29th September 2016
Biro and Biro: The ballpoint pen and its maker
The year was 1938. World War II was about to begin. A wonderful invention, which only became ubiquitous with time, happened: The ballpoint pen.
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21st May 2016
From ‘fourteen nights’ to ‘a fortnight’
A fortnight means fourteen days. The word ‘fortnight’ is derived from the old English word ‘fēowertīene niht’ which means ‘fourteen nights’. In the US, ‘two weeks’ is more commonly used instead of ‘a fortnight’.
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11th May 2016
American Presidents who died on 4th of July
The fourth of July is celebrated as the Independence Day in the US. Coincidentally, three US Presidents died on the fourth of July. They were John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who died on the same day in 1826, and James Monroe, who died in 1831.
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18th April 2016
Telstar – the satellite that relayed the first transatlantic TV signals
In 1962 the satellite Telstar was developed by AT&T and it was placed in an orbit of 682 to 4,030 miles (i.e. 1,091 to 6,444 km) orbiting the earth in 2 hours 40 minutes. The first transatlantic television signals were transmitted through Telstar. With the launch of Telstar, wireless communications, such as voice, television, fax and data transfer were carried out between UK, Brazil, France, Italy and the US.
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