: Product of various inventions. First picture with synchronized musical score: Don Juan, 1926; with spoken dialogue: The Jazz Singer, 1927; both Warner Bros.

Motor, electric: Michael Faraday, England, 1822; (alternating-current) Nikola Tesla, U.S., 1892.

Motorcycle: (motor tricycle) Edward Butler, England, 1884; (gasoline-engine motorcycle) Gottlieb Daimler, Germany, 1885.

Moving assembly line: Henry Ford, U.S., 1913.

Neptune: (discovery of) Johann Galle, Germany, 1846.

Neptunium: (first transuranic element, synthesis of) Edward M. McMillan, Philip H. Abelson, U.S., 1940.

Neutron: James Chadwick, England, 1932.

Neutron-induced radiation: Enrico Fermi et al., Italy, 1934.

Nitroglycerin: Ascanio Sobrero, Italy, 1846.

Nuclear fission: Otto Hahn, Fritz Strassmann, Germany, 1938.

Nuclear reactor: Enrico Fermi, Italy, et al., 1942.

Ohm’s law: (relationship between strength of electric current, electromotive force, and circuit resistance) Georg S. Ohm, Germany, 1827.

Oil well: Edwin L. Drake, U.S., 1859.

Oxygen: (isolation of) Joseph Priestley, 1774; Carl Scheele, 1773.

Ozone: Christian Schönbein, Germany, 1839.

Pacemaker: (internal) Clarence W. Lillehie, Earl Bakk, U.S., 1957.

Paper China, c.100 A.D.

Parachute: Louis S. Lenormand, France, 1783.

Pen: (fountain) Lewis E. Waterman, U.S., 1884; (ball-point, for marking on rough surfaces) John H. Loud, U.S., 1888; (ball-point, for handwriting) Lazlo Biro, Argentina, 1944.

Periodic law: (that properties of elements are functions of their atomic weights) Dmitri Mendeleev, Russia, 1869.

Periodic table: (arrangement of chemical elements based on periodic law) Dmitri Mendeleev, Russia, 1869.

Phonograph: Thomas A. Edison, U.S., 1877.

Photography: (first paper negative, first photograph, on metal) Joseph Nicéphore Niepce, France, 1816–1827; (discovery of fixative powers of hyposulfite of soda) Sir John Herschel, England, 1819; (first direct positive image on silver plate, the daguerreotype) Louis Daguerre, based on work with Niepce, France, 1839; (first paper negative from which a number of positive prints could be made) William Talbot, England, 1841. Work of these four men, taken together, forms basis for all modern photography. (First color images) Alexandre Becquerel, Claude Niepce de Saint-Victor, France, 1848–1860; (commercial color film with three emulsion layers, Kodachrome) U.S., 1935.

Photovoltaic effect: (light falling on certain materials can produce electricity) Edmund Becquerel, France, 1839.

Piano: (Hammerklavier) Bartolommeo Cristofori, Italy, 1709; (pianoforte with sustaining and damper pedals) John Broadwood, England, 1873.

Planetary motion, laws of: Johannes Kepler, Germany, 1609, 1619.

Plant respiration and photosynthesis: Jan Ingenhousz, Holland, 1779.

Plastics: (first material, nitrocellulose softened by vegetable oil, camphor, precursor to Celluloid) Alexander Parkes, England, 1855; (Celluloid, involving recognition of vital effect of camphor) John W. Hyatt, U.S., 1869; (Bakelite, first completely synthetic plastic) Leo H. Baekeland, U.S., 1910; (theoretical background of macromolecules and process of polymerization on which modern plastics industry rests) Hermann Staudinger, Germany, 1922.

Plate tectonics: Alfred Wegener, Germany, 1912–1915.

Plow, forked: Mesopotamia, before 3000 B.C.

Plutonium, synthesis of: Glenn T. Seaborg, Edwin M. McMillan, Arthur C. Wahl, Joseph W. Kennedy, U.S., 1941.

Polio, vaccine: (experimentally safe dead-virus vaccine) Jonas E. Salk, U.S., 1952; (effective large-scale field trials) 1954; (officially approved) 1955; (safe oral live-virus vaccine developed) Albert B. Sabin, U.S., 1954; (available in the U.S.) 1960.

Positron: Carl D. Anderson, U.S., 1932.

Pressure cooker: (early version) Denis Papin, France, 1679.

Printing: (block) Japan, c.700; (movable type) Korea, c.1400; Johann Gutenberg, Germany, c.1450 (lithography, offset) Aloys Senefelder, Germany, 1796; (rotary press) Richard Hoe, U.S., 1844; (linotype) Ottmar Mergenthaler, U.S., 1884.

Probability theory: René Descartes, France; and Pierre de Fermat, Switzerland, 1654.

Proton: Ernest Rutherford, England, 1919.

Prozac: (antidepressant fluoxetine) Bryan B. Malloy, Scotland, and Klaus K. Schmiegel, U.S., 1972; (released for use in U.S.) Eli Lilly & Company, 1987.

Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud, Austria, c.1904.

Pulsars: Antony Hewish and Jocelyn Bell Burnel, England, 1967.

Quantum theory: (general) Max Planck, Germany, 1900; (sub-atomic) Niels Bohr, Denmark, 1913; (quantum mechanics) Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Germany, 1925.

Quarks: Jerome Friedman, Henry Kendall, Richard Taylor, U.S., 1967.

Quasars: Marten Schmidt, U.S., 1963.

Rabies immunization: Louis Pasteur, France, 1885.

Radar: (limited to one-mile range) Christian Hulsmeyer, Germany, 1904; (pulse modulation, used for measuring height of ionosphere) Gregory Breit, Merle Tuve, U.S., 1925; (first practical radar—radio detection and ranging) Sir Robert Watson-Watt, England, 1934–1935.

Radio: (electromagnetism, theory of) James Clerk Maxwell, England, 1873; (spark coil, generator of electromagnetic waves) Heinrich Hertz, Germany, 1886; (first practical system of wireless telegraphy) Guglielmo Marconi, Italy, 1895; (first long-distance telegraphic radio signal sent across the Atlantic) Marconi, 1901; (vacuum electron tube, basis for radio telephony) Sir John Fleming, England, 1904; (triode amplifying tube) Lee de Forest, U.S., 1906; (regenerative circuit, allowing long-distance sound reception) Edwin H. Armstrong, U.S., 1912; (frequency modulation—FM) Edwin H. Armstrong, U.S., 1933.

Radioactivity: (X-rays) Wilhelm K. Roentgen, Germany, 1895; (radioactivity of uranium) Henri Becquerel, France, 1896; (radioactive elements, radium and polonium in uranium ore) Marie Sklodowska-Curie, Pierre Curie, France, 1898; (classification of alpha and beta particle radiation) Pierre Curie, France, 1900; (gamma radiation) Paul-Ulrich Villard, France, 1900.

Radiocarbon dating, carbon-14 method: (discovered) 1947, Willard F. Libby, U.S.; (first demonstrated) U.S., 1950.

Radio signals, extraterrestrial: first known radio noise signals were received by U.S. engineer, Karl Jansky, originating from the Galactic Center, 1931.

Radio waves: (cosmic sources, led to radio astronomy) Karl Jansky, U.S., 1932.

Razor: (safety, successfully marketed) King Gillette, U.S., 1901; (electric) Jacob Schick, U.S., 1928, 1931.

Reaper: Cyrus McCormick, U.S., 1834.

Refrigerator: Alexander Twining, U.S., James Harrison, Australia, 1850; (first with a compressor device) the Domelse, Chicago, U.S., 1913.

Refrigerator ship: (first) the Frigorifique, cooling unit designed by Charles Teller, France, 1877.

Relativity: (special and general theories of) Albert Einstein, Switzerland, Germany, U.S., 1905–1953.

Revolver: Samuel Colt, U.S., 1835.

Richter scale: Charles F. Richter, U.S., 1935.

Rifle: (muzzle-loaded) Italy, Germany, c.1475; (breech-loaded) England, France, Germany, U.S., c.1866; (bolt-action) Paul von Mauser, Germany, 1889; (automatic) John Browning, U.S., 1918.

Rocket: (liquid-fueled) Robert Goddard, U.S., 1926.

Roller bearing: (wooden for cartwheel) Germany or France, c.100 B.C.

Rotation of Earth: Jean Bernard Foucault, France, 1851.

Royal Observatory, Greenwich: established in 1675 by Charles II of England; John Flamsteed first Astronomer Royal.

Rubber: (vulcanization process) Charles Goodyear, U.S., 1839.

Saccharin: Constantine Fuhlberg, Ira Remsen, U.S., 1879.

Safety pin: Walter Hunt, U.S., 1849.

Saturn, ring around: Christian Huygens, The Netherlands, 1659.

“Scotch” tape:Richard Drew, U.S., 1929.

Screw propeller: Sir Francis P. Smith, England, 1836; John Ericsson, England, worked independently of and simultaneously with Smith, 1837.

Seismograph: (first accurate) John Milne, England, 1880.

Sewing machine: Elias Howe, U.S., 1846; (continuous stitch) Isaac Singer, U.S., 1851.  

Solar energy: First realistic application of solar energy using parabolic solar reflector to drive caloric engine on steam boiler, John Ericsson, U.S., 1860s.

Solar system, universe: (Sun-centered universe) Nicolaus Copernicus, Warsaw, 1543; (establishment of planetary orbits as elliptical) Johannes Kepler, Germany, 1609; (infinity of universe) Giordano Bruno, Italian monk, 1584.

Spectrum: (heterogeneity of light) Sir Isaac Newton, England, 1665–1666.

Spectrum analysis: Gustav Kirchhoff, Robert Bunsen, Germany, 1859.

Spermatozoa: Anton van Leeuwenhoek, The Netherlands, 1683.

Spinning: (spinning wheel) India, introduced to Europe in Middle Ages; (Saxony wheel, continuous spinning of wool or cotton yarn) England, c.1500–1600; (spinning jenny) James Hargreaves, England, 1764; (spinning frame) Sir Richard Arkwright, England, 1769; (spinning mule, completed mechanization of spinning, permitting production of yarn to keep up with demands of modern looms) Samuel Crompton, England, 1779.

Star catalog: (first modern) Tycho Brahe, Denmark, 1572.

Steam engine: (first commercial version based on principles of French physicist Denis Papin) Thomas Savery, England, 1639; (atmospheric steam engine) Thomas Newcomen, England, 1705; (steam engine for pumping water from collieries) Savery, Newcomen, 1725; (modern condensing, double acting) James Watt, England, 1782.

Steamship: Claude de Jouffroy d’Abbans, France, 1783; James Rumsey, U.S., 1787; John Fitch, U.S., 1790. All preceded Robert Fulton, U.S., 1807, credited with launching first commercially successful steamship.

Stethoscope: René Laënnec, France, 1819.

Sulfa drugs: (parent compound, para-aminobenzenesulfanomide) Paul Gelmo, Austria, 1908; (antibacterial activity) Gerhard Domagk, Germany, 1935.

Superconductivity: (theory) Bardeen, Cooper, Scheiffer, U.S., 1957.

Symbolic logic: George Boule, 1854; (modern) Bertrand Russell, Alfred North Whitehead, England, 1910–1913.

Tank, military: Sir Ernest Swinton, England, 1914.

Tape recorder: (magnetic steel tape) Valdemar Poulsen, Denmark, 1899.

Teflon: DuPont, U.S., 1943.

Telegraph: Samuel F. B. Morse, U.S., 1837.

Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell, U.S., 1876.

Telescope: Hans Lippershey, The Netherlands, 1608; (astronomical) Galileo Galilei, Italy, 1609; (reflecting) Isaac Newton, England, 1668.

Television: (Iconoscope–T.V. camera table), Vladimir Zworkin, U.S., 1923, and also kinescope (cathode ray tube), 1928; (mechanical disk-scanning method) successfully demonstrated by J.K. Baird, England, C.F. Jenkins, U.S., 1926; (first all-electric television image), 1927, Philo T. Farnsworth, U.S; (color, mechanical disk) Baird, 1928; (color, compatible with black and white) George Valensi, France, 1938; (color, sequential rotating filter) Peter Goldmark, U.S., first introduced, 1951; (color, compatible with black and white) commercially introduced in U.S., National Television Systems Committee, 1953.

Thermodynamics: (first law: energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another) Julius von Mayer, Germany, 1842; James Joule, England, 1843; (second law: heat cannot of itself pass from a colder to a warmer body) Rudolph Clausius, Germany, 1850; (third law: the entropy of ordered solids reaches zero at the absolute zero of temperature) Walter Nernst, Germany, 1918.

Thermometer: (open-column) Galileo Galilei, c.1593; (clinical) Santorio Santorio, Padua, c.1615; (mercury, also Fahrenheit scale) Gabriel D. Fahrenheit, Germany, 1714; (centigrade scale) Anders Celsius, Sweden, 1742; (absolute-temperature, or Kelvin, scale) William Thompson, Lord Kelvin, England, 1848.

Tire, pneumatic: Robert W. Thompson, England, 1845; (bicycle tire) John B. Dunlop, Northern Ireland, 1888.

Toilet, flush: Product of Minoan civilization, Crete, c. 2000 B.C. Alleged invention by “Thomas Crapper” is untrue.

Tractor: Benjamin Holt, U.S., 1900.

Transformer, electric: William Stanley, U.S., 1885.

Transistor: John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, William B. Shockley, U.S., 1947.

Tuberculosis bacterium: Robert Koch, Germany, 1882.

Typewriter: Christopher Sholes, Carlos Glidden, U.S., 1867.

Uncertainty principle: (that position and velocity of an object cannot both be measured exactly, at the same time) Werner Heisenberg, Germany, 1927.

Uranus: (first planet discovered in recorded history) William Herschel, England, 1781.

Vaccination: Edward Jenner, England, 1796.

Vacuum cleaner: (manually operated) Ives W. McGaffey, 1869; (electric) Hubert C. Booth, England, 1901; (upright) J. Murray Spangler, U.S., 1907.

Van Allen (radiation) Belt: (around Earth) James Van Allen, U.S., 1958.

Video disk: Philips Co., The Netherlands, 1972.

Vitamins: (hypothesis of disease deficiency) Sir F. G. Hopkins, Casimir Funk, England, 1912; (vitamin A) Elmer V. McCollum, M. Davis, U.S., 1912–1914; (vitamin B) McCollum, U.S., 1915–1916; (thiamin, B1) Casimir Funk, England, 1912; (riboflavin, B2) D. T. Smith, E. G. Hendrick, U.S., 1926; (niacin) Conrad Elvehjem, U.S., 1937; (B6) Paul Gyorgy, U.S., 1934; (vitamin C) C. A. Hoist, T. Froelich, Norway, 1912; (vitamin D) McCollum, U.S., 1922; (folic acid) Lucy Wills, England, 1933.

Voltaic pile: (forerunner of modern battery, first source of continuous electric current) Alessandro Volta, Italy, 1800.

Wallpaper: Europe, 16th and 17th century.

Wassermann test: (for syphilis) August von Wassermann, Germany, 1906.

Wheel: (cart, solid wood) Mesopotamia, c.3800–3600 B.C.

Windmill: Persia, c.600.

World Wide Web: (developed while working at CERN) Tim Berners-Lee, England, 1989; (development of Mosaic browser makes WWW available for general use) Marc Andreeson, U.S., 1993.

Xerography: Chester Carlson, U.S., 1938.

Zero: India, c.600; (absolute zero temperature, cessation of all molecular energy) William Thompson, Lord Kelvin, England, 1848.

Zipper: W. L. Judson, U.S., 1891.  

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 3.5

363 – Roman emperor Julian leaves Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death. 1046 – Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama. 1279 – The Livonian Order is defeated in the Battle of Aizkraukle by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. 1496 – King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands. 1616 – Nicolaus Copernicus's book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres is added to the Index of Forbidden Books 73 years after it was first published. 1766 – Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans. 1770 – Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including Crispus Attucks, are fatally shot by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence) five years later. 1811 – Peninsular War: A French force under the command of Marshal Victor is routed while trying to prevent an Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese army from lifting the Siege of Cádiz in the Battle of Barrosa. 1824 – First Anglo-Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma. 1825 – Roberto Cofresí, one of the last successful Caribbean pirates, is defeated in combat and captured by authorities. 1836 – Samuel Colt patents the first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber. 1850 – The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened. 1860 – Parma, Tuscany, Modena and Romagna vote in referendums to join the Kingdom of Sardinia. 1868 – Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito, receives its premiere performance at La Scala. 1872 – George Westinghouse patents the air brake. 1906 – Moro Rebellion: United States Army troops bring overwhelming force against the native Moros in the First Battle of Bud Dajo, leaving only six survivors. 1912 – Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, employing them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines. 1931 – The British Raj: Gandhi–Irwin Pact is signed. 1933 – Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party receives 43.9% at the Reichstag elections, which allows the Nazis to later pass the Enabling Act and establish a dictatorship. 1936 – First flight of K5054, the first prototype Supermarine Spitfire advanced monoplane fighter aircraft in the United Kingdom. 1939 – Spanish Civil War: The National Defence Council seizes control of the republican government in a coup d'etat, with the intention of negotiating an end to the war. 1940 – Six high-ranking members of the Soviet politburo, including Joseph Stalin, sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, in what will become known as the Katyn massacre. 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces capture Batavia, capital of Dutch East Indies, which is left undefended after the withdrawal of the KNIL garrison and Australian Blackforce battalion to Buitenzorg and Bandung. 1943 – First Flight of the Gloster Meteor, Britain's first combat jet aircraft. 1944 – World War II: The Red Army begins the Uman–Botoșani Offensive in the western Ukrainian SSR. 1946 – Cold War: Winston Churchill coins the phrase "Iron Curtain" in his speech at Westminster College, Missouri. 1953 – Joseph Stalin, the longest serving leader of the Soviet Union, dies at his Volynskoe dacha in Moscow after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage four days earlier. 1960 – Indonesian President Sukarno dismissed the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR), 1955 democratically elected parliament, and replaced with DPR-GR, the parliament of his own selected members. 1963 – American country music stars Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and their pilot Randy Hughes are killed in a plane crash in Camden, Tennessee. 1965 – March Intifada: A Leftist uprising erupts in Bahrain against British colonial presence. 1966 – BOAC Flight 911, a Boeing 707 aircraft, breaks apart in mid-air due to clear-air turbulence and crashes into Mount Fuji, Japan, killing all 124 people on board. 1970 – The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations. 1974 – Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal. 1978 – The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. 1979 – Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the German-American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by "off the scale" gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters. 1981 – The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and would go on to sell over 11⁄2 million units around the world. 1982 – Soviet probe Venera 14 lands on Venus. 1991 – Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 108 crashes in Venezuela, killing 45. 1993 – Palair Macedonian Airlines Flight 301 crashes at Skopje International Airport in Petrovec, North Macedonia, killing 83. 2003 – In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed in the Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing. 2012 – Tropical Storm Irina kills over 75 as it passes through Madagascar. 2018 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pause the Deir ez-Zor campaign due to the Turkish-led invasion of Afrin. 2021 – Pope Francis begins a historical visit to Iraq amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. 2021 – Twenty people are killed and 30 injured in a suicide car bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia.

[bobmccullochny]

History

October 6, 1927 - The first "talkie" opened in New York. The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson was the first full-length feature film using spoken dialogue.

October 6, 1928 - Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek became president of the Republic of China upon the introduction of a new constitution.

October 6, 1949 - "Tokyo Rose" (Iva Toguri d'Aquino) was sentenced in San Francisco to 10 years imprisonment and fined $10,000 for treason. She had broadcast music and Japanese propaganda to American troops in the Pacific during World War II. She was pardoned by President Gerald Ford in 1977.

October 6, 1973 - The Yom Kippur War started as Egypt and Syria launched attacks on Israeli positions on the East Bank of the Suez and the Golan Heights.

October 6, 1978 - Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini was granted asylum in France after being expelled from Iran for his opposition to the Shah.

October 6, 1981 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (1918-1981) was assassinated in Cairo by Muslim fundamentalists while watching a military parade. He had shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize with Menachem Begin of Israel. He had signed an American-sponsored peace accord with Israel, but had been denounced by other Arab leaders.

Birthday - Engineer and inventor George Westinghouse (1846-1914) was born in Central Bridge, New York. He developed air brakes for trains and was later responsible for the adoption of alternating current (AC) systems for electric power transmission in the U.S. He was also the first employer to give his employees paid vacations.

Birthday - Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl was born in Larvik, Norway, October 6, 1914. He used Kon-Tiki and other primitive ocean-going vessels to prove the possibility of transoceanic contact between ancient, widely separated civilizations.

[blackkudos]

Ahmad Jamal

Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones, July 2, 1930) is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, and educator. For five decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz.

Biography

Early life

Jamal was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He began playing piano at the age of three, when his uncle Lawrence challenged him to duplicate what he was doing on the piano. Jamal began formal piano training at the age of seven with Mary Cardwell Dawson, whom he describes as greatly influencing him. His Pittsburgh roots have remained an important part of his identity ("Pittsburgh meant everything to me and it still does," he said in 2001) and it was there that he was immersed in the influence of jazz artists such as Earl Hines, Billy Strayhorn, Mary Lou Williams, and Erroll Garner. Jamal also studied with pianist James Miller and began playing piano professionally at the age of fourteen, at which point he was recognized as a "coming great" by the pianist Art Tatum. When asked about his practice habits by a New York Times critic, Jamal commented that, "I used to practice and practice with the door open, hoping someone would come by and discover me. I was never the practitioner in the sense of twelve hours a day, but I always thought about music. I think about music all the time."

Beginnings and conversion to Islam

Jamal began touring with George Hudson's Orchestra after graduating from George Westinghouse High School in 1948. He joined another touring group known as The Four Strings, which soon disbanded when the violinist, Joe Kennedy. Jr., left. He moved to Chicago in 1950 (where he legally changed his name to Ahmad Jamal), and played on and off with local musicians such as saxophonists Von Freeman and Claude McLin, as well as performing solo at the Palm Tavern, occasionally joined by drummer Ike Day.

Born to Baptist parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jamal did not discover Islam until his early 20s. While touring in Detroit (where there was a sizable Muslim community in the 1940s and 1950s), Jamal became interested in Islam and Islamic culture. He converted to Islam and changed his name to Ahmad Jamal in 1950. In an interview with The New York Times a few years later, Jamal said his decision to change his name stemmed from a desire to "re-establish my original name." Shortly after his conversion to Islam, Jamal explained to The New York Times that he "says Muslim prayers five times a day and arises in time to say his first prayers at 5 am. He says them in Arabic in keeping with the Muslim tradition."

He made his first sides in 1951 for the Okeh label with The Three Strings (which would later also be called the Ahmad Jamal Trio, although Jamal himself prefers not to use the term "trio"): the other members were guitarist Ray Crawford and a bassist, at different times Eddie Calhoun (1950–52), Richard Davis (1953–54), and Israel Crosby (from 1954). The Three Strings arranged an extended engagement at Chicago's Blue Note, but leapt to fame after performing at the Embers in New York City where John Hammond saw the band play and signed them to Okeh Records. Hammond, a record producer who discovered the talents and enhanced the fame of musicians like Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, and Count Basie, also helped Jamal's trio attract critical acclaim. Jamal subsequently recorded for Parrot (1953–55) and Epic (1955) using the piano-guitar-bass lineup.

At the Pershing: But Not For Me

The trio's sound changed significantly when Crawford was replaced with drummer Vernel Fournier in 1957, and the group worked as the "House Trio" at Chicago's Pershing Hotel. The trio released the live album, Live at the Pershing: But Not For Me, which stayed on the Ten Best-selling charts for 108 weeks. Jamal's well known song "Poinciana" was first released on this album.

Perhaps Jamal's most famous recording and undoubtedly the one that brought him vast popularity in the late 1950s and into the 1960s jazz age, At the Pershing was recorded at the Pershing Hotel in Chicago in 1958. Jamal played the set with bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier. The set list expressed a diverse collection of tunes, including "The Surrey with the Fringe On Top" from the musical Oklahoma! and Jamal's arrangement of the jazz standard "Poinciana". Jazz musicians and listeners alike found inspiration in the At the Pershing recording, and Jamal's trio was recognized as an integral new building block in the history of jazz. Evident were his unusually minimalist style and his extended vamps, according to reviewer John Morthland. "If you're looking for an argument that pleasurable mainstream art can assume radical status at the same time, Jamal is your guide," said The New York Times contributor Ben Ratliff in a review of the album.

After the recording of the best-selling album But Not For Me, Jamal's music grew in popularity throughout the 1950s, and he attracted media coverage for his investment decisions pertaining to his "rising fortune". In 1959, he took a tour of North Africa to explore investment options in Africa. Jamal, who was twenty-nine at the time, said he had a curiosity about the homeland of his ancestors, highly influenced by his conversion to the Muslim faith. He also said his religion had brought him peace of mind about his race, which accounted for his "growth in the field of music that has proved very lucrative for me." Upon his return to the U.S. after a tour of North Africa, the financial success of Live at the Pershing: But Not For Me allowed Jamal to open a restaurant and club called The Alhambra in Chicago. In 1962, The Three Strings disbanded and Jamal moved to New York City, where, at the age of 32, he took a three-year hiatus from his musical career.

Return to music and The Awakening

In 1964, Jamal resumed touring and recording, this time with the bassist Jamil Nasser and recorded a new album, Extensions, in 1965. Jamal and Nasser continued to play and record together from 1964 to 1972. He also joined forces with Fournier (again, but only for about a year) and drummer Frank Gant (1966–76), among others. Until 1970, he played acoustic piano exclusively. The final album on which he played acoustic piano in the regular sequence was The Awakening. In the 1970s, he played electric piano as well. It was rumored that the Rhodes piano was a gift from someone in Switzerland. He continued to play throughout the 1970s and 1980s, mostly in trios with piano, bass and drums, but he occasionally expanded the group to include guitar. One of his most long-standing gigs was as the band for the New Year's Eve celebrations at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C., from 1979 through the 1990s.

Later career

In 1986, Jamal sued critic Leonard Feather for using his former name in a publication.

Clint Eastwood featured two recordings from Jamal's But Not For Me album — "Music, Music, Music" and "Poinciana" — in the 1995 movie The Bridges of Madison County.

Now in his eighties, Ahmad Jamal has continued to make numerous tours and recordings. His most recently released albums are Saturday Morning (2013), and the CD/DVD release Ahmad Jamal Featuring Yusef Lateef Live at L'Olympia (2014).

Jamal is the main mentor of jazz piano virtuosa Hiromi Uehara, known as Hiromi.

Style and influence

Trained in both traditional jazz ("American classical music", as he prefers to call it) and European classical style, Ahmad Jamal has been praised as one of the greatest jazz innovators over his exceptionally long career. Following bebop greats like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Jamal entered the world of jazz at a time when speed and virtuosic improvisation were central to the success of jazz musicians as artists. Jamal, however, took steps in the direction of a new movement, later coined "cool jazz" – an effort to move jazz in the direction of popular music. He emphasized space and time in his musical compositions and interpretations instead of focusing on the blinding speed of bebop.

Because of this style, Jamal was "often dismissed by jazz writers as no more than a cocktail pianist, a player so given to fluff that his work shouldn't be considered seriously in any artistic sense". Stanley Crouch, author of Considering Genius, offers a very different reaction to Jamal's music, claiming that, like the highly influential Thelonious Monk, Jamal was a true innovator of the jazz tradition and is second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 only to Parker. His unique musical style stemmed from many individual characteristics, including his use of orchestral effects and his ability to control the beat of songs. These stylistic choices resulted in a unique and new sound for the piano trio: "Through the use of space and changes of rhythm and tempo", writes Crouch, "Jamal invented a group sound that had all the surprise and dynamic variation of an imaginatively ordered big band." Jamal explored the texture of riffs, timbres, and phrases rather than the quantity or speed of notes in any given improvisation. Speaking about Jamal, A. B. Spellman of the National Endowment of the Arts said: "Nobody except Thelonious Monk used space better, and nobody ever applied the artistic device of tension and release better." These (at the time) unconventional techniques that Jamal gleaned from both traditional classical and contemporary jazz musicians helped pave the way for later jazz greats like Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, and McCoy Tyner.

Though Jamal is often overlooked by jazz critics and historians, he is frequently credited with having a great influence on Miles Davis. Davis is quoted as saying that he was impressed by Jamal's rhythmic sense and his "concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement". Jamal characterizes what he thought Davis admired about his music as: "my discipline as opposed to my space." Jamal and Davis became friends in the 1950s, and Davis continued to support Jamal as a fellow musician, often playing versions of Jamal's own songs ("Ahmad's Blues", "New Rhumba") until he died in 1991.

Jamal, speaking about his own work says, "I like doing ballads. They're hard to play. It takes years of living, really, to read them properly." From an early age, Jamal developed an appreciation for the lyrics of the songs he learned: "I once heard Ben Webster playing his heart out on a ballad. All of a sudden he stopped. I asked him, 'Why did you stop, Ben?' He said, 'I forgot the lyrics.'" Jamal attributes the variety in his musical taste to the fact that he grew up in several eras: the big band era, the bebop years, and the electronic age. He says his style evolved from drawing on the techniques and music produced in these three eras. In 1985, Jamal agreed to do an interview and recording session with his fellow jazz pianist, Marian McPartland on her NPR show Piano Jazz. Jamal, who said he rarely plays "But Not For Me" due to its popularity since his 1958 recording, played an improvised version of the tune – though only after noting that he has moved on to making ninety percent of his repertoire his own compositions. He said that when he grew in popularity from the Live at the Pershing album, he was severely criticized afterwards for not playing any of his own compositions.

In more recent years, Jamal has embraced the electronic influences affecting the genre of jazz. He has also occasionally expanded his usual small ensemble of three to include a tenor saxophone (George Coleman) and a violin. A jazz fan interviewed by Down Beat magazine about Jamal in 2010 described his development as "more aggressive and improvisational these days. The word I used to use is avant garde; that might not be right. Whatever you call it, the way he plays is the essence of what jazz is."

Saxophonist Ted Nash, a longtime member of the Lincoln Center Orchestra, had the opportunity to play with Jamal in 2008 for Jazz at Lincoln Center. Nash described his experience with Jamal's style in an interview with Down Beat magazine: "The way he comped wasn't the generic way that lots of pianists play with chords in the middle of the keyboard, just filling things up. He gave lots of single line responses. He'd come back and throw things out at you, directly from what you played. It was really interesting because it made you stop, and allowed him to respond, and then you felt like playing something else – that's something I don't feel with a lot of piano players. It's really quite engaging. I guess that's another reason people focus in on him. He makes them hone in [sic]."

Bands and personnel

Jamal typically plays with a bassist and drummer: his current trio is with bassist Reginald Veal and drummer Herlin Riley. He has also performed with percussionist Manolo Badrena. Jamal has recorded with the voices of the Howard A. Roberts Chorale on The Bright, the Blue and the Beautiful and Cry Young; with vibraphonist Gary Burton on In Concert; with brass, reeds, and strings celebrating his hometown of Pittsburgh; with The Assai Quartet; and with saxophonist George Coleman on the album The Essence.

Awards and honors

1959: Entertainment Award, Pittsburgh Junior Chamber of Commerce

1980: Distinguished Service Award, City of Washington D.C., Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, Smithsonian Institution

1981: Nomination, Best R&B Instrumental Performance ("You're Welcome", "Stop on By"), NARAS

1986: Mellon Jazz Festival Salutes Ahmad Jamal, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1987: Honorary Membership, Philippines Jazz Foundation

1994: American Jazz Masters award, National Endowment for the Arts

2001: Arts & Culture Recognition Award, National Coalition of 100 Black Women

2001: Kelly-Strayhorn Gallery of Stars, for Achievements as Pianist and Composer, East Liberty Quarter Chamber of Commerce

2003: American Jazz Hall of Fame, New Jersey Jazz Society

2003: Gold Medallion, Steinway & Sons 150 Years Celebration (1853–2003)

2007: Living Jazz Legend, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

2007: Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, French government

2011: Down Beat Hall of Fame, 76th Readers Poll

2015: Honorary Doctorate of Music, The New England Conservatory

Discography

As leader

1951: Ahmad's Blues (Okeh)

1955: Ahmad Jamal Plays (Parrot) – also released as Chamber Music of the New Jazz (Argo)

1955: The Ahmad Jamal Trio (Epic)

1956: Count 'Em 88 (Argo)

1958: At the Pershing: But Not for Me (Argo)

1958: At the Pershing, Vol. 2 (Argo)

1958: Ahmad Jamal Trio Volume IV (Argo)

1958: Portfolio of Ahmad Jamal (Argo)

1959: The Piano Scene of Ahmad Jamal (Epic)

1959: Jamal at the Penthouse (Argo)

1960: Happy Moods (Argo)

1960: Listen to the Ahmad Jamal Quintet (Argo)

1961: All of You (Argo)

1961: Ahmad Jamal's Alhambra (Argo)

1962: Ahmad Jamal at the Blackhawk (Argo)

1962: Macanudo (Argo)

1963: Poinciana (Argo)

1964: Naked City Theme (Argo)

1965: The Roar of the Greasepaint (Argo)

1965: Extensions (Argo)

1966: Rhapsody (Cadet)

1966: Heat Wave (Cadet)

1967: Cry Young (Cadet)

1968: The Bright, the Blue and the Beautiful (Cadet)

1968: Tranquility (ABC)

1968: Ahmad Jamal at the Top: Poinciana Revisited (Impulse!)

1970: The Awakening (Impulse!)

1971: Freeflight (Impulse!)

1972: Outertimeinnerspace (Impulse!)

1973: Ahmad Jamal '73 (20th Century)

1974: Jamalca (20th Century)

1974: Jamal Plays Jamal (20th Century)

1975: Genetic Walk (20th Century)

1976: Steppin' Out with a Dream (20th Century)

1976: Recorded Live at Oil Can Harry's (Catalyst)

1978: One (20th Century)

1980: Intervals (20th Century)

1980: Live at Bubba's (Who's Who in Jazz)

1980: Night Song (Motown)

1981: In Concert (Personal Choice Records)

1982: American Classical Music (Shubra)

1985: Digital Works (Atlantic)

1985: Live at the Montreal Jazz Festival 1985 (Atlantic)

1986: Rossiter Road (Atlantic)

1987: Crystal (Atlantic)

1989: Pittsburgh (Atlantic)

1992: Live in Paris 1992 (Birdology)

1992: Chicago Revisited (Telarc)

1994: I Remember Duke, Hoagy & Strayhorn (Telarc)

1994: Ahmad Jamal with The Assai Quartet (Roesch)

1994: Ahmad Jamal at Home (Roesch)

1995: The Essence Part One (Birdology)

1995: Big Byrd: The Essence Part 2 (Birdology)

1996: Live in Paris 1996 (Birdology)

1997: Nature: The Essence Part Three (Birdology)

2000: Picture Perfect

2001: Ahmad Jamal à l'Olympia

2003: In Search of Momentum

2005: After Fajr

2008: It's Magic

2008: Poinciana – One Night Only

2009: A Quiet Time

2012: Blue Moon (Jazzbook)

2013: Saturday Morning (Jazzbook)

2014: Ahmad Jamal featuring Yusef Lateef, Live at L'Olympia. 2012 — 2 CDs/1 DVD (Jazzbook/Bose/Jazz Village)

2017: Marseille (Jazz Village)

Compilations

1967: Standard Eyes (Cadet)

1972: Inspiration (Cadet)

1974: Re-evaluations: The Impulse! Years (Impulse!)

1980: The Best of Ahmad Jamal (20th Century)

1998: Ahmad Jamal 1956–66 Recordings

1998: Cross Country Tour 1958–1961 (GRP/Chess)

2005: The Legendary Okeh & Epic Recordings (1951–1955) (Columbia Legacy)

2007: Complete Live at the Pershing Lounge 1958 (Gambit)

2007: Complete Live at the Spotlite Club 1958 (Gambit)

As sideman

With Ray Brown

Some of My Best Friends Are...The Piano Players (Telarc, 1994)

With Shirley Horn

May the Music Never End (Verve, 2003)

Wikipedia

[route22ny]

A visit to the George Westinghouse Bridge.  I parked on the east side and walked out along the sidewalk that runs along the bridge’s south side.  Just over the railing was the Turtle Creek valley and the RIDC Keystone Commons development on reclaimed brownfields once occupied by Westinghouse industrial buildings. 

Since the Lincoln Highway no longer carries the bulk of east-west traffic, it was possible to hop the concrete barrier and safely walk across the four lanes to view sights to the north.  A rail yard and various tracks dominated the foreground along the creek, with the renowned Edgar Thomson Works of US Steel slightly to the northeast in the Braddock area.

Photos from September 15, 2019

[architectureforsuicides]

I Am Not Okay with This. S1/E2: “The Master of One F**k″ (Jonathan Entwistle, 2020) Westinghouse Bridge / George Westinghouse Memorial Bridge East Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - North Versailles, Pennsylvania (USA) Bridge over the Turtle creek Type: arch bridge.