1.
1872 in art
–
Events from the year 1872 in art. February 20 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City. A, november 13 – Claude Monet begins painting Impression, Sunrise as viewed from his hotel room at Le Havre. November – Edward Lear acquires his cat Foss, date unknown William De Morgan sets up an art pottery in Chelsea, London. The first Wallace fountains, to the design of sculptor Charles-Auguste Lebourg, are installed in Paris
2.
Science
–
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. The formal sciences are often excluded as they do not depend on empirical observations, disciplines which use science, like engineering and medicine, may also be considered to be applied sciences. However, during the Islamic Golden Age foundations for the method were laid by Ibn al-Haytham in his Book of Optics. In the 17th and 18th centuries, scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of physical laws, over the course of the 19th century, the word science became increasingly associated with the scientific method itself as a disciplined way to study the natural world. It was during this time that scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, Science in a broad sense existed before the modern era and in many historical civilizations. Modern science is distinct in its approach and successful in its results, Science in its original sense was a word for a type of knowledge rather than a specialized word for the pursuit of such knowledge. In particular, it was the type of knowledge which people can communicate to each other, for example, knowledge about the working of natural things was gathered long before recorded history and led to the development of complex abstract thought. This is shown by the construction of calendars, techniques for making poisonous plants edible. For this reason, it is claimed these men were the first philosophers in the strict sense and they were mainly speculators or theorists, particularly interested in astronomy. In contrast, trying to use knowledge of nature to imitate nature was seen by scientists as a more appropriate interest for lower class artisans. A clear-cut distinction between formal and empirical science was made by the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides, although his work Peri Physeos is a poem, it may be viewed as an epistemological essay on method in natural science. Parmenides ἐὸν may refer to a system or calculus which can describe nature more precisely than natural languages. Physis may be identical to ἐὸν and he criticized the older type of study of physics as too purely speculative and lacking in self-criticism. He was particularly concerned that some of the early physicists treated nature as if it could be assumed that it had no intelligent order, explaining things merely in terms of motion and matter. The study of things had been the realm of mythology and tradition, however. Aristotle later created a less controversial systematic programme of Socratic philosophy which was teleological and he rejected many of the conclusions of earlier scientists. For example, in his physics, the sun goes around the earth, each thing has a formal cause and final cause and a role in the rational cosmic order. Motion and change is described as the actualization of potentials already in things, while the Socratics insisted that philosophy should be used to consider the practical question of the best way to live for a human being, they did not argue for any other types of applied science
3.
Technology
–
Technology is the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation. Technology can be the knowledge of techniques, processes, and the like, the human species use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The steady progress of technology has brought weapons of ever-increasing destructive power. It has helped develop more advanced economies and has allowed the rise of a leisure class, many technological processes produce unwanted by-products known as pollution and deplete natural resources to the detriment of Earths environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and raise new questions of the ethics of technology, examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, and the challenges of bioethics. Philosophical debates have arisen over the use of technology, with disagreements over whether technology improves the condition or worsens it. The use of the technology has changed significantly over the last 200 years. Before the 20th century, the term was uncommon in English, the term was often connected to technical education, as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The term technology rose to prominence in the 20th century in connection with the Second Industrial Revolution, the terms meanings changed in the early 20th century when American social scientists, beginning with Thorstein Veblen, translated ideas from the German concept of Technik into technology. In German and other European languages, a distinction exists between technik and technologie that is absent in English, which translates both terms as technology. By the 1930s, technology referred not only to the study of the industrial arts, dictionaries and scholars have offered a variety of definitions. Ursula Franklin, in her 1989 Real World of Technology lecture, gave another definition of the concept, it is practice, the way we do things around here. The term is used to imply a specific field of technology, or to refer to high technology or just consumer electronics. Bernard Stiegler, in Technics and Time,1, defines technology in two ways, as the pursuit of life by other than life, and as organized inorganic matter. Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to some value. In this usage, technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems and it is a far-reaching term that may include simple tools, such as a crowbar or wooden spoon, or more complex machines, such as a space station or particle accelerator. Tools and machines need not be material, virtual technology, such as software and business methods. W. Brian Arthur defines technology in a broad way as a means to fulfill a human purpose
4.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
5.
Yellowstone National Park
–
Yellowstone National Park is a national park located in the U. S. states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. It was established by the U. S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1,1872. Yellowstone was the first National Park in the U. S. and is widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many features, especially Old Faithful Geyser. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is the most abundant and it is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion. Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years, aside from visits by mountain men during the early-to-mid-19th century, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s. Management and control of the park fell under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior. However, the U. S. Army was subsequently commissioned to oversee management of Yellowstone for a 30-year period between 1886 and 1916, in 1917, administration of the park was transferred to the National Park Service, which had been created the previous year. Hundreds of structures have been built and are protected for their architectural and historical significance, Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468.4 square miles, comprising lakes, canyons, rivers and mountain ranges. Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-elevation lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the caldera is considered an active volcano. It has erupted with tremendous force several times in the last two million years, half of the worlds geothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the area of Yellowstone. The park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest remaining nearly-intact ecosystem in the Earths northern temperate zone, hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles have been documented, including several that are either endangered or threatened. The vast forests and grasslands also include species of plants. Yellowstone Park is the largest and most famous location in the Continental United States. Grizzly bears, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in the park, the Yellowstone Park bison herd is the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States. Forest fires occur in the each year, in the large forest fires of 1988. Yellowstone has numerous opportunities, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing and sightseeing
6.
National park
–
A national park is a park in use for conservation purposes. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns, although individual nations designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea, the conservation of wild nature for posterity and as a symbol of national pride. An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, although Yellowstone was not officially termed a national park in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice and is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world. The first area to use national park in its legislation was the USs Mackinac Island. Australias Royal National Park, established in 1879, was the third official national park. In 1895 ownership of Mackinac Island was transferred to the State of Michigan as a state park, as a result, Australias Royal National Park is by some considerations the second oldest national park now in existence. The largest national park in the meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park. According to the IUCN,6,555 national parks worldwide met its criteria in 2006, IUCN is still discussing the parameters of defining a national park. National parks are almost always open to visitors, in 1971, these criteria were further expanded upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park. In 1810, the English poet William Wordsworth described the Lake District as a sort of property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive. It was known as Hot Springs Reservation, but no authority was established. Federal control of the area was not clearly established until 1877, John Muir is today referred to as the Father of the National Parks due to his work in Yosemite. He published two articles in The Century Magazine, which formed the base for the subsequent legislation. President Abraham Lincoln signed an Act of Congress on July 1,1864, ceding the Yosemite Valley, according to this bill, private ownership of the land in this area was no longer possible. The state of California was designated to manage the park for use, resort. Leases were permitted for up to ten years and the proceeds were to be used for conservation, a public discussion followed this first legislation of its kind and there was a heated debate over whether the government had the right to create parks. The perceived mismanagement of Yosemite by the Californian state was the reason why Yellowstone at its establishment six years later was put under national control, in 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established as the United States first national park, being also the worlds first national park. In some European countries, however, national protection and nature reserves already existed, such as Drachenfels, Yellowstone was part of a federally governed territory
7.
Challenger expedition
–
The Challenger expedition of 1872–76 was a scientific exercise that made many discoveries to lay the foundation of oceanography. The expedition was named after the vessel, HMS Challenger. The expedition, led by Captain George Nares, sailed from Portsmouth, England, other naval officers included Commander John Maclear. Under the scientific supervision of Thomson himself, she traveled nearly 70,000 nautical miles surveying and exploring, the result was the Report Of The Scientific Results of the Exploring Voyage of H. M. S. Challenger during the years 1873-76 which, among other discoveries. John Murray, who supervised the publication, described the report as the greatest advance in the knowledge of our planet since the celebrated discoveries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Challenger sailed close to Antarctica, but not within sight of it. As recently as the late 19th century, human knowledge of the oceans was confined to the topmost few fathoms of the water, sailors and scientists knew almost nothing of the ocean depths. The Royal Navys efforts to all of the worlds coastlines in the mid-19th century reinforced the vague idea that most of the ocean was very deep. As exploration ignited both popular and scientific interest in the regions and Africa, so too did the mysteries of the unexplored oceans. To enable her to probe the depths, Challengers guns were removed, laboratories, extra cabins and a special dredging platform were installed. Because of the novelty of the expedition, some of the equipment was invented or specially modified for the occasion, in all, she was supplied with 181 miles of Italian hemp for sounding. On her 68, 890-nautical-mile journey circumnavigating the globe,492 deep sea soundings,133 bottom dredges,151 open water trawls and 263 serial water temperature observations were taken, also about 4,700 new species of marine life were discovered. The scientific work was conducted by Wyville Thomson, John Murray, John Young Buchanan, Henry Nottidge Moseley, Frank Evers Beddard was appointed Prosector. The official expedition artist was John James Wild, as well as Nares and Maclear, others that were part of the naval crew included Pelham Aldrich, Lord George Granville Campbell, and Andrew Francis Balfour. Also among the officers was Thomas Henry Tizard, who had carried out important hydrographic observations on previous voyages, though he was not among the civilian scientific staff, Tizard would later help write the official account of the expedition, and also become a Fellow of the Royal Society. The original ships complement included 21 officers and around 216 crew members, by the end of the voyage, this had reduced to 144 due to deaths, desertions, being left ashore due to illness, and planned departures. Challenger reached Hong Kong in December 1874, at which point Nares, the new captain was Frank Tourle Thomson. The second-in-command, and the most senior officer present throughout the expedition, was Commander John Maclear
8.
Geometry
–
Geometry is a branch of mathematics concerned with questions of shape, size, relative position of figures, and the properties of space. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is called a geometer, Geometry arose independently in a number of early cultures as a practical way for dealing with lengths, areas, and volumes. Geometry began to see elements of mathematical science emerging in the West as early as the 6th century BC. By the 3rd century BC, geometry was put into a form by Euclid, whose treatment, Euclids Elements. Geometry arose independently in India, with texts providing rules for geometric constructions appearing as early as the 3rd century BC, islamic scientists preserved Greek ideas and expanded on them during the Middle Ages. By the early 17th century, geometry had been put on a solid footing by mathematicians such as René Descartes. Since then, and into modern times, geometry has expanded into non-Euclidean geometry and manifolds, while geometry has evolved significantly throughout the years, there are some general concepts that are more or less fundamental to geometry. These include the concepts of points, lines, planes, surfaces, angles, contemporary geometry has many subfields, Euclidean geometry is geometry in its classical sense. The mandatory educational curriculum of the majority of nations includes the study of points, lines, planes, angles, triangles, congruence, similarity, solid figures, circles, Euclidean geometry also has applications in computer science, crystallography, and various branches of modern mathematics. Differential geometry uses techniques of calculus and linear algebra to problems in geometry. It has applications in physics, including in general relativity, topology is the field concerned with the properties of geometric objects that are unchanged by continuous mappings. In practice, this often means dealing with large-scale properties of spaces, convex geometry investigates convex shapes in the Euclidean space and its more abstract analogues, often using techniques of real analysis. It has close connections to convex analysis, optimization and functional analysis, algebraic geometry studies geometry through the use of multivariate polynomials and other algebraic techniques. It has applications in areas, including cryptography and string theory. Discrete geometry is concerned mainly with questions of relative position of simple objects, such as points. It shares many methods and principles with combinatorics, Geometry has applications to many fields, including art, architecture, physics, as well as to other branches of mathematics. The earliest recorded beginnings of geometry can be traced to ancient Mesopotamia, the earliest known texts on geometry are the Egyptian Rhind Papyrus and Moscow Papyrus, the Babylonian clay tablets such as Plimpton 322. For example, the Moscow Papyrus gives a formula for calculating the volume of a truncated pyramid, later clay tablets demonstrate that Babylonian astronomers implemented trapezoid procedures for computing Jupiters position and motion within time-velocity space
9.
Ludwig Boltzmann
–
Boltzmann was born in Vienna, the capital of the Austrian Empire. His father, Ludwig Georg Boltzmann, was a revenue official and his grandfather, who had moved to Vienna from Berlin, was a clock manufacturer, and Boltzmanns mother, Katharina Pauernfeind, was originally from Salzburg. He received his education from a private tutor at the home of his parents. Boltzmann attended high school in Linz, Upper Austria, when Boltzmann was 15, his father died. Boltzmann studied physics at the University of Vienna, starting in 1863, among his teachers were Josef Loschmidt, Joseph Stefan, Andreas von Ettingshausen and Jozef Petzval. Boltzmann received his PhD degree in 1866 working under the supervision of Stefan, in 1867 he became a Privatdozent. After obtaining his degree, Boltzmann worked two more years as Stefans assistant. It was Stefan who introduced Boltzmann to Maxwells work, in 1869 at age 25, thanks to a letter of recommendation written by Stefan, he was appointed full Professor of Mathematical Physics at the University of Graz in the province of Styria. In 1869 he spent several months in Heidelberg working with Robert Bunsen and Leo Königsberger and then in 1871 he was with Gustav Kirchhoff, in 1873 Boltzmann joined the University of Vienna as Professor of Mathematics and there he stayed until 1876. In 1872, long before women were admitted to Austrian universities, he met Henriette von Aigentler and she was refused permission to audit lectures unofficially. Boltzmann advised her to appeal, which she did, successfully, on July 17,1876 Ludwig Boltzmann married Henriette, they had three daughters and two sons. Boltzmann went back to Graz to take up the chair of Experimental Physics, among his students in Graz were Svante Arrhenius and Walther Nernst. He spent 14 happy years in Graz and it was there that he developed his concept of nature. Boltzmann was appointed to the Chair of Theoretical Physics at the University of Munich in Bavaria, in 1893, Boltzmann succeeded his teacher Joseph Stefan as Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Vienna. Boltzmann spent a deal of effort in his final years defending his theories. He did not get along with some of his colleagues in Vienna, particularly Ernst Mach and that same year Georg Helm and Wilhelm Ostwald presented their position on Energetics at a meeting in Lübeck. They saw energy, and not matter, as the component of the universe. Boltzmanns position carried the day among other physicists who supported his theories in the debate
10.
Lighthouse
–
Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs, and safe entries to harbors, and can assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance, before the development of clearly defined ports, mariners were guided by fires built on hilltops. Since raising the fire would improve the visibility, placing the fire on a platform became a practice that led to the development of the lighthouse. In antiquity, the lighthouse functioned more as a marker to ports than as a warning signal for reefs and promontories. The most famous lighthouse structure from antiquity was the Pharos of Alexandria, coins from Alexandria, Ostia, and Laodicea in Syria also exist. The modern era of lighthouses began at the turn of the 18th century, advances in structural engineering and new and efficient lighting equipment allowed for the creation of larger and more powerful lighthouses, including ones exposed to the sea. The function of lighthouses shifted toward the provision of a warning against shipping hazards. The Eddystone Rocks were a major hazard for mariners sailing through the English Channel. The first lighthouse built there was a wooden structure, anchored by 12 iron stanchions secured in the rock. His lighthouse was the first tower in the world to have been exposed to the open sea. The civil engineer, John Smeaton, rebuilt the lighthouse from 1756–59, his tower marked a step forward in the design of lighthouses. He modelled the shape of his lighthouse on that of an oak tree and he pioneered the use of hydraulic lime, a form of concrete that will set under water, and developed a technique of securing the granite blocks together using dovetail joints and marble dowels. This profile had the advantage of allowing some of the energy of the waves to dissipate on impact with the walls. His lighthouse was the prototype for the lighthouse and influenced all subsequent engineers. One such influence was Robert Stevenson, himself a figure in the development of lighthouse design. His greatest achievement was the construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse in 1810 and this structure was based upon Smeatons design, but with several improved features, such as the incorporation of rotating lights, alternating between red and white. Stevenson worked for the Northern Lighthouse Board for nearly fifty years during which time he designed and oversaw the construction and he also invented the movable jib and the balance crane as a necessary part for lighthouse construction. Alexander Mitchell designed the first screw-pile lighthouse – his lighthouse was built on piles that were screwed into the sandy or muddy seabed, construction of his design began in 1838 at the mouth of the Thames and was known as the Maplin Sands lighthouse, and first lit in 1841
11.
Hydroplane (boat)
–
A hydroplane is a fast motorboat, where the hull shape is such that at speed, the weight of the boat is supported by planing forces, rather than simple buoyancy. The water therefore exerts an equal and opposite force upwards, lifting the vast majority of the out of the water. This process, happening at the surface of the water, is known as ‘planing’, most were about 4 metres long and stepped hulls were employed with a 75-millimetre step to induce air under the hull, to enable the boat to float on air bubbles. The concept of planing was not fully understood, thus, hulls were flat bottomed with an upward curve at the bow and the step 2/3 of the way aft. The sheer weight of a 100 hp. engine was enough to keep the bow from digging in, in Ireland the sport was managed by the Motor Yacht Club of Ireland which had a base at the Lough Ree Yacht Club near Athlone. One of the earliest examples can be seen in the Popular Mechanics issue, Vol.63, the story of Mile A Minute-Thrills of the Water tells the story of the No-Vac by LeRoy F. Malrose Sr. aka. LeRoy was the lead illustrator for Popular Mechanics magazine, which at the time was located in Chicago. In June 1933 the No-Vac was put the test with professional racing driver Jimmy Rodgers at the helm and that day the No-Vac set the world water speed record for an outboard powered boat of 78 miles per hour. The aft part of the vessel is supported in the water by the half of the propeller. The goal is to keep as little of the boat in contact with the water as possible, as water is denser than air. Essentially the boat flies over the surface of the rather than actually traveling through it. One of the few significant attempts at a different design since the three-point propriding design was introduced was referred to as Canard. It reversed the width properties, having a narrow bow that only touched the water in one place. Early hydroplanes had mostly straight lines and flat surfaces aside from the curved bow. The curved bow was replaced by what is known as a pickle fork bow. Also, the single, vertical tail was gradually replaced by a horizontal stabilizer supported by vertical tails on either side of the boat. Later, as fine-tuning the hydrodynamics became more important, the bottoms of the hull have subtle curves to give the best lift. The aviation industry has been the source of engines for the boats
12.
Virginia Tech
–
Through its Corps of Cadets ROTC program, Virginia Tech is also designated as one of six senior military colleges in the country. Under the 1891–1907 presidency of John M. McBryde, the school organized its academic programs into a traditional four-year college, the evolution of the schools programs led to a name change in 1896 to Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute. The Agricultural and Mechanical College portion of the name was popularly omitted almost immediately, in 1944, in 1923, VPI changed a policy of compulsory participation in the Corps of Cadets from four years to two years. In 1931, VPI began teaching classes at the Norfolk Division of the College of William and this program eventually developed into a two-year engineering program that allowed students to transfer to VPI for their final two years of degree work. In 1943, VPI merged with nearby Radford State Teachers College, which became VPIs womens division, today, Radford University enrolls more than 9,900 students and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate programs. During Hahns tenure, not only did the university graduate its first Rhodes Scholar, lewis, Class of 1963, the requirement for male students to participate in the Corps of Cadets for two years was dropped. Beginning in the fall 1973, women could participate in the corps, in 1970, the state legislature allowed VPI university status and gave it the present legal name, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. However, diplomas and transcripts still spell out the formal name, similarly, the abbreviation VT is far more common today than either VPI or VPI&SU. The early decades of this century have seen expansion across the universitys institutions in both physical and population sizes, former President Charles Steger brought Virginia Tech an allopathic medical school in 2007. The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute was created with a partnership with the Carilion Clinic. These years also brought about the development of the universitys professional schools of graduate education. Virginia Tech brought in over a half-billion in research expenditures in 2014, on April 16,2007, Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho fatally shot 32 faculty members and students, wounding 17 others before killing himself on campus. The massacre is the deadliest mass shooting on a college campus, although it was at the time the deadliest mass shooting committed by a lone gunman in U. S. history, it has since been surpassed by the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. These colleges/schools include, Virginia Tech received a number of nearly 22,500 applications for the fall 2015 freshman class. The typical student offered admission had a grade point average of 4.00. The average cumulative SAT score was 1250, with a middle range ranging from 1160 to 1340, of the 5,518 students who accepted the offers of admission,18 percent accepted under the Early Decision Plan. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is located within the Visitor and Undergraduate Admissions Center, once admitted, Honors students are required to maintain a 3.5 GPA in order to remain in the program. For the 2013–14 academic year, the Graduate School at Virginia Tech enrolled 6,723 graduate students in its masters, the Pamplin College of Business, received 381 applications for its incoming Evening MBA program, and offered admission to 142
