Modern History (1800 – present)

[Yuli Ban]

[wjfox]

Two years ago today...

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Chinese officials investigate cause of pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan

December 31, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese health authorities said they are investigating 27 cases of viral pneumonia in the central city of Wuhan, after rumors on social media suggested the outbreak could be linked to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Of the people infected, seven were in critical condition and 18 were in stable condition, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said on Tuesday on its Weibo social media account. The condition of two other patients had improved to the point where they would be discharged soon, it said.

“The cause of the disease is not clear,” the official People’s Daily newspaper said on Weibo, citing unnamed hospital officials. “We cannot confirm it is what’s being spread online, that it is SARS virus. Other severe pneumonia is more likely.”

All of the patients had been isolated and their close contacts are under medical observation, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said. An investigation and cleanup were under way at a seafood market in the city, which is suspected to be connected with the cases, it said.

Initial laboratory tests showed that the cases were viral pneumonia. No obvious human-to-human transmission had been found and no medical staff had been infected, the commission said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chin ... SKBN1YZ0GP

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[caltrek]

North America's First Website Turns Thirty Years Old
December 30, 2021

https://www.futurity.org/north-americas ... y-2675172/

Introduction:

(Futurity) As the World Wide Web was poised to begin its transformation of modern communications—and, well, life as we know it—a group of staff at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Lab at Stanford University saw an opportunity to vastly improve the exchange of information within large, international physics collaborations.

That inspiration led to the first website ever created in North America on a server at SLAC.

Physicist Tony Johnson was part of the group known as the WWW Wizards for their role in the project. Today, Johnson works on the control system for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Camera.

On the 30th anniversary of the first website, Johnson recalls the landscape of its birth and shares his thoughts on how the web continues to evolve the way scientists work: (see link to article above the quote box).

[caltrek]

Making sugar: Chinese laborers Toiled Alongside Black Workers on 19th-century Louisiana Plantations
by Moon-Ho Jung

https://theconversation.com/profiles/mo ... ng-1299324

Introduction:

(The Conversation) The recent surge in anti-Asian violence in the U.S. has put a spotlight on Asian American history, at least for a moment. “Racism is real in America, and it always has been,” Vice President Kamala Harris said on March 19, 2021. “In the 1860s, as Chinese workers built the transcontinental railroad, there were laws on the books, in America, forbidding them from owning property.”

In fact, far more Asian workers moved to the Americas in the 19th century to make sugar than to build the transcontinental railroad. It is a history that can force Americans to contend with colonial violence in the making of the modern world, dating back centuries to Christopher Columbus and his search for trade routes and quick wealth.

[wjfox]

Anne Frank betrayal suspect identified after 77 years

Published
30 minutes ago

A new investigation has identified a suspect who may have betrayed Anne Frank and her family to the Nazis.

The Jewish diarist died in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945, aged 15, after two years in hiding.

Her diary, published after her death, is the most famous first-hand account of Jewish life during the war.

A team including an ex-FBI agent said Arnold van den Bergh, a Jewish figure in Amsterdam, probably "gave up" the Franks to save his own family.

The team, made up of historians and other experts, spent six years using modern investigative techniques to crack the "cold case". That included using computer algorithms to search for connections between many different people, something that would have taken humans thousands of hours.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60024228

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Puerto Rico
by Anyuli Gonzalez
January 23, 2022

https://manomagazine.com/puertoricocolonizers/

Extract:

(Mano Magazine) A colonial possession since 1493, Puerto Rico has seen its fair share of hucksters and invaders. Comdr. George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, attacked San Juan in 1598. In 1625, a Dutch fleet invaded under the command of the infamous privateer, Hendrijks Boudewijn. The English tried to invade again in 1797, this time by Lt. Gen. Ralph Abercromby. Legend has it that, the people of Puerto Rico, afraid that the Spanish garrison would be unable to repel the attack, took to the streets in a procession. Thousands of people carried religious objects and torches in the dead of night. Abercromby, upon seeing thousands of flaming torches, decided to retreat rather than face what he thought were massive reinforcements marching from San Juan.

In the end, however, Puerto Rico came under the control of the United States in 1898 after Adm. William T. Sampson bombed San Juan and Gen. Nelson Miles landed at Guánica with 1,300 troops. The island has been kept as a colonial possession to this day.

In 500 years of written history, sanjuaneros have withstood sieges, pirates, plagues, and bombardments—and somehow we are still here. San Juan belongs to its people. People like Ricardo Alegría, who fought to preserve its distinct architecture. Or like Pedro Albizu Campos, a leader of the independence movement, who was arrested at his home on the corner of Calle Sol and Calle Cruz for charges of conspiracy and sedition against the U.S. government. El Viejo San Juan (The Old San Juan) belongs to my mother’s great-great-grandfather, imprisoned in a dungeon in El Morro for opposing Spanish colonial rule. It belongs to classical music lovers, who make the yearly pilgrimage to the Casals Festival. Or the old lady that goes to mass every Sunday, the piragüero that sells shaved ice on the street, the couples watching the sun set on the bay, the artesanos selling crafts on the street. It belongs to my nephew and my daughter, and all the children of Puerto Rico.

El Viejo San Juan will always belong to the people that love it. Love is what binds us to a place. I feel love all around me in Old San Juan.
…
The colonizers may be able to buy el Viejo San Juan, but it will never belong to them.

[caltrek]

Gandhi’s Last Fast
by Kumkum Sangari
January 23, 2022

https://janataweekly.org/gandhis-last-fast/

Introduction:

(Janata Weekly) “Who knows, what is going to happen before nightfall or even whether I shall be alive?” Gandhi said, mere hours before he was shot to death by Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948. Every year this day is observed as Martyr’s Day to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi. Today, Gandhi is one of the oft invoked and appropriated figures by the ruling Right-wing government.

Seeking to ensure peace in the nation, Gandhi’s last two fasts unto death were for communal harmony. This made him a much disliked figure in the eyes of the RSS and other hindu fanatics. When Gandhi sat on what would be his last fast, he demanded the settlement of Pakistan’s share of the cash balances of undivided India, amounting to Rupees 55 crore. He also dictated his seven point charter of demands to Maulana Azad. His demands were as follows:

• Complete freedom of worship to Muslims at the tomb of Khwaja Qutub-ud-Din Bakhtiar and non-interference with the celebration of the Urs which was due to be held there within a week; Voluntary evacuation by non-Muslims of all the mosques in the city which were being used for residential purposes or which had been converted into temples; Free movement of Muslims in areas where they used to stay before the disturbances; Full safety to Muslims while travelling by train; No economic boycott of Muslims; Full discretion to Muslims to invite non-Muslims to live in areas occupied by them, and Freedom to Muslim evacuees to come back to Delhi if they so desired.

He broke his fast on the January 18, 1948, only after all his demands were agreed to from various quarters, including the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha. 12 days later he was shot dead by Nathuram Godse, a hindu fanatic and a member of RSS. In today’s climate of intolerance, the relevance of Gandhi’s last fast and his demands is ever increasing. He firmly believed that violence destroyed religion from the inside and his message of communal harmony should not be forgotten.

The following are excerpts from Kumkum Sangari’s article entitled “A narrative of restoration: Gandhi’s last years and Nehruvian secularism”, first published in 2002 in the Social Scientist (March – April, 2002), in the wake of the Gujarat riots. (See article linked above quote box).

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Search Begins for Ernest Shackleton’s Wrecked Ship Off Antarctica
February 5, 2022

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... antarctica

Introduction:

(The Guardian) A South African icebreaker has departed in search of Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, which sank off the coast of Antarctica in 1915 after being slowly crushed by pack ice.

As part of the renowned polar explorer’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition between 1914 and 1917, Shackleton’s team were trying to make the first land crossing of Antarctica.

But their landing was thwarted when Endurance fell victim to the Weddell Sea.

Just east of the Larsen ice shelves on the Antarctic peninsula, it became ensnared in sea ice for over 10 months before being crushed and sinking 3,000 metres below the surface.

The crew managed to escape by camping on the sea ice until it ruptured.

[caltrek]

Map Discovery Reveals American ‘Hero’ Broke Peace Treaty and Plotted a Land Grab
by Dustin Manduffie
February 4, 2022

https://www.courthousenews.com/map-disc ... land-grab/

Introduction:

(Courthouse News) — A unique hand-drawn map discovered tucked away in a Washington archive shows famous American explorer William Clark leveraged the U.S.–Indian treaty system to promote settler supremacy in the United States at the expense of Indigenous inhabitants during the early 1800s.

While searching through historical microfilm at the National Archives and Records Administration, Dr. Robert Lee happened upon Clark’s map, which was originally filed under false authorship in the secretary of war’s correspondence archive. But something stuck out — the map didn’t conform to the known geography of land succession depicted in the Osage treaty of 1808.

Lee contends the map was actually drawn by Clark himself during his time as governor of Missouri Territory, which Lee describes in a new study published Friday in the journal William and Mary Quarterly. The map points to Clark’s role in stealing more than 10.5 million acres from Sauk, Meskwaki and Iowa territory on behalf of the United States, according to Lee’s analysis.

caltrek's comment: Of course, we will have to keep such knowledge and speculation away from children of European ancestry on account of how it might make them feel bad about themselves.

/sarcasm

[Tadasuke]

Number of bridges (first wooden, then stone, then iron and then steel) through rivers in (current area) London has been increasing exponentially until it saturated in 1894. 2 more bridges were added after the year 2000, both in 2002 (Millennium Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridge). Perhaps there will be 2 more by the year 2050, making their total number 38. Not many were added in the XX century, but old bridges were rebuilt in new designs. Until the 1750 Westminster Bridge, then London area had only 1 bridge - the London Bridge, for 1700 years. Romans built the first version of it from wood. Then in 1209 a stone version was finished, with houses on top. In XVIII and XIX centuries many bridges were built in current London area, gradually making travelling by boat obsolete.

[caltrek]

“My Father, Do Not Rest”: Broadcast on All India Radio, February 1, 1948
by Sarojini Naidu

https://janataweekly.org/author/sarojininaidu/

Introduction:

(Janata Weekly) [On 1 February 1948, two days after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination by Hindutva fanatics, Sarojini Naidu gave an impassioned speech on All India Radio, calling on the nation to remember the Mahatma’s death as a pledge to right action. This is (an introduction) to her address. (The complete address is available by clicking the link above the quote box)]

Like Christ of old on the third day he has risen again in answer to the cry of his people and the call of the world for the continuance of his guidance, his love, his service and inspiration. And while we all mourn, those who loved him, knew him personally, and those to whom his name was but a miracle and a legend, though we are all full of tears and though we are full of sorrow on this third day when he has risen from his own ashes, I feel that sorrow is out of place and tears become a blasphemy. How can he die, who through his life and conduct and sacrifice, who through his love and courage and faith has taught the world that the spirit matters, not the flesh, that the spirit has the power greater than the powers of the combined armies of the earth, combined armies of the ages? He was small, frail, without money, without even the full complement of garment to cover his body, not owning even as much earth as might be held on the point of a needle, how was he so much stronger than the forces of violence, the might of empires and the grandeur of embattled forces in the world? Why was it that this little man, this tiny man, this man with a child’s body, this man so ascetic, living on the verge of starvation by choice so as to be more in harmony with the life of the poor, how was it that he exercised over the entire world, of those who revered him and those who hated him, such power as emperors could never wield?

It was because he did not care for applause; he did not care for censure. He only cared for the path of righteousness. He cared only for the ideals that he preached and practised.

[Tadasuke]

Some chosen milestones in construction:
2nd millenium B.C. - first stone arch bridges
7th century A.D. - nearly 40m long stone arch bridges in China
14th century A.D. - 40 m long stone arch bridges in Europe
1779 - first iron bridge (England)
1829 - first glass roof
1849 - first over 300 m long suspension bridge
1851 - first large scale glass building (England)
1874 - first steel bridge (USA)
1889 - first over 300 m iron lattice tower
1894 - first steam engine draw bridge (England)
1898 - first building with floors over 150 m (USA)
1901 - first mass concrete railway viaduct
1912 - first building with floors over 200 m
1931 - first building with floors over 350 m (ESB)
1931 - first over 1 km long suspension bridge
1967 - first over 500 m concrete tower
1972 - first building with floors over 400 m (1 WTC)
1982 - first over 100 km long railway viaduct (Japan)
1982 - first over 10 km long bridge
2003 - first building over 500 m in height (Taiwan)
2009 - first building with floors over 550 m
2009 - first over 600 m steel tower (China)
2022 - first over 2 km long suspension bridge (Turkey)
2026? - first building with floors over 650m
2026? - first structure over 1 km in height (Saudi Arabia)

[caltrek]

Meghnad Saha: Indian Astrophysicist Who Revolutionised Astronomy With His 'Saha Ionisation Equation'
by Snehadri Sarkar
February 18, 2022

https://thelogicalindian.com/trending/m ... ion-34013

Introduction:

(The Logical Indian) February 16, 2022 marked the 66th death anniversary of Indian astrophysicist Meghnad Saha, who is widely renowned for his 'Saha ionisation equation', mainly used to describe physical and chemical conditions in stars. It is also thanks to Saha's work astronomers can accurately relate the spectral classes of stars to their actual temperatures.

Meghnad Saha- A Visionary!

The late astrophysicist's research work on the thermal ionisation of elements led him to come up with what is now known as the Saha equation. As per the equation, it is the basic tool for interpreting the spectra of stars in astrophysics. Through the study of the ranges of various stars, one can find their temperature and, using Saha's equation, determine the ionisation state of the various elements making up the star. His work was also soon extended by Edward Arthur Milne and Ralph H. Fowler, as per Wikipedia.*

Meghnad Saha also was the one who invented an instrument to measure the pressure and weight of solar rays and assisted in building numerous scientific institutions, such as the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Calcutta and the Physics Department in Allahabad University. The late astrophysicist founded the journal Science and Culture and was also the editor until he passed away.

Furthermore, Saha was also the leading spirit in organising several scientific societies, such as the Indian Institute of Science (1935), the Indian Physical Society (1934), National Academy of Science (1930). The visionary Indian was also the Director at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science between 1953–1956. Founded in 1943, the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata is named after him as well.

https://thelogicalindian.com/trending/m ... tion-34013

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meghnad_Saha

[caltrek]

International Study Finds that Onset of Modern Sea Level Rise Began in 1863
February 18, 2022

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/944020

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) An international team of scientists including Rutgers researchers has found that modern rates of sea level rise began emerging in 1863 as the Industrial Age intensified, coinciding with evidence for early ocean warming and glacier melt.

The study, which used a global database of sea-level records spanning the last 2,000 years, will help local and regional planners prepare for future sea-level rise. The study appears in the journal Nature Communications.

Sea-level rise is an important indicator of broader climate changes. By identifying the time when modern rates of sea-level rise emerged above natural variability, the researchers were able to pinpoint the onset of a significant period of climate change.

By examining the worldwide records, the researchers found that globally, the onset of modern rates of sea-level rise occurred in 1863, in line with the Industrial Revolution. At individual sites in the United States, modern rates emerged earliest in the mid-Atlantic region in the mid to late 19th century, and later in Canada and Europe, emerging by the mid-20th century.

Edit: The study was published in Nature Communications: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28564-6#Sec1

[wjfox]

Endurance: Shackleton's lost ship is found in Antarctic

2 hours ago

Scientists have found and filmed one of the greatest ever undiscovered shipwrecks 107 years after it sank.

The Endurance, the lost vessel of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, was found at the weekend at the bottom of the Weddell Sea.

The ship was crushed by sea-ice and sank in 1915, forcing Shackleton and his men to make an astonishing escape on foot and in small boats.

Video of the remains show Endurance to be in remarkable condition.

Even though it has been sitting in 3km (10,000ft) of water for over a century, it looks just like it did on the November day it went down.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60662541

[wjfox]