We do not see space, time and the universe the way they are, we see space, time and the universe the way we are. ~David Lewis Anderson
1745 – Alessandro Volta, inventor of the battery, is born.
Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta was an Italian physicist known for the invention of the battery in the 1800s…
The battery made by Volta is credited as the first electrochemical cell. It consists of two electrodes: one made of zinc, the other of copper. The electrolyte is either sulfuric acid mixed with water or a form of saltwater brine. The electrolyte exists in the form 2H+ and SO42−. The zinc, which is higher than both copper and hydrogen in the electrochemical series, reacts with the negatively charged sulfate (SO42−). The positively charged hydrogen ions (protons) capture electrons from the copper, forming bubbles of hydrogen gas, H2. This makes the zinc rod the negative electrode and the copper rod the positive electrode.
1838 – Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist and philosopher is born.
Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach was an Austrian physicist and philosopher, noted for his contributions to physics such as the Mach number and the study of shock waves. As a philosopher of science, he was a major influence on logical positivism, American pragmatism and through his criticism of Newton, a forerunner of Einstein’s relativity…
Mach’s main contribution to physics involved his description and photographs of spark shock-waves and then ballistic shock-waves. He described how when a bullet or shell moved faster than the speed of sound, it created a compression of air in front it. Using schlieren photography, he and his son Ludwig were able to photograph the shadows of the invisible shock waves. During the early 1890s Ludwig was able to invent an interferometer which allowed for much clearer photographs. But Mach also made many contributions to psychology and physiology, including his anticipation of gestalt phenomena, his discovery of the oblique effect and of Mach bands, an inhibition-influenced type of visual illusion, and especially his discovery of a non-acoustic function of the inner ear which helps control human balance.
1911 – The first official flight with air mail takes place from Allahabad, United Provinces, British India (now India), when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away.
The world’s first official airmail flight came the next day, at a large exhibition in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India. The organizer of the aviation display, Sir Walter George Windham, was able to secure permission from the postmaster general in India to operate an airmail service in order to generate publicity for the exhibition and to raise money for charity. Mail from people across the region was gathered in at the local church and the first airmail flight was piloted by Henri Pequet, who flew 6,500 letters a distance of 13 km (8.1 mi) from Allahabad, to Naini – the nearest station on the Bombay-Calcutta line to the exhibition. The letters bore an official frank “First Aerial Post, U.P. Exhibition, Allahabad. 1911”. The aircraft used, was a Humber-Sommer biplane with about fifty horsepower (37 kW), and it made the journey in thirteen minutes.
1930 – Elm Farm Ollie become the first cow to fly in an airplane.
Elm Farm Ollie (known as “Nellie Jay” and post-flight as “Sky Queen”) was the first cow to fly in an airplane, doing so on 18 February 1930, as part of the International Air Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. On the same trip, which covered 72 miles in a Ford Trimotor airplane from Bismarck, Missouri, to St. Louis, she also became the first cow milked in flight. This was done ostensibly to allow scientists to observe midair effects on animals, as well as for publicity purposes. A St. Louis newspaper trumpeted her mission as being “to blaze a trail for the transportation of livestock by air.”
2011 – Adafruit introduces the Proto-Screwshield (Wingshield) kit.
Happy 3rd Birthday to our Proto-Screwshield (Wingshield) Kit!
Proto-Screwshield (Wingshield) kit! The next generation Proto-ScrewShield is a dual-purpose prototyping shield. Now only does it have a large 0.1″ grid prototyping area but it also extends the Arduino pins to sturdy, secure, and dependable screw terminal blocks. You even get a few bonus terminals for extra GND and four ‘free’ terminals for whatever connections you wish!
2013 – Adafruit Ultimate GPS Logger Shield – Includes GPS Module is introduced into the Adafruit Store.
…And our Ultimate GPS Logger Shield turns 1 year old today. *Sniff* They grow up so fast!
Brand new and better than ever, we’ve replaced our Adafruit GPS shield kit with this assembled shield that comes with an Ultimate GPS module. This GPS shield works great with either UNO or Leonardo Arduinos and is designed to log data to an SD card. Or you can leave the SD card out and use the GPS for a geocaching project, or maybe a music player that changes tunes depending on where you are in the city.