More Let's Go to a Party Puzzles
Edison thought it would be an illuminating experience.
Reveal Answer?
The first incandescent lamp (the light bulb)!
Watt reckoned it would be a good way to let off the steam,
Reveal Answer?
Important role in developing the STEAM ENGINE!
Stephenson thought the whole idea was too loco.
Reveal Answer?
The locomotive (steam engine train)!
Wilber Wright said he could come, provided he and Orville could get a flight.
Reveal Answer?
The first self-propelled, heavier than air airplane flight!
Dr. Jekyll declined, he wants to "hyde" from others.
Reveal Answer?
The chemist in the famous scientific thriller, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."
Newton felt he was being "forced" to attend.
Reveal Answer?
Gravitational forces and the theory of centrifugal force!
Morse's reply, "I'll be there on the dot. Can't stop now -- must dash."
Reveal Answer?
The Morse Code!
Other things you didn't know... before now!
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was one of the most prolific inventors of the late 19th century. He is most famous for his development of the first commercially practical incandescent lamp (1879). Perhaps his greatest contribution, however, was the development (1882) of the world's first central electric light power station (see POWER, GENERATION AND TRANSMISSION OF). His early laboratories were forerunners of the modern industrial research laboratory, where skilled researchers jointly solve technological problems. (Source: Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 1995)
James Watt
James Watt was a Scottish engineer and inventor who played an important part in the development of the STEAM ENGINE as a practical power source. He studied instrument making and in 1755 went to London (at the age of 18) to study further and practice his trade. The unit of power is called the Watt, named after James Watt, who also happened to invent the first practical steam engine design. The Watt symbol is W, and it is equal to 1/746 of a horsepower, or one Volt times one Amp. Although Watt did not invent the steam engine itself, his improved engine was really the first useful device for efficiently converting heat into useful work and was a key stimulus to the Industrial Revolution. (Source: Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 1995)
George Stephenson
George Stephenson, extremely poor as a young man, worked in local collieries and taught himself to read and write in his spare time. In 1812, he became a colliery engine builder, and in 1814 he built his first locomotive. When the Stockton and Darlington Railway was projected, George Stephenson was retained as company engineer. He convinced the owners to use steam motive power and built the line's first locomotive, the Locomotion. In 1825, Stephenson moved to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. He and his son Robert built (1826-29) the Rocket, which won the competition held to design a suitable steam locomotive for that railroad. (Source: Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 1995)
The Wright Brothers
The Wright brothers' interest in aviation started in 1896, when they learned of early European experiments in sustained FLIGHT. They began a program for building an airplane by first conducting tests with kites and then gliders. Before attempting powered flight, they solved the essential problems of controlling a plane's motion in rising, descending, and turning. An isolated beach near Kitty Hawk, N.C., was selected for flight tests on the advice of the U.S. Weather Bureau. After making more than 700 successful glider flights at Kitty Hawk in 1902, the Wright brothers faced the problem of finding an engine light enough and powerful enough to get their plane off the ground. No automobile manufacturer would accept the assignment, so the Wright brothers, along with Charles Taylor, designed and built their own 12-to-16 horsepower engine and propeller for their plane, which was originally named Flyer I, and commonly called Kitty Hawk. On Dec. 17, 1903, Orville achieved the first successful flight ever made in a self-propelled heavier-than-air craft. In 1907, the Wright brothers contracted with the U.S. Army Signal Corps to build a plane capable of carrying two men on flights of up to 200 km (125 mi). The plane was delivered and tests were completed in June 1909. Their first commercial success was with a French syndicate in 1908; in 1909, the American Wright Company was formed. (Source: Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 1995)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The idea for The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) came to its author, Robert Louis STEVENSON, in a dream. In the story, a respectable physician, Dr. Jekyll, can chemically transform himself into a monster, Mr. Hyde, who reflects the worst side of Dr. Jekyll's personality. Jekyll is fatally attracted to becoming Mr. Hyde, and Mr. Hyde takes over completely. The personality division suggests Sigmund FREUD'S duality of id and superego and the inevitable conflict between them. There are many movies available based on this work. (Source: Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 1995)
Isaac Newton
Newton's greatest achievement was his work in physics and CELESTIAL MECHANICS, which culminated in the theory of universal GRAVITATION. It is not true that he discovered universal gravitation in 1666 while watching an apple fall from a tree in his garden. That story is simply a myth. By 1666, Newton had formulated early versions of his three LAWS OF MOTION. He had also discovered the law stating the centrifugal force (or force away from the center) of a body moving uniformly in a circular path. (Source: Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 1995)
Samuel Morse
Samuel Finley Breese Morse achieved distinction both as an artist, particularly as a painter of miniatures, and as an inventor. Morse was educated at Yale College but also went to Europe for art training. It was during the return voyage from one such trip (1832) that he conceived of an electromagnetic signaling system. Although Morse continued with his artistic activities in New York and became first president of the National Academy of Design, his main activity after 1837 was the development of an electric TELEGRAPH. Morse's important contribution was that he based his receiver on the ELECTROMAGNET. This feature ultimately ensured the universal adoption of his system. When the electromagnet was energized by a pulse of current from the sender, a soft iron armature was attracted to the magnet and it produced marks, or variations, in a straight line that was being recorded on a moving strip of paper. The grouping of such marks symbolized the words of a message. Morse soon devised a code whereby letters and numbers were represented by combinations of dot and dash symbols, which corresponded to signals of short and long duration. With the aid of Alfred Vail, the original receiver was greatly improved and adapted to print the dot-and-dash symbols. Such a system was used in the first U.S. telegraph link that Morse set up in 1844 between Baltimore and Washington. (Source: Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 1995)
