| 3081/
Aeronomy is the study of the Earth's upper atmosphere, including
its composition, density, temperature and chemical changes
as recorded by satellites.
3082/ On June 22nd 1633,
Galileo Galilei was put on trial at Inquisition headquarters
in Rome. Ten Cardinals sat in judgement of Galileo. Of the
10 Cardinals present at the trial, only seven signed the final
decree, almost surely indicating a lack of unanimity among
them.
3083/ By the early 1920s,
Creationists in America were able to get the teaching of evolution
outlawed in three American states: Tennessee, Mississippi,
and Arkansas. In fact, it was not until 1967 that educators
could legally teach evolution in Tennessee.
3084/ A 1993 Gallup poll
revealed that almost half of all Americans believe that God
created humans within the past 10,000 years.
3085/ Using a complex
combination of biblical chronology (mainly counting up the
'begats'), historical accounts, and astronomical cycles, Irish
Bishop James Usher refined earlier estimates in the mid-1650s
and came up with a figure of 4004BC as the date of creation.
The figure was used in later English editions of the bible
for the next 200 years.
3086/ Around 1850BC the
first contraceptives were in use in Egypt. Namely, suppositories
of honey and camel dung.
3087/ Ts'ai Lin, a eunuch
in the court of the Emperor Ho Ti, is credited with the creation
of a paper made from the bark of the mulberry tree which was
combined with bamboo fibres, hemp and flax around 105AD.
3088/ Originally made
out of animal gut, condoms were used by the Ancient Egyptians.
However, the oldest surviving remains of one come from the
foundations of Dudley castle and date to around 1640. This
is not the first condom, but it is the first we can be sure
existed.
3089/ Condoms made from
animal intestines were still on sale in Britain in the late
1960s.
3090/ Creating a wine
with bubbles in it was, ironically, the last thing that Dom
Pierre Perignon, the inventor of Champagne, wanted to do.
Indeed, this 17th Century Benedictine monk spent years trying
to find ways of keeping bubbles out of wine, which were regarded
as a sign of poor wine-making.
3091/ By the end of the
19th Century more iron was smelted in Britain than in the
rest of Europe put together.
3092/ The basic ball
bearing design has remained unchanged since 1794, when Philip
Vaughan patented it for use on carriage wheels. Two circular
grooved rings known as 'races', one fitting inside the other,
provide the contact between the two components moving relative
to one another.
3093/ In 1795 Napoleon
offered a 12,000 Franc prize to anyone who could devise a
method of finding a way to preserve food.
3094/ In 1810, Peter
Durand, an Englishman, invented the tin can and received a
patent from King George III for using pottery, glass, tin,
or other metals for heat-preserving food. Durand began supplying
the Royal Navy with canned food; a can of veal and peas he
supplied in 1818 was still fresh when opened in 1938.
3095/ Joseph Priestley
coined the term 'rubber' in 1770 after noticing that a gum
from the caoutchouc tree could rub out pencil marks.
3096/ The metric system
was developed in 1795 in France in the wake of the Revolution
and eventually was adopted worldwide.
3097/ In 1876 Thomas
Edison set up the first industrial invention factory at Menio
Park, New Jersey. Its 80 researchers had a mission to create
a minor invention every ten days and a major one every six
months.
3098/ In 1888, Thomas
Edison invented the Kinetoscope, a projector for moving films,
and in 1903 produced The Great Train Robbery, the first movie
with a plot.
3099/ When Edison died
in 1931 he held 389 patents for electric light and power,
195 for the phonograph, 150 for the telegraph, 141 for storage
batteries and
34 for the telephone, a world record for one person.
3100/ Petrol derives
its energy (10 kilowatt-hours-worth packed in every litre)
from the fossilised remains of organisms that mopped up the
solar energy striking the Earth hundreds of millions of years
ago.
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