Tour du Jour, 18 Jan 11

Ngram du Jour

1800-2008: germ vs bacteria

Look with your own ngramoscope: Google Ngram Viewer

Today in History:

1778: Cook discovers Hawaii

1803: Jefferson requests funds for Lewis and Clark

1911: “A Curtiss biplane becomes the first airplane to perform a landing on a ship.” This Day In Tech

1912: Scott reaches the South Pole

1969: Pulsars first identified.

1985: Coen brothers release debut film, Blood Simple

Happy Birthday to:

1779: Peter Mark Roget, he of the Thesaurus.

1782: Daniel Webster, but not of the dictionary.

1813: Joseph Farwell Glidden, who patented the first commercial barbed wire, which transformed the American West.

1882: A. A. Milne

1888: Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, whose firm designed the Sopwith Camel, famously piloted by Snoopy.

1904: Cary Grant

1933: Ray Dolby, who designed the noise reduction system by which you probably last listened to music or a movie.

The Usual Sourcepects:

This Day in History — History.com — What Happened Today in History

January 1 – Today in Science History

This Day In Tech

FamousBirthdays.com