Today in History – March 31, 1889 – Eiffel Tower opens. The 300m Eiffel Tower was commissioned to commemorate the French Revolution. Amazingly, all of the elements were prepared in Gustav Eiffel’s factory located at Levallois-Perret on the outskirts of Paris. There were 18,000 pieces used to construct the Tower. Each piece was designed and [...]

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Today in History – March 30, 1842 – Dr. Crawford Long first uses ether as anesthesia to provide his patients with painless surgery. Diethyl ether (C2H5-O-C2H5), also known as ethyl ether or simply ether, is a clear, highly flammable liquid with a sweet, pungent odor. It vaporizes easily, boiling at a temperature slightly above normal [...]

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Today in History – March 27, 1933 – Polyethylene is discovered. Polythene is also known as polyethene or polyethylene. It was discovered in 1933 by Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett, two scientists working at ICI’s research laboratory at Winnington, Northwich, who accidentally discovered the white, waxy solid while attempting to react ethylene with benzaldehyde in [...]

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Today in History – March 25, 1954 – Production of RCA’s first color television sets. RCA based their color television on the 1947 patent application of Alfred Schroeder, for a shadow mask CRT. Their system passed FCC approval in late 1953 and sales of RCA color televisions began on March 25, 1954. Yet, as is [...]

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Today in History – March 24, 1959 – the maser was patented by Charles Hard Townes (No. 2,879,439), who was a professor at Columbia University. “Maser” is an acronym for “Microwave Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation “.  He had the unique idea for a new microwave generator, based on the idea that excited [...]

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