July 10, 1856: Nikola Tesla, American inventor, was born in Serbia. He built first alternating current induction motor. Tesla discovered benefits of rotating magnetic fields (basis of most alternating-current machinery). Because alternating current could be transmitted over much greater distances than direct current, George Westinghouse bought patents from Tesla. In 1896, Westinghouse power station in Niagara Falls began providing electricity from a long distance (15 miles) to Buffalo, New York. July 10, 1992: Former Exxon Valdez Tanker Captain, Joseph Hazelwood, conviction overturned by Alaska Court of Appeals. Found guilty of negligence for role in massive oil spill in Prince William Sound in 1989. Successfully argued that he was entitled to immunity from prosecution because he had reported oil spill to authorities 20 minutes after the ship ran aground. Environmental problems caused by the spill were compounded by not beginning cleanup effort right away. In 1991, civil suit resulted in a billion-dollar judgment. However, years later, while an appeal remained backlogged in the court system; initial court awarded damages have not been paid. July 10, 1981: European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) achieved first proton-antiproton beam collision. July 10, 1976: Seveso Chemical Plant (near Milan, Italy) chemical release resulted in 37,000 people being exposed to dioxin. Valve broke releasing about 3,000 kg of chemicals into the air, including trichlorophenol, used in manufacture of herbicides. First sign of health problems, burn-like skin lesions, appeared on children within few hours after the accident. Five days after accident, rabbits began to die en masse. Two months later, chloracne broke out amongst people exposed to hazardous chemical release. July 10, 1962: Nils Bohlin, Swedish engineer, received American patent for three-point automobile safety belt. Use of seat belts has reduced risk of fatalities & serious injuries from collisions by about 50 percent. July 10, 1962: Worlds first geosynchronous active communications satellite (Telstar I), was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was able to relay TV & telephone signals, which made first live transatlantic television-broadcast feasible. July 10, 1949: Earthquake (7.5-magnitude) struck Tajikistan (located north of Afghanistan) where 12,000 people died. July 10, 1947: Train derailed & fell into river in China where 200 people died. July 10, 1926: Picatinny Army Arsenal exploded in New Jersey where 21 people died. July 10, 1908, Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch scientist, made helium liquid at a temperature of 4.2 K (-269 ºC). He had worked for many years to liquefy this element which persisted as a gas to the lowest temperature. Using liquid air to produce liquid hydrogen & then the hydrogen to jacket the liquefaction apparatus, he produced 60 cubic centimeters of liquid helium. Gas was liquefied by compressing it, cooling it below inversion temperature & then allowing it to expand, which causes further cooling resulting in liquefaction of some of the gas. July 10, 1902: Kurt Alder, German chemist was born. Alder & Otto Diels received Nobel Prize for Chemistry for development of the Diels-Alder reaction, or diene synthesis, a widely used method of synthesizing cyclic organic compounds. Diels-Alder reaction proceeds in the mildest conditions, is of general application, and hence of great utility in synthesis. It is used in the synthesis of natural products, such as sterols, vitamin K, cantharides & synthetic polymers. July 10, 1887: Concrete dam broke in Switzerland where 70 people died. When it was built, concrete-making & setting techniques were not as advanced as they are today. Water pressure on 80-foot high dam slowly eroded concrete, causing it to collapse.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 17:10:00 +0000
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