On this day:
1554 – Bayinnaung, who would go on to assemble the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia, is crowned King of Burma.
Bayinnaung Kyawhtin Nawrahta (ဘုရင့်နောင် ကျော်ထင်နော်ရထာ [bəjɪ̰ɴ nàʊɴ tɕɔ̀ tʰɪ̀ɴ nɔ̀jətʰà]; Thai: บุเรงนองกะยอดินนรธา, rtgs: Burengnong Kayodin Noratha; 16 January 1516 – 10 October 1581) was king of Toungoo Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1550 to 1581. During his 31-year reign, which has been called the “greatest explosion of human energy ever seen in Burma”, Bayinnaung assembled the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia, which included much of modern-day Burma, Chinese Shan states, Lan Na, Lan Xang, Manipur and Siam.[1]
Although he is best remembered for his empire building, Bayinnaung’s greatest legacy was his integration of the Shan states into the Irrawaddy-valley-based kingdoms. After the conquest of the Shan states in 1557–1563, the king put in an administrative system that reduced the power of hereditary Shan saophas, and brought Shan customs in line with low-land norms. It eliminated the threat of Shan raids into Upper Burma, an overhanging concern to Upper Burma since the late 13th century. His Shan policy was followed by Burmese kings right up to the final fall of the kingdom to the British in 1885.[2]
He could not replicate this administrative policy everywhere in his far flung empire, however. His empire was a loose collection of former sovereign kingdoms, whose kings were loyal to him as the Cakkavatti (Universal Ruler), not the Kingdom of Toungoo. Indeed, Ava and Siam revolted just over two years after his death. By 1599, all the vassal states had revolted, and the Toungoo Empire completely collapsed.
He is considered one of the three greatest kings of Burma, along with Anawrahta and Alaungpaya. Some of the most prominent places in modern Myanmar are named after him. He is also well known in Thailand as Phra Chao Chana Sip Thit (พระเจ้าชนะสิบทิศ, “King of the Ten Directions”).
1866 – The Royal Aeronautical Society is formed in London.
The Society was founded in January 1866 with the name “The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain” and is the oldest aeronautical society in the world.[6] Early or founding members included James Glaisher, Francis Wenham, the Duke of Argyll, and Frederick Brearey.[7] In the first year, there were 65 members, at the end of the second year, 91 members, and in the third year, 106 members.[8] Annual reports were produced in the first decades. In 1868 the Society held a major exhibition at London’s Crystal Palace with 78 entries. John Stringfellow’s steam engine was shown there.[8][9][10] The Society sponsored the first wind tunnel in 1870-71, designed by Wenham and Browning.[8]
In 1918, the organization’s name was changed to the Royal Aeronautical Society.[11]
In 1923 its principal journal was renamed from The Aeronautical Journal to The Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society and in 1927 the Institution of Aeronautical Engineers Journal was merged into it.[12]
In 1940, the RAeS responded to the wartime need to expand the aircraft industry. The Society established a Technical Department to bring together the best available knowledge and present it in an authoritative and accessible form – a working tool for engineers who might come from other industries and lack the specialised knowledge required for aircraft design. This technical department became known as the Engineering Sciences Data Unit (ESDU) and eventually became a separate entity in the 1980s.
In 1987 the ‘Society of Licensed Aircraft Engineers and Technologists’, previously called the ‘Society of Licensed Aircraft Engineers’ was incorporated into the Royal Aeronautical Society.
1967 – Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation.
James Hiram Bedford (April 20, 1893 – January 12, 1967) was a University of California psychology professor who wrote several books on occupational counseling.[1] He is the first person whose body was cryopreserved after legal death, and who remains preserved at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation.[2][3][4]
In June 1965, Ev Cooper’s Life Extension Society (LES) offered the opportunity to preserve one person free of charge, stating that “the Life Extension Society now has primitive facilities for emergency short term freezing and storing our friend the large homeotherm (man). LES offers to freeze free of charge the first person desirous and in need of cryogenic suspension.” Bedford took the opportunity and was established as their candidate. Bedford suffered from kidney cancer that had later metastasized into his lungs, a condition that was untreatable at the time.[5] Bedford left $100,000 to cryonics research in his will, but more than this amount was utilized by Bedford’s wife and son in court, having to defend his will and his cryopreservation due to arguments created by other relatives.[5]
Bedford’s body was frozen a few hours after his death, due to natural causes related to his cancer.[5] His body was preserved by Robert Prehoda (author of the 1969 book Suspended Animation), Dr. Dante Brunol (physician and biophysicist) and Robert Nelson (President of the Cryonics Society of California). Nelson then wrote a book about the subject titled We Froze the First Man. Compared to those employed by modern cryonics organizations, the use of cryoprotectants in Bedford’s case was primitive. He was injected with dimethyl sulfoxide, a compound once thought to be useful for long-term cryogenics, so it is unlikely that his brain was protected. Vitrification was not yet possible, further limiting the possibility of Bedford’s eventual recovery. In his first suspended animation stages, his body was stored at Edward Hope’s Cryo-Care facility in Phoenix, Arizona, for two years, then in 1969 moved to the Galiso facility in California. Bedford’s body was moved from Galiso in 1973 to Trans Time near Berkeley, California, until 1977, before being stored by his son for many years.[5]
Bedford’s body was maintained in liquid nitrogen by his family in southern California until 1982, when it was then moved to Alcor Life Extension Foundation, and has remained in Alcor’s care to the present day.[6] In May 1991, his body’s condition was evaluated when he was moved to a new storage dewar. The examiners concluded that “it seems likely that his external temperature has remained at relatively low subzero temperatures throughout the storage interval.”[7]
1991 – Persian Gulf War: An act of the U.S. Congress authorizes the use of American military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.
The Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Shield (2 August 1990 – 17 January 1991) for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defense of Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) in its combat phase, was a war waged by coalition forces from 34 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait.
The war is also known under other names, such as the Persian Gulf War, First Gulf War, Gulf War I, Kuwait War, First Iraq War, or Iraq War[24][25][26][a] before the term “Iraq War” became identified instead with the 2003 Iraq War (also referred to in the US as “Operation Iraqi Freedom”).[27] The Iraqi Army’s occupation of Kuwait that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. US President George H. W. Bush deployed US forces into Saudi Arabia, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the coalition, the largest military alliance since World War II. The great majority of the coalition’s military forces were from the US, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and Egypt as leading contributors, in that order. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia paid around US$32 billion of the US$60 billion cost.[28]
The war was marked by the introduction of live news broadcasts from the front lines of the battle, principally by the US network CNN.[29][30][31] The war has also earned the nickname Video Game War after the daily broadcast of images from cameras on board US bombers during Operation Desert Storm.[32][33]
The initial conflict to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait began with an aerial and naval bombardment on 17 January 1991, continuing for five weeks. This was followed by a ground assault on 24 February. This was a decisive victory for the coalition forces, who liberated Kuwait and advanced into Iraqi territory. The coalition ceased its advance, and declared a ceasefire 100 hours after the ground campaign started. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, and areas on Saudi Arabia’s border. Iraq launched Scud missiles against coalition military targets in Saudi Arabia and against Israel.
Born on this day:
1577 – Jan Baptist van Helmont, Flemish chemist and physician (d. 1644))
Jan Baptist van Helmont (/ˈhɛlmɒnt/;[2] Dutch: [ˈɦɛlmɔnt]; 12 January 1580 – 30 December 1644) was a Flemish chemist, physiologist, and physician. He worked during the years just after Paracelsus and iatrochemistry, and is sometimes considered to be “the founder of pneumatic chemistry”.[3] Van Helmont is remembered today largely for his ideas on spontaneous generation, his 5-year tree experiment, and his introduction of the word “gas” (from the Greek word chaos) into the vocabulary of scientists.
Van Helmont is regarded as the founder of pneumatic chemistry,[3] as he was the first to understand that there are gases distinct in kind from atmospheric air and furthermore invented the word “gas”.[6] He perceived that his “gas sylvestre” (carbon dioxide) given off by burning charcoal, was the same as that produced by fermenting must, which sometimes renders the air of caves unbreathable. For Van Helmont, air and water were the two primitive elements. Fire he explicitly denied to be an element, and earth is not one because it can be reduced to water.
On the one hand, Van Helmont was a disciple of Paracelsus (though he scornfully repudiated his errors as well as those of most other contemporary authorities), a mystic and alchemist. On the other hand, he engaged in the new learning based on experimentation that was producing men like William Harvey, Galileo Galilei and Francis Bacon. Van Helmont was a careful observer of nature; it can be inferred that from his analysis of data gathered in his experiments suggested he had a concept of the conservation of mass. He performed an experiment to determine where plants get their mass. He grew a willow tree and measured the amount of soil, the weight of the tree and the water he added. After five years the plant had gained about 164 lbs (74 kg). Since the amount of soil was basically the same as it had been when he started his experiment (it lost only 57 grams), he deduced that the tree’s weight gain had come from water. Since it had received nothing but water and the soil weighed practically the same as at the beginning, he argued that the increased weight of wood, bark and roots had been formed from water.
1799 – Priscilla Susan Bury, British botanist (d. 1872)
Priscilla Susan Bury, born Falkner (12 January 1799 Liverpool – 8 March 1872 Croydon), was an English botanist and illustrator.
Daughter of a rich Liverpool merchant, she married on 4 March 1830 Edward Bury (1794-1858), a noted railway engineer. Working with amateur botanist William Roscoe (1753-1831), she published in 1831-1834 A Selection of Hexandrian Plants. The engraving was entrusted to the Londoner Robert Havell, engraver of the John James Audubon (1785-1851) plates. The book was carried out in aquatint and the 350 plant drawings painted in part by hand. The subscribers to this large folio numbered only 79, mostly from the Lancashire region, Audubon being one of them. The book was described as “one of the most effective colour-plate folios of its period” by Wilfrid Jasper Walter Blunt in his The Art of Botanical Illustration.[1]
Bury was also the author of illustrations for The Botanist of Benjamin Maund (1790-1863).[2]
The standard author abbreviation Bury is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.[3]
FYI:
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Full moonrise, by Mohamed Laaifat Photographies in Normandy, France.
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GSA Real Property Utilization and Disposal
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