Historical Development and Chemistry of Litmus Paper

Historically, litmus has played a crucial role in chemical research and education as one of the earliest pH indicators. Its origins date back several centuries, making it a significant tool in the history of chemistry. Spanish alchemist Arnaldus de Villa Nova is one of the earliest figures associated with the use of litmus, reportedly employing it as early as the 14th century. This early use highlights the importance of litmus as an accessible and effective method for determining the acidic or basic nature of solutions, even in medieval times. However, the version of litmus paper that we recognize today owes much to advancements made in the 19th century, particularly by French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac. Gay-Lussac is widely known for his Law of Combining Volumes, which describes the relationship between the volumes of gases and chemical reactions. Beyond his contributions to gas laws, Gay-Lussac’s innovations in chemical methodology also included refinements to the preparation and use of litmus paper. His work allowed for more accurate and practical applications of litmus paper, expanding its utility in laboratories.

The extraction of the blue dye used in litmus from lichens dates back to the 16th century, particularly in the Netherlands, where significant work was done to perfect the process. Lichens, particularly species from the genus Roccella and Dedographa, have been central to this method. When lichens are soaked in distilled water, they produce a solution with a distinct mauve or purple tint. This characteristic color change became central to litmus paper's ability to serve as a pH indicator. The etymology of the word "litmus" can be traced back to the Old Norse word litmosi, meaning "to dye or color", reflecting the primary use of lichens in dyes before their role in chemistry was realized. Today, species such as Roccella montagnei from Mozambique and Dedographa leucophoea from California continue to be harvested for the production of litmus, illustrating the enduring importance of natural resources in modern chemistry.
Historical Development and Chemistry of Litmus Paper

Chocolate pralines: History and Invention

Praline itself is a French confection, and it was invented when an accident occurs that combined pecans, chocolate and burnt sugars.

The name of pralines derived from French diplomat in the early 17th century whose name and title was César, duc de Choiseul, comte du Plessis-Praslin. His personal chef, Clement Lassangne is believed to be the original inventor of pralines. Chef Lassagne's original praline were whole almonds individually coated in caramelized sugar, as opposed to dark nougat, where a sheet of caramelized sugar covers many nuts.

In 1636 Chef Lassagne decided to coat almonds with boiling sugar. It has been said that Lassagne getting the idea from children who were scavenging for scraps in the kitchens, nibbling on almonds and caramel leftover from one of his pastry creations. Some said that the children stealing almonds from the kitchens and Lassagne followed the delicious smell to find them caramelizing the almonds in sugar over a candle. Lassange then used the idea coated almonds in sugar which were said to be used as gifts to visitors or as a digestive aid.

The other version of the story: The chef Lassagne getting the idea from a clumsy young apprentice who knocked over a container of almonds into a vat of cooking caramel.

Chocolate pralines were brought over from France by the Ursuline nuns, who came to New Orleans in 1727. These nuns were tasked to teach local young girls the domestics arts, which include cooking and how to make confection. The girls were taught the art of praline making. As these girls married and they moved throughout Louisiana and the rest of the south, the praline automatically became a popular regional treat.
Chocolate pralines: History and Invention 

Invention history of personal computer

Before the introduction of the microprocessor in the middle 60’s and early 1970s, computers were generally large costly systems owned by large corporations, universities, government agencies and similar-sized institutions.

The first of the programmable pocket calculators was Hewlett-Packard’s HP-65, introduced in early 1974 for $795.

Texas Instruments and other followed. As powerful as they were, the trade press was hesitant to called computers, even if Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP-65 as a ‘personal computer’ (possibly the first use of that term in print).

In April 1974, Intel introduced the 8080 microprocessor, which was 10 times faster than the earlier 8008 chip and addressed 64 KB of memory.

In July 1974, Radio –Electronics described the Mark-8 and featured Johnathan Titus, who developed early personal computer which though not commercially produced.

In late December 1974, subscribers to Popular Electronics received their January 1975 issue in the mail, with the prototype of the ‘Altair’ minicomputer on the cover, and article describing how readers could obtain Altair kit for less than $400 and had to be assembled. The Altair kit, considered the first personal computer, included an 8080 processor, a power supply, a front panel with a large number of lights and 256 bytes of memory.

The designers hoped to sell a few hundred build-it-yourself kits to hobbyist and were surprised when they sold thousands in the first month.

H. Edward Roberts, the Altair’s designer, served as credit as the inventor of the personal computer. The Altair was a capable, inexpensive computer designed around the Intl 8080 microprocessor.

IBM introduced their first personal computer in September 1975, six years before the IBM PC. The model 5100 had 16 KB of memory, a built in 16 line-by-64-character display, a built in BASIC language interpreter and a built-in DC-300 cartridge tape drive for storage.

In 1977, Apple Computer Corporation founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, released Apple I containing a system board with 4 KB of RAM. It sold for $666.66.
Invention history of personal computer

History and invention of internet

The internet was created by a collection of visionaries and executed by hundred of individuals whose contributions helped develop the technology.

In the late 1960s the US Department of Defense fearful of the intentions and capabilities of the enemies, created a distributed network that linked military computers together.

During 1940s and early 1950s, many of the graduate students and scientists at MIT and Lincoln Laboratory gained the preliminary experience necessary to create network computers. One of the engineers from Lincoln was Lawrence Roberts, who later became a founding father of the internet.

The first experimental network using internet-like technology involved four supercomputers and was built in 1969.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPAnet) was set up in 1969 and was one of the world's first operational packet switching networks. It evolved into several innovations in the early 1970s such as e-mail, a file transfer protocol that allows data to be sent in bulk and remote connecting service for network computers. As the project grew during the next decade, students were gained access to ARPAnet as hundreds of college and university networks were connected to it.

Starting in 1972, hundreds and then thousands of early users began to discover electronic mail as a new basis for communication.

In 1986, the NSF (National Science Foundation) launched the NSFNET backbone, a high speed network connection between six supercomputer centers running across the United States.

Within nine years, The NFSNET backbone grew from 6 nodes at 56 kbs to 21 nodes at 45 mbs, connecting 50,000 networks on all seven continents. In 1995 NSF turned the management of the World Wide Web portion of the internet over a group of public company.

The word internet entered the common lexicon in or about November 4, 1988 when many large American newspaper first mentioned the network in their coverage of computer.
History and invention of internet

Invention of air-conditioning

Leonardo da Vinci had built a ventilating fan by the end of the 15th century. Later, Boyle in 1659 and Dalton in 1800 discovered the laws that are very well known.

One of the earliest visionaries to articulate the benefits of atmospheric cooling was Florida physician John Gorrie. He focused on the importance of temperature rather than humidity. Gorrie was granted Patent No, 8080 for a machine to make ice.

He envisioned atmospheric cooling for health and comfort, through the deployment of mechanical refrigeration.

The earliest experiments in the first stages of this technology incorporated cooling. In 1853 Alexander Twinning of New Haven produced 725 kg of ice a day using a double-acting vacuum and compression pump, employing te 1834 invention of the vapor compression cycle by Jacob Perkins. By 1889 central-station refrigeration was commercially available in several cities in the United States and abroad.

It is worth mentioning the name of A.R Wolff who designed air-conditioning systems for as many as hundred buildings during his life-time. But it is W.H Carrier (1876-1950) who is known as the ‘Father of Air-Conditioning’.

Carrier’s inventions are credited with helping the United States develop its infrastructure and business uniformly throughout the country, regardless of climate.
Invention of air-conditioning

Invention of washing machine

For centuries, people beat clothes on flat rick at the edge of a stream or lake. By the height of the Roman Empire, most wealthy people had graduated to tubs, whose sudsy water was dump into  a stream or alleyway by servant after the wash.

The earliest reported illustration of a washing machine was said to have been cited in 1629 German book by Octavias Strada von Rossberg, The machine was reported to have been invented in the last half of the 1400s by an Italian, Jacopa de Strada.

In 1805, the US patent Office issued the first American patent for hand-operated washing machine. By 1880, the Patent Office had granted more that 4000 patents for hand operated washing machines.

In 1870, the first tub with a drain plug appeared on the market. The owner was however responsible for building a trough or drain line from the tub to a safe outdoor dump spot.

In 1880, several American companies offered washing machines that included a built-in firebox to heat the water in the washer.

It is widely reported that A.J Fisher, an employee of Hurley, first invented the electric washing machine with his patent (966677) dated August 9, 1910. Although Fisher’s patent pictures and electric motor on his washer, the patent description only mentions the motor in passing.

The resulting ‘Thor’ electric washer was produced by the Hurley Machine Company of Chicago. A year later, in 1911, another electric machine was produced by Lou Upton and his uncle Emory. Lou had patent on a manual washing machine, and Emory ran a machine shop.

In 1922 the Maytag Corporation began producing agitator washing machines. These new machines were a big improvement can use coin-operated machines in laundry rooms in their apartment buildings.

It was not until 1937 with the introduction of automatic washing machines that an operator was no longer required to perform the various steps of washing, rinsing and wringing.
Invention of washing machine

Invention of bicycle

A bicycle is a truly great invention because it is part of the entire range of human existence, from frivolity to necessity. Three centuries ago French mathematician Jacques Ozanom spelled out the theoretical advantages of human powered carriage in which one can drive oneself wherever one pleases, without horses.

The bicycle was not created in one brilliant invention. Rather it arrived piecemeal, one idea at a time, until 1885, John Starkey added the final ideas and created a functional bicycle.

In 1804, an obscure American mechanic named J. Bolton patented a four-wheeled carriage designed to carry up to six idle passengers who sat comfortably on three upholding benches. In addition, toe men operated the vehicle. One sat in front and steered the smaller front wheel, each about two feet in diameter.

Macmillan’s bicycle the first to use pedals

The first bicycle was built in 1817. Baron Karl Drais Von Sauerbrun of Germany called his invention the draisine. The draisine was made of wood. It was pushed forward by the rider’s feet. The baron’s bicycle did not catch on in France, but it became popular as a plaything in England during the 1820s and 1830s.

The term ‘bicycle’ was not introduced until the 1860s, when it was coined in France to describe a new kind of two-wheeler with a mechanical drive. Ever since then, ‘bicycle’ has been used in French and English to designate a two-wheeler with pedals.

In 1839, a Scottish blacksmith named Kirkpatrick Macmillan made the first bicycle pedals. He attached pedals to swinging cranks above the bicycles front wheel. The swinging cranks were linked to rods that drove the back wheel. His bike also the first to have a brake, but this did not prevent the Glasgow police court from fining him for ‘furious driving’ when his bicycle struck a child in 1842.

The safety bicycle did not become popular until the advent in 1885 of the first recognizable modern bicycle, the Rover designed by John Starley of Coventry. In 1888 the Scottish veterinarian Dr John Dunlop’s invented the pneumatic tyre specially made for bicycle.
Invention of bicycle

History of digital camera

In 1947, transistor was invented by three scientists in Bell Labs: John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley.  Transistor later became the basic component of digital camera.

The digital camera was an outgrowth of the video tape recorder, first developed in 1951, and charge-couple device (CCD), invented in 1959 at Bell Labs.

Texas Instruments patented the first filmless digital camera for still images in 1972. The first digital camera was born in Kodak Company in 1975, but begun to produce civil product after 23 years in 1998.

In 1986 Kodak invented the first megapixel sensor which allowed the recording of 1.6 million pixels, allowing a 5 by 7 inch picture with quality equivalent to or better than a film picture.

The first consumer digital camera was launched in 1990 by the American company Dycam. In 1995, Casio Inc. and Canon Inc. respectively produced a digital camera.
History of digital camera

The invention of television

Television does not have just one inventor. The best early known writers on the subject of ‘distant electric vision’ and most accurate predictor was a prominent British electrical engineer named A.A Campbell Swinton. He suggested the idea of an entirely electronic video system in 1908.

The concept of ‘television’ can be traced back as far as 1875 when an American inventor, G.R Carey, created a primitive television using photoelectric cells.

His invention relied on an image being created through a panel of electric light bulbs, required an enormous numbers of wire, bulbs and photoelectric cells and only produced a low quality image.

In 1884, 23 years old engineering student, Paul Nipkow, took first practical step toward actually setting up a video system.

In 1920, a young American name Philo Farnsworth had an idea to send pictures as well as sound through the air. This led to the invention of the electronic television camera.

While, the earliest television broadcast were made in 1935 in Berlin and 1936 in Paris and England, popular interest in the medium did not develop until the late 1930s.

Today, advanced digital technology solutions for television have gone beyond the predictions of Swinton.
The invention of television