Professor Walter's History Lessons

An aspirin by any other name...

In 1897 Chemist, Felix Hoffmann at Bayer in Germany, synthesized a stable chemical that relieved his father's rheumatism.  That chemical would become the active ingredient in aspirin named - "a" from acetyl, "spir" from the spirea plant (which yields salicin) and "in," a common suffix for medications.  In it's original powder form Aspirin would quickly become the best selling drug in the world, and a boom for Bayer.  In 1915 Aspirin was available in tablet form without a prescription from Bayer.  However the success of Bayer Aspirin would not be seen until after WWI saw its use for the Spanish Flu, and the end of its trademark in the United States.

The trademark for Aspirin was lost in the Treaty of Versailles, after Germany's surrender.  As part of the war reparations specified, Aspirin along with Heroin lost all status as registered trademarks in France, Russia, the UK, and the United States.  From that moment on the drug could be sold as aspirin.  Today the trademark for Aspirin is still honored on over 80 countries across the globe, but aspirin is generally the generic name used, even in those countries.  No word on Bayer's ownership of the trademark on Heroin.

-Professor Walter

The flat world myth

One of the most frequently repeated myths is the belief that the people of the middle ages believed that the world was flat.  In fact this myth is so prevalent that it is often repeated in textbooks in schools throughout the nation.  The truth is that the Greek discovery that the world was round was firmly held as fact.  The modern origins of the myth like in Washington Irving's "History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828)" where the statement was made that Columbus was fearful of being accused of heterodoxy which would raise the ire of the church where flat-earth theory persisted, when the more learned people knew the earth was globular.  This error was largely ignored until Darwin published "The Origin of the Species (1859)".  The book was never placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("List of Prohibited Books"), however many bishops and other religious figureheads condemned it. 

Books such as John Drapers "The History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science (1874)" sought to reinforce the belief that the Christian Church was led by ignorance, reiterating Irving's error that the people of the dark ages saw the earth as flat.  By attributing this belief to the church it appeared that ignorance was the only reason to fail to accept evolution.  Throughout the next hundred years the misstatement about the flat earth was repeated over and over again.  Today the truth has been spreading, but the myth persists.

-Professor Walter

A genius in life, a secret in death

Born on January 2, 1920 as Issac Yudovich Ozimov in Russia, Issac Asimov went on to become one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century.  In his time he wrote or edited over 500 books and was a professor of biochemistry at Boston University.  While his life was well known and his legacy survives in books such as iRobot and the Foundation Series his death was purposefully obscured for a decade.

In 1977 Asimov had a heart attack and in 1983 triple bypass surgery.  During the procedure he required a blood transfusion.  When he died in 1992 his brother had reported that he died of heart and kidney failure.  The truth was that he was one of the millions of victims of AIDS.  At the time Asimov wanted to come forward and let the world know what had happened to him, but his doctors warned him against it  for fear that anti-AIDS prejudice, which was prevalent at the time, would extend to his family.  After Asimov's death, his family considered releasing the information, but the controversy which erupted after USA Today forced tennis player Arthur Ashe to announce his own infection convinced them not to. 

Ten years later, after most of Asimov's doctors had died, it was decided that the truth would be made public.

-Professor Walter

Nikola Tesla, the enabler of the couch potato

According to Wikipedia

"A couch potato is a person who spends most of his or her free time sitting or lying on a couch. This stereotype often refers to a lazy and overweight person who watches a lot of television. Generally speaking, the term refers to a lifestyle in which children or adults don't get enough physical activity."

The tool of the couch potato is the remote control.  With this item a person may change channels without leaving their seat.  Millions of people use remote controls, yet few are aware that they are over 100 years old.

On July 1st 1898, Nikola Tesla applied for a patent for the first remote control.  The US Patent office issued him U.S. Patent 613,809 in November of that year for his invention.  That year he demonstrated it at Madison Square Garden by controlling a small boat he had dubbed a "teleautomaton".  Tesla's invention was enhanced and used to pilot planes in the years that followed and in 1939 the Philco Mystery Control was released as the first powered remote control for a consumer product.  In 1950 the Zenith "Lazy Bones" was the first television remote control, although it was wired.  In 1956 the Zenith Space Command became the first wireless remote control.

Today the remote control is a core component of every home entertainment system opening up a world of programming without ever needing to leave your seat.

-Professor Walter

One of the earliest robots was designed in 1495

While the term robot entered the English language in 1923, the concept of a robot existed before that time.  One of the earliest was designed by Leonardo da Vinci around 1495.  His designs were documented in a notebook, and lost to history.  It was never known if he ever built it.  In the 1950s the notebook was discovered and an effort was made to construct the robot as true to the original design as possible.  The robot's design allowed it to to perform several human-like motions including sitting up, moving arms, neck and jaw. 

The reconstructed robot is now on display in Berlin.  Mario Toddei has written a book about the robot, which includes some new information about the construction of the robot.

-Professor Walter

From blood plasma to the breakfast table

The ancient Peruvian Incas from the Andes developed a basic process of freeze-drying with is the removal of water content from frozen food.  The freezing temperatures of the mountains combined with the high altitudes made this possible.  With the advent of World War II this technique was considered as a solution to the problem of storing and preserving blood plasma and penicillin.

In 1940 Richard Stetson Morse founded The National Research Corporation in Boston, MA. to research vacuum packing and freeze-drying.  The US Army had a request for 500,000 lb powdered orange juice.  Under the leadership of John M. Fox NRC's new branch, Florida Foods Corporation won a contract to provide the powder for $750,000.  However, the war ended before the factory could be built.  The company chose to proceed forward despite the end of the contract, but decided against powered orange juice.  Instead they developed a procedure to remove 80% of the water from the orange juice and invented the first concentrate frozen juice product on the market.  From a slow start, going door to door, the product quickly became a hit with the name of Minute Maid.

In 1949 the company changed its name to Minute Maid and in 1960 it was purchased by Coca-Cola.  As of today Coca-Cola is the worlds largest producer of fruit juices.

-Professor Walter

You're going to blow that where?

North American Indians had many traditional remedies, including one to assist with the stimulation of respiration.  In this method tobacco smoke was introduced, via a rectal tube, into the rectum of a drowning victim to revive them.  The first documented case of this method being used in the western world was in 1746 when a woman who appeared to have drowned was resuscitate by a sailor inserting the stem of his pipe into her rectum and air was blown into the bowl through a piece of perforated paper.  This method became well practiced, and by the dawn of the 19th century tobacco smoke enemas were standard practice and considered as beneficial as artificial respiration.

However, in 1811 Benjamin Brodie showed, through animal experimentation, that the nicotine in the tobacco smoke was a poison that had a propensity to stop the circulation of blood.  The practice began to vanish shortly thereafter. 

There were always those who doubted the credibility of the procedure and they purportedly coined the phrase, "Blowing  smoke up my ass."  The phase lives on even though the procedure has long since disappeared.

-Professor Walter

The Michigan Rattler

Most people associate the rattlesnake with the west of the United States.  In fact, there is a venomous rattlesnake that lives as far east as Michigan and there it is know as the Michigan Rattler.  The snake grows from two to three feet long in adulthood, and is exceptionally poinsioness.  However the snake is not as bad as many would believe.

The Michigan Rattler eats frogs, mice, and moles primarily.  It can control the amount of venom delivered in a bite, in fact most rattlesnake bites have no venom delivered at all.  The snake is shy and will only bite if stepped on or "played with".  Most often bites occur when the snake is picked up by someone who is not aware that there is a poisonous snake in Michigan (the rattler is the only one).  The snake's range does extend south from Michigan down to Texas.

The snake (Sistrurus Catenatus) is a part of the natural world of Michigan and the central United States.  It's influence to the environment is enormous, and it's one real threat is the ignorance of people who think it should be eradicated.  Fortunately, at this time, the snake is well entrenched in its turf and is surviving quite well.

-Professor Walter

Margarine, constant foe of the butter industry

In 1869 Emperor Louis Napolean III of France offered a prize to whomever could create a substitute for butter that could be used for the armed forces and lower classes.  The French chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriés created a substance called oleomargarine.  His initial attempts ar marketing margarine met limited commercial success and in 1871 he sold his patent to the Dutch company Jurgens.  As early as 1877 laws began to be enforced that would prevent the spread of margarine.  

The butter industry was concerned about the new artificial butter and took significant steps to prevent its success.  Their tactics involved the use of tariffs, and taxes.  Then they went further, attacking one of margarine's biggest problems.  Margarine is naturally white, or near white.  Manufacturers wanted to add yellow food coloring to make it look better, but that was banned in many countries.  In the United States legislators went a step further and, in some states, enforced a rule that margarine had to have pink food coloring so that it would appear unappealing.  This coloring law was stopped buy the Supreme Court, but the ban of other coloring remained strong.

In the 1960s the laws banning color were finally dropped, and margarine, as you know it, was now on the store shelves.  Today the battle between butter and margarine continues, with butter pulling ahead thanks to concerns with trans-fats and consumers determination that taste of more important than saturated fat content.

-Professor Walter

Send an E-Mail Through the Post Office to Somone Without A Computer

On January 4th 1983 the United States Postal Service started an experiment called Electronic Computer Originated Mail (E-COM).  The service would allow someone to send an electronic message to the post office, where it would be printed out and mailed first class for only 26 cents for the first page, 5 cents for each page after that and a $50 a year annual fee.  The perceived value was that people abroad could quickly send a letter to domestic parties near connected post offices.  The post offices were located in the cities of Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Richmond, St. Louis, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

During it's first year 3.2 million letters were sent and more than 600 customers applied for the service.  The demand was not as strong as expected and the the effort was impacted by private carriers claiming the new service infringed on antitrust laws (the USPS is not allows to compete with private corporations).  In 1983 the volume jumped to 15.3 million letters and the price increased.  In 1984 23 million letters were sent.  The postal service requested increased pricing, witch was rejected as pricing  the service out of the market.  On September 2nd 1985 the USPS discontinued the service.

-Professor Walter