Born on this day
Thursday, February 26, 1852. : John Harvey Kellogg, inventor of the corn flake, is born.
John Harvey Kellogg was born on 26 February 1852 in Tyrone, New York. He graduated from New York University in 1875 with a medical degree, and became a medical doctor in Battle Creek, Michigan. Here, he set up a sanitarium using holistic methods, with a particular focus on nutrition (advocating vegetarianism), enemas and exercise. The development of the corn flake came about as Kellogg sought to improve the vegetarian diet of his hospital patients. Whilst boiling wheat to try to produce an easily digestible substitute for bread, Kellogg accidentally left a pot of boiled wheat to stand and become tempered. When it was put through a rolling process, the grains of wheat emerged as large, thin flakes. When the flakes were baked, they became crisp and light, creating the corn flake, which he patented on 31 May 1884.
With his brother, Will Keith Kellogg, he started the Sanitas Food Company to produce their whole grain cereals around 1897. The brothers argued over the addition of sugar to the cereals, so in 1906, Will started his own company called the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, which eventually became the Kellogg Company. Meanwhile, John established the Battle Creek Food Company to develop and market soy products, but did not invent the concept of the dry breakfast cereal. That was invented by Dr James Caleb Jackson who created the first dry breakfast cereal in 1863, which he called “Granula”. Dr John Kellogg died on 14 December 1943.
Australian History
Sunday, February 26, 1606. : Dutch explorer Willem Jansz becomes the first recorded European to land on Australia’s shores.
Willem Janszoon, often known as Willem Jansz, is believed to have been born in 1570, in the Netherlands. He worked for one of the trading companies which preceded the Dutch East India Company. He sailed for the Dutch East Indies first in 1598 and again in 1601.
Willem Jansz departed on his third trip to the East Indies on 18 December 1603, commanding the “Duyfken”. His task was to seek other trade possibilities. He reached the coast of western New Guinea on 18 November 1605, then crossed the Arafura Sea into the Gulf of Carpentaria. On 26 February 1606, Jansz became the first recorded European to step foot on Australia’s shores at the Pennefather River, near where the Queensland town of Weipa now stands, on the western shore of Cape York Peninsula.
Encountering hostility from the indigenous people, Jansz lost ten of his crew during visits to the shore. He was uncomplimentary of the land, finding it swampy, but still charted 320 kilometres of the shore before returning to the Netherlands. However, he was of the opinion that his landing point was part of New Guinea, and Dutch maps reflected this error for many years.
Australian History
Monday, February 26, 1872. : The brig ‘Maria’ sinks off the coast of Queensland, Australia, with the loss of 21 by drowning and 14 by indigenous Australians.
In the early 1870s, Australia was still in the grip of “gold fever”. Visitors to New Guinea had also sent back reports of gold being found on its southern coast, while geologists declared that New Guinea was prime prospecting country. With this in mind, the New Guinea Prospecting Association was formed in Sydney in 1871. Its purpose was to buy a ship to sail to New Guinea, settle along the coast and prospect their way to fortune. The brig ‘Maria’ was an ex-coal-trading ship, old and possibly not suited to the purpose of such an extended journey as from Sydney to New Guinea. It departed Sydney Harbour on 25 January 1872 with many of the members of the Association on board.
The ‘Maria’, which was found to leak, was unable to withstand a tropical storm which hit the brig off the coast of Queensland between February 17th and 25th. Pumps were insufficient to keep up with the water intake sustained by the vessel, and when the Barrier Reef was sighted, the captain made for it, knowing something of the bays and safe passages within. Despite his confidence, however, the ship ran aground on Bramble Reef on the morning of 26 February 1872.
There were insufficient boats to carry the passengers ashore, especially after the captain deserted in one. Rafts were quickly constructed as it was evident the Maria was breaking up. Of the estimated 75 people on board, 35 people were killed, some by drowning and some by a hostile group of indigenous Australians. One of the survivors was Lawrence Hargrave, the Australian who would later become the inventor of the box kite.
World History
Saturday, February 26, 1870. : Early American attempt at a subway, the Beach Pneumatic Transit, is opened to the public.
It is generally believed that the Interborough Rapid Transit subway was the first subway in New York. However, it was preceded three decades earlier by the Beach Pneumatic Transit System.
Alfred Ely Beach was an inventor and the editor of Scientific American. He had designed a pneumatic, or air-driven, transit system which he first demonstrated at the American Institute Fair in 1867. Believing it could be adapted for transit operation in underground tunnels, he applied for a permit to build such a system, but his application was denied, although he was permitted to construct two smaller tunnels. He then elected to build his original, longer design in secret.
The Beach Pneumatic Transit tunnel ran for a length of 300 feet along Broadway and took 58 days to complete. It began under Warren Street and Broadway, while the station was positioned under the south sidewalk of Warren St, just west of the corner of Broadway.
The tunnel opened to the public on 26 February 1870. It operated as a demonstration line and a curiosity between 1870 and 1873, but was not extended further, as the technology was soon superseded by the development of electric multiple-unit traction and electric locomotives.
World History
Tuesday, February 26, 1935. : RADAR is first demonstrated by Robert Watson-Watt.
Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, born 13 April 1892 in Scotland, was not the inventor of RADAR (RAdio Detection And Ranging) but played a significant role in its development in defence. In 1915, Watson-Watt joined the staff at Aldershot Wireless Station of Air Ministry Meteorological Office, who were interested in his theories on the use of radio for the detection of thunderstorms. Lightning gives off a radio signal as it ionizes the air, and he planned on detecting this signal to warn pilots of approaching thunderstorms. Whilst working on developing radio-wave detection, Watson-Watt realised it could be used to track enemy aircraft for air defence. He first demonstrated his method on 26 February 1935 to the Air Ministry.
Watson-Watt was granted a patent for radar on April 2 of that year. By June his method was detecting aircraft at 27 kilometres, and by the end of the year the range was up to 100 kilometres. By the time WWII broke out in 1939, the military had installed a chain of radar stations along the east and south coasts of England, a vital strategy for war defence.