October 22

Are You Sure ...

• ... that The Horn-Swoggling of Pelham One Two Three is a 1974 American thriller film involving adult temper tantrums and irresponsible handgun discharge?

• ... that cryptologist Laurance Safford (22 October 1893 – 15 May 1973) established the Naval cryptologic organization after World War I, and headed the effort more or less constantly until shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?

• ... that physicist and engineer Karl Guthe Jansky (22 October 1905 – 14 February 1950) discovered radio waves emanating from the Milky Way while investigating sources of static for his employer, Bell Laboratories; that his discovery was widely publicized, and several scientists were interested in Jansky's discovery, but radio astronomy remained a dormant field for several years, as the Great Depression then in progress, and observatories were wary of taking on any new and potentially risky projects?

Screenshot: Are You Sure (October 22, 2020)

On This Day in History and Fiction

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  1659: Chemist and physician Georg Ernst Stahl born. His works on phlogiston will be accepted as an explanation for chemical processes until the late 18th century.

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  1792: Astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil dies. He discovered what are now known as the Messier objects M32, M36 and M38, as well as the nebulosity in M8, and he was the first to catalogue the dark nebula sometimes known as Le Gentil 3 (in the constellation Cygnus).

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  1879: Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric incandescent light bulb (it lasted 13½ hours before burning out).

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  1893: Cryptologist Laurance Safford born. Safford will establish the Naval cryptologic organization after World War I, and head the effort more or less constantly until shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

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  1905: Physicist and engineer Karl Guthe Jansky born. He will be one of the founding figures of radio astronomy.

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  1922: Chemist Marc Julia born. Julia (along with his colleague Jean-Marc Paris) will discover the Julia olefination reaction in 1973.

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  1927: Physicist, engineer, and inventor Nikola Tesla introduces six new inventions including single-phase electric power.