Interesting tidbits: 1859 - Paper bag manufacturing machine patents by William Goodale, Mass. 1874 - Start of Sherlock Holmes Adventure Gloria Scott. Todays birthday crew: 1854 – George Eastman, American innovator and entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and popularized the use of roll film, helping to bring photography to the mainstream. Roll film was also the basis for the invention of motion picture film in 1888 by the worlds first film-makers Eadward Muybridge and Louis Le Prince, and a few years later by their followers Léon Bouly, Thomas Edison, the Lumière Brothers, and Georges Méliès. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the Eastman School of Music, and schools of dentistry and medicine at the University of Rochester and in London; contributing to RIT and the construction of MITs second campus on the Charles River; and donating to Tuskegee and Hampton universities. In addition, he provided funds for clinics in London and other European cities to serve low-income residents. In the last few years of his life Eastman suffered with chronic pain and reduced functionality due to a spine illness. On March 14, 1932 Eastman shot himself in the heart, leaving a note which read, To my friends: my work is done. Why wait? The George Eastman House, now operated as the International Museum of Photography and Film, has been designated a National Historic Landmark. 1895 – Buckminster Fuller, American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, and futurist. Fuller published more than 30 books, inventing and popularizing terms such as Spaceship Earth, ephemeralization, and synergetic. He also developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, including the widely known geodesic dome and thy dymaxion car. Carbon molecules known as fullerenes were later named by scientists for their resemblance to geodesic spheres. 1933 – Victor Poor, American engineer whose designs of hardware and software led to many innovations. At Computer Terminal Corporation (later renamed Datapoint Corporation), he co-created the architecture that was ultimately implemented in the first successful computer microprocessor, the Intel 8080. Subsequently, Computer Terminal Corporation created the first personal computer, the Datapoint 2200 programmable terminal. 1933 – Donald E. Westlake, American writer who specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction or other genres. He was a three-time Edgar Award winner, one of only three writers (the others are Joe Gores and William L. DeAndrea) to win Edgars in three different categories (1968, Best Novel, God Save the Mark; 1990, Best Short Story, Too Many Crooks; 1991, Best Motion Picture Screenplay, The Grifters). In 1993, the Mystery Writers of America named Westlake a Grand Master. 1947 – Loren Coleman, American cryptozoologist who writes on popular culture, animal mysteries, folklore, and cryptozoology. He has appeared on television and radio interviews about cryptids. He has written articles and books on cryptozoology and other Fortean topics. He was a publicity consultant on The Mothman Prophecies. Coleman has carried out fieldwork throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico, regarding sightings, trace evidence, and Native peoples traditions of Sasquatch/Windigo/Bigfoot. Coleman has won awards for this documentary and literary work. Coleman established his International Cryptozoology Museum in 2003 in Portland, Maine. Coleman contributed to the exhibition Cryptozoology: Out of Time Place Scale, shown at Bates College Museum of Art (June 24 - October 8, 2006) and at the H & R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute (October 28 - December 20, 2006). He delivered the keynote address, An Introduction to Cryptozoology, at the symposium at Bates College in October 2005, and gave a similar talk at the American Museum of Natural History in 2007. The museum was named Yankee magazines Best Quirky Museum in their Maine Best Attractions 2010 list. 1980 – Tom Price, British actor better known as police officer Andy Davidson in Torchwood and the Torchwood Radio Play Asylum. Happy birthday guys!
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 10:00:36 +0000
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