Peter Studebaker, his brother, their wives and a cousin arrived in America from Germany in 1736. Industrious, they began making farm equipment, then wagons and Army wagons. The families burgeoned and so did the business – Studebaker became the largest wagon manufacturer in the world. They advanced to making fancy horse-drawn carriages. In the 1850s,…
Category: Science
The Year was 1974
“Mr. Oklahoma,” they called him. Robert S. Kerr of the Kerr-McGee Corporation, born in a log cabin in Indian Territory in 1896, became wealthy through oil and other investments and rose to be governor of Oklahoma, and then senator. Through it all, a devout Baptist, he taught a Sunday school class. But Bob Kerr was…
The Year was 1916
Thanks to Steve Ellis for this idea! Should we blame farmers? What about school bus drivers? No. For Daylight Savings Time, we must blame World War I. Making optimal use of daylight was an idea that was used even in ancient times. The Romans adjusted their water clocks for every month. In 1895, a New…
The Year was 1582
Or was it 45 BC? Or 1752? Or 1929? Or… This was the year that January 1st became New Year’s Day. The first person to decree this was Julius Caesar in 45 BCE. He was disgusted with the mess the lunar calendar had created over time. And emperors weren’t averse to added or taking days…
The Year was 1998
Someone else’s mistake eventually thrust Patricia Hunt into the spotlight. It was something the research geneticist never wanted – and certainly never expected. The result of the mistake is something we all know and are concerned about and has changed an entire world-wide industry. Hunt, with a PhD in reproductive biology from the University of…
The Year was 1600
Did the Earth revolve around the Sun? No! But brilliant mathematician and astronomer Giordano Bruno was saying it did. Not only that. He also said that our solar system was just one of many. Born in Naples, Bruno became a Dominican friar, but his freethinking ideas were not going down too well with the Church….