1799 - Christian Friedrich Schonbein

Christian Friedrich Schonbein, a German chemist who discovered and named ozone, was born in Metzingen, Germany (October 18).

 

Christian Friedrich Schönbein, (b. October 18, 1799, Metzingen, Swabia — d. August 29, 1868, Sauersberg, near Baden-Baden), was a German chemist who discovered and named ozone (1840) and was the first to describe guncotton (nitrocellulose). His teaching posts included one at Epsom, England, before he joined the faculty at the University of Basel, Switzerland (1828), where he was appointed professor of chemistry and physics in 1835. He remained there until his death in 1868, and was buried in Basel.

It was while doing experiments on the electrolysis of water at the University of Basel that Schönbein first began to notice a distinctive odor in his laboratory. This smell gave Schönbein the clue to the presence of a new product from his experiments. Because of the pronounced smell, Schönbein coined the term ‘ozone’ for the new gas, from the Greek word‘ozein’, meaning ‘to smell’. Schönbein described his discoveries in publications in 1840. He later found that the smell of ozone was similar to that produced by the slow oxidation of white phosphorus.

The ozone smell Schönbein detected is the same as that occurring in the vicinity of a thunderstorm, an odor that indicates the presence of ozone in the atmosphere.

Although his wife had forbidden him to do so, Schönbein occasionally experimented at home in the kitchen. One day in 1845, when his wife was away, he spilled a mixture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid. After using his wife's cotton apron to mop it up, he hung the apron over the stove to dry, only to find that the cloth spontaneously ignited and burned so quickly that it seemed to disappear. Schönbein, in fact, had converted the cellulose of the apron, with the nitro groups (added from the nitric acid) serving as an internal source of oxygen. When heated, the cellulose was completely and suddenly oxidized.

Schönbein recognized the possibilities of the new compound. Ordinary black gunpowder, which had reigned supreme in the battlefield for the previous 500 years, exploded into thick smoke, blackening the gunners, fouling cannons and small arms, and obscuring the battlefield. Nitrocellulose was perceived as a possible "smokeless powder" and a propellant for artillery shells thus it received the name of guncotton.

Attempts to manufacture guncotton for military use failed at first because the factories were prone to explode and, above all else, the burning speed of straight guncotton was always too high. It was not until 1884 that Paul Vieille tamed guncotton into a successful progressive smokeless gunpowder called Poudre B. Later on, in 1891, James Dewar and Frederick Augustus Abel also managed to transform gelatinized guncotton into a safe mixture, called cordite because it could be extruded into long thin cords before being dried.

Schonbein also did research on the passivity of iron, the properties of hydrogen peroxide, and catalysis. In his lifetime, he produced more than 360 scientific papers.

1799 - John Brown Russwurm

John Brown Russwurm the first superintendent of schools in Liberia and Governor of the African colony of Maryland and the founder of Freedom’s Journal (the first African American owned newspaper published in the United States) was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica. 

John Brown Russwurm (1799–1851) was an American abolitionist from Jamaica, known for his newspaper, Freedom's Journal. He moved from the United States to govern the Maryland section of an African American colony in Liberia, dying there in 1851.

Russwurm was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica to an English merchant father and an unknown black slave. The family stayed in Jamaica until 1807 when Russwurm was sent to Quebec. In 1812, father and son moved to Portland, Maine, where the elder Russwurm married widower Susan Blanchard in 1813. Blanchard (now Russwurm) insisted her husband grant “John Brown”, as he was then known, his full birth name. His father did so, and the now named “John Brown Russwurm” lived with his father, stepmother and her children from a previous marriage, accepted as part of the family. The elder Russwurm died in 1815 but his son stayed close to his stepmother, even after she re-married to become Susan Hawes. The John B. Russwurm House in Portland was owned by the family and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Russwurm attended Hebron Academy in Maine, focusing on his studies to finish his education and earning the nickname "Honest John". Graduating in his early twenties, he taught at an African-American school in Boston. Several years later he re-located back to Maine to live with his stepmother and her new husband, and they helped Russwurm pay for further education when he enrolled in Bowdoin College in 1824. Upon graduation in 1826, Russwurm became first African-American to graduate from Bowdoin College and third African-American to graduate from an American college.

Russwurm moved to New York City in 1827. On March 16 of that year, Russwurm, along with his co-editor, Samuel Cornish published the first edition of Freedom's Journal, an abolitionist newspaper dedicated to opposition of slavery. Freedom's Journal was the first newspaper in the United States to be owned, operated, published and edited by African Americans. Upon becoming senior editor in September 1827, Russwurm used his position to change the paper's initially negative stance on the colonialization of Africa by African-Americans to a positive advocacy for this position. These strong views forced Russwurm's resignation in March 1829, after which he immigrated to Liberia.

Upon emigrating to Liberia, Russwurm started work as the colonial secretary for the American Colonization Society between 1830 and 1834. He worked as the editor of the Liberia Herald, though he resigned his post in 1835 to protest America's colonization policies. Russwurm also served as the superintendent of education in Liberia's capital, Monrovia.

In 1833, Russwurm married Sarah McGill, the daughter of the Lieutenant-Governor of Monrovia, with whom he had a daughter and three sons. In 1836, he became the first black governor of the Maryland section of Liberia, a post he held until his death.  In this post, Russwurm encouraged the immigration of African-Americans to Maryland and supported agriculture and trade. In 1850, shortly before his death, Russwurm returned to Maine for a visit, bringing two of his sons with him. They were enrolled at North Yarmouth Academy between 1850 and 1852 where they lived with their step-grandmother, Susan Hawes.

During his time in Liberia, Russwurm learned several of the native languages, encouraged trade and diplomatic relations with neighboring countries as well as whites. There is a statue of John Russwurm at his burial site at Harper, Cape Palmas, Liberia. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed John Brown Russwurm on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

1799 - Nathaniel Palmer

Nathaniel B. Palmer, an American sea captain and Antarctic explorer, was born in Stonington, Connecticut (August 8).

Nathaniel Brown Palmer (b. August 8, 1799, Stonington, Connecticut, United States — d. June 21, 1877, San Francisco, California), was an American sea captain and explorer after whom Palmer Land, a stretch of western Antarctic coast and islands, is named.

Palmer went to sea at the age of 14. He served first as a sailor on a blockade runner in the War of 1812 He later became a sealer, and his South Sea explorations were largely stimulated by the desire to locate new seal rookeries. Becoming captain of the schooner Galina in 1818, Palmer began explorations of the Cape Horn region and western Antarctic the following year. In 1820 he reported a landfall on the coast of Antarctica, which he called Palmer Land. Whether he was the first person to view Antarctica is controversial because Russian explorer Fabien Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and English explorer Edward Bransfield also claimed to have been the first to sight it in 1820. On these and subsequent voyages, Palmer discovered the Gerlache Strait and Orleans Channel in Antarctica as well as the South Orkney Islands.

From 1822 to 1826 he engaged in trade on the Spanish Main and helped to transport troops and supplies to Simón Bolívar during the war of South American independence. Throughout much of his career Palmer displayed a keen interest in shipbuilding and helped to design packets (passenger boats), pleasure yachts, and clipper ships.

After concluding a successful sealing career, Palmer, still in the prime of life, switched his attention to the captaining of fast sailing ships for the transportation of express freight. In 1843, Captain Palmer took command of the Paul Jones on her maiden voyage from Boston to Hong Kong, arriving in 111 days. In this new role, the Connecticut captain traveled many of the world's principal sailing routes. Observing the strengths and weaknesses of the ocean-going sailing ships of his time, Palmer suggested and designed improvements to their hulls and rigging. The improvements made Palmer a co-developer of the mid-19th century clipper ship.

Palmer closed his sailing career and established himself in his hometown of Stonington as a successful owner of clipper ships sailed by others. He died in 1877, at the age of 78.

Palmer Land, part of the Antarctic Peninsula, as well as the Palmer Archipelago, were named in honor for Nathaniel Palmer.

The Antarctic science and research program operated by the United States government continues to recall Palmer's role in the exploration of the Antarctic area. Palmer Station, located in the seal islands that Palmer explored, the clipper ship N.B. Palmer (built by Jacob Aaron Westervelt) and the Antarctic icebreaker RV Nathaniel B. Palmer are named after Captain Palmer.

Hero Bay, in the South Shetland Islands, is named for Captain Palmer's sloop Hero, one of the vessels of the Pendleton sealing fleet from Stonington which visited the islands in 1820-21.

1799 - Maeda Toshiyasu

*Maeda Toshiyasu, a Japanese naturalist, was born.

Maeda Toshiyasu (March 23, 1799 - September 14, 1859) was a Japanese naturalist and entomologist.  He was a daimyo (territorial lord) of Toyama and with other daimyos and officials of the shogunate organized a society of naturalists which met each month. An account was written of the subject discussed, for instance, in September 1840 they discussed the beetle family Scarabaeidae and wrote Kyôro-shakô-zusetsu in which twenty chafer species are scientifically drawn and described.  As these studies were refined each member of the group became a specialist.  Maeda learned the Dutch language (the Japanese naturalists followed the German Philipp Franz von Siebold who was then employed by the Dutch) and translated the Dutch language Systema Naturae into Japanese.

1799 - Tanaka Hisashige

*Tanaka Hisashige, a Japanese engineer and inventor, was born.

Tanaka Hisashige (September 18, 1799 – November 7, 1881) was a Japanese engineer and inventor during the late Edo and Meiji period Japan. He is one of the founders of what later became Toshiba Corporation. He has been called the "Thomas Edison of Japan" or Karakuri Giemon.

Tanaka was born in Kurume, Chikugo province (present day Fukuoka prefecture) as the eldest son of a tortoise shell craftsman. A gifted artisan, at the age of 14, he had already invented a loom. At 20, he made karakuri dolls, with hydraulic mechanisms, capable of relatively complex movements, which were then much in demand by the aristocrats of Kyoto, the daimyo in various feudal domains, and by the Shōgun’s court in Edo. At age 21, he was performing around the country at festivals with clockwork dolls he constructed himself.

In 1834, Tanaka relocated to Osaka, where he experimented in pneumatics, hydraulics and various forms of lighting based on rapeseed oil. However, he soon moved on to Kyoto, where he studied rangaku, or western learning, and astronomy. In 1851, he built a Myriad year clock which is now designated as an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government. With the development of the Sonnō jōi movement, the atmosphere in Kyoto became increasingly dangerous towards foreign influences and technology, and Tanaka was invited by Sano Tsunetami to the Saga Domain in Kyūshū, where he was welcomed by Nabeshima Naomasa.

While in Saga, Tanaka designed and built Japan’s first domestically made steam locomotive and steam warship. Although he had no previous experience in the field, he had access to a Dutch reference book, and had watched the demonstration of a steam engine conducted by the Russian diplomat Yevfimy Putyatin during his visit to Nagasaki in 1853.

He was also involved in the construction of a reverberatory furnace in Saga for the production of Armstrong guns. In 1864, he returned to his native Kurume Domain, where he assisted in the development of modern weaponry.

In 1873, six years after the Meiji Restoration, Tanaka, by then aged 74 and still energetic, was invited by Kubusho (the Ministry of Industries) to come to Tokyo to make telegraphs at the ministry's small factory. He relocated to the Ginza district in 1875 and rented the second floor of a temple in what is now Roppongi as a workshop which later evolved into his first company - Tanaka Seisakusho (Tanaka Engineering Works), the first manufacturer of telegraph equipment in Japan.

After his death in 1881, his son founded Tanaka Engineering Works ,(Tanaka Seizōsho). The company changed its name after Tanaka’s death to Shibaura Engineering Works (,Shibaura Seizōsho) in 1904, and after a merger in 1939 with Tokyo Denki became Tokyo Shibaura Denki, more commonly known today as Toshiba.

1799 - Hanaya Yohei

Hanaya Yohei, a Japanese culinary innovator, was born in this year.

Hanaya Yohei (1799–1858) is generally credited as the inventor of today's Tokyo-style nigiri sushi (hand-formed sushi) at the end of Japan's Edo period.

Sushi at his time was made from freshly captured fish from the nearby Tokyo Bay. This ruled out many of today's popular materials such as salmon roe (ikura). Even though Edo (Tokyo) was a coastal city, food safety was still a concern before the invention of refrigeration. To prevent spoilage, Hanaya either slightly cooked or marinated the fish in soy sauce or vinegar. It was quite reasonable for people to dislike the fatty belly meat of tuna because it would decompose very quickly. Hanaya marinated the lean red meat in soy sauce. Then he served the sliced fish on vinegared rice balls that are large by today's standard. His sushi was totally different from today's "raw fish" stereotype.

Hanaya's cookery was a departure from Japanese eating habits of the time. In the early years, a chef only made sushi part-time. Then, slowly, inexpensive sushi stands (yatai) emerged. After the government outlawed these questionable food stands, sushi restaurants (ryotei) became mainstream. Today, relatively inexpensive conveyor belt sushi (kaiten-zushi) has become popular.

1799 - Rene-Auguste Caillie

Rene Auguste Caillie (1799-1838), a French explorer, was born (November 19).

René-Auguste Caillié, (b. November 19, 1799, Mauzé, near La Rochelle, France — d. c. 1838, La Badère), was the first European to survive a journey to the West African city of Timbuktu (Tombouctou).

Before Caillié was 20 he had twice voyaged to Senegal and traveled through its interior. In 1824 he began to prepare for his journey to Timbuktu by learning Arabic and studying Islam.

Caillie traveled through part of Upper Guinea to Timbuktu in 1824-1828. His accounts of this journey, published in 1830, whetted the European appetite for further exploration.

Born in Mauze, France, Caillie traveled to Senegal at the age of 16 where, among other things, he carried supplies to the Gray-Dochard expedition in Bondu. After a stay in France and Guadeloupe, Caillie returned to Senegal, determined to get to Timbuktu. Toward this end, he spent eight months with the Brakna Maure learning Arabic and being educated as a Muslim. Dressed as a Muslim and stating that he was an Arab from Egypt who had been enslaved by Christians, he started inland from Kakundi on April 19, 1827, and traveled across Guinea to Kourousa and then to Kong with Manding trade caravans. For five months, he was delayed by illness in the village of Tieme, located near present day Odienne in the northern Ivory Coast. The illness he suffered from was probably scurvy.

In January, 1828, he traveled overland with a caravan that was heading northeastward over present day southern Mali, passing Sienso near the town of San. He arrived in Djenne in March, 1828. After a short stay, he traveled down the Niger River toward Timbuktu and reached Lake Debo on April 2, 1828. On April 20, 1828, Caillie entered Timbuktu, where he remained until May 4. Then, joining a caravan that was crossing the Sahara, he reached Fegou on August 12, 1828, went on to Tangiers and returned to France. Caillie was the first European known to reach Timbuktu and return alive. He also was the first to write a detailed description of the city.