Born on this day
Saturday, August 19, 1871. : American pioneer aviator Orville Wright is born.
Orville Wright was born in Dayton, Ohio, on 19 August 1871. Together with his brother Wilbur, he operated a bicycle repair, design and manufacturing company, the Wright Cycle Company, and used the venture to fund his interest in flying. In 1903 the Wright brothers invented the first powered airplane, “Flyer”, capable of sustained, controlled flight. The aircraft was tested at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, making the first ever manned powered flight which lasted for 12 seconds. By 1905, their “Flyer III” was capable of remaining airborne for over 39 minutes, travelling at 39 kph.
As the Wright brothers’ designs and flight capabilities improved, they sold many aircraft, but competition from European designers became too great. After Wilbur died of typhoid in 1912, Orville sold his interest in the Wright aeroplane company. He died of a heart attack in 1948.
Born on this day
Friday, August 19, 1921. : Gene Roddenberry, creator of the Star Trek phenomenon, is born.
Eugene Wesley Roddenberry was born in El Paso, Texas, on 19 August 1921. After moving to Los Angeles when Roddenberry was very young, his father became a police officer. Roddenberry initially studied Criminal Justice, but then joined the Civilian Pilot Training Program, becoming a pilot. He flew bombing missions in the South Pacific during WWII, but two crashes led him to give up flying. After then following in his father’s footsteps as a police officer, he found more satisfaction and monetary rewards in writing scripts for TV police dramas.
As a fan of science fiction, Roddenberry set his sights towards writing a sci-fi TV script. ‘Star Trek’ debuted in 1966. Although it ran for only three years and was never a top rating show, it became a cult classic. From the initial ‘Star Trek’ came six motion pictures, then the further series of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ and accompanying motion pictures, ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’, ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ and ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’.
Roddenberry died on 24 October 1991. He was one of the first people to be sent posthumously into space: a small capsule of his ashes was sent into orbit for six years, after which they burned up in the earth’s atmosphere. An asteroid called 4659 Roddenberry and a crater on Mars have been named in his honour.
Australian History
Monday, August 19, 1907. : The rabbit-proof fence, the longest fence in the world, is completed.
Rabbits, an introduced species in Australia, have long been considered pests. Since 21 rabbits were released for the purpose of recreational hunting on Christmas Day 1859 by Victorian farmer Thomas Austin, their numbers have increased exponentially. Rabbits are responsible for widespread damage to the agricultural industry as well as to the environment, competing with native species for food and digging shallow burrows that destroy the deeper burrows of marsupials such as the bilby.
By the 1890s, rabbits had reached plague proportions across New South Wales and Victoria. By 1896, they had even spread to Western Australia. As a result, the Western Australian Undersecretary for Lands sent surveyor Arthur Mason towards the southeast of the state to report on the extent of the problem. Mason recommended the construction of a series of fences, one along the border with South Australia and another further west, to limit further spread of the pest. A 1901 Royal Commission ordered a fence be built from the southern coast of Western Australia to Eighty Mile Beach in the northwest. Construction began that same year.
This fence, known as the No 1 Rabbit Proof Fence, ran for 1837 km, the longest line of unbroken fence in the world. The fence utilised wooden posts, 12.5 gauge plain wires and wire netting, and extended 15cm into the soil, with 90cm of fencing exposed above ground. Construction took six years, and during this time rabbits were located outside the No 1 Fence, necessitating the construction of two more fences. Rabbit Fence No 2 began at Point Ann on the southern coastline and joined No 1 Fence at Gum Creek, a distance of 1166km. Fence No 3, a mere 257 km in length, ran west from the coast north of Geraldton to meet Fence No 2.
Construction of the No 1 Rabbit-proof fence was completed at Port Hedland in the north on 19 August 1907. Initially, the fence was patrolled and maintained by inspectors under the direction of the Chief Inspector of Rabbits, Alexander Crawford. Although not as effective against the spread of rabbits as first envisioned, the fence still stands today, with sections being maintained by property owners and local councils.
Australian History
Tuesday, August 19, 1930. : The two halves of the Sydney Harbour Bridge are joined.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge connects the Sydney CBD with the North Shore commercial and residential areas on Sydney Harbour. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is the largest steel arch bridge in the world, though not the longest, with the top of the bridge standing 134 metres above the harbour. At 48.8 m wide, it is the widest bridge in the world (as of 2004). In 1912, John Bradfield was appointed chief engineer of the bridge project, which also had to include a railway. Plans were completed in 1916 but the advent of WWI delayed implementation until 1922. Construction of the bridge began in 1924, and took 1400 men eight years to build at a cost of £4.2 million. Sixteen lives were lost during its construction, while up to 800 families living in the path of the proposed Bridge path were relocated and their homes demolished when construction started.
The arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was built in two halves cantilevering from each shore and tying each half back by steel cables that were anchored into U-shaped tunnels excavated into the sandstone rock. Construction of the two halves of the arch began late in 1928, and the two halves were properly joined around 10pm on 19 August 1930.
World History
Tuesday, August 19, 1755. : It is reported that a large quantity of earwigs are destroying Stroud, England.
Earwigs are elongated, flattish insects characterised by forceps-like protuberances at the end of their abdomens. They can vary in size from 5mm to 5cm long. They are found across the globe, and tend to hide under leaf litter, bark, stones and debris, and in crevices.
On 19 August 1755, it was reported that enormous quantities of earwigs had rained down over Stroud, England. The “Historical Chronicle of the Gentleman’s Magazine” stated that vast amounts of earwigs had destroyed flowers and fruits, and even the cabbages. Earwigs had penetrated most of the houses, particularly the older wooden ones, covering the floors and filling every crack and crevice. Linen and furniture were full of earwigs, and people were advised to eat their provisions stored in cupboards with great caution.
World History
Monday, August 19, 1839. : Louis Daguerre invents the daguerreotype photographic process, allowing an image to be chemically fixed as a permanent picture.
Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was born on 18 November 1787 in Cormeilles-en-Parisis. He experimented on making pictures from 1824, showing dioramas around France, England and Scotland, until he became interested in the emerging field of photography.
Daguerreotype is an early photographic process by which a photograph is produced with the image made on a light-sensitive silver-coated metallic plate. It is a direct-positive process, creating a highly detailed image on a sheet of copper plated with a thin coat of silver without the use of a negative. Daguerre’s invention was announced by the French Government on 19 August 1839. The daguerreotype photographic process was the first to allow an image to be chemically fixed as a permanent picture. Popular for many years, the daguerreotype was replaced in the 1850s by the ambrotype, which was both faster and cheaper.
World History
Friday, August 19, 1960. : Sputnik 5, the first satellite to carry animals into orbit and back, is launched.
Sputnik 5, also known as Korabl-Sputnik 2, was the second test flight of the Russian Vostok spacecraft. It was launched on 19 August 1960, and carried two dogs, Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, 2 rats and numerous plants. A card accompanied Sputnik 5 requesting the finder not to open the capsule but to set it upright, and to leave it exactly where it had landed, in case the capsule landed outside the recovery zone. The spacecraft returned to earth on August 20, and all animals were recovered safely.
World History
Tuesday, August 19, 2008. : It is reported that a British man returns from holiday to find friends mourning his death.
It pays to always tell someone when you’re going on holiday.
On 19 August 2008, it was reported that 49-year-old Michael O’Neill, from Middlesbrough, England, made a spur-of-the-moment decision to go on holiday to Australia. He failed to inform friends and neighbours of his plans. Growing concerned at his absence, his neighbours called in the police, who broke down the door to O’Neill’s flat but found no trace of where he could be.
By an amazing coincidence, a death notice was placed in the local newspaper, informing readers of the demise of a Michael O’Neill of Middlesbrough, who had two brothers named Terry and Kevin – the same names as the first O’Neill’s brothers. When O’Neill returned from holiday, he found himself being mourned for his premature passing.