Word of the day
- wanderlust January 23, 2025Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 23, 2025 is: wanderlust • \WAHN-der-lust\ • noun Wanderlust refers to a strong desire to travel. // During their final semester at college, the two friends were both filled with an insatiable wanderlust and began planning a journey to Patagonia together. See the entry > Examples: "In a […]Merriam-Webster
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On This Day
1947 – First flight of the B-45 Tornado strategic bomber.
The North American B-45 Tornado was the United States Air Force’s (USAF) first operational jet bomber, and the first multijet engined bomber in the world to be refueled in midair.[2][3] The B-45 was an important part of the United States’s nuclear deterrent for several years in the early 1950s, but was soon superseded by the Boeing B-47 Stratojet. B-45s and RB-45s served in the United States Air Force’s Strategic Air Command from 1950 until 1959.
Born On This Day
1806 – Norbert Rillieux, African American inventor and chemical engineer (d. 1894)
Norbert Rillieux (March 17, 1806 – October 8, 1894) was an American inventor who was widely considered one of the earliest chemical engineers and noted for his pioneering invention of the multiple-effect evaporator. This invention was an important development in the growth of the sugar industry. Rillieux, a French-speaking Creole[1], was a cousin of the painter Edgar Degas.
Family
Norbert Rillieux was born into a prominent Creole family in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the son of Vincent Rillieux, a white plantation owner, and his placée, Constance Vivant, a free person of color.[2] Norbert was the eldest of seven children. His siblings were: Barthelemy, Edmond, Marie Eugenie, Louis, Marie Eloise, and Cecile Virginie. Norbert’s aunt on his father’s side, Marie Celeste Rillieux, was the grandmother of painter Edgar Degas. His aunt on his mother’s side, Eulalie Vivant, was the mother of Bernard Soulie, one of the wealthiest gens de couleur libre in Louisiana.[3]
Early life
As a Creole of color, Norbert Rillieux had access to education and privileges not available to lower-status free blacks or slaves. Baptized Roman Catholic, Rillieux received his early education at private Catholic schools in Louisiana before traveling to Paris in the early 1820s to study at École Centrale Paris, one of the top engineering schools in France. While at École Centrale, Norbert studied physics, mechanics, and engineering. He became an expert in steam engines and published several papers about the use of steam to work devices. These early explorations became the foundation of the technology he would later implement in his evaporator. At 24 (1830), Rillieux became the youngest teacher at École Centrale, instructing in applied mechanics.[4]
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Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutierrez (December 31, 1930 – March 30, 2010) was a Bolivian educator known for teaching students calculus from 1974 to 1991 at Garfield High School, East Los Angeles, California. Escalante was the subject of the 1988 film Stand and Deliver, in which he is portrayed by Edward James Olmos.
In 1993, the asteroid 5095 Escalante was named after him.[2]
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wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for January 23 January 23, 2025Picture of the day Actress Mitzi Akaha 2024 at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Today kicks off the 41st edition of the famous festival.
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for January 22 January 22, 2025Picture of the day Tompot blenny (Parablennius gattorugine), Arrábida National Park, Portugal. Note: no FP of this species. It can be found in shallow, coastal waters off western Europe and northern Africa and in the Mediterranean. The tompot blenny is a relatively large blenny that can grow up to 30 centimetres (12 in) in length. There […]
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