Author Topic: ~ Events That Changed The World ~  (Read 2595 times)

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #15 on: August 04, 2014, 04:42:22 PM »
Conquest of Everest(1953)



The 1953 expedition (April 11 to June 3), led by Colonel John Hunt, was sponsored by the Joint Himalayan Committee of the Alpine Club of Great Britain and the Royal Geographic Society. It consisted of fourteen climbers and thirty-eight Sherpas (the term Sherpa refers to the Tibetan people that settled in northern Nepal). See below for a list of expedition members.

Colonel Hunt planned and managed the expedition like a military action with a series of phased operations. Along the climbing route, nine camps were established with the first camp (base camp) located at 17,900 feet. During the first phase of the mission, a trail was blazed through the shifting terrain of the treacherous Khumbu Icefall, and camps II and III were set up. Next the Western Cwm (a glacier hollow running from the top of the icefall to the south west face of Everest) was navigated, camps IV and V were established, and heavy amounts of supplies were packed in from base camp to camp IV. Then a path was forged up the steep Lhotse Face, and camps VI through VIII were established from 23,000 to 26,000 feet. The final assault phase was launched from the advanced base camp (camp IV) and consisted of two teams starting twenty-four hours apart.

The first assault team of Charles Evans and Tom Bourdillon left advanced base on May 22 and almost became the first men to climb Everest. On May 26, Evans and Bourdillon climbed to 28,750 feet ? less than 300 feet from the top. Unfortunately, strong winds and faulty oxygen gear forced the two men to turn back. The second assault team of Tenzing Norgay and Edmond Hillary left advanced base on May 23 and on May 28 at 27,900 feet they established camp IX approximately 1,100 feet from the summit. Overnight the temperature fell to -17° F. On the morning of May 29, they left their tent at 6:30 and at 11:30 a.m. they became the first people to summit the highest mountain on Earth.

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #16 on: August 04, 2014, 04:43:08 PM »
Hubble First Uses the Hale Telescope(1949)



The Hale Telescope is a 200-inch (5.1 m), f/3.3 reflecting telescope at the Palomar Observatory in California, named after astronomer George Ellery Hale. With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, he orchestrated the planning, design, and construction of the observatory, but did not live to see its commissioning. The Hale was groundbreaking for its time, with double the diameter of the next largest telescope and pioneering the use of many technologies such as vapor deposited aluminum and low thermal expansion glass. It was the largest aperture optical telescope in the world from its completion in 1948 until the BTA-6 was built in 1976, and the second largest until the construction of the Keck 1 in 1993.

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #17 on: August 04, 2014, 04:43:53 PM »
  Berlin Blockade Begins(1948)



The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first resulting in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies’ railway and road access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied control. Their aim was to force the western powers to allow the Soviet zone to start supplying Berlin with food and fuel, thereby giving the Soviets practical control over the entire city.

In response, the Western Allies organized the Berlin Airlift to carry supplies to the people in West Berlin. The recently independent United States Air Force and the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force flew over 200,000 flights in one year, providing up to 4700 tons of daily necessities such as fuel and food to the Berliners. Alongside US and British personnel the airlift involved aircrews from the Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force and South African Air Force.

By the spring of 1949, the effort was clearly succeeding and, by April, the airlift was delivering more cargo than had previously been transported into the city by rail. The success of the Berlin Airlift brought embarrassment to the Soviets who had refused to believe it could make a difference. The blockade was lifted in May 1949 and resulted in the creation of two separate German states. The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) split up Berlin. In remembrance of the airlift, three airports in the former western zones of the city served as the primary gateways to Germany for another fifty years.

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #18 on: August 04, 2014, 04:44:59 PM »
First Faster than Sound Flight(1947)



Supersonic speed is a rate of travel of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) this speed is approximately 343 m/s, 1,125 ft/s, 768 mph or 1,235 km/h. Speeds greater than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5) are often referred to as hypersonic. Flight during which only some parts of the air around an object, such as the ends of rotor blades, reach supersonic speeds are called transonic. This occurs typically somewhere between Mach 0.8 and Mach 1.2.

Sounds are traveling vibrations in the form of pressure waves in an elastic medium. In gases, sound travels longitudinally at different speeds, mostly depending on the molecular mass and temperature of the gas, and pressure has little effect. Since air temperature and composition varies significantly with altitude, Mach numbers for aircraft may change despite a constant travel speed. In water at room temperature supersonic speed can be considered as any speed greater than 1,440 m/s (4,724 ft/s). In solids, sound waves can be polarized longitudinally or transversely and have even higher velocities.

Supersonic fracture is crack motion faster than the speed of sound in a brittle material.

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #19 on: August 04, 2014, 04:45:51 PM »
  Atom Bomb Dropped(1945)



During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.

For six months before the atomic bombings, the United States intensely fire-bombed 67 Japanese cities. Together with the United Kingdom and the Republic of China, the United States called for a surrender of Japan in the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945. The Japanese government ignored this ultimatum. By executive order of President Harry S. Truman, the U.S. dropped the nuclear weapon ”Little Boy” on the city of Hiroshima on Monday, August 6, 1945, followed by the detonation of “Fat Man” over Nagasaki on August 9.

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #20 on: August 05, 2014, 11:09:47 AM »
D-Day Landings Turn the Tide of War(1944)



During World War II (1939-1945), the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. Prior to D-Day, the Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target. By late August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and by the following spring the Allies had defeated the Germans. The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe.

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #21 on: August 05, 2014, 11:10:55 AM »
Attack on Pearl Harbor(1941)



Attack on Pearl Harbor (called Hawaii Operation or Operation AI by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters(Operation Z in planning) and the Battle of Pearl Harbor) was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941 (December 8  in Japan). The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States.

The base was attacked by 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk. All but two of the eight were raised, repaired and returned to service later in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one mine layer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded. The power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 65 servicemen killed or wounded. One Japanese sailor was captured.

The attack came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day (December 8 ) the United States declared war on Japan. Domestic support for isolationism, which had been strong, disappeared. Clandestine support of Britain (for example the Neutrality Patrol) was replaced by active alliance. Subsequent operations by the U.S. prompted Germany and Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11, which was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day.

There were numerous historical precedents for unannounced military action by Japan. However, the lack of any formal warning, particularly while negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy”.
« Last Edit: August 05, 2014, 11:21:36 AM by MysteRy »

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #22 on: August 05, 2014, 11:11:52 AM »
Operation Barbarossa(1941)



Operation Barbarossa (named for Frederick Barbarossa, the medieval German ruler who, as myth had it, would rescue Germany in her time of need) was the code name for Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 km (1,800 mi) front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare. In addition to the large number of troops, Barbarossa involved 600,000 motor vehicles and 750,000 horses. The ambitious operation marked both a manifestation of Hitler’s persistent desire to conquer the Russian territories and the start of the battle which proved most pivotal in deciding the victors of the war. A study of Barbarossa allows an appreciation of the role of grave eminence which the Soviet Union played in the defeat of Nazi Germany; the operation resulted in 95% of all German casualties from 1941 to 1944 and 65% of all the allied military casualties accumulated throughout the war. Planning for Operation Barbarossa started on 18 December 1940; the secret preparations and the military operation itself lasted almost a year, from spring to winter 1941. The Red Army repelled the Wehrmacht’s strongest blow, and Adolf Hitler did not achieve the expected victory, but the Soviet Union’s situation remained dire. Tactically, the Germans won resounding victories and occupied some of the most important economic areas of the country, mainly in Ukraine. Despite these successes, the Germans were pushed back from Moscow and could never mount an offensive simultaneously along the entire strategic Soviet-German front again.

Operation Barbarossa’s failure led to Hitler’s demands for further operations inside the USSR, all of which eventually failed, such as continuing the Siege of Leningrad, Operation Nordlicht, and Battle of Stalingrad, among other battles on the occupied Soviet territory.

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #23 on: August 05, 2014, 11:12:42 AM »
Nazi BlitzKrieg on the Western Front(1940)



Blitzkrieg   is an anglicized word describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken, proceeding without regard to its flank. Through constant motion, the blitzkrieg attempts to keep its enemy off-balance, making it difficult to respond effectively at any given point before the front has already moved on.

During the interwar period, aircraft and tank technologies matured and were combined with systematic application of the German tactics of infiltration and bypassing of enemy strong points. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Western journalists adopted the term blitzkrieg to describe this form of armoured warfare.[ Blitzkrieg operations were very effective during the campaigns of 1939–1941. These operations were dependent on surprise penetrations (e.g. the penetration of the Ardennes forest region), general enemy unpreparedness and an inability to react swiftly enough to the attacker’s offensive operations. During theBattle of France, the French, who made attempts to re-form defensive lines along rivers, were constantly frustrated when German forces arrived there first and pressed on.

Academics since the 1970s have questioned the existence of blitzkrieg as a coherent military doctrine or strategy. Many academic historians hold the idea that the German armed forces adopted “blitzkrieg” as an offensive doctrine to be a myth. Others continue to use the word to describe the style of breakthrough warfare practised by the Axis powers of this period, even if it were not a formal doctrine. The concepts of Blitzkrieg form the basis of present-day armoured warfare.

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #24 on: August 05, 2014, 11:13:34 AM »
First Television(1928)



The first television set was built in 1928 and was a very simple invention; it consisted of a disk and a light and required only a little bit of electricity. Very few Americans owned a television set until the years following World War II. The progression of the picture quality of televisions was quick, engineers worked rigorously to improve it. In 1939, the first nationwide television broadcasts aired. And from 1945-1948 television sales increased 500%. The first widespread broadcast was in 1954. Today over 110 million households have televisions.

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #25 on: August 05, 2014, 11:14:22 AM »
Alexander Fleming Discovers Penicillin(1928)



In 1928, bacteriologist Alexander Fleming made a chance discovery from an already discarded, contaminated Petri dish. The mold that had contaminated the experiment turned out to contain a powerful antibiotic, penicillin. However, though Fleming was credited with the discovery, it was over a decade before someone else turned penicillin into the miracle drug for the 20th century.

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #26 on: August 05, 2014, 11:15:20 AM »
Sinking of the Titanic(1912)



Titanic was a passenger liner that struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, and sank on 15 April 1912, resulting in the deaths of 1,517 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.

The largest passenger steamship in the world at the time, the Olympic-class RMS Titanic was owned by the White Star Line and constructed at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland, UK. After setting sail for New York City on 10 April 1912 with 2,223 people on board, she hit an iceberg four days into the crossing, at 11:40 pm on 14 April 1912, and sank at 2:20 am on the morning of 15 April. The high casualty rate resulting from the sinking was due in part to the fact that, although complying with the regulations of the time, the ship carried lifeboats for only 1,178 people. A disproportionate number of men died due to the "women and children first" protocol that was enforced by the ship’s crew.

Titanic was designed by experienced engineers, using some of the most advanced technologies and extensive safety features of the time. The sinking of a passenger liner on her maiden voyage, the high loss of life and media frenzy over Titanic’s famous victims, the legends about the sinking, the resulting changes in maritime law, and the discovery of the wreck have all contributed to the enduring interest in Titanic.

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #27 on: August 05, 2014, 11:16:17 AM »
First Women to Get the Vote(1893)



Women’s suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or marital status. The movement’s modern origins can be attributed to late-18th century France, although full suffrage did not come to France or the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec. Limited voting rights were gained by some women in Sweden, Britain, and some western U.S. states in the 1860s. In 1893, the British colony of New Zealand became the first self-governing nation to extend the right to vote to all adult women, and the women of the nearby colony of South Australia achieved the same right in 1895 but became the first to obtain also the right to stand (run) for Parliament (women did not win the right to run for the New Zealand legislature until 1919). The first European country to introduce women’s suffrage was the Grand Principality of Finland and that country, then a part of the Russian Empire with autonomous powers, produced the world’s first female members of parliament as a result of the 1907 parliamentary elections.

Women’s suffrage has generally been recognized after political campaigns to obtain it were waged. In many countries it was granted before universal suffrage. Women’s suffrage is explicitly stated as a right under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, adopted by the United Nations in 1979.

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #28 on: August 05, 2014, 11:17:16 AM »
Einstein Publishes his Theory of Relativity(1905)



General Relativity — General Relativity is the common name for the theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915. According to general relativity the force of gravity is a manifestation of the local geometry of spacetime. Although the modern theory is due to Einstein, its origins go back to the axioms of Euclidean geometry and the many attempts over the centuries to prove Euclid’s fifth postulate, that parallel lines remain always equidistant, culminating with the realisation by Bolyai and Gauss that this axiom need not be true.

The general mathematics of non-Euclidean geometries was developed by Gauss’ student, Riemann, but these were thought to be wholly inapplicable to the real world until Einstein had developed his theory of relativity.

The special theory of relativity (1905) modified the equations used in comparing the measurements made by differently moving bodies, in view of the constant value of the speed of light: this had the consequence that physics could no longer treat space and time separately, but only as a single four-dimensional system, “space-time,” which was divided into “time-like” and “space-like” directions differently depending on the observer’s motion. The general theory added to this that the presence of matter “warped” the local space-time environment, so that apparently “straight” lines through space and time have the properties we think of “curved” lines as having.

Offline MysteRy

Re: ~ Events That Changed The World ~
« Reply #29 on: August 05, 2014, 11:18:10 AM »
Alexander Graham Bell Develops the Telephone(1876)



Alexander Graham Bell Invented the Telephone By October 1874, Bell’s research had progressed to the extent that he could inform his future father-in-law, Boston attorney Gardiner Greene Hubbard, about the possibility of a multiple telegraph. Hubbard, who resented the absolute control then exerted by the Western Union Telegraph Company, instantly saw the potential for breaking such a monopoly and gave Bell the financial backing he needed. Bell proceeded with his work on the multiple telegraph, but he did not tell Hubbard that he and Thomas Watson, a young electrician whose services he had enlisted, were also exploring an idea that had occurred to him that summer - that of developing a device that would transmit speech electrically. While Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson worked on the harmonic telegraph at the insistent urging of Hubbard and other backers, Bell nonetheless met in March 1875 with Joseph Henry, the respected director of the Smithsonian Institution, who listened to Bell’s ideas for a telephone and offered encouraging words. Spurred on by Henry’s positive opinion, Bell and Watson continued their work. By June 1875 the goal of creating a device that would transmit speech electrically was about to be realized. They had proven that different tones would vary the strength of an electric current in a wire. To achieve success they therefore needed only to build a working transmitter with a membrane capable of varying electronic currents and a receiver that would reproduce these variations in audible frequencies.