Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Today in History: February 26

  • 1829 German-American Levi Strauss born; created heavy blue denim canvas jeans for the Forty-niners.
  • 1895 American inventor Michael Owens patents a multi-piece glass blowing machine, for mass-producing glass bottles.
  • 1903 Italian chemist Giulio Natta born; 1963 Nobel, for Ziegler-Natta catalysts, which build isotactic polymers, including polypropylene and Polyvinyl alcohol (used in Elmer's glue).
  • 1935 Scottish physicist Robert Watson-Watt demonstrates radar to the British Air Ministry.
  • 1936 Japan's February 26 Incident, an ultra-national military revolt, begins. While the revolt is put down by Empiror Hirohito, years later many Japanese come to believe in the conspiracy theory that he faked the revolt to expand militarism. What is old is new again.
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1 comment:

  1. Dude!
    I never knew there was a "burning of the Reichstag" in Japan.

    Levi Strauss should be a god in the American pantheon.

    Or at least a demi-god.
    Kinda like Eddie Murphy in Mulan:
    Not exactly powerful... but things would have turned out a lot different without him.

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