Monthly Archives: May 2018

Health advocate John Harvey Kellogg and the Invention of Flaked Cereals

31. May 2018 Tabea Tietz

On May 31, 1884, the health-food fanatic John Harvey Kellogg patented his ‘flaked cereal‘ during his time as the superintendent of the ‘Battle Creek Sanitarium‘ in Michigan. “A dead cow or sheep lying in a pasture is recognized as carrion. The same sort of a carcass dressed and hung up in a butcher’s stall passes as food. “ – John Harvey Kellogg John Harvey Kellogg and the Battle Creek Sanitarium John Harvey…

philosophy

Mikhail Bakunin – the Father of Anarchism

30. May 2018 Tabea Tietz

On May 30, 1814 (julian calendar May 18), Russian revolutionary and philosopher Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was born. Although many scholars argue if he is the founder of anarchist theory in general, he was the leading theorist of collectivist anarchism. “To revolt is a natural tendency of life. Even a worm turns against the foot that crushes it. In general, the vitality and relative dignity of an animal can be measured by the…

history

Oswald Spengler and the Decline of the West

29. May 2018 Harald Sack

On May 29, 1880, German historian and philosopher Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler was born. He is best known for his book The Decline of the West (Der Untergang des Abendlandes), published in 1918 and 1922, covering all of world history. He proposed a new theory, according to which the lifespan of civilizations is limited and ultimately they decay. “What the myth of Götterdämmerung signified of old, the irreligious form of it, the theory of…

geology

Louis Agassiz and the Ice Ages

28. May 2018 Tabea Tietz

On May 28, 1807, Swiss paleontologist, glaciologist, and geologist Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was born, who is considered a prominent innovator in the study of the Earth‘s natural history. He was the first to scientifically propose that the Earth had been subject to a past ice age. “The time has come when scientific truth must cease to be the property of the few, when it must be woven into the common life…

engineering

The Opening of The Golden Gate Bridge

27. May 2018 Harald Sack

On May 27, 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco spanning over the opening of the San Francisco Bay and connecting the city with Marin County was opened for public traffic. When the planning for the bridge started back in 1916 many experts said that a bridge couldn’t be built across the 6,700 ft (2,042 m) strait. It had strong, swirling tides and currents, with water 372 ft (113 m) deep at the center of…

history

Kaspar Hauser, the Mysterious Story of a Foundling

26. May 2018 Harald Sack

On 26 May 1828, a teenage boy appeared in the streets of Nuremberg, Germany. The boy, who answered to the name Kaspar Hauser, claimed to have grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell. Hauser’s claims, and his subsequent death by stabbing, sparked much debate and controversy. Some theories about him at the time linked him with the grand ducal House of Baden to be the hereditary “Prince of Baden”.…

communication

Dit dit dit da dit – The first Morse Telegram

25. May 2018 Harald Sack

On May 24th 1844 the first Morse telegram went over the line. Samuel Morse and his colleague Alfred Vail knew that the very first phrase to be sent with the new telecommunication medium was to be remembered. So what should they transmit? Morse came up with a quote from the bible, certainly well chosen for an historic occasion like this: “What God had wrought” sent by Morse in Washington to Alfred Vail at…

physics

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit and the Measurement of Temperature

24. May 2018 Tabea Tietz

On May 24, 1686, Dutch-German-Polish physicist, engineer, and glass blower Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was born. He is is best known for his invention of the mercury-in-glass thermometer in 1714, and for developing a temperature scale that is now named after him. Daniel Fahrenheit – Youth and Education Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit’s parents living in Gdansk, Poland, were Daniel (1656-1701) and Concordia Fahrenheit (1657-1701) (née Schumann, related Runge). The mother came from a well-known Gdañsk…

music

Remembering Robert Moog – Inventor of the famous Moog Synthesizer

23. May 2018 Tabea Tietz

On May 23, 1934, American engineer and pioneer of electronic music Robert Arthur Moog, who was born. Moog is best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer. During his lifetime, Moog founded two companies for manufacturing electronic musical instruments. “Everything that emits sounds and can be changed with switches is a synthesizer. An instrument you turn on and play, like the theremin, is not a synthesizer. But if you can set this and…

computer games

Eat your Power Pill – The Story of Pac-Man

22. May 2018 Tabea Tietz

On May 22, 1980, one of the most famous characters in the history of gaming was born. Pac-Man was developed by the Japanese company Namco and amazed many people around the globe. A Game for the whole Family Even Ronald Reagan – former US president – demonstrated his interest in the little yellow fellow when he congratulated an eight-year-old boy for his game-achievements in 1982. Originally, the game was developed to attract girls, because the arcade…

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