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Internal Combustion Engine
Samuel Brown was an English engineer and inventor credited with developing one of the earliest examples of an internal combustion engine, during the early 19th century. He developed 'the first gas engine that unquestionably did actual work and was a mechanical success'. -
Heat Engine
French physicist Sadi Carnot established the thermodynamic theory of idealized heat engines. This scientifically established the need for compression to increase the difference between the upper and lower working temperatures. A heat engine typically uses energy provided in the form of heat to do work and then exhausts the heat which cannot be used to do work. -
Telegraph
In 1828, the first telegraph in the USA was invented by Harrison Dyar who sent electrical sparks through chemically treated paper tape to burn dots and dashes. -
Electric Motor
He developed a battery-powered electric motor. He used it to operate a small model car on a short section of track, paving the way for the later electrification. -
Electricity from Light
Building on Smith’s discovery three years before, professor William Grylls Adams, accompanied by his student, Richard Evans Day, were the first to observe an electrical current when a material was exposed to light. They used two electrodes onto a plate of selenium, and observed a tiny amount of electricity when the plate was exposed to light. -
Solar Cells
An American inventor, Charles Fritts, was the first that came up with plans for how to make solar cells. His simple designs in the late 19th century were based on selenium wafers. -
Electromagnetic Radiation
Ionising radiation was discovered by Wilhelm Rontgen in 1895, by passing an electric current through an evacuated glass tube and producing continuous X-rays. He produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known as X-rays or Röntgen rays, an achievement that earned him the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. In honor of his accomplishments, in 2004 the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry named an element, roentgenium, after him. -
Radioactivity
Henri Becquerel found that pitchblende (an ore containing radium and uranium) caused a photographic plate to darken. He went on to demonstrate that this was due to beta radiation (electrons) and alpha particles (helium nuclei) being emitted. -
Electronic Television
Farnsworth's image dissector camera tube transmitted its first image, a simple straight line, at his laboratory at 202 Green Street in San Francisco. By September 3, 1928, Farnsworth had developed the system sufficiently to hold a demonstration for the press. This is widely regarded as first electronic television demonstration. -
Opening of the Hoover Dam
It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives. The dam was controversially named after President Herbert Hoover. -
Geothermal Energy
The Geothermal Energy Association is formed on this date. The G.E.A includes United States companies that devlelop geothermal resources worldwide for electrical power generating and direct heat uses. -
Operation Desert Storm
United Nations coalition forces launch Operation Desert Storm when Saddam Hussein refuses to withdraw from Kuwait.
