24 September 2018 - Interesting Tidbits

24 September 2018 - Interesting Tidbits

On This Day:

1852 – The first airship powered by a steam engine, created by Henri Giffard, traveled 17 miles / 27 km from Paris to Trappes. The Giffard dirigible weighed over 180 kg / 400 lb and was powered by a 3 horsepower steam engine that drove a propeller. It was the world's first passenger-carrying airship. The hydrogen-filled airship had a vertical rudder to make it steerable.

1869 – "Black Friday": Gold prices plummeted after Ulysses S. Grant ordered the Treasury to sell large quantities of gold after the Jay Gould and James Fisk plot to control the market was uncovered.

1889 - Alexander Dey patented the dial time recorder.

1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower in Wyoming as the nation's first National Monument.

1935 – Earl Bascom and Weldon Bascom produced the first rodeo ever held outdoors under electric lights at Columbia, Mississippi.

1950 – Forest fires blacked out the sun over portions of Canada and New England. A blue moon was seen as far away as Europe.

1979 – CompuServe launched the first consumer internet service, which featured the first public electronic mail service.

1990 – Periodic Great White Spot was observed on Saturn.

Today's birthday crew:

1870 – Georges Claude, French chemist and engineer, invented Neon lighting, also known for a large experiment on generating energy by pumping cold seawater up from the depths.

1883 – Franklin Clarence Mars, American businessman, founded the food company Mars, Incorporated, which makes mostly chocolate candy. Mars' son Forrest Edward Mars developed M&M's and the Mars bar.

1896 – F. Scott Fitzgerald, American author.

1920 – Richard Bong, American pilot, Medal of Honor recipient, one of the most decorated American fighter pilots and the country's top flying ace in the WWII, credited with shooting down 40 Japanese aircraft, all with his P-38 Lightning.

1934 – John Brunner, British author of science fiction novels and stories. Brunner is credited with coining the term "worm" and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel The Shockwave Rider, in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network.

1936 – Jim Henson, American puppeteer, director, and producer, founded The Jim Henson Company.

1950 – John Kessel, American science fiction and fantasy author.

1958 – Kevin Sorbo, American actorr best known for the roles of Hercules in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Captain Dylan Hunt in Andromeda, and Kull in Kull the Conqueror.

1972 - Kate Fleetwood, English actress known as Mary Cattermole in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I.

Happy birthday guys!