My Science School

               The interesting story about the origin of tea goes like this- once the Chinese emperor Shen Nung was relaxing under a tree, while his servants were boiling water for him to drink. The emperor, who was a renowned herbalist, noticed that some leaves from the tree fell into the water accidentally. Shen Nung told his servants that he would like to try the flavour of that accidentally created drink. The tree was Camellia sinensis, which is native to the foothills of the Himalayas, and the drink made was what we now call tea.

               It is believed that the Chinese first gathered the leaves from the wild, and only in AD 350 did they started cultivating tea plants. Soon, tea became popular in the Far East. There was even a popular tea ceremony in Japan during the 15th century. The Dutch and Portuguese popularized tea among the Europeans in the 16th century.

Picture credit: google

            From 3000 BC onwards Indians started refining sugar. Many imperial convoys used to visit India in order to learn how sugar is produced. It is said that the soldiers of Alexander the Great, who invaded India in 327 BC, were the first Europeans to taste sugar.

            The exact origin of sugar is still under dispute. Some theories say it was first found in the Bay of Bengal, and others say the Solomon Islands were where it was first found. However, Indians were the first to cultivate sugar cane.

            During the 5th century BC, the Arabs started making loaves out of sugar from India. It was around AD 800, when Arabs conquered Spain, that sugar was commercialized in parts of Europe. Later, sugar became a part of the kitchens of the wealthy Europeans. Soon, the European powers started cultivating sugar cane in their colonies.

            By the 18th century, all economic classes started using sugar in their day-to-day cooking. Initially, it was used in sweetening dishes. Later, sugar became an essential part of drinks and food like coffee, tea, cakes and biscuits.

Picture credit: google

               Salt was a precious commodity among the ancient Jews, Greeks, Chinese and Hittites. The Assyrians were the first people to use salt in the military practice of salting the earth. Later, this was adopted by many others.

               It was in the present-day Austrian town of Hallstatt, near Salzburg (Salt Town), during the 1st millennium BC, that the very first salt mine in Europe was established. In Britain, the deliberate production of salt was first practiced in the early Iron Age by the Celts.

               Salt, obviously, had high demand, and became a powerful commodity in the entire world economy easily. Some of the world’s earliest trade routes linked sources of salt to human settlements. Moreover, salt resources gradually became the ultimate factor in determining the location of the world’s great cities. Liverpool is an excellent example. It rose from being just an English port, to become the prime port for its salt export.

               The nomads of Central Asia were the ones who first tried out milk. However, they used to drink milk from mares (a female horse) as cows were not yet domesticated. Gradually, the herdsmen learnt to milk sheep, goats, and donkeys soon after 9000 BC.

               Cow’s milk was a common drink in Neolithic Britain. Ancient Europeans preferred soured milk. They found that concentrating milk by evaporating it would help to preserve the milk longer. They used different kinds of sweeteners too.

               Until 1852, when an American named Gail Borden introduced canned condensed milk for the first time, sweetened milk was not widely accepted. Borden’s canned version gradually caught on, especially with soldiers in the American Civil War.

               It was the French biologist Louis Pasteur who introduced the process called pasteurization, a method to kill bacteria in food and drinks especially milk. It’s said that during his investigations into the souring process of wine and beer, Pasteur developed this process.

               In 1860 he pasteurized milk for the first time. The process became popular only after 1890s.

Picture credit: google

            Ice itself was something very difficult to make during the early days. So water ices and ice creams were luxurious dishes prepared for wealthy rulers. It was during the 1st millennium AD that the Chinese started to try out different fruit-flavoured cold drinks and desserts, using snow and ice. Later, the Persians and Arabs followed this method to make shaved snow and pour flavoured syrups on top of it. These were called sherbets.

            Water ices became popular in parts of Europe during the 1660s. It is said that the very first time when ice cream was served in England, at Windsor Castle in May 1671, Charles II was presented a plate of ice-cream with an equal portion of white strawberries. Kulfi is the most popular traditional frozen dairy dessert from the Indian subcontinent. Kulfis were first made for Mughal emperors during the 16th century.

            Though there have been many varieties of ice-cream cones initially, the most appealing version of ice-cream cones were made by a man named Ernest A. Hamwi, in 1904, in the US.

Picture credit: google

            It is thought that butter might have initially been made by ancient Asian nomads while travelling with containers of milk. The movement of the caravan might have churned the milk to produce butter.

            However, the name butter takes its origin from the Greek word bouturon, which means cow cheese. Even though the Greeks knew about butter, they never used it as food, but as medicine.

            It is said that the Celts might have introduced butter in Britain during the pre-Roman Iron Age. They even found a method to preserve butter by adding salt. Ancient records show that for preserving 4.5 kg of butter, almost 450 g of salt was added to it. But interestingly, before eating the butter some salt was washed off. The butter was then kneaded with water and the liquid pummeled out.

            Butter has been a part of Indian cooking since time immemorial. Butter was a very expensive commodity back then.

Picture credit: google

            A hairdryer is an electrical device for drying a person’s damp hair by a process of blowing warm air over it. The first model of a hairdryer was developed by Alexander Godefroy in 1890, for use in his salon in France.

           However, this model was not portable. Another drawback was that it couldn’t be used by holding in the hands; a person had to sit underneath it to get his hair dried.

            The first handheld hairdryer for daily use was developed in 1920. Even these ones had a major drawback- they were very heavy, weighing approximately 0.9 kg. Another major change was made in 1954 when GEC made the motor inside the casing adjustable. The bonnet dryer was introduced to consumers in 1951.

            During the 1950s, the rigid-hood hairdryer was introduced. It had a hard plastic helmet that wraps around the person’s head. Actually, the basic mechanism of a hairdryer has never been changed. The only change was made in the matter of convenience, like how plastic was used in order to make them lightweight.

Picture credit: google

               The very first formal calendar dates back to the Bronze Age. Since scribbling and documenting started during the ancient era, many forms of calendars were developed. The Sumerian calendar was the earliest, followed by the Egyptian, Assyrian and Elamite calendars.

               In the ancient Sumerian calendars a year was divided into 12 lunar months of 29 or 30 days, where each month began with the sighting of a new moon.

               Another popular, historical calendar was the Julian calendar, which was reformed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC.

               A major calendar reform was led by Khayyam in Persia during the 11th century when, measuring the length of the year was prudently fashioned to 365.24219858156 days. Later, the first calendars based on Zoroastrian cosmology appeared somewhere between 650 to 330 BC.

               The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used international calendar. It is a more clarified version of the Julian calendar.

Picture credit: google

            Glass was accidentally discovered around 3000 BC by Middle Eastern nomads while camping on a lake-side.

            They found chips of glass in the soil, which were actually created by the chemical reaction between silica content in the soil, and sodium carbonate deposits from the waters of the lake during higher temperatures.

            The oldest-known glass artefacts of consistently high quality date back to approximately 1500 BC when Egyptians made hollow glass by forming a core from a bag of sand or a lump of clay, attaching it to a metal rod and then covering it in molten glass. When the glass cooled, the clay was removed.

            However, glass vessels and utensils came into being nearly three centuries later. A glass maker in Syria discovered that a blob of glass at the end of a tube could be blown into a vessel of almost any shape.

Picture credit: google

            Different forms of adhesives were used by primitive men. Many excavations have revealed that early humans used bitumen, a natural glue, to attach stones and wooden blocks. Bitumen is used even now for surfacing roads and waterproofing roofs. Bitumen’s waterproofing qualities were utilized by shipwrights in Babylon and Mesopotamia as early as 2400 BC, in order to caulk their ships.

            The Egyptians produced a variety of glues by boiling animal skin, bone and sinew, which are used by traditional carpenters even now. Other natural adhesives used since earliest times include beeswax, egg white, gum, resin and starch pastes etc.

            Natural rubber-based sticky adhesives were first manufactured by Henry Day in 1845. Interestingly, Eastman Kodak’s researchers discovered Super-glue accidentally in the 1950s. They were first sold in Britain in the mid-1970s. Superglue is well known for its tighter grip.

            Varieties of synthetic adhesives are still being developed, with the ever evolving, new technologies.

            It was in 1901 that Hubert Cecil Booth, a London engineer, tried something different in order to dislodge trapped dust and dirt. He placed a handkerchief on a dusty couch, and then proceeded to suck air through it. By thus depositing grime on his handkerchief, he proved that suction could dislodge, and trap dirt. Inspired by this result, booth developed the first machine to combine a power-driven suction pump with a dust collecting bag attached to it. His innovation was named Puffing Billy.

            Later, more convenient and smaller vacuum cleaners evolved for domestic use. However, they were soon overtaken by the electric suction sweeper patented in the US by James Murray Spangler, in 1907. Unable to capitalize on his invention, he sold it to a leather goods maker, William Henry Hoover. A catchy slogan ‘it beats as it sweeps as it cleans’ was delivered while marketing it.

            The vacuum cleaners predecessor, the carpet sweeper was introduced in the market in 1811. Melville Bissell patented a more efficient version in 1876, which revolutionized housework.

Picture credit: google

            Even as early as 2000 BC, the Ancient Egyptians used to find pleated clothes fashionable. They achieved this effect by starching their clothes and pressing them continuously with wooden rollers.

            Another interesting fact is connected to the Vikings, who invaded Europe in the 9th century and used to spread their clothes on whalebone plaques. Ironing, similar to what is done in our modern age, was initially introduced in the Far East during the 8th century, when small pans were filled with hot coal, and used. However, this method became popular in Europe only in the 15th century.

            Gas irons were developed in France at first. However, the earliest patent for an electric iron was taken out by an American, Henry Seeley, in 1882.

            Dryers have a comparatively modern origin. People started using hand-operated dryers to dry clothes only in the 17th century. It was from the 1860s onward that steam powered dryers became popular. The first electric tumble driers were installed in ships of the P&O Line in 1909.

            However, they became household equipment only during the 1930s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures credit: google

               In 1908, a Swiss chemist, Jacques Brandenberger invented cellophane, a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria, and water made it useful. But it was really expensive, and was used mostly to wrap luxury items. Later in 1927, the American company Du Pont patented another excellent version of cellophane, which was used to encase packaged goods such as cigarettes.

               Going forward, in 1934, the earliest form of hygienic food wraps named Pliofilm were manufactured and marketed in the US. They were made from rubber based hydrochloride.

               The invention of adhesive cellophane happened in the 1920s, at the height of the American fashion for two-tone cars. The Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company introduced a sticky, but not too sticky, adhesive tape for auto pointers to use on two-tone paint Jobs. Later in 1934, sticky tapes became popular in the British market, Cello tape; a brand of adhesive tape was commercialized in 1937.

 

 

               The very fast reference to nails can be traced back Mesopotamia about 3500 BC. Nails were found on the statue of a bull made out of copper sheets, which were nailed on to a wooden frame.

               During the Middle Ages, nails were made by hammering rods through a series of holes of decreasing size.

               Later, artisans known as nailers or nailors, who became popular around 1800, started making a variety of handmade nails.

               It was in 1786 that the very first nail making machine was developed in the US by Ezekiel Reed. Later, in 1790, Thomas Clifford introduced another machine in England. Though the wrought-iron nails continued well into the 19th century, they lost their demand gradually as harder cut nails were preferred, considering their various uses. This was when wire nails came into being. By 1913, ninety percent of manufactured nails were wire nails. Thus nails became cheaper. Today, almost all nails are manufactured from wire, and instead of bronze or wrought iron, steel is used to make them.

Picture credit: google

               Scissors were first used during the Bronze Age. However, things similar to scissors had been in use as domestic tools many years before the invention of real scissors.

               It was in Mesopotamia, around 3500 BC, that bronze was first invented. This turned out to be the best resource for sharper blades. Scissors were first used in Europe and Asia around 1000 BC. Those ancient scissors consisted of two blades Joined together using a C- shaped spring. Though the basic design of scissors remained unchanged for a long time, more beautified and decorative ones were made using silver, gold, pearl and diamonds.

               However, the modern-day scissors were said to have taken their shape in the Roman Empire and the Far East. In 1761, the Sheffield metal worker Robert Hinchcliffe began to manufacture and commercialize scissors. He used cast steel for stronger and sharper blades.

Picture credit: google