Robert Davidson was born in Scotland back in 1804. He was educated at Marischal College where he worked as a lab assistant to help pay for his tuition. By 1820, he set up a business selling chemicals. He was also involved in the manufacture of them. Sometime in the 1830’s, he became interested in electrical technologies. In 1837, he started making small electric motors. In 1840, he attended an exhibition at Aberdeen, Scotland. Among the exhibits were an electrically driven lathe, a printing press and an electromagnet capable of lifting 2 tons. In 1843, he settled down to family life and for the next fifty years, he ran his business on Canal Road. He also invented a method for the production of large-scale yeast and the manufacture of perfumes.   He has been described as a forgotten hero... 09/04/2019

Sidney Newman Darby Jr., was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania back in 1928. He built his first boat when he was 12 but it sank. However, he finished it and made it a home for snakes (don’t like that). When he was 20 he made something that I’m sure everyone will know when I tell you what it is (teaser).So, later in 1965, he published his design in Popular Science. He did not patent his invention but was paid #36,000.00 for the design. In the 1980’s he designed a one-person sailboat where he did get a patent for, the Darby 8 SS sidestep hull. As far as I can tell it is still in production to this day. he died in 2016, he was 88.Now for the answer to the teaser, he was the one that invented the sailboard, now they are produced by Bic Sport, they build about 15,000 of them yearly. Your da... 08/29/2019

Anthony Daniels was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England back in 1946. Educated at Giggleswick School before studying law for two years before dropping out. He went on to attend Rose Bruford College, I could not find if he ever completed his education, but that really doesn’t matter so let’s move on.After leaving he worked for BBC Radio and for the National Theatre of Great Britain. While he was working there he was invited to meet someone that would forever change his life, more on that in a little while. He is currently an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center. That person he was invited to meet was someone I’m sure you’ve heard about George Lucas who was casting for a movie he was making. Apparently, Anthony did a good job because he has m... 08/28/2019

Charles Gordon was born in Boston, Massachusetts back in 1860. In 1881, he graduated from Columbia University with a degree in civil engineering. Two years later he received his law degree from the New York Law School. After graduation, he worked as a patent attorney before starting his own firm.Eight years later he partnered with Charles Crocker and Schuyler Wheeler to form another company to market electric appliances. He found his real calling in 1896 when he received his first patent followed closely by another one. He sold those to General Electric in 1901. He received another patent in 1899, which he received an award from ASME and the Holley Medal in 1950. He died in 1953 in Suffolk County, New York.What you may not know about Charles is the two patents were for steam turbines. T... 08/21/2019

Joan Elizabeth Strothers was born in Swansea, Wales back in 1916 to Charles and Margaret. She attended Swansea Girls’ High School and in 1934 she won a scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge. She had an honors degree in physics but never received it. Back in those days women were not awarded degrees from Cambridge.She was hired by the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge. She married Sam in1940, they were transferred to Swanage working on centimetric radar. In 1944, she and Sam were invited by the United States to help them in the Manhattan Project. After the war Sam became a Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow University. She died in 1999 in Glasgow, Scotland.What you may not know about Joan Strothers Curran is that she was the inventor of chaff, a radar countermeasure technique... 08/20/2019

David Crosthwait was born in Nashville, Tennessee back in 1898. At a young age the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he attended school. He received his Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Engineering degree from Purdue University.His expertise was air ventilation, central air conditioning and heat transfer. He held 39 United States patents and 80 international ones. He invented a vacuum pump, a boiler and thermostat control devices. He retired in 1971, when he returned to Purdue to teach a course on steam heating and control systems. He died in 1976, he was 77.What you may not know about David is that he created the heating systems for the Rockefeller Center and New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Such an accomplishment for an African-American back then, don’t you think? I can... 08/12/2019

Alfred L. Cralle was born in Kenbridge, Virginia back in 1866 just after the American Civil War. He attended the local schools, but I do not know if he graduated. While working with his father in the carpentry trade he became interested in mechanics. He was sent to Washington, D.C. attending Wayland Seminary. It was founded by the American Baptist Home Mission Society to help educate African-Americans after the Civil War.He settled in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania where he found work as a porter in a drug store and at a hotel. On June 10, 1896, he applied for a patent on an invention, it was granted on February 2, 1897. His basic design is still in use to this day. he later became a general manager for the Afro-American Financial, Accumulating, Merchandise and Business Association. Tragically... 08/07/2019

Edith Dircksey Brown was born near Geraldton, Western Australia back in 1861 to Kenneth and Mary. Her mother died when she was seven and her father killed her step-mother when she was 14. Those horrific experiences made her a solitary person. It also committed her to social reforms, securing proper care for mothers and children.She stayed with her grandmother while attending Bishop Halle’s School. With the passage of giving women the right to vote in 1899, she turned her attention to women’s health and the welfare of disadvantaged groups. In 1916, she became a Freemason admitted to the Australian federation of Droit Humain. She founded the Children’s Protection Society in Australia. She died in 1932 in Perth, Australia she was 70.What you may not know about Edith Dircksey Cowan is that ... 08/05/2019

Alvin Charles Copeland was born in New Orleans, Louisiana back in 1944. His father left shortly after his birth causing the family to live at the St. Thomas Public Housing Project. He did not finish high school leaving at 16 to help support the family. Working first for Schwegmann’s Super Market in Gentilly as a soda jerk. When he was 18 he sold his car to purchase a doughnut location. That purchase taught him the restaurant business and franchising. In 1972, Alvin started a fast food chain in the New Orleans suburb of Arabi in St. Bernard Parish. He began franchising his restaurants in 1976. In 1989, his franchise business was the third-largest chain.   What you may not know about Alvin Charles “Al” Copeland is that franchise he started in 1972 was Popeye’s Chicken. There is one about ... 07/25/2019

Lloyd Hillyard was born in Orange, New Jersey back in 1923. In 1941, he studied chemistry at Amherst College. World War II interrupted his studies when he joined the Navy. He spent three years in the Pacific aboard a landing ship, rising to the rank of lieutenant junior grade.After being discharged he returned to Amherst receiving his B.A. in 1947 and his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in 1950. After graduation he worked for Pfizer, in the chemical research department. In 1971, he became the research director at Pfizer Central Research in Sandwich, England retiring in 1984. He died in St. Petersburg, Florida in 2017 at 93.What you may not know about Lloyd Hillyard Conover is that he discovered an antibiotic by chemically modifying a naturally producing drug from plants. His disc... 07/24/2019

Samuel Pomeroy was born in Paterson, New Jersey back in 1852 to Christopher and Theodora. At 23 he was appointed military aide-de-camp to the Rhode Island Governor, commissioned as a colonel. He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1876. That same year he was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives. While in the House his main focus was to regulate child labor and the advancement of women’s property rights. In 1881, he was elected the Attorney General of Rhode Island, he served in that office until 1886. He died in 1921, from complication of a stroke.What you may not know about Samuel Pomeroy Colt is that he founded the Industrial Trust Company, it later became the Industrial National Bank, the Fleet Bank which was merged into Bank of America.   In 1887, he was appointed r... 07/19/2019

Elizabeth Hart Jarvis was born in Saybrook, Connecticut back in 1826 to William and Elizabeth.  Growing up in Portland to an affluent and prominent family.  In 1851 while in Newport, Rhode Island she met Samuel, the couple was married in 1856.  The union produced four children all but on died in infancy except for one.  Caldwell survived to adulthood but drowned at sea when he was 35.In 1861, Samuel died from complications associated with gout.  She inherited controlling interest in her husband manufacturing company worth 3.5 million.  She served for 22 years as the president of the Union for Home Work.  She was dubbed “The First Lady of Hartford”, for her work with the Hartford Soldiers Aid Society and organized the first Suffragette convention in Connecticut.  She sold her interest in... 07/18/2019

Zerelda Elizabeth Cole was born in Woodford County, Kentucky back in 1825 to James and Lindsay. Her father while she was an infant broke his neck due to a riding accident leaving her mother with two small children. When she was 16 she married Robert in Stamping Ground, Kentucky, the two moved to Kearney, Missouri.Robert was a hemp farmer, a slave owner and an evangelical minister. The union produced Alexander, Woodson, Susan and Robert. Shortly after the birth of Susan Robert moved to California preaching to gold miners. It was reported that he died of cholera or typhoid around 1850. She remarried two more times, before dying in 1911. She was 86.What you may not know about Zerelda is that the two of the sons she bore was Alexander Franklin and Jess Woodson. You may know them better as F... 07/13/2019

Henry Clay was born in Chester, Pennsylvania back in 1842. In 1863, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a newly minted 2nd lieutenant during the American Civil War. He saw action in the Spanish-American War, the Boxer Rebellion and the China Relief Expedition. He accompanied President Lincoln as a member of his guard at the Gettysburg Battlefield.As he continued his way through the ranks he was present at the bombardment of Alexandra, Egypt. His assignment was to protect the U.S. consulate. He was present at the coronation of Czar Alexander II at Moscow in 1883. During the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 he commanded the 1st Marine Regiment as part of the China Relief Expedition. He retired in 1905 as a colonel serving his country for 42 years of service in the Marines.What you may... 07/01/2019

Louis Laurent Marie was born in La Balme-les-Grottes back in 1785 to Joseph and Marie. He attended the Institut National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris where he graduated and became a teacher. In 1815, he traveled to England to give a lecture, then to visit a school in Paris. After a few months in 1816, he crossed the pond to the United States. Along the way he learned English.Once he arrived he stayed in the States until his death in 1869. What you may not know about Louis Laurent Marie Clerc is that at the age of one he fell from a chair into a fire, suffering severe burns. That fall caused deafness and the inability to smell. He co-founded the first school for the deaf in North America, at Hartford, Connecticut in 1817.the school was remained to the American School for the Deaf in 1821. I... 06/28/2019

Edith Clarke was born in Howard County, Maryland back in 1883 to John and Susan. While I don’t have any information as to what happened but, she was orphaned when she was 12. She went to stay with her older sister. Using her inheritance, she studied mathematics and astronomy at Vassar College. She graduated in 1908.She taught math and physics near San Francisco for a few years before working with AT&T in 1912. In 1922, General Electric hired her, she retired in 1945. She died in 1959 at 76.What you may not know about Edith Clarke is that she was the first female electrical engineer and the first female professor of electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. She invented the Clarke calculator, receiving a patent for it in 1925. She was also the first woman to deliver a ... 06/23/2019

Robert Reed Church was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi back in 1839 to Charles and Emmeline. His mother died when he was 12, so his father a Steamboat Captain took on along on adventures along the rivers leading to New Orleans. During this time, he worked as a steward and mess hall. He saved up enough money to buy a bar in Memphis which eventually he traded for a saloon and billiard room. By 1878-79 he had acquired considerable wealth, he moved his family outside of the city. Seizing on the opportunity he acquired commercial building, residential housing and bars as well as undeveloped land. In 1906, Robert and two other partners established the Solvent Savings Bank serving as founding president. He served as an adviser to the Republican presidents in the 1920’s. What you may not kno... 06/19/2019

Sarah Childress was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee back in 1803 to Joel and Elizabeth. She was well educated attending the Moravians’ Salem Academy in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She met James at the home of Samuel P. Black, he was 19 she was 12. They were married in 1824.The marriage lasted for 25 years they had no children as James was sterile due to an earlier surgery. In 1849, the family moved to Nashville, Tennessee where three months later James died of cholera. After James died she lived in their home until her passing some 42 years later. She never remarried and as it was during those days she always wore black. What you may not know about Sarah Childress Polk is that her husband was James Polk, the 11th President of the United States. They were the only presidential couple ... 06/18/2019

Toussaint Charbonneau was born in Boucherville, Quebec back in 1767. For a time, he worked as a fur trapper with the North West Company. While living with the Hidatsa people he purchased a Shoshone girl. In 1804, he was hired by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark for their expedition While on the journey his performance was a mix, Meriwether Lewis call him “a man of not peculiar merit”. He did however, make several contributions to the success of the expedition. He also served as a cook by making a sausage made for bison meat. He and his family stayed with the expedition until August of 1806. For his service he was paid $500.33, a horse and a lodge. In 1809, he moved his family to St. Louis where he left them in the care of William Clark, never to see them again. From 1811-1838 he worke... 06/10/2019

Richard Alva was born in Gibbon, Nebraska back in 1936 to Alva and Erabel. Both of his parents were teachers. When he was three the family moved to Lincoln. His mother died when he was 10. He completed his education at Lincoln High School. He worked as a caddie at the Lincoln Country Club before leaving for college.While attending Yale University in his senior year he changed his major from English to drama. After graduation, you could find him working as a copyboy at Time Magazine. He read about Jack Paar where he (Paar) was having difficulty in finding opening monologues. He wrote some jokes, put them in a Time envelope and went to the RCA Building, running into Paar he handed him the envelope. Within a few weeks he was hired as a talent coordinator.Needless to say, that set him on a ... 06/03/2019