On this day in 1816, Sir Humphrey Davies trialed a revolutionary new lamp, one that would not ignite the methane so often encountered in coal mines. The Davies Lamp not only reduced the prevalence of coal mine explosions, it created an invention naming style.
For extra credit, guess the name of the inventor of the van de Graff generator.
Also on this date in 475, Byzantine Emperor Zeno fled an uprising in Constantinople. Because he was an Emperor and not a Philosopher he was actually able to reach the city gates and escape.
5 comments:
That was back in the day when names actually MEANT something... now it's all acronyms... sigh
I do believe it is Humphry Davy,who gave us the name of Aluminum, or as he called it Aluminium, attaching the "ium" as in other metals' names (e.g."Radium" "Thorium". Americans dropped the "i", and I believe "Aluminum" is the official name of the element now.
I'm okay with that invention naming style, as I'm sure are Messrs. Mosin, Nagant, Tokarev, Makarov, Kalashnikov, Maxim, Lewis, Gatling...
"believe "Aluminum" is the official name of the element now."
Try telling the Brits that, though.
Even old New York, was once New Amsterdam...
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