Schuyler Wheeler was born in New York City back in 1860 to James and Annie. Educated at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School. His father died in 1881, causing him to leave college. He became as assistant electrician of the Yablochkov Electric Lighting Company. That company folded in 1883, so he went to work for someone you may know Thomas A. Edison. He was the general manager of the underground distribution system at Newburgh, New York, afterwards he was in charge to lay the Edison underground systems in other cities. In 1886, he was part of the team developing and organizing C and C Electric Motor Company. In 1906, he developed the Code of Ethics for electrical engineers, it was adopted in 1912 by the Institute’s Board of Directors. He died in 1923, from angina pectoris at his home in... 11/01/2018

Augustus Desire was born in Paris, France back in 1856. Like his father he studied medicine at Aberdeen University obtaining the M.D. in 1881. He became a lecturer in physiology at the London School of Medicine for Women in 1883. By 1884, he was lecturing at St. Mary’s Hospital again on the subject of physiology. Later he did the same in Europe and American. He was appointed the Fullerian Professor of Physiology in 1896. Sadly, he died after suffering from two strokes in 1921, he was 65.What you may not know about Augustus Desire Waller is that in1887, he invented something that changed the medical profession. It is still in use to this day. He called his invention the capillary electrometer, using it on his dog Jimmy during some of his lectures. While it has been improved upon it is a ... 10/15/2018

Olga Yurevna was born in Bugulma, Russia back in 1960. In 1979, she graduated from the Moscow State Institute of Culture with a degree in Choir and Conducting. For several years she was a singing-master and history teacher. She continued her education graduating from the Moscow State University for Humanities. In 1987, she switched her major to history earning her a Ph.D. In 2007, she worked for the Department for Culture of the Russian Government. In 2016, she was appointed the Minister of Education, in 2018, she took over as the Minister of Education of the Russian Federation.What you may not know about Olga Yurevna Vasilieva is that she is the first female to head that department. She’s alive and doing well.Until tomorrow give someone the free gift of a smile 10/04/2018

Elizabeth Sthreshley was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. I could not find when she was born but what I can tell you is the family moved to Texas. She graduated from Sam Houston Normal Institute in 1886. After graduation, she worked for the literary department of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. In 1894, she married George quitting her job working for her husband’s photography studio.After George died she worked at the Trobett Sanatorium until she died in 1919 age unknown.What you may not know about Elizabeth Sthreshley Townsend is that in 1889 she received a patent for the first ever Braille typewriter. In 1892, she received the patent on a slate so the students could read it.Until tomorrow give someone the gift of a smile, who knows you may receive one or two in re... 09/16/2018

Adah Belle Samuels was born in Richmond, Virginia back in 1870 to Harry and Melvina. Before she began her career, she was briefly married however when the marriage ended she kept the surname. She began her first career as a school teacher in Richmond. Moving to New York she studied at the Women’s Infirmary and School of Therapeutic Massage graduating in 1900.She continued her education at the Lincoln Hospital and Home School of Nursing graduating in 1905. She served as the acting director of the Lincoln Hospital and Home School of Nursing from 1906 to 1923. She died in 1943. What you may not know about Adah Belle Samuels Thoms is that she was an African American nurse who cofounded the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses. She was among the first nurses inducted into the Amer... 09/10/2018

Chiune Sugihara was born in Kozuchi Town, Japan to Yoshimi and Yatsu. He graduated from Furuwatari Elementry School with top honors. He enrolled in Waseda University in 1918, majoring in the English language. In 1919, he passed the Foreign Ministry Scholarship exam. From 1920 to 1922, he served in the Imperial Army as a second lieutenant, stationed in Korea.The Japanese Foreign Ministry recruited him where he studied the Russian and German languages later becoming an expert on Russian affairs.He moved several times before winding up in East Prussia. From 1944 to 1947 he was living in a POW camp being released in 1946 when he was returned to Japan. The government asked for his resignation which he gave to them. He died in 1986 at a hospital in Kamakura.What you may not know about Chiune ... 08/20/2018

Samuel Spahr was born in Ohio County, Virginia back in 1824. Sorry, but I don’t have any information about his childhood, parents or much of anything before 1848. In 1848, he graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio as valedictorian.After graduation, he was a professor at Westminster College from 1854 to 1861. In 1863, he moved to New York from Paris landing a job as manager of the New York City’s Gold Exchange. He was also an amateur electrician. It was while working in the gold exchange he invented something that of course will forever place him in the history books. From 1876 to 1889 he served as president of the University of Missouri, when he moved to Kansas City, Kansas where he managed his investments and wrote some books. He again moved to Columbia, South Carolina teachin... 08/15/2018

Fannie Schutz was born in El Paso, Texas back in 1873 to Samuel and Friederike. Sorry but I do not have any information about her until circa 1918. She had an idea about something so she traveled for months as an apprentice in a machine shop.She received a patent for her invention and showed it at a nation convention in 1922, in Chicago. She retired a year later. She died in 1943 at a young 70 for a heart attack. Her home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.What you may not know about Fannie Schutz Spitz is that she invented and patented the first machine to shell pine nuts for commercial use. Just before her retirement she was also working on a machine to process coffee beans however she never followed through on it. Until tomorrow smile, just thinking about ... 08/09/2018

Archibald Cary was born in New York City, New York back in 1837 to Dunlap and Jane. The local water pump was located near their home so he and some of his friends would dam the streets to make a small pond where they then would float the homemade boats on it. In the 1860’s, he built his own 18-foot sloop beating all rivals for years. He abandoned yachts to take up marine painting for a short time.It wasn’t until Robert Center from Europe came to America to seek his assistance that things began to turn for Archibald. What Archibald did from then will forever cause him to be placed in the history books. What Robert asked him to do was to design an iron yacht. Archibald Cary Smith, also known as A. Cary Smith was the first American to develop the concept of designing a yacht on paper using... 07/31/2018

Peter Schultz was born in Brooklyn, New York back in 1942.  He graduated from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School.  He graduated from Rutgers University with a BLS in Engineering.  After graduation he taught at Cornell, George Washington University and the University of Virginia.He has been hired as an expert witness in patent defense cases.  Since 2001, he has provided consulting services to several companies.  He currently serves as a Board member of CBN Connect Inc.  he currently holds 26 patents, written over 20 research papers and is considered as an expert in fused silica glasses.  In 1993, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.  What you may not know about Peter C. Schultz is that he is the co-inventor of the fiber optics that is now used worldwide for telecommun... 07/09/2018

Antoine Joseph was born in Dinant, First French Empire back in 1814 to Charles, sorry my sources did not give his mother’s name. it’s a wonder he survived childhood. Just to give you an idea of what he went though as a child he fell for a height of three floors landing on his head, was seriously burned in a gunpowder explosion, fell onto a hot cast iron frying pan just to name a few.He studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. His parents were instrument designers so that prompted him to follow in their footsteps, well kind of. At 24 he patented an improvement of the brass clarinet. In 1842, he moved to Paris where he began to work on several different instruments. He taught at the Paris Conservatory in 1857. He suffered from lip cancer dying in 1894 in complete poverty. However, o... 07/05/2018

Susanna Madora Kinsey was born in Lamira, Ohio back in 1860 to Oliver and Terissa. When she was 12 the family moved to Kansas settling near Silver Lake. At 20 she entered Kansas State Agricultural College. Six weeks short of graduating she had to drop out due to illness.While at college she met her future husband Lewis, they married and moved to Argonia. She was active in the local Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. The union produced nine children. The family moved to Alva, Oklahoma in 1893 where they lived for ten years, where her husband practiced law. Following her husband’s death in 1916 she moved to Norman, Oklahoma where she lived until her death in 1961, she was a young 101 years old. What you may not know about Susanna Madora Kinsey is that she was the first woman elected Mayo... 06/26/2018

Joshua Routledge was born in Riccall, Yorkshire, England back in 1773 to William and Sarah. There are no records of his early education however, in 1798 his occupation was recorded as a tinsmith on his marriage certificate to Mary King.It is believed he apprenticed at the Round Factory in Leeds because in 1800 he is listed as a manager. The Round Factory was famous as designers and builders of textile machinery and steam engines.While I can’t find anything to support his training it must have been nothing short of spectacular for his time. For he developed a method to measure all kinds of metals and other bodies by combining two scales.While you may not know about Joshua Routledge for those of you who went to college to earn an engineering degree surely, you’ve used his invention. For t... 06/20/2018

Rollin White was born in Williamstown, Vermont back in 1817. He worked for his older brother J.D. as a gunsmith until 1839. In 1849, he went to work for Colt’s Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company as a gunsmith. His job was to turn revolver barrels on a lathe. When things didn’t go right the guns were considered scraps so he kept a few to work on an idea he had.So, what did Rollin do that no one else had thought of? Well he took the old cylinders, cut off a portion of the front and back combining a cylinder and a box magazine. For that he applied and was granted a patent and received it in 1855. What he created was a cylinder that could hold the new metal cartridges and could be interchanged through the breech of the pistol. He sold his patent to Smith & Wesson for a royalty fee of a w... 06/16/2018

Dorothy Mabel Reed was born in Columbus, Ohio back in 1874 to William and Grace. She was home schooled by her grandmother before entering Smith College in 1895. She continued her education at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine graduating fourth in the class of 1900.When was offered an internship in an insane asylum but she declined to study pathology. She wrote two books which were accredited by the US Department of Labor. She died of heart disease in 1964 at 89.What you may not know about Dorothy Mabel Reed Mendenhall is that in 1901, she discovered that Hodgkin’s disease was not a form of tuberculosis by noticing the presence of the cell (Reed-Sternberg). She was one of the first professionally trained female physicians of the late 19th and early 20th century. Until tomorrow keep that s... 06/04/2018

Francisco Antonio Rodrigues was born in Berlanga, Spain back in 1715 to Joao and Leonor. Not sure what happened to his father, but in 1741 his mother moved to Bordeaux. He went with her where he changed his name returning to Judaism. In 1759, he was made a member of the Royal Society of London.I have no clue of what he did for a living or if the family was so well off he didn’t need to work. What of course I can tell you is the rest of the story. In 1772, he published a Tahitian vocabulary, he learned it from a Tahitian who sailed aboard a European ship. He died in 1780 at 65. So, Francisco changed his name when he moved to Bordeaux to Jacob Rodrigues Pereira. Name doesn’t ring a bell?   Well he is noted for is being the first teacher of deaf-mutes in France. He formulated signs and num... 05/08/2018

Antoni Norbert was born in Plaski Szlacheckly, Poland back in 1812 to Joachim and Anna. At 10 the family moved to Warsaw. In 1828, the 16-year-old joined the Polish 1st Mounted Rifles Regiment, wounded twice by 1831 he was promoted to second lieutenant. When the war was over he moved to Switzerland. He tried his hand at several different trades including liquors, wines, painter and engraver. It wasn’t until 1839, that he found his calling. With 6 workers, they produced about two hundred of his product per year. In 1851, he changed the name of the company which is still in operation to this day. He died in 1877.What you may not know about Antoni Norbert Patek is that the company he founded is now known as Patek Philippe & Company. The company is known for its production of fine watches. ... 05/06/2018

Harvey Hubbell was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut back in 1857. He was working for a manufacturing company in 1888, when he quit and opened his own business. He began manufacturing consumer products and by necessity invented equipment for his company to survive. In his lifetime, he held at least 45 patents, most of them dealt with electrical products.Some of his inventions include the automatic tapping machine, progressive dies for stamping and the thread roll machine, which is still in use today. However, his best-known invention was the U.S. electrical plug and the pull-chain light socket. BTW the company he founded in 1888, Hubbell Incorporated is still in business to this day. The next you tighten a bolt or plug in your electrical devices remember it all started in 1888 by Mr. Hubb... 04/21/2018

Edwin Hughes was born in Wrexham, Wales back in 1830 to William and Mary. He was a shoemaker by trade until he joined the 13th Light Dragoons in 1852. He saw battle where his horse was shot and he was pinned under it. In 1854, he saw battle again at the Battle of Inkerman. In 1854, he was promoted to corporal and in 1863 to sergeant. He advanced through the ranks obtaining troop sergeant major before being discharged in 1873. He served for 21 years and 24 days. When he retired he was given a marble clock and awarded the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. He received a pension, by 1923 he was the only survivor of his first battle. The retirement funds ran out and the War Office made a special grant for him to continue to receive his retirement pay until his death in 1927 at 96.Wha... 04/19/2018

John Heysham was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania back in 1903. Apparently, he was one smart kid. He attended Penn Charter School, at 16 he enrolled Princeton University graduating in 1923. He went on to medical school at Jefferson Medical College receiving his MD in 1927, completing his internship at Pennsylvania Hospital in 1929.In 1931, he developed an idea that is still in use today, he published those results in 1937 (more on that later). In WWII, he served as a surgeon in the Burma China India Theater rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, after the war he became chief of surgery at the Mayo General Hospital. He retired in 1967, he died in 1973 after a game of tennis.What you may not know about John Heysham Gibbon Jr. is that he is best known for inventing the heart-lung mach... 04/10/2018