Friday, January 25, 2008

Today in History: January 25

  • 1736 French mathematician, physicist Joseph-Louis Lagrange born; wrote Mécanique Analytique.
  • 1627 Irish chemist Robert Boyle born; Boyle's gas law.
  • 1890 American journalist Nelly Bly completes Jules Verne's world tour in 72 days.
  • 1915 Alexander Bell makes first transcontinental phone call, New York City to San Francisco; answered by Dr. Watson.
Yesterday | Tomorrow

2 comments:

  1. Just a quibble.
    Dr. Watson was Sherlock Holmes sidekick. I think Alexander's buddy was just plain ol' Watson.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So, after a quick web search, it turns out that we squeak through. The "Dr." is allowable as Thomas Augustus Watson was awarded a doctor of engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology, in 1921. So, retrospectively, we can call him "Dr. Watson" even though he didn't have this Ph.D. at the time of the trans-continental call. Whew!

    ReplyDelete

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