Today in History – April 14, 1932 – First atom is split by a proton beam on a lithium target. Two physicists, Englishman Sir John Douglas Cockcroft and Irishman Ernest Walton developed the first nuclear particle accelerator, the Cockcroft-Walton generator. With this equipment, they succeeded in being the first to split the nucleus of an [...]

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Today in History – April 6, 1938 – Teflon ® is discovered. In 1938, Du Pont researcher Roy J. Plunkett and his technician Jack Rebok accidentally discovered the chemical compound polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) that was later marketed as a commercial product in 1946 under the name Teflon®. Discovery of Teflon® is a good example of serendipity [...]

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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 22, 1985 – The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer is adopted in response to studies documenting the harm caused to the environment and our own health by ozone-depleting substances. Ozone is a colorless gas, closely related to the oxygen in the air we breathe. The ozone molecule [...]

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