Today in History – January 31, 1958 – Explorer 1 became the United States of America’s first satellite to orbit the Earth after it was launched on January 31, 1958. After the Soviet Union’s successful launch of Sputnik I on October 4, 1957, the United States of America embarked upon a program to launch it own artificial satellite. The first American attempt to launch a satellite using a Vanguard 1 rocket occurred in December 1957 and failed miserably.

Following this failure, the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency, located at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL, was directed to launch a scientific satellite using a Jupiter C rocket developed under Dr. Wernher von Braun. The artificial satellite was designed, built and operated by the California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory under the direction of Dr. William Pickering.

The satellite instrumentation of Explorer 1 was a cosmic ray counter designed by Dr. James Van Allen, a physicist at the University of Iowa. The cosmic ray counter experiment was designed to measure the radiation that surrounds the Earth. Once in orbit, the cosmic ray counter began to overload and measured a much lower cosmic ray count than previously assumed. Given this new information, Dr. Van Allen theorized that the cosmic ray equipment may have been exposed to very strong radiation caused by a belt of charged particles trapped in space by Earth’s magnetic field.

The data returned by Explorer 1 and another satellite launched in March 1958 prove the existence of intense belts of radiation that surround the Earth. These belts of radiation are now called Van Allen Belts and are considered to be the first major scientific discovery of the space age.

Check out the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on the Explorer I and satellites. For more educational resources, see our aeronautical engineering education and electrical engineering education community pages. The Engineering Pathway also hosts Engineering Education communities in all ABET-accredited disciplines.

Today in History – January 09, 1839 – Louis Daguerre announces his photographic process.

The first permanent photograph was made in 1826 by Joseph Niepce. Together with Louis Daguerre they further refined the process. The process involved silver-coated copper plates mixed with iodine to create a layer of silver iodine. After being exposed to light for several minutes the plate was exposed to mercury vapor and heated to 75 degrees Celsius. Though the prints that these created were not reproducible they were still amazingly popular. These pictures were known as daguerrotypes, and took several minutes of exposure. In fact when taking portraits subjects had to remain still for several minutes. And pictures of scenery often didn’t show people because they moved to fast to be caught by the slow exposure. In 1839 the French Academy of Sciences announced this process.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on photographic processes. For related educational resources, visit the Chemical Engineering Education, and the Materials Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Today in History – January 7, 1913 – William Merriam Burton is awarded the patent for thermal cracking. Cracking is a process where organic molecules and broken down into simpler molecules by breaking carbon-carbon bonds. This process is used to breakdown crude oil into one of its many products. These methods were pioneered in by Benjamin Silliman Jr in 1855. But prior to 1913 one of the most popular ways of turning crude oil into useful products was distillation process which collected different products as they condensed in a distillation tower. While this process worked it produced very little gasoline. Burton new this process wasn’t enough and wanted to improve the process just in case Henry Ford was right about automobiles. After years of testing in the laboratory William Burton developed the process of thermal cracking. In this process elevated temperatures and pressures (over 800C and 700kPa respectively) are used. This in effect doubled the yield from a single barrel of crude oil. In 1913 Burton received US Patent No. 1,049,667 for thermal cracking.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on petroleum refining. For related educational resources, visit the Petroleum Engineering Education disciplinary community.

Today in History – December 25, 1642 – Isacc Newton‘s birth. Also on this date in 1741 astronomer Anders Celsius introduces the temperature scale that bears his name.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway‘s resources on Newton and engineering mechanics or the Celsius scale and temperature measurement. For curricular resources, visit the Engineering Mechanics Education, the Mechanical Engineering Education or the Chemical Engineering Education community sites.

Today in History – December 23, 1867 – Birth of first self-made millionairess (Sarah Breedlove for hair straightener invention, products and services). Born in poverty in 1867 (left graphic is of her birth house) on the shores of the Mississippi River in northeast Louisiana, her parents died of ‘yellow fever‘ while she was a young child of seven. Her parents, Owen and Minera Breedlove, were former slaves to “Robert W. Burney’s Madison Parish farm which was a battle-staging area during the Civil War for General Ulysses S. Grant and his Union troops”. Walker was an entrepreneur and made her fortune through her self-made hair products. She developed a product to straighten African American women’s hair. She claimed that the invention of her hair product came to her in a dream. Although it was thought she did this to help African American women conform their hair to that of whites, she argued that she created the treatment in order to encourage good treatment and growth in African American women’s hair. She began selling her product door-door. In due time she sophisticated her marketing approach and by 1906 she and her husband Charles Joseph Walker toured the country promoting her hair products. She moved to a mail order operation and established a beauty training school. “In 1910 they moved the central operations to Indianapolis, then the country’s largest manufacturing base, to utilize that city’s access to eight major railway systems.”

Although illiterate when she started her business, Walker took lessons in public speaking, penmanship and developed a striking personality, wearing fine clothing and employing a chauffeur-driven electric carriage. She was to establish a tradition of giving back to the community by contributing to African American orphanages, old-age homes, schools, colleges, and a new civil rights organization, the NAACP. The first self-made millionaires, Walker succeeded despite being an orphan. Madame CJ Walker’s contributions in hair care established her as a prominent role model to woman, still, today, as “one of the most successful business executives in the early half of the twentieth century”.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway‘s resources on women inventors, African American scientists and engineers or our engineering diversity website. For curricular resources, visit the Chemical Engineering Education community site.

Also on this date in history in 1975, Congress passes Metric Conversion Act. Also in 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager complete the first non-stop circumnavigation of the world, nonstop, without refueling their plane, the Voyager. For more information, see the Engineering Pathway‘s resources on metric conversion, airplane design and aeronautics, or Aeronautical Engineering Education.

Today in History – December 16, 1915 – Albert Einstein publishes the General Theory of Relativity.

General Theory of relativity is a theory of gravity. Ninety-one years ago on this day he published his mathematical formula for the theory of relativity. The theory introduced the famous concept of gravitation and inertia equivalence, which in turns asserts ‘gravitation as a determiner of the curvature in a space-time continuum.’ It is obvious from the quote the complexity of this theorem and even to this day people have trouble grasping the concepts. His contribution of this theory has helped us better understand the fourth dimension known as time. The theory of relativity introduced concepts that changed the way we think of time and gravity, making it monumental in our history.

For related curricular resources, visit the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on Einstein and relativity or the Nuclear Engineering Education community.

Today in History – December 15, 1939 – First commercial manufacture of nylon yarn. Wallace Hume Carothers led a team of researchers at DuPont to develop the world’s first totally synthetic fiber. Dupont turned their experimental laboratory in Wilmington, Delaware into a full-fledged industrial process and industry. Before the invention of nylon became a name associated with stockings, DuPont tested prototype machinery on a product called Dr. West’s Miracle-Tuft toothbrushes that had bristles made from nylon. DuPont kept the chemical nature of the new bristles secret during this trial period. The response was positive as consumers liked having a toothbrush that dried out between uses, unlike the old boar’s hair bristle brushes.

During World War II, nylon replaced Japanese silk for parachutes and tents. After World War II nylon and nylon composite products became popular for wind breakers, backpacking gear, lingerie, “wash and wear” clothing, carpeting, fishing line, rope, sails, automobile parts, and strings for musical instruments.

With concerns of global warming, environmental pollution and sustainable engineering, pervasive use of nylon has come under question, with estimates that 10% of the annual increase in atmospheric NOx may come from nylon production. New research in green chemistry and bioplastics emphasizes “developing economically viable products and processes that require fewer reagents, less solvent, and less energy than conventional processes, while being safer, generating less waste, and having a lower environmental impact”. Consumers are leading the way in demanding more environmentally friendly forms of nylon and alternatives.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on Dupont and Nylon, as well as global warming, environmental pollution, and green chemistry. For related curricular resources, visit the Chemical Engineering Education or the Environmental Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Also on this date in 1965, Gemini 6 launched and made first rendezvous in space with Gemini 7.

Today in history – December 11th, 1997 – the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change was signed.

In 1992 the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted and was a major force in addressing the problem of global warming. As greenhouse gas levels rose around the world it became clear that countries had to be committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. This commitment came in the form of the Kyoto Protocol. Name after the city it was signed in, Kyoto, Japan, the now has over 174 parties that have ratified the protocol. Of these 36 are have committed to reduce their greenhouse gas levels by at least 5% of the 1990 baseline. These targets must be reached within a five year time frame between 2008 and 2012. One notable exception, is United States even though it is a member of the UNFCCC. On February 16th, 2005 the protocol entered into force and will expire in 2012.

The Kyoto Protocol affects almost all the major sectors of the economy and is considered to be the most far-reaching agreement on environment and sustainable development ever adopted. Since its inception many governments have adopted new policies to meet their protocol commitments. And in the future the protocol will act as a framework for any international agreement on climate change. Some doubt the connection between greenhouse gasses and climate change. But, the Fourth Assessment Report on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, launched this year may have put an end to those doubts.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on global warming. For related educational resources, visit the Environmental Engineering Education, disciplinary community. You may also want to visit our December 4th blog on the coining of the word “smog” and the “killer fog” of London.

Also on this date in 1844, Dr. Horace Wells was the first to receive dental use of nitrous oxide. See related educational resources on anaesthetics or visit the Biomedical Engineering Education, disciplinary community.

Today in History – December 4th, 1952 – Killer fog begins in London England and the word “smog” is coined. A dense fog mixed with sooty black coal smoke killed over 12,000 Londoners in four days, remaining one of the deadliest environmental tragedies in recent history. As many of the initial deaths were elderly or ill people, the medical staff who treated patients at the time did not realize the cause and extent of the impact. It was the shortage of coffins and high sales of flowers were the first indications that many people were being killed. The effect of carbon emissions on the the environment remains today and is the major contributor to global warming.

During the period of Friday 5th to Tuesday 9th December 1952 a thick, dense mixture of smoke and fog settled over London, for which the term “smog” was coined. Today this event is seen as one of the most significant pollution episodes in history, since it led directly to new ways of thinking about man’s impact on the environment and raised public awareness of the relationship between air quality and health. The huge number of deaths (initially reported as 4000, nowadays considered to be closer to 12,000) and other casualties (an estimated 100,000 people were affected by respiratory illnesses) directly attributed to the smog demonstrated its lethal potential and gave impetus to the modern environmental movement and the rethinking of air pollution and the need to control it.

In the years following the Great Smog, new laws were implemented in the UK, the Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968, and the City of London (Various Powers) Act 1954, to greatly restrict air pollution and improve air quality. This led to the closures of the coal-fired power stations at Battersea and other places within London and the moving of power plants to central locations in England away from the cities. These acts, and others like them across the developed world, have helped to improve air quality, but now a modern variation of the London Smog, known as photochemical smog, blights our cities, and, whereas the Great Smog was stationary and sat for several days over a windless London, this new fog travels with the wind and, hence, can affect populations well away from the cities themselves.

The London Smog was made up of black soot and tar particles and sulfur dioxide emitted mainly by the coal-fired power stations dotted around and within London. Mixed with the smoke from domestic chimneys, vehicle exhausts (particularly those from the diesel engines of the London Buses that had just replaced the more environmentally friendly trams!) and combining with the fog caused by an anticyclone settling over London, a thick “pea soup” smog (the presence of the tarry particles of soot gave the smog its yellow-back colour which led to its nickname of “peasouper”) developed and settled close to the ground, remaining motionless for several days and leading to severe breathing difficulties for those living and working within it.

In contrast, with coal-fired power stations largely removed from our cities and, in any case, in most countries now fitted with air pollution control measures to remove particulates and sulfurous oxides, the modern day version of smog is formed due to the chemical reaction of nitrogen oxides (formed in vehicle exhausts) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs, emitted from, for instance, gasoline, solvents, paints), catalysed by sunlight. This results in airborne particles that are highly reactive and oxidising and in ground-level ozone. Exposure to these pollutants can either cause or exacerbate acute respiratory diseases, decreased lung function in children, asthma and other serious health problems. It is this phenomenon that we can often see as a dirty brown stain hanging over our cities on sunny, warm and dry days. For those cities still dependent on local coal-fired power stations, such as Beijing, and combined with the soot emitted from diesel engines, the problem is even more acute. Modern-day versions of the first Clean Air Acts have significantly reduced soot emissions from coal-fired power stations and vehicle exhausts in the United States and Europe.

Scientists now believe that global warming will only add to the problem of air pollution in our cities. Higher temperatures over the coming decades are expected to cause more smoggy days and heat waves, resulting in a greater number of illnesses and deaths. However, the interactions between smog and global warming are extremely complex and are not fully understood. For instance, it is now known that aerosols, which are gaseous suspensions of very fine particles, including soot, are known to increase global warming, whereas sulfates have a cooling effect. What happens when you remove one or the other or both from emissions to the atmosphere is not known for certain. Recent studies estimate that soot in the atmosphere is responsible for 18 per cent of the planet’s global warming, compared with 40 per cent for carbon dioxide. Hence, it is believed that measures to control the emissions of soot from, for example, wood-burning stoves, could be a relatively cheap and quick way of significantly reducing global warming. Unlike carbon dioxide, soot does not linger for long in the atmosphere, but travels immense distances to deposit on snow-capped mountains and polar ice caps, significantly reducing the ability of the snow and ice to reflect the sun’s energy. It is from Asia and Africa where most of the soot emanates.

There are over 700 million wood-burning stoves in use in the World today. Several initiatives are underway to encourage communities in India and Africa to use new stoves that do not emit soot. One such project has come up with an innovative stove for use in the war-torn region of Darfur. Known as the Darfur Stoves project and led by scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (http://darfurstoves.org/), the new stove requires only one quarter of the amount of firewood needed to cook using the traditional three-stone fires. Because of its fuel efficiency, use of the new stove limits the amount of time the women in Darfur need to spend outside the safety of the displaced persons camps to gather fuel for cooking. This decreases their exposure to possible violent attacks, whilst also limiting deforestation and the release of toxic indoor smoke. However, in common with a similar initiative in Kohlua, India (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/science/earth/16degrees.html) there is a reluctance from the communities involved to use these new stoves, partly because the food prepared on them tastes very different to what they are used to (and happy with) and partly because of cultural and traditional values. This is a lesson that must be learnt. If we are to encourage people to change their behaviours to combat global warming, we must work with them to develop technologies appropriate to their needs.

I am Director of the the Centre for CO₂ Technology at University College London, established in response to the Kyoto Protocol and the recognition that existing technologies will not be able to meet the emission targets agreed upon for carbon dioxide (as the main greenhouse gas). Thus, the Centre focuses on developing breakthrough technologies for the large scale reduction (e.g. alternative, low carbon, energy sources), removal (e.g. gas separation from flue emissions) and sequestration (e.g. long term storage in materials) of carbon dioxide.

My personal research interests lie in the development of technologies that radically change the ways that chemicals are made today, so that the energy demand from the chemicals sector is massively reduced. I am also interested in looking into ways to involve all stakeholders in the development of low carbon technologies, in order to encourage deployment of said technologies, a process known as Open Innovation. See http://www.ucl.ac.uk/climate-change/ for the work UCL is doing on climate change. My piece is available at the link “The Next Industrial Revolution”.

For more information, see the EEngineering Pathway’s educational resources on global warming and smog and air pollution. For related curricula, visit the Chemical Engineering Education or Environmental Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Also on this date in 1996, NASA’s Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner rover launched from Cape Canaveral.

Today in History – December 3, 1984 – over 2,000 die and many more injured from Union Carbide’s (now owned by Dow Chemical) poison gas emission (methyl isocyanate) at their agricultural plant in Bhopal, India. Prior to the catastrophe, the Bhopal plant had drastically reduced personnel, particularly in regard to production and maintenance, as it had been losing money for several years due to the weak demand in India for pesticides. At the time of the accident, important safety devices were out of commission and the under-trained staff were not able to contain the poisonous gas.

Globalization is bringing new and complex technologies into the developing world, who may lack the infrastructure to support and maintain these new technologies safely. The low cost of labor enables multinational corporations economic and competitive advantages. Many ethical questions arise as to the extent to which health standards, work conditions and community investments required in the home country should be applied to facilities in developing countries. This disaster can be used as a case study to address the implications of modern technologies on developing nations and the ethical and competitive issues around globalization of production and manufacturing technologies. For example, the Exportation of Risk case study “includes comparisons with Bhopal’s sister plant in Institute, West Virginia, and considers the moral responsibility for preventing such tragedies on the part of multinational corporations, the governments of the industrialized nations where they are head quartered, and the governments of developing countries where they operate. The moral responsibilities of engineers and scientists working for these organizations are also considered.”

There have also been many well-intentioned technologies designed to help the human condition that may have done more harm than good.  The arsenic poisoning from deep well water in Bangladesh has been called the largest mass human poisoning on earth, far exceeding the deaths at Bhopal. Yet, its roots can be traced to World Health Organization projects and participating engineers that encouraged the people of Bangladesh to dig deep wells to avoid the biological hazards of surface water. Now the people of Bangladesh faces a choice – immediate illness and possible death from dysentery or probable long-term suffering and death from arsenic. This problem is particularly challenging as most people in Bangladesh earn less than $1 per day. Fortunately, there are several technology solutions being tested and evaluated for both technical effectiveness and economic sustainability.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on the Bhopal disaster as well as those on globalization or ethics and social implications of technology. For related educational resources, visit the Chemical Engineering Education, Agricultural Engineering Education or the Engineering Ethics Education community sites.

Two decades earlier on this date in 1964, Police arrests launches the free speech movement at the University of California at Berkeley, paving the way for increased openness and inquiry about public events on university campuses, such as the condemnation of the Bhopal disaster and the inadequacies of the response. Today many are concerned that the “Patriot Act” may be stifling this open inquiry with Internet monitoring and other electronic surveillance. Founded in 1990, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) “continues to confront cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights today. From the beginning, EFF has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights.”

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on the Free Speech Movement or ethics and social implications of technology. For related educational resources, visit the Information Technology Education, the Software Engineering Education, or the Computer Science Education disciplinary communities.

This date in 1982 marks International Day of Disabled Persons adopted by United Nations as well as the first human heart transplant in 1967. Both good examples of how technological development can improve the human condition. Also on this date in 1586, Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England, from Colombia.

Browse the Engineering Pathway’s related educational resources for and about persons with disabilities or visit the Biological Systems and Agricultural Engineering Education or the Biomedical Engineering Education disciplinary communities.