March 18 in Physics History
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birthdays & deaths
Explore all birthdays & deaths of physicists occurred on this day with their short biography!
physics Events
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March 18 in Physics History - Births – Physicists born on March 18
Rudolf Diesel (18 Mar 1858 - 29 Sep 1913)
He was a German engineer who invented the internal combustion engine. He studied the four-stroke internal combustion engines developed by Nikolaus Otto, he tried to build an engine that would approach the thermodynamic limit established by Sadi Carnot in 1824. It stated that “if the fuel in a cylinder could be expanded at constant pressure, it could get to Carnot’s limit.” He patented the concept but because of having lost control of his invention and receiving a lot of criticism for his theories, he committed suicide. After boarding an English Channel steamer, he was found dead in the sea.
March 18 in Physics History - Deaths – Physicists died on March 18
Charles Joseph Van Depoele (27 Apr 1846 - 18 Mar 1892)
He was a Belgian-American with more than 100 patents on electrical inventions. As a pioneer in electric lightning, he established the practicality of railway cars running on electricity. He invented an electric generator and also exhibited an operating electric streetcar at the Chicago Exposition of Railway Appliances. He sold his patent to Thomson-Houston Electric Company and died four years later. He also designed electric streetcar systems for several cities.
Harold Jeffreys (22 Apr 1891 - 18 Mar 1989)
He was an English astronomer, mathematician, and geophysicist. He proposed models for the structures of the outer planets, and also studied the solar system. When he analyzed the earthquake waves, he found that the core of the Earth is molten fluid. He also contributed to the general theory of plant ecology, dynamics, aerodynamics, and relativity theory.
March 18 in Physics History - Events – Physics Events on March 18
The First Spacewalk
In 1965, Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev became the first to climb out of a spacecraft in space. Voskhod 2 was launched carrying them and on their second orbit, Leonov left the spacecraft through the airlock while still tethered to the vessel. He took motion pictures and moved outside for about 10 minutes.
Woodstock of Physics
The American Physical Society meeting in New York City was packed with more than 1800 scientists. It was about the latest discoveries in 1987 in “high-temperature” superconductivity (HTS) that were reported by many speakers at the marathon session. It had to be dubbed the “Woodstock of Physics” because of the excitement created. The phenomenon was first reported in 1911 and had occurred at 4 degrees above absolute zero(4K). Dr. Paul Chu, announced HTS achieved at 92 K. Researchers published their discovery of HTS in a ceramic material at 30K range.