Mummy might sometimes forget that good kids like you also exist in

this world. But never ever let her forget that tasty candies and
toffees like the rich in milk Londonderry. the 5 awesome fruit flavoured
Mazelo and the coffee-licious Cafechino also exist in this world.
 Everyday Man
Man may marvel at the inven­
tions of our technological age, but
many of the things we regard as modern,
are actually centuries old.
Our ancestors, who first walked the planet
some six million years ago, designed simple tools
first, and refined them over centuries. The safety
pin, for example, was first designed in the 2 nd millen­
nium BC in its crudest form, and then it evolved to its
present form through countless generations.
Not only safety pins, but many other things which
we use in our day-to-day life are the culmination of
the thought processes of our ancestors. From the
tools we use, to the vehicles we drive, to the food
we eat, there's so much we take for granted,
but there is an interesting story to be told
about each and everything.
This issue ofTell Me Why lists some
day-to-day objects and their
fascinating origins.
 HOME
SWEET HOME
Why is it said that the journey
from gaslights to electric bulbs
is remarkable?

It was during the 1790s, that gas

lighting was first invented. Gas­
lights were first installed on the
streets of London in 1807. By the
1860s, the city was totally lit by
gas.
Though gaslights were a great
deal back then, they had many
disadvantages too, mainly
because they provided only very
dim light.
It was the English chemist Hum­
phry Davy who introduced the
possibility of using electricity to
heat metal strips, and make them
provide light. There were still res­
ervations about using electric
lighting for households. Later, in
1878 the English physicist Joseph
Swan produced incandescent
light that lasted for a few hours.
The electric light was not liter­
ally 'invented' by Thomas Alva
Edison, although he could be said
to have created the first commer­
cially practical incandescent light
bulb in 1879.
 One end of a match, a handy
tool for producing fire, is coated
with a material that can be ignit­
ed by frictional heat. The fire is
created by striking the match
against a suitable surface.
The invention of matchsticks is
still ambiguous. Primitive men
used many unknown tools as
ways to create fire. However, it is
said that the first chemical match-
. es were initially made by the
Romans. They used matches in
the form of lengths of wood
dipped into molten sulphur, and
ignited with the heat from smoul­
dering tinder.
In 1680, Robert Boyle discov­
ered that when rubbed together,
phosphorous and sulphur creat­
ed flame. Even after this crucial
discovery, it took over 150 years
Name to Match to produce self-igniting matches.
The word 'match' had Something similar to modern­
previously been used for day matches was invented by
the wick of a candle, or John Walker, an English chemist.
a piece of cord dipped Walker called them friction lights;
in sulphur, to be they had tips coated with potas­
used to light a sium chloride and antimony sul­
candle or an phide paste. They were ignited
oil lamp. when rubbed against sandpaper.

5
 in Britain. Following
these improvements, lock­
smiths created the first keys for
much safer and reliable usage
What is of the mechanism. It was in
the history of 1778 that the locksmith Robert
locks? Barron started producing
licensed, double action tum­
Locks trace their his­ bler locks. This lock was much
tory back to the begin- reliable compared to earlier
ning of modern civilization, locks.
when people developed a However, the most reliable
need to keep their belong­ locks were made by the Ameri­
ings safe. The first wooden can locksmith Linus Yale. He
keys and locks were said to produced the locks based on
have originated in Ancient the Egyptian principle of pin
Egypt. tumblers.
Later, more detailed, user­ Later, in 1856, Linus Yale
friendly locks were being Junior developed an updated
made in parts of version of these locks for the
Europe, especially modern era.

.�

-�CURIOUS
:.
r"p- .t.
,,--�

FACT
Nylon Toothbrush
The first nylon bristle
toothbrush, made with
nylon yarn, went on sale
on February 24th,
1938.

6
 How is the origin of in equal
combs related to the Scandi­ measurements.
navians? The first plastic comb
was made by the chemist
It is said that the Scandinavi­ Alexander Parkes in 1862.
ans designed the first comb, Later, in the 19th century, more
carved out of bones, almost a advanced and sophisticated
thousand years ago. However, version called brushes, for easy
the Ancient Egyptians made untangling of hair, were intro­
fancier versions, like a double­ duced. Ivory from Africa and
sided comb, using ivory and India were used to make the
wood. backs of such brushes.
Comb teeth were produced The first mirrors were
individually, until 1796, when crafted around 5000 BC
William Bundy developed a in Italy and the Mid-
device to carve them together dle East.

STORIES BEHIND EVERYDAY THINGS 7

 Before the invention of toothbrushes, the simplest
oral hygiene instruments, a variety of other methods
had been used. Some of them were chew sticks, tree
twigs, bird feathers, animal bones, and porcupine
quills.
The first bristle toothbrushes, similar to the modern
version, originated in China. They consisted of hog
bristles, and were used during the Tang Dynasty. It is
said that firmer bristles were produced from hogs
living in colder regions like Siberia and northern
China. The handles of the toothbrushes were
carved out of bamboo, or bones.
However, toothbrushes were introduced in
the western society only during the 17th centu­
ry. In Europe, William Addis of England is
believed to have produced the first commer­
cially successful toothbrush in 1780.

8 Tell Me Why
 Tax for Soap
During the Middle Ages,
soaps were seen as a great
source of revenue by the
government, and were
taxed in London. During
the Napoleonic Wars,
this tax was as much
as 3 pence per
pound.

Why is it said that the some of them. The Chi­

story of toothpaste is nese are said to have used
remarkable? various ingredients in their
toothpastes, including gin­
Around 5000 BC, the Egyp­ seng, herbal mints, and salt.
tians made a paste to clean Until the 1850s, toothpastes
their teeth. Later, the Ancient were basically powders. It was
Greeks, Romans, Chinese and during the 1850s that real pro­
Indians also started using gress happened, when cream
toothpaste. based toothpastes were man­
These ancient toothpastes ufactured and commercial­
were made by a concoction ised.
of different things in differ­ In the year 1873, Colgate
ent parts of the world. started the mass produc­
The powder of ox tion of toothpastes in
hooves' ashes, burnt jars (later tubes) all
eggshells and over the world.
pumice were
STORIES BEHIND EVE
 e nts
like oil
and pot-
ash, to make
something like a
liquid soap.
The Ancient Hebrews
were said to have started
using the roots of certain
Why i1s it said that the Bab­ plants for making soap. They
yfonians invented soap-mak­ found that those roots had the
ing1 technology? ability to remove dirt.
However, the hard, modern
It was around 2800 BC that the day, perfumed toilet soaps
Ancient Babylonians became were initially manufactured in
the first civilization to use the Middle East.
something similar to soap. During the 9th century, the
They washed their clothes Europeans started using
with something similar to a soaps, which were basically
real soap, which was made produced from animal fats.
from wood ash and liquid Their soaps were unper­
animal fats. fumed. Finer soaps
During the 3 rd mil­ were later produced
lennium BC, the in Europe from the
Mesopotamians 16th century,
used different using vegeta­
ingredi- ble oils.
 Where
did the sto­
ry of detergents
begin?

Various natural things

were used to clean
clothes in ancient times.
Natron, a form of carbonate The manufacturing of
soda, was used by the Egyp­ modern-day detergents can
tians as a detergent. The be traced back to the 19th cen­
Romans, on the other hand, tury. The first soap powder
were said to have used Fuller's Babbitt's Best Soap, went on
Earth (dirt absorbing clay) on sale in New York in 1843.
their woollen garments. Later, in the 1880s, synthetic
detergents were first devel­
oped in Germany. Nekal was
the first commercial deter­
gent, which was marketed in
Europe during 1917.
The Romans are credited
with the introduction of
adding a faint blue dye to
rinsing water in order to
eliminate the yellow
tinge from clothes.
This was later
introduced in
Britain.

11
 i nitia Il y
What is the his­ used to make
tory of brooms? broomsticks.
During the 15th century,
As we can imagine, ever the Romans started using
since mankind started con­ hogs' bristles glued with pitch
structing closed huts, the into blocks of wood for sweep­
problem of dusting arrived too. ing. Later, feather dusters were
During the olden days, dust introduced by the Romans.
was swept up, and out of huts, Until the 18 th century, moss
with branches plucked from was the natural substance
shrubs. It was only later that used for dusting and cleaning
flexible sticks and twigs were in Britain. In 1859, the first
bound and tied up together, American brush factory was
to form an implement established in New York.
called a broom.
The name broom
takes its origin
from Europe,
where the twigs
of broom
trees were

12
Why is it said that scissors had its
origin in the Bronze Age?

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 Sc"sso r.. m
the best resource for sharper
One of the popular
blades. Scissors were first used
scissor games is called
in Europe and Asia around 1000
BC. Those ancient scissors con­ 'rock, paper,
sisted of two blades joined togeth­ and scissors'.
er using a (-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 scis-
sors were said to have
taken their shape in the
Roman Empire and the Far
East. In 1761, the Sheffield met-
al worker Robert Hinchcliffe
began to manufacture and com­
mercialise scissors. He used cast
steel for stronger and sharper
blades.

19
Why is the history of nails so interesting?

The very first reference to nails can be

traced back to 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 Rubber Band
made by hammering rods through a History
series of holes of decreasing size. Rubber bands were
Later, artisans known as nailers or first made by Perry
nailors, who became popular around and Co of London
1800, started making a variety of hand­ in 1845.
made nails.
It was in 1786 that the very first nail mak-
ing machine was developed in the US by Eze­
kiel 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, con­
sidering their various uses. This
was when wire nails came into
being. By 1913, ninety per cent
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.
What is the history of film and
sticky tape?

In 1908, a Swiss chemist, Jacques

Brandenberger invented cello­
phane, a thin, transparent sheet
made of regenerated cellulose. Its
low permeability to air, oils, greas­
es, bacteria, and water made it use­
ful. But it was really expensive, and
was used mostly to wrap luxury
items. Later in 1927, the American
company Du Pont patented anoth­
er excellent version of cellophane,
which was used to encase pack­
aged goods such as cigarettes.
Going forward, in 1934, the earli­
est form of hygienic food wraps
named Pliofilm were manufac­
tured and marketed in the US.They
were made from rubber based
hydrochloride.
The invention of adhesive cello­
phane happened in the 1920s, at
the height of the American fashion
for two-tone cars. The Minnesota
Mining and Manufacturing Com­
pany introduced a sticky, but not
too sticky, adhesive tape for auto
painters to use on two-tone paint
jobs. Later in 1934, sticky tapes
became popular in the British mar­
ket. Cellotape, a brand of adhesive
tape, was commercialised in 1937.
 Why is it said that with hot coal, and
different forms of used. However, this
dryers and irons method became
were used in ancient popular in Europe only
times too? in the 15th century.
Gas irons were devel­
Even as early as 2000 BC,_ oped in France at first.
the Ancient Egyptians used However, the earliest pat­
to find pleated clothes fash­ ent for an electric iron was
ionable. They achieved this taken out by an American,
effect by starching their Henry Seeley, in 1882.
clothes and pressing them Dryers have a comparative­
continuously with wooden ly modern origin. People
rollers. started using hand-operated
Another interesting fact is dryers to dry clothes only in
connected to the Vikings, who the 17th century. It was from
invaded Europe in the 9th cen­ the 1860s onward that steam
tury, and used to spread their powered dryers became pop­
clothes on whalebone plaques. ular. The first electric tumble
Ironing, similar to what is driers were installed in ships
done in our modern age, was of the P&O Line in 1909.
initially introduced in the However, they became
Far East during the 8th household equipment
century, when small only during the 1930s.
pans were filled
16 ell Me Why
 1907. Unable to
um cleaner capitalise on his
used? invention, he sold it to
a leather goods maker,
It was in 1901 that Hubert William Henry Hoover. A
Cecil Booth, a London engi­ catchy slogan 'it beats as it
neer, tried something differ­ sweeps as it cleans' was deliv­
ent in order to dislodge ered while marketing it.
trapped dust and dirt. He The vacuum cleaner's prede­
placed a handkerchief on a cessor, the carpet sweeper was
dusty couch, and then pro­ introduced in the market in
ceeded to suck air through it. 1811. Melvilie Bissell patented
By thus depositing grime on his a more efficient version in
handkerchief, he proved that 1876, which revolutionised
suction could dislodge, and housework.
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 clean­
ers evolved for domestic
use. However, they were
soon overtaken by the
electric suction sweep­
er patented in the US
by James Murray
Spangler, in

17
Why is it said that adhesives
have a long history?

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 The Egyptians produced a
now for surfacing roads and variety of glues by boiling ani­
waterproofing roofs. Bitumen's mal skin, bone and sinew,
waterproofing qualities were which are used by traditional
utilised by shipwrights in Baby­ carpenters even now. Other
lon and Mesopotamia as early natural adhesives used since
as 2400 BC, in order to caulk earliest times include beeswax,
their ships. egg white, gum, resin and
starch p�stes etc.
� Natural rubber-based sticky
SometRing's adhesives were first manufac­
wrong! tured 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 adhe­
sives are still being developed,
with the ever evolving, new
technologies.

Tell Me hy
 Why is it said that the discovery
of glass was revolutionary?

Hammocks, the Glass was accidentally discov­

most portable ered around 3000 BC by Middle
beds, were first Eastern nomads while camping on
woven in Central a lake-side.
and South America They found chips of glass in the
using the bark of soil, which were actually created by
the hammock tree. the chemical reaction between sili­
Christopher ca content in the soil, and sodium
Columbus saw carbonate deposits from the waters
them in Brazil of the lake during higher tempera­
during his voyage tures.
in 1492. 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 uten­
sils came into being nearly three
centuries later. A glass maker in Syr­
ia discovered that a blob of glass at
the end of a tube could be blown
into a vessel of almost any shape.

STORIES BEHIND EVERYDAY THINGS 19

 Why is it said that
the calendar had its ori­
CALENDAR gin in the Bronze Age?

The very first formal cal­

endar dates back to the
Bronze Age. Since scrib­
bling and documenting
started during the ancient
era, many forms of calen­
dars were developed. The
Sumerian calendar was
the earliest, followed by
the Egyptian, Assyrian and
Elamite calendars.
In the ancient Sumerian
calendars a year was divid­
ed 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 cen­
/

tury when, measuring the length of

the year was prudently fashioned to
365.242 19858156 days. Later, the first
calendars based on Zoroastrian cos­
mology appeared somewhere
between 650 to 330 BC.
The Gregorian calendar is the most
widely used international calen­
dar. It is a more clarified version
of the Julian calendar.
Tell Me Why
 Why is it said that hairdryers
originated in modern times?

A hairdryer is an electrical
device for drying a person's
damp hair by a process of blow­
ing warm air over it. The first
model of a hairdryer was devel­
oped 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
G EC made the motor inside the casing
adjustable. The bonnet dryer was intro­
duced to consumers in 1951.
When electric lights
During the 1950s, the rigid-hood
were first installed in
hairdryer was introduced. It had a
hotels and public
hard plastic helmet that wraps around
places in the early
the person's head. Actually, the basic
1 900s, notices were
mechanism of a hairdryer has never
needed to remind
been changed. The only change was
people not to
made in the matter of convenience, like
light them with
how plastic was used in order to make
a match.
them lightweight.
 EAT IT,
DRI K IT

might have intro­

begin to be used? duced butter in Brit-
ain during the
It is thought that butter pre-Roman Iron Age.
might have initially been They even found a method
made by ancient Asian to preserve butter by adding
nomads while travelling with salt. Ancient records show
containers of milk. The move­ that for preserving 4.5 kg of
ment of the caravan might butter, almost 450 g of salt was
have churned the milk to pro­ added to it. But interestingly,
duce butter. before eating the butter some
However, the name butter salt was washed off. The butter
takes its origin from the Greek was then kneaded with water
word bouturon, which means and the liquid pummelled
cow cheese. Even though out.
the Greeks knew about Butter has been a part of
butter, they never used it Indian cooking since time
as food, but as medi­ immemorial. Butter
cine. was a very expensive
It is said that commodity back
the Celts then.
Why is it said that the story of ice cream
is unique?

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 fol­
lowed 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.
When did Man start d rinking
milk?

The nomads of Central Asia The Romans gave salt

were the ones who first tried rations, which they called
out milk. However, they used salarium, to soldiers and
to drink milk from mares (a civil servants. Even when
female horse) as cows were not replaced by money, it was
yet domesticated. Gradually, still known as a 'salarium'.
the herdsmen learnt to milk It is from this word
sheep, goats, and donkeys that the word 'salary'
soon after 9000 BC. originated.
Cow's milk was a common
drink in Neolithic Britain.
Ancient Europeans preferred concentrating milk by evapo­
soured milk. They found that rating it would help to preserve
the milk longer. They used dif­
ferent kinds of sweeteners too.
Until 1852, when an Ameri­
can named Gail Borden intro­
duced canned condensed milk
for the first time, sweetened
milk was not widely accepted.
Borden's canned version grad­
ually caught on, especially with
soldiers in the American Civil
War.
It was the French biologist
Louis Pasteur who introduced
the process called pasteurisa­
tion, a method to kill bacteria in
Tell Me Why
food and drinks especially milk. It's said that dur­
ing his investigations into the souring process of
wine and beer, Pasteur developed this process.
In 1 860 he pasteurised milk for the first time.
The process became popular only after 1890s.

Why is it said that salt has a

prominent history?

Salt was a precious com­

modity among the ancient
Jews, Greeks, Chinese a n d
Hitites. The Assyrians were the first
people to use salt in the military
=··
practice of salting the earth. Later,
this was adopted by many others. r -
It was in the present-day Austrian
town of Hallstatt, near Salzburg (Salt
Town), during the 1'1 millennium BC,
that the very first salt mine in Europe
was established. In Britain, the delib­
erate production of salt was first prac­
tised 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 determin­
i n g the location of the world's great cit­
ies. Liverpool is an excellent example. It
·ose from being j ust an English port, to
become the prime port for its salt export.

STORIES BEHIND EVERYDAY THINGS 25

Why is it said that sugar was
first made in India?

from 3000 BC onwards Indi­

ans 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 dis­
pute. Some theories say it was first found in
the Bay of Bengal, and others say the Solo- !
mon Islands was where it was first found.
However, Indians were the first to cultivate
sugar cane.
During the 5th century BC, the Arabs start­
ed making loaves out of sugar from India. It
was around AD 800, when Arabs conquered
Spain, that sugar was commercialised in
parts of Europe. Later, sugar became a part
of the kitchens of the wealthy Europeans.
Soon, the European powers started cultivat­
ing sugar cane in their colonies.
By the 18th century, all economic classes
started using sugar in their day-to-day cook­
ing. Initially, it was used in sweetening dish­
es. Later, sugar became an essential part of
drinks and food like coffee, tea, cakes
and biscuits. --
 �
rip
,_... .-=
Why is it said that the story of tea CURIOUS
// · -.

began in China? FACT

f he interesting story about the
origin of tea goes like this- once the
Chinese emperor Shen Nung was Vanilla comes from
relaxing under a tree, while his the seedpods of a
servants were boiling water for him climbing orchid, native
to drink. The emperor, who was a to Central America.
renowned herbalist, noticed that It was used by the
some leaves from the tree fell into Aztecs to flavour
the water accidentally. Shen Nung their chocolate
told his servants that he would like drink.
to try the flavour of that accidental­
ly 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 popu­
lar tea ceremony in Japan
during the 15th century. The
Dutch and Portuguese pop­
ul arised tea among
the Europeans in the
l 61 century.
When did coffee become a
popular beverage?

Coffee as a beverage was

quite popular among the Arabs
during the 15th century. How­ During the 1 8th century, cof­
ever, it is believed that coffee fee arrived in the Americas.
was first introduced in Yemen, The Arabs were exceptionally
during the 10th century. keen on coffee making. They
The ancient Ethiopians used mixed coffee and water, heat­
to carry balls made of crushed ed several times to boiling
coffee beans and fat during point, and left the ground
long journeys. It was only in beans to settle before drinking.
1644 that coffee became popu­ This made the coffee taste rich­
lar in parts of Europe, begin­ er. It was in France, during the
ning with France. Britain's first 1 8th century, that the first prop­
coffee-house, The Angel, er coffee making utensil was
opened in Oxford in 1650. developed. It was a two sec­
Originally, coffee of the best tioned device, which could
quality came from Yemen's separate the ground beans and
Mocha and Aden regions. How­ hot water, to produce a
ever, in the early 1 ?lh century, smoother drink.
plants were introduced from Later, the device became
there into the Dutch colony of popularly known as cafeteria.
Java in Indonesia, and into In 1806, Count Rumford
French colonies in the Indian devised the true coffee perco­
lator.
Why is it said that the history
of chocolate dates back to
the Mayan period?

The cultivation of the cocoa Louis Cailler became the first

tree began over 3,000 years person to produce chocolates
ago by the Mayan, Toltec, and in a factory.
Aztec people. They were It was in 1876 that the first
experts in making ceremonial white chocolate was made by
beverages using cocoa beans. Daniel Peter of Switzerland. He
They also used the cocoa bean added dried milk to make milk
as currency. The Mayans con­ chocolate. Later, many varie­
sidered chocolate to be the ties of chocolates were made
food of the gods. all over the world.
In Europe Spain was the first �
country to produce chocolate. ate God's
However, at that time choco­ chocolate.
late was enjoyed as a beverage.
Chocolates in solid form were
fir st made by Italian and French
confectioners. Later, Italians
started making them into rolls
and slices. In 1819, Francois-
 moth car-
casses to
dry in the
wind, and then
took them inside
for cool storage.
Syrians, Iranians, and
Palestinians started
using dried cereals, figs,
and grapes by 8000 BC.
It was during the 3 rd millenni­
um BC that salt was first used to
preserve game birds and fish in
the Nile valley. During the Iron
Age itself, Britons started salt­
ing their foods in order to pre­
serve them during the intense
winter.
A special brine of salt was
At what made and used by the Egyp­
point in time tians to pickle meat. Sauerkraut,
did dried and made by fermenting shredded
salted food cabbage, was the first form of
come into being? pickle in Europe. However, sau­
erkraut lost its demand in
Even primitive cave Europe gradually. Later, the
men used to eat dried Chinese introduced the famous
meat. They hung mam- pickled cabbage called kimchi.

30 Te ll Me Why
 Kiwi or
Gooseberry!
The kiwi fruit, originally called
the Chinese gooseberry, was
named after its place of origin.
Where did Farmers in New Zealand
canned food changed its name when they
originate? introduced it into
the American
Many years before market.
pasteurisation was dis-
covered, the French
inventor Nicolas Appert
found a method of sterilizing
foods by keeping them in glass
jars and heating them. It was
actually a form of pasteurization
as he heated the food to kill bac­
teria in it.
Appert's jars were soon
replaced by cans made out of tin
plate. Peter Durand received
the first patent for the idea of
canned food. First it was intro­
duced in the UK, and later in 1818
it was introduced in the US. cans
Initially cans were com pletely were not safe at
sealed except for a small open­ that time. However,
ing knob on the top. Before sol­ canning food was
dering the food was heated to cheap and convenient. It
boiling point. Then the cans were gained popularity very
reheated. The earlier versions of easily.

,TOR I ES BEHIND EVERYDAY THINGS

 FASHION
AND STYLE

Which was the ing the fabric

first textile in the was lengthy. First,
world? the seeds were
removed before the
The oldest fabric discov- plants were soaked in
ered was a piece of linen water. Later, they would be
dating from around 6500 beaten, washed, spun, and
BC. It was found inside a woven. To bleach their linen,
cave in the Judean Desert, Egyptians used sunlight. The
preserved by the dry air. Lin­ natural state of the fabric is a
en is made from fibrous flax dull grey-brown. White linen
plants. Ancient Egyptians was considered a symbol of
collected dried and bun­ purity for the Egyptians,
dled flax plants from the and later for the Romans.
banks of the Nile River.
The process of mak-
 The Chinese were very secre­
tive about this valuable com­
modity they had discovered
themselves.
Silk was introduced in the
Mediterranean only around
From which time period did 500 BC. East and West were
silk become a popular tex­ linked by trade.The route along
tile? which the material was export­
ed was known as the Silk Road.
It is certain that it was the Chi­ By 206 BC, Chinese silk was
nese who discovered silk. The being exported to the Middle
tale about the origin of silk East. The European silk indus­
goes like this - the mythical Chi­ try began functioning around
nese emperor Huang Ti once AD 552, when two Persians
asked his wife Xi Lingshi to see smuggled mulberry seeds and
what was eating the leaves of silkworm eggs out of Persia,
the mulberry trees in the pal­ and passed it into the Byzan­
ace garden. She saw a silkworm tine Empire.
cocoon, which accidentally fell
into hot water. When she
picked it up, and pulled it out,
she realised that it turned into a
thin soft thread.
Around 3000 BC, the Chinese
found that a silkworm could
wrap itself in a cocoon made
from a single, continuous silk
filament some 600-900 m long.
From when did Man begin to use
cotton?

The oldest cotton balls were

found in the caves of Mexico by
some scientists. Those cotton balls
were proven to be more than 7,000
years old. From 3000 BC onwards
cotton had been grown, spun, and
woven into fabric in the Indus River
Valley in modern-day Pakistan. At
about the same time, natives of
Egypt's Nile valley were making
and wearing cotton clothing.
Around 800 AD, Arabs introduced
cotton clothes in Europe. Colum­
bus found cotton growing in the
Bahamas Islands in 1492, during his
voyage. Varieties of coloured cot­
ton produced in India were import­
ed by the British from 16 1 2. It was
in 1730 that cotton was first spun
by machinery in England. The
industrial revolution in England,
and the invention of the cotton gin
in the US, gave a push to cotton
production all over the world.
Cotton was expensive in the early
days due to its rarity, but the mech­
anisation of cotton trade made it
less expensive than wool by the
19th century.

Tell Me Wr·
 Why is it said that the intro­
duction of synthetic fibres
was a turning point in the
history of fabrics?

It was the British inventor

Joseph Swan who produced
the first man-made silk in Polyester was discovered in
1883.The first artificial silk or 1941 by the British chemists
rayon manufacturing factory James Dickson and Rex Whin­
was founded by Hilaire de field. Later, many synthetic
Chardonnet in 1890. Howev­ fibres with better qualities were
er, his manufacturing pro­ made. Lycra is the best exam­
cess was unsafe. A safer ple, marketed by Du Pont in
viscose process of making 1959.
rayon was patented by C. S.
Cross in 1892.
Wallace Carothers, a chem­
ist from the American chemi­
cal company Du Pont,
developed the very first all­
synthetic fibre. In 1938, the
company chose the name
nylon for the product. In China, the bark of
Though nylon was used to the mulberry tree was
make toothbrushes in the used to make not just
early days, the principles writing paper, but
used in the making of nylon clothes and even
were soon adapted to create armour.
other synthetic fibres.
STO R I ES B E H I N D EVERYDAY THI NGS 35
 When did the histo­
ry of safety pins and
buttons begin?

The first safety pins were made

in Greece and Italy during the 2 nd
millennium BC, by doubling a straight
bronze pin, and connecting one end
to the other. During the early days, the
Romans used safety pins as brooches for
fastening their cloaks and robes.
It was in 1849 that the American inven­
tor Walter Hunt introduced the modern
day safety pins. However, his invention was accidental. After
being issued a US patent, Hunt sold the patent to
W. R. Grace and Company for $400.
Coming to buttons, from the 3rd millennium
BC onwards, they were made from wood,
bone, and shell in the Indus Valley civilisa­
tion. Back then, buttons were used for
decorative purposes. Hand-made
from precious metals, glass, or Royal Wig
even gems, buttons became Wigs became
symbols of rank and fashionable in Europe
wealth. from 1624, after the
It was during the French king Louis XIII
18th century that lost his hair and beard
buttons were through illness, and
mass produced, started wearing
using steel. a wig.

Tell Me Why
 When did the
history of the zip
begin?

1851, Elias Howe, an and Eye Company. This

American inventor, model was named Talon
received a patent for an Slide Fastener. It was used by
'automatic, continuous cloth­ the US army during the First
ing closure'. However, he did World War. In 1923, B. F.
not receive much recognition Goodrich Company adapted
as his marketing was unsuc­ the product. They renamed it
cessful. the zipper, which later came to
Many attempts in producing be known as 'zip'.
a perfect fastener had hap­
pened in the early days. But
only in 1913 was the first
practical hook less fasten­
er patented, by Gideon
Sundback, who was
employed by the
Automa tic
H o o k

37
From when did Man begin to use nee­
dles?

Primitive men used to stitch clothes using

bones and thorns in order to protect them­
selves from the winter. Later, they started
using earliest forms of needles, made out of
bone, horn and ivory, with a round hole at
one end, or in the middle.
The Egyptians were the first to use cop­
per pins to fasten their clothes. It was in
Europe during the Bronze Age, that the
first metal needles and pins with a wire
bent over to form the head were made.
It was in the 14th century that needles
were first introduced in Europe. They
were brought from the Middle East. In Chewing Gu
Germany in 1370, the proper steel
needle with a hook at the end to The inhabitants of
hold the thread was made. The first Scandinavia, chewed
modern-day metal needles with birch bark tar some 9000
closed eyes were made in the years ago. Modern
Netherlands. Leather thongs was chewing gum was born
used instead of threads until spools in the 1860s, when
were introduced in the 1700s. In Thomas Adams, an
1820, Lemnel Wright developed a American businessman,
machine to make needles. In 1844, began selling chicle,
John Mercer invented cotton threads a flavoured gum
from a tree.
with a sheen.
38
Why is it said that the introduc­
tion of the sewing machine was
revolutionary?

In 1790, the English inventor

Thomas Saint invented the first
sewing machine design, but he
did not successfully advertise or
market his invention. His machine
was meant to be used on leather
and canvas material.
Barthelemy Thimmoniers, a
French tailor, created the prototype
for the first commercially produced
model in 1830, but his machine was
destroyed by rioting tailors afraid for
their jobs. Later in 1834, Walter Hunt
created the lock stitch, the first true
sewing-machine stitch. But his
daughter persuaded him not to pat­
ent it. Although all later machines
used his lock stitch, he failed to profit
from it. Roman charioteers
In 1 843, a Boston mechanic Elias wore the first
Howe developed a machine after peaked caps-made
watching his wife's arm movements of bronze-to
while sewing. He patented it in 1846. shield their eyes
In 185 1, Isaac Singer, produced one from the sun's
of the first truly practical sewing glare.
machines. He also introduced the
first home sewing machine in 1856.
39
Where
did the
shirt origi­
nate?

The shirt evolved

from the simple
T-shaped undergarment of
the Middle Ages. The linen
shirt soon became a staple of
men's wardrobes. Shirt collars and
cuffs were detachable pieces of
lace until the 1 9th century, when
stiff collars and cuffs were attached
to the shirt with fancy pins.
Modern-day shirts with buttons in
the front became common after 1900. Soon, stripes,
checks, and lines gave more fashion. Although
they had been around since the 1920s, chest
pockets became a more common feature
on shirts during the 1 960s.

Wheeling Friend
The wheelbarrow
was used in China in
the first century AD
for carrying goods
and people.

40
 shape
of umbrellas
had always been
What is the histo­ The
the same.
ry of the umbrella?
Romans called their
umbrella by the name
The umbrella was first umbralum, meaning
made not to protect one shady place. They were
from rain, but from the sun. made of cloth stretched over
The Chinese were credited a wooden frame.
with inventing the first form During the 5th century AD,
of umbrella - the silk umbrella. the very first waterproof
At the same time, rain umbrel­ umbrella was made out of oiled
las, more like parasols, were mulberry bark. However, the
being used by the Romans, Italians were the ones who
Greeks, Egyptians, Arabs and invented the modern umbrel­
Indians, as early as the 4th cen­ la late in the 16th century. The
tury B.C. word umbrella is adapted to
Initially, umbrellas were English from Italian.
made with many dif­
ferent materials such
as feathers, leather
and leaves.
However, the
canopy ••

41
 ellery
making
When d id jew­ industries
ellery become flourished in
part of human life? France some 4000
years later. Gold was
People used to wear jew- probably discovered
ellery even during old­ in Mesopotamia
en times. They before 3000 BC, and
used to adorn the jewellery of
themselves with Sumeria is among the
necklaces, brace- most extraordinary jewel-
lets, and pendants lery ever made. It is said that
made out of wood, seashells, the Sumerian queen Puabi was
fish bones, pebbles, and mam­ buried covered in a cloak of
moth tusks. beads made from gold. From
From 3800 BC the 3rd millennium BC
onwards, Western onwards the Egyp-
--=:....
Europeans start­ tians started mak­
ed wearing jew­ ing jewellery.
ellery. Bone
and ivory

The first mass marketed shampoo was

Oop, launched in 1 934, by Eugene
Schueller.

42
 The perfume con­
did the history of sisting of a blend of
perfumes begin? neroli essential oil, rose­
mary and bergamot, made by
Perfumes were mostly used two Italians based in Cologne,
in the form of incense. The became popular during the
word perfume is derived from seven years' war of 1756-63. It
the Latin word 'per,' meaning was only much later in 1923,
'through' and 'fumus' meaning that the first perfumes to con­
'fumes'. tain synthetic odours were cre­
On special ceremonial occa­ ated by the Frenchman Ernest
sions the Egyptians carried Beaux.
scented fat that melted in the �et
heat, which they used to per­ perfume.
fume their hair, faces and bod­
ies. Around 1350 BC, the
Egyptians and Arabs began to
distil perfume from the
Madonna lily. Per-
fumes became more
popular in European
culture from th.e
11 OOs
 What is the history of purses
and bags?
J
Ever since mankind under­
stood the necessity of keeping
their valuables safe, they start-
Security walking sticks
ed finding ways to protect such
and canes were popular
personal belongings. Initially,
from the early 1700s.
men used to wrap such valua-
Hollow ones made
bles in fabric to keep them inside
safer hiding places
their clothing. By the early 1 3 th
for valued items.
century, this fabric enclosure
method had paved the way for creat­
ing pouches, bags and purses made of
leather, fur or cloth. After the introduc­
tion of briefcases in the market, purses
were used only to carry coins, and
,��-..,,,-;..:
bags and pouches to carry other cas­
ual things.
It was in the 1850s that a modern « -----
day leather handbag was first made.
Shoulder bags were first introduced
for women in the forces, during the
Second World War.

44 Tell Me Why
When was the wheel invent­ slow process. In 200 BC, in
ed? North Africa, wheels with teeth
or cogs around their edges
The invention of the wheel were used to pull water from
must be the most iconic inven­ wells.
tion of all time, as it paved the In the 4th century BC, the
way for so much development Greek philosopher Aristotle
in the world. mentioned something similar
The first form of the wheel to gears, when he designed
was made during the late Neo­ devices for various construc­
lithic. Early wheels were simple tion jobs.
wooden disks with a hole for
the axle. However, the first
wheel closer in appearance to
the modern day one, was made
in Sumeria around 3500 BC. I can't
Researchers have found that stop this
almost during the same period machine.
of time in Uruk in Mesopota­
mia, sledges were attached to
four wheels to use in different
terrains. The evolution of the
modern day wheel was a very

STORl f;S BE HIND EVE RYDAY THINGS 45

 When did the history of the lever
and pulley begin?

Man started using things similar to

levers to lift and move heavy things
since the Stone Age. In the 3 rd century
BC, the Greek mathematician Archi­
medes explained how levers worked.
During the early days, for the con­
struction of their many great build­
ings, the Greeks used something
called a winch to raise heavy things. A
winch was kind of like a combination
of a roller and a lever.
It is believed that the Egyptians
were the first people to use some­
thing similar to the modern-day pul­
ley. Though not exactly a pulley, they
used to run ropes over smooth tim­
bers to alter the direction of move­
ment while raising heavy stones.
Do you know 1 Compound pulleys were described
A seesaw is a simple before AD 100 by the Greek scholar
lever balanced on a Hero of Alexandria. A compound pul­
fulcrum, and a crane ley is fixed and movable, hence forms
combines the princi­ a block and tackle, which can have
ples of the pulley several pulleys mounted on the fixed
and the lever. and moving axles, thereby increasing
the amount of force.

46 Tell Me Why
Why is the
history of
the wedge apler and Clip
and screw inter­ Charles Gould invented
esting? the stapler in 1868 to
be used for bookbinding,
Since the Stone Age, while the paper clip was
people started using patented by a Norwegian,
wedges to raise boulders Johann Vaaler,
far enough to insert levers. in 1900.
Quarrymen in Egypt later start­
ed using wedges made of bronze
and wood to split rocks and huge
stones.
The axes used by homo erectus
used a principle similar to that of
the wedge. Later, axe heads
made of stone were attached to
wooden handles to make more
effective tools.
Archimedes described screws
in the 3rd century BC, when he
mentioned that they were used
for pumping. They were made of
wood. The Greeks and Romans
employed the screw to press
grapes and olives.

ST O R I ES B E H I N D EVERY DAY TH I NGS

 What is the story of cop­
per and bronze?

It was the people from the south-

eastern part of Turkey who discov­
ered copper for the first time,
more than 9000 years ago. They
found that copper could be
obtained from the shiny rocks of
the region. However, copper's
name comes from Cyprus, which
supplied much of the metal to the
ancient world.
Though copper was a popular metal its
value was noted only since the 17th cen­
tury, when it was realised that the metal is
a great conductor of heat. Later, in the
19th century, copper was proved to be the
second best conductor of electricity after
silver.
Use of the metal bronze became
widespread in Europe during the
Bronze Age, around 2000 BC. Bronze
was made by heating the metals tin
and copper, and mixing them
together. Bronze objects are
highly resistant to decay, and
are still found in many
ancient sites around the
world.

Tell Me Why
 When did i ron first origi nate?

The story of iron's origins is astronomical;

with the element being born from the
explosion of stars. In Egypt, they called it
the metal from heaven. The Bronze Age
ended with the beginning of the Iron Age in
1500 BC, about the time the Hittites may
have started working with iron, and discov-
ered a way of smelting iron from local ores.
Around 600 BC, cast iron was made by
the Chinese by melting iron containing
phosphorous.
In the West, the first cast iron was a
14th century material. When fired with
charcoal, the iron absorbed a signifi­
cant amount of carbon, which low­
ered its melting point. Cast iron
cannons and medieval iron changed
the face of warfare.
In Britain, the iron from furnaces was
known as pig iron, as it was a mass of
iron roughly resembling the shape of a
reclining pig. However, pig iron was too
brittle for most heavy industrial uses.

Aluminium was
first separated from its
ores by a French chemist
named Henri Etienne
Sainte-Claire Deville
in 1 854.

STO RIES BEH I N D EVERYDA TH I NGS 49

 When was stee with carbon.
discovered? Today, it is generally
accepted that stainless
It was after 1856 that steel was manufactured
the mass production of in Europe sometime in the
steel began, when English early 20 th century.
inventor Henry Bessemer The car manufacturer Hen­
found a way to convert pig iron ry Ford pioneered the use of
to steel, a stronger and more high tensile sheet metal for
malleable metal. car bodies in 1908. He discov­
To make steel, iron ore is ered that any steel contain­
first mined from the ground. ing 15 per cent chromium
It is then smelted in blast does not rust.
furnaces where the impu­ From the 1920s, this
rities are removed, and steel was used in refrig­
carbon is added. In erators and washing
fact, steel is nothing machines.
but iron alloyed

int
Greasepaint was
invented by Ludwig
Leichner, a German
singer, and Carl Bau­
din of the Leipzig
City Theatre in the
1860s.

50
 (!)
. .. .

GOLD

From sand.
where did gold Because gold
originate? is d ispersed widely
throug hout the geo­
G old has always been logic world, its discovery
one of the most valued occurred to many differ­
metals of a l l time. ent g roups in many differ­
Gold's mal leability and ent locales.
non-decaying properties Early civilizations eq uat­
made it popu lar i n the ed gold with gods and
Middle East a bout 6000 rulers, and gold was
years ago. sought i n their name,
Gold was found on and dedicated to
riverbeds, and was their g lorification.
filtered from
lennium BC. The name diamond is
derived from the Greek word 'adamas',
which means impenetrable. This val­
ued gem was traded between India
and Mesopotamia. They have been
used as a display of prosperity ever
since.
The first diamond discoveries in
South Africa were alluvial. Diamonds
were found on volcanic rocks in farms
in Kimberley, South Africa in 1870. Till
then, diamonds were always dug from
sand and gravel. For a long time the
world's most important rough dia­
mond producers were South Africa,
Congo, and the former Soviet Union.
In the 15th century, tools were invent­ Silver was one of
ed to cut facets into diamonds. Until the seven metals of
then, the stones were simply polished, antiquity that were
or shaped into a dome, known as a known to prehistoric
cabochon. The largest diamond in the humans, and whose
world is the 'Star of Africa I,' or 'Culli­ discovery is thus,
nan I', which is a colourless diamond, lost to history.
set in the British monarch's sceptre.
52 Tell Me Why
 When did drillin found seeping
for fuel first begin? from the Earth's sur-
face. In 1908, oil was
oil and natural gas found near the city of
were formed from the Masjed Soleiman, in Iran
remains of prehistoric by a British prospecting
plants and animals, and team funded by William
that's why they're called fossil D'Arcy. This event signifi­
fuels. cantly changed the history of
This happened millions of the Middle East.
years ago when plant and ani­ The demand for petrol
mal remains settled into the increased after the invention
sea bed along with salt, silt and of the combustion engine and
rocks. vehicles driven by petrol
In AD 300, while drilling for engines.
brine, the Chinese acciden­
tally came across natural �
Help! A black
gas, and learned how to monster!
extract it and use it.
From the 9th century
BC, people of the Mid­
dle East burned tar-
ry bitumen,
which they
When did the usage of colour
first begin?

A ncient men used a variety

of colours naturally collected
from plants - madder, saffron,
indigo, oak apples and myrtle.
Wood smouldered to charcoal
was used to make deep black
colour. Local minerals were was a synthetic version of aliza­
another rich source of colour. rin by Heinrich Caro in 1 869.
Indigo is the oldest dye of all. In the 18th century, England
Many minerals exhibit various was a hive of paint innovation.
colours; the varieties are main­ Linseed oil and zinc oxide
ly due to impurities, or a slight became increasingly available.
change in chemical composi­ Mixed together they com­
tion. posed the new paints. A much
The oldest dyed fabrics were whiter pigment titanium diox­
found in Egypt, dating from ide came into use after First
2000 BC. However, the inven­ World War.
tion of dyeing was probably
much older. In 1856, while I just need
attempting to produce qui­ your colour.
nine, William Henry Perkin acci­
dentally synthesized
mauve, the earliest syn­
thetic dye. Later, other
man-made dyes appeared,
but the most significant

54
Why is it said that the history
of rubber began in ancient
times?

The earliest archaeological

evidence of the use of natural
latex comes from the Olmec solvent in 1779. In 1834, Charles
culture. They cultivated natural Goodyear managed to find a
latex from rubber tree for mak­ way to harden rubber and
ing rubber balls for games. The make it waterproof and pliant.
Aztec and Maya are also known This was later patented by
to have made rubber using Thomas Hancock.
natural latex. By 1615, Spanish
troops in South America were
using a resin from Para rubber
trees, to waterproof their
cloaks.
Joseph Priestly is said to have
discovered rubber's erasing
properties. However, it is the
British engineer Edward Nairne
Breath Mints
who is generally credited with The Egyptians developed
developing the first rubber the first breath mints: a
eraser in Europe. Giovanni Fab­ mixture of various
broni is credited with the dis­ ingredients, including
covery of naphtha as a rubber frankincense and
cinnamon, which was
then boiled in honey.
 When did plastic first come
into being?

The word plastic originates

from the Greek language; it
means 'fit for moulding' in
Greek. Materials with natu-
rally plastic qualities have been used
for thousands of years. Some histori­
ans trace the invention of modern
plastic to the English chemist Alex­
ander Parkes, when he made imita­
tion ivory combs. His
experiment began by adding
nitric acid to cellulose. He then
used camphor to shape the
resulting material, cellulose
·...a. nitrate. He called it Parkes­
_.,, ine. In the 19th century vari-
ous types of plastics were
introduced in the market. Bakelite, a
kind of plastic, was invented in 1907
by Leo Baekeland.
On March 27th, 1933,
the first industrially
practical polyethylene
synthesis was discov­
While many people ered by Eric Fawcett and
incorrectly attribute the Reginald Gibson, in North-
invention of the para­ wich, England. It was easily
chute to Leonardo da moulded, and was used from 1939
Vinci, it was actually as a cable insulator, and in radar
the Ancient Chinese components. The first polythene
household product was a washing­
up bowl, made in 1948.
 tube and looked through it,
objects at the other end
became magnified.
Later, Anton van Leeuwen­
hoek improved the micro­
scope? scope. Using handcrafted
microscopes, he became the
The inventor of the micro­ first person to observe single
scope is still disputed. Dur­ celled organisms. These pre­
ing the first century AD liminary microscopes had
itself, the Romans invented many drawbacks l ike distor­
glass, and tried out many tion. These were sorted out
uses of the substance, over the centuries, especially
including microscopic with the introduction of the
views. electron microscope.
However, the most noted
microscope was developed
by a Dutch duo, Hans and
Zacharias Janssen. They
invented the first com­
pound microscope in the
16th century. They discov­
ered that, if they put a lens
at the top and bottom of a
 When did
the history of
the telescope
and binoculars
begin? His reflecting telescope
used curved mirrors to
Severa l men laid claim to focus light from the heav­
inventing the telescope, ens.
but the credit usually goes Binoculars, first seen in
to Hans Lippershey, a Dutch Paris in 1823, consisted of a
lensmaker. In 1608 he created small telescope for each eye.
an instrument consisting of a However, the credit for the
concave and convex lens in a first real binocular telescope
tube. goes to J. P. Lemiere, who
Galileo Galilei improved on devised one in 1825.
Lippershey's design and was
the first to point a telescope
toward the sky. In 1609, hav-
ing identified the moons in
orbit around Jupiter, Galileo
deduced that the Earth was
not the motionless centre
of the Universe. While they didn't
Later, in 1668, Sir technically invent
Isaac Newton popcorn, it was the Aztecs
improved on Gali­ who inadvertently
leo's design. introduced popcorn
to the world.

58 Tell Me Why
 When was the a g l a s s t u be, w h ic h
thermometer he i m m e rsed in
invented? water. Ferd i nand 11,
Grand D u ke of Tusca ny,
Thermometer is one of is cred ited with develop­
the most commonly found i ng the first thermometer
first aid instruments i n that stays u naffected by
a l most every home. The ther­ atmospheric p ressu re.
mometer was not a single Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
i nvention, however, but a from Germany made the first
development. relia ble thermometers, and
A prim itive type of thermom­ the te mperature sca le he cre­
eter was mentioned by the ated is na med after h i m . He
Greek physicist, H ero of Alex­ made thermometers replaci ng
andria in the second centu ry water with mercury. In 1 742,
BC. In 1 592, Gali leo devised a n Swed ish astronomer, Anders
i nstrument s i m i l a r t o the Celsius i n vented the Celsius
modern-day thermometer, temperatu re sca le. In 1 866,
consisting of a g l ass b u l b Sir Thomas A l l butt i nvented
a c l i nical thermometer
for measuri ng body
tem peratu re.

59
 syringe in the
late 1940s.
What is the history of syring­ Then, in 1956, a
es and hypodermic needles? New Zealander,
Colin Murdoch
A syringe is a medical device
that is used to inject fluid into,
was granted a
patent for a dis­
or take fluid from, the body. posable plastic
The word 'syringe' is derived syringe.
from the Greek word syrinx, Later, many forms of syringes
meaning 'tube'. Primitive were introduced, among which
syringes were used by Romans the hypodermic syringe with a
during the 1st century AD. They needle fine enough to pierce
are mentioned in a journal the skin, by Charles Pravaz and
called De Medicina as being Alexander Wood, was the most
used to treat medical compli­ iconic one.
cations.
In 1899, Letitia Mumford No ... I expect
Geer of New York was granted a needleress
a patent for a syringe design syringe...
that permitted the user to
operate it single-handedly.
Later, in 1946, the Chance
Brothers in England produced
the first all glass syringe with
an interchangeable barrel and
plunger. Charles Rothauser
invented the world's first dis­
posable plastic hypodermic

60
When was the stethoscope
invented?

A stethoscope is a dependa­
ble clinical tool used for the
physical assessment and moni­
toring of a patient. The stetho­
scope was invented in 1816 by a
French scientist, Rene Laennec.
He placed a rolled piece of paper
between the patient's chest and
his ear; he found that this could
amplify the sound of the beating
heart. This was readily accepted, #:!
as it did not require physical con­ C''�
tact. j ,.,,.::.--- �\.
---\ .......... \
In 1851, Irish physician Arthur
. /

:;_CURIOUS
Leared invented a basic binaural · ·. FACT
stethoscope. In 1852, George Phil­
ip Cammann introduced the mod­ Accurate
ern binaural stethoscope for In 1 999, Dr. Francesco
commercial production. Rappa­ Pompei introduced
port and Sprague designed a new the world's first
stethoscope in the 1940s, which temporal artery
became the standard by which thermometer, which
other stethoscopes are measured. scans the forehead in
In the early 1960s, an improved about two seconds,
model was developed by David and provides a
Littmann. Later, in 1999, Richard medically accurate
Deslauriers patented the first body
external noise reducing stetho­ temperature.
scope, named DRG Puretone.
 es, indeed
caused the
Why is it said that water level to rise
the invention of the and fall within a 35
barometer was crucial foot tube experiment he
in human history? set up within his home. He
later used mercury in it.
A barometer is an instru­ The barometer utilizes the
ment that measures atmos­ principle that as atmospheric
pheric pressure. pressure pushes down on the
It was during the 1 Jlh centu­ surface of the mercury in the
ry that a series of experiments cistern, the mercury in turn,
conducted by Italian scientist pushes up with an equal pres­
Evangelista Torricelli resulted sure in the glass tube.
in the invention of a basic It wasn't until about the
barometer. year 1670 that barometers
Torricelli was the first to began to be used as a
notice that air pressure weather instrument in
changes, related to homes since 1670.
weather chang-
Tell Me Why
What is the history of the
sphygmomanometer?

A sphygmomanometer is a
device used to measure blood
pressure. One of the most
important men in the develop­
ment of the sphygmomanom­ Assyria was responsible
eter was the Austrian physician for the creation of the
Karl Samuel Ritter Von Basch. first postal service
The first clinically applicable in the world. Though there
sphygmomanometer was are other claims about this,
invented by him in 1 881 . Von the facts about
Basch introduced the aneroid Assyrian mail are
manometer, which uses a irrefutable
round dial that provides a pres­
sure reading.

An improved version was

introduced by Scipione Riva­
Rocci in 1 896. Later, in 1 90 1 ,
the neurosurgeon Dr. Harvey
Cushing introduced Riva-Roc­
ci's device in the USA, modern­
ized it and popularized it
within the medical communi­
ty. In 1 905, Russian physician
N i kolai Korotkov discovered
'Korotkov Sounds' and includ­
ed diastolic blood pressure
measurement.

STO RIES BEH IND EVERYDAY THINGS 63

 Who was the first per­ known of these clocks
son to invent a clock? dates from the 14th centu-
ry BC.The night time charts
Ancient Egyptians were based on water clocks.
were the first to make sundi­ Water clocks were designed
als, in 2000 BC. They were with sound-producing bells
inspired by the movements of to indicate hours.
shadows as the sun advanced Around 1090, the Chinese
across the sky. The earliest astronomer Su Sung devised
the first mechanized water
clocks. Mechanical clocks that
were not powered by water
slowly started appearing in
the 13th century, but they
were heavy. In the 15th cen­
tury, portable clocks and
watches were intro-
duced. It was Salomon
Coster and Jan van
,,,___ Call who first pro-
duced a pendu-
lum clock.

Tell Me Why
 What is the history of wrist
watches?

U ntil clocks small enough to be

carried were invented, sundials
were the only portable timepiec­
es. Peter Henlein is today regard­
ed as the inventor of the watch. At
the beginning of the 16th century
in Germany he made some of the
earliest watches. One of the earli­
est references to what we would
perhaps now call a wristwatch or
at least an 'arm watch' was the
New Year gift received by Queen
Elizabeth I from Robert Dudley,
the Earl of Leicester, in 157 1. How­
ever, wrist watches only became
Vending Machine popular when the German navy
issued wristwatches to all its men
Hero of Alexandria,
in 1880.
invented the world's first
In 1926, the creation by the
vending machine which
Rolex Company of the first water­
only had one item
proof and dustproof wristwatch
available -
marked a major step forward.
holy water. This was a
Digital watches arrived in 197 1.
small amount of
They were developed by the
sacrificial water for
American engineers George The­
use in the
iss and Willy Crabtree.
temples.

STORI ES BEHI N D EVERYDAY THI NGS 65

Who founded the first alpha­ Peninsula, and was spoken
bet? until the 1st century AD.
The letters in the Ancient
The North Semitic alphabet is Greek and Hebrew alphabets
the earliest fully developed were derived from the Phoeni­
alphabetic writing system. It cian system, though they add­
was known as Canaanite. ed extra consonants and
Canaanite was developed in vowels. This was later adapted
Syria as early as the 11th century by the Etruscans. The Romans
BC, and was spread by traders developed their alphabet from
throughout the eastern Medi­ them. Early Latin, mainly
terranean. known by inscriptions,
Other northern Semitic appeared around 600 BC.
scripts that developed after
1050 BC are known as Phoeni­
cian.
The earliest known inscrip­
tions in the Phoenician alpha­
bet come from Byblos. In
contrast to other languages, it
contained only about two doz­
en distinct letters, making it a
script simple enough for com­
mon traders to learn.
The Phoenician alphabet
spread around the Mediterra­
nean, particularly in Tunisia,
southern parts of the Iberian
66 Tell Me Why
 matician John
Who first devised the numer­ Napier brought
als that we use today? decim a l poi nts i nto
com mon use. He
�
later became known

iM
we use today derive, for h i s i nvention of loga­
from a system used rithms.
by the people of The book Mercantile Arith­
India, between metic is the first to record the
the 3 rd
century BC use of (+) and (-) sign. Robert
and the 6 centu ry AD. Howev­
th
Recorde devised the equal
er, these nu merals were sign i n the 1 6th cent u ry. The
described as Ara bic. It reached m u ltiplication sign
Persia in the 9th century, then was first used by
Europe, t h rough the writings William Oug h­
of M iddle Eastern mathema­ tred i n Eng­
]
ticians, l i ke Al-Khwarizmi land in 1 63 1 .
and AI-Ki ndi. \
I n Europe, Roman n u merals
were stil l i n use u ntil the late
1 S00s. Fractions were adapted
to the deci mal system by the
1 6th century mathe-
matician, Christoff
Rudolff. I n the early
1 7th centu ry, the
Scottish mathe-

STORIES B E H I N D EVERYDAY TH I NGS 67

 When did early
mathematics
develop?

The word 'arithmetic' is

derived from the Greek word
'arithmos' which means num­
bers. Around 8000 BC, in the Mid­
dle and Near East, arithmetic
began. People counted on
their fingers long before the
16th century BC when the
practice was first recorded by the
Egyptians. Decimals based on the
number 1o, evolved from the habit of
counting this way.
From the 3rd millennium BC, the
Sumerians used a system based on
60-which is 10 multiplied by 6, the
Odometer number of constellations then
known. The Babylonians inher-
A useful tool for
ited mathematics from the
measuring distance
Sumerians and retained the
travelled, the odometer
base-60 system for astro­
is believed to have been
nomical calculations but
invented by an ancient
they used a base-ten system
Roman named Vitruvius.
for trade. The Babylonians
Mainly remembered as
then divided the hour
an architect, he came up
into 60 minutes of
with the idea for what he
60 seconds each.
called a hodometer
in the first century
BC.

68 Tell Me Why
 What is the origin, and the
history of paper?

Paper making is one of the

inventions made by the Chinese.
Paper, as we know it today, was first
made in China by Cai Lun, a Chinese
court official.
From 3000 BC onwards, the Egyp­
tians started using papyrus made
from dried reeds as a writing mate­
rial. Parchment and vellum were
used in the 2 nd century BC in Tur­
key.
The kind of paper used in the
Middle East during the 8th century
was made from linen, rags, and
flax cord. However, this paper
reached Europe only in the 10th
century AD.
As paper became common
First Postcode mills were built. The very first
paper mill in England was built
Postcodes were in 1494. The rise of literature
originally used in soon increased the demand for
war-torn Germany paper. The continued use of
in 1 944. To aid with rags and cloth made large-scale
mechanised production impossible.
sorting, postcodes This demand was met in
that could be read 1800, when a Dutchman,
by machines were Mathias Koops patented a
introduced in paper made from straw and
Britain in 1 959. wood.

STORI ES BEHIND EVERYDAY THINGS 69

 What is the his­
tory of pen?

During the 13th century AD, sharp­

ened goose feathers were widely
used as quill pens in Europe.
Metal pens were considered fancy and
ornamental, even during the 16th centu­
ry. Bryan Donkin is credited with having
invented the steel nib. In 1822, John Mitch­
ell of Birmingham started to mass-produce
steel pen nibs, and their popularity took off.
In 1832, John Joseph Parker became the first to
introduce a pen which had its own reservoir of ink.
When he was trying to invent a pen that could write
on leather, John J. Loud invented the first ballpoint
pen. He patented it in 1888 in America. But this was
not commercially successful.
In 1943, Ladislao Jose Biro
launched a new model, using
quick drying ink.
Ink had been there even before
the invention of the pen. Primi­
tive men used natural inks
made from charcoal and iron
oxide. In 2000 BC, Chinese
scribes used a durable ink
made from soot mixed
with gum solution.

Tell Me Why
 Typogra-
phy-printing
was developed in
ry of printing begin? Europe first, which
helped in the mass pro­
The first evidence of duction of letters on
prints were Chinese wood- paper. Johann Gutenberg
cuts from at least the 7th cen­ invented the printing press
tury AD. Cloth printing was in the 1450's. His was a dura­
popular even before paper ble machine. The Gutenberg
printing in China, India, and Bible was the first major book
Europe. Woodblock printing, printed using a mass-pro­
popularly known today as duced, movable, metal type
xylography, was the first printing press in Europe.
method of paper printing. It Gutenberg developed an
became widely used oil-based ink which was
throughout East Asia. more resilient than water
based inks.

Sylvan Goldman designed

the first shopping trolleys
in 1937. They were not
easily accepted by the
people. Finally he hired
people to push them
around in his Oklahoma
City store to encourage
customers to use them.
71
 What is the history of the
typewriter?

Typewriter is a machine that

was commonly used in the
past, and which has keys that
are pressed in order to print let­
ters, numbers, or other charac­
ters onto paper. The working prototype was
The English claim that it was made by the machinist Matthi­
Henry Mill who invented the as Schwalbach.The patent was
typing machine in 1714. sold to Densmore and Yost,
Henry received the first type­ who made an agreement with
writer patent in Britain for a E. Remington and Sons, then
machine that appears to have famous as a manufacturer of
been similar to a typewriter. sewing machines, to commer­
Although many went before cialize the machine as the
him, it is the name of Christo­ Sholes and Glidden Type-Writ­
pher Latham Sholes that is gen­ er. This was the origin of the
erally linked to the title of term typewriter.
'inventor of the typewriter,' as It had a QWERTY keyboard
he introduced the first type­ layout, which because of the
writer to be commercially suc­ machine's success, was slowly
cessful in 1868. He worked adopted by other typewriter
along with Frank Haven Hall, manufacturers. Later, many
. types of typewriters came into
Carlos Glidden, and Samuel W.
..
t
.,..
Soule the market.
Tell Me Why
 MOVING
MACHINES

Baron Karl von Drais. In 18 18,

What is the history of the von Drais patented his design
bicycle? and this two wheeled, human
propelled machine became
The bicycle is a vehicle con­ known as the 'velocipede'. The
sisting of two wheels held in a following year, the design was
frame, one behind the other, copied to produce an iron
propelled by pedals, and model.
steered with handlebars Later, Pierre Michaux got the
attached to the front wheel. idea of attaching pedals to the
The credit for creating the first simple devices that were in use
bicycle belongs to a German, during the 1850s. Thus,
Michaux and his son Ernest
produced a velocipede with
First I want
a tricycle, then pedals.
a bicycle. This principle was taken fur-
ther by James Starley. He cre­
ated a bicycle model nicknamed
penny-farthing. It got its name
because of the size of its wheels.
It created a cycling boom. In
1889, gears were introduced to
--���the bicycle.
James Moore won the first
cycle track race ever in 1869.

73
 Hildebrand & Wolfmuller was
also the first company to refer to
the vehicle as a 'motorcycle'.
When did man first use In the early 1950s the NSU
motorcycles? Company in Germany started
producing the evergreen motor­
The introduction of the safe cycles called mopeds.
bicycle led to the invention of Motor scooters first appeared
the motorcycle. The very first in Italy in 1946 and the first one
steam powered motorcycle was was Vespa.
made in the 1860s by Pierre
Michaux, a blacksmith in Paris.
Those motorcycles were called
the Michaux-Perreaux Steam
Velocipede.
A German, Gottlieb Daimler
invented the first petrol engine
motorcycle in 1885. The modern
day motorcycle design is adopt­
ed from a model made by Eugene
and Michel Werner. Their moto­
cyclette was exhibited in 1897.
However, the German-built
Hildebrand & Wolfmuller motor­
cycle was the first motorized,
two-wheeled vehicle sold to the
public.

Barclays Bank's Enfield

branch became the site of the
world's first cash dispenser.

74 Tell Me Why
 less likely to overturn, they trav­
elled faster than horse-drawn
carriages. They were much
cheaper to run, and caused
Why is the history of the bus much less damage to the road
said to be unique? surface due to their wide tyres.
Carl Benz had produced a
f rom the 1820s onwards, vehi­ motorized bus as early as 1895.
cles similar to buses were used In the same year, he started
by men. For example, horse­ operating a regular line service
drawn carriages were quite pop­ on the 15 km route between
ular during those days. During Siegen and Deutz in Germany.
the 1830s steam buses were Frank Searle designed the first
introduced. Electric trolleybuses mass-produced, double-decker
came into use from 1882. The bus. It was operated by the Lon­
first motor buses, using internal don General Omnibus Compa­
combustion engines, rather than ny. Contemporary buses began
steam power, entered service in to evolve from the 1950s
1895. onwards.
The first mechanically pro­
pelled omnibus appeared on the
streets of London on 22 nd April, Your duty
1833. These vehicles were much is to pull th is
bus!
 First - ever
Driving School
The first dedicated
driving school was
opened in Birken­
head by William
Lea in 1 901 .

Who invented the car? landmarks in engine design

came from Nicolaus Otto who in
Karl Benz, a German 1876, invented an effective gas
mechanical engineer, designed motor engine.
and built the first practical car In 1913, the Ford Model T, cre­
(three wheeled) powered by an ated by the Ford Motor Compa­
internal-combustion engine, in ny, became the first automobile
1885. He is often known as the to be mass-produced on a mov­
inventor of the modern car. ing assembly line. This was the
During the next year, he car that launched the era of pop­
conducted a public demon­ ular motoring and in 1920 it
stration. Benz was the first became the first car to sell a mil­
to offer his vehicle for lion.
sale in 1887. The first motor car in Europe
One of the most was produced by the company
i m p o r t a n t Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau.
76 Tell Me Why
Which was the first motor­ engine
ised boat? was tested on
the Neckar River
A steam boat was described by Gottlieb Daimler
and patented by English physi­ and Wilhelm Maybach in
cian John Allen in 1 729. It soon 1886.
became popular. However, It is said that the first pow­
boats powered by a petrol erboat was designed and built
engine were only introduced in by the Priestman Brothers in
the 19th century. Hull, England. The company
This was achieved following began trials of their first motor­
the invention of the internal boat in 1 888. Priestman's boats
combustion engine. The earliest were used to tow cargo along
boat to be powered by a petrol canals.

The first motor boating competition was

organised by Alfred Charles William
Harmsworth in 1 903. The Harmsworth
Cup was envisioned as a contest between
nations.

STORIES BEHIND EVERYDAY THINGS 77

 What is the history of ard Trevithick is credited
trains? with developing the first
high-pressure engine, com­
The idea of transporting pact enough to operate on
things and people on rails has tramways. In 1813, William
been around for a long time. Hedley built the puffing billy, a
Hero of Alexandria had experi- locomotive. George Stephenson
mented with steam in the 1st cen­ further developed it. His locomo­
tury AD. But only in 1698 was tive was used to pull the first
steam used for practical purpose. engine-driven freight and pas­
Thomas Newcomen designed senger service along the 16 km
the world's first successful route of the Stockton & Darling­
atmospheric steam engine in ton railway.
1712. In the 1760s James Watt In 1879, the German engineer
improved steam engine. Werner von Siemens present­
By the 1780s both British ed the world's first electric
and French pioneers were train. Diesel power made its
experimenting with the debut in 1912, in a loco­
idea of using steam to motive built by the Swizz
drive heavy wheeled firm Sulzer.
road engines. Rich-

78
What is the story of man's bag made the bag rise. In 1 783,
first flight? the brothers Etienne and Joseph
Montgolfier demonstrated the
Many men got injured in their first hot-air balloon. It flew about
quest to take flight. One among 2.5 km, before crashing and
them was Eilmer, who fixed bursting into flames.
wings to his hands and feet, and Since 1 899, Wilbur and Orville
tried to take flight from a tower Wright had been scientifically
of Malmesbury Abbey in the 1 1 th experimenting with the con­
century. cepts of flight. They made four
He broke his legs and was seri­ flights on 1 Jth December 1 903,
ously injured after the attempt. It on their first powered aircraft, at
is said that many imaginary fly­ Kitty Hawk.
ing objects and machines were The longest lasted just under a
sketched by the famous artist minute and covered 259.6 m.
Leonardo da Vinci. Thus the first flight changed the
The brothers Joseph-Michael history of mankind. Wright
and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfi­ Brothers' aeroplane was crude.
er, prosperous paper manufac­ Later, many changes were intro­
turers, began experimenting duced in aeroplanes.
with lighter-than-air devices
after observing that heated air
directed into a paper or fabric
 SS N
AI RCRAFT When
was the
first pas­
senger airline
established?

Germany's Deutsche
Luft-Reederei established
the world's first passenger
airline in February 1919. The
next month, the French started a
route from Paris to Brussels. In the same
year, a British company, Air Transport and
Travel, started the first daily international service
linking London and Paris.
Britain had five, Germany had seven and France had
eight airlines by the end of a decade after the introduc­
tion of passenger aircraft. Earlier, converted bomb­
ers were used as passenger aircraft. The first
purpose-built airliner was the British de Havil­
land DH 16 in 1919. The first jet airliner was
the de Havilland Comet introduced in
1952.
In 1958, Boeing 707 became the
first long-haul airliner. It had
179 seats and a cruising
speed of about 910
km/h. Jumbo jets
such as Boeing
The Romans first used 747 were intro­
concrete to build a duced later
theatre at Pompeii in in 1970.
55 BC.

80 Tell Me Why

� - - --�- -
 ENTERTAINMENT

What is the history of pho­

tography?

I n the 9th century, Arab astrono­

mers became the first to notice
the properties of photography.
They found that a beam of light,
reflected from an illuminated
object and entering a darkened
room through a hole, would pro­
ject the image upside down.
In 1727, Johann Heinrich
Schulze, a German professor of In the 1820s, the French inven­
anatomy, discovered that silver tor Nicephore Niepce first man­
nitrate turns dark when exposed aged to get an image that was
to light. The unexposed side captured by the first camera ever
remained white. He captured made. Louis Daguerre, an associ­
cut-out letters on a bottle of ate of Niepce, developed the first
light-sensitive slurry. He was commercially viable photo­
amazed to find that the results graphic process called daguerre­
were durable. otype. Later, the paper-based
Thomas Wedgwood, in the calotype negative and salt print
early development of photogra­ process was invented by William
phy, managed to produce imper­ Henry Fox Talbot. It was in the
manent images on cloth and 1990s that digital photography
white leather. was first introduced.

STO R I ES B E H I N D EVERYDAY TH I N GS 8
 October 1 896,
the first movie was
Why is the history of shown in Australia in
movies remarkable? the Athenaeum Hall in
Melbourne. In 1 897, a cin-
The history of cinema took ema building was built in
off when the Lumiere Brothers Paris, solely for the purpose of
held the first paid-for screening showing films. The year 1900
on 28th December 1895, of their marks the emergence of the first
1 0 short films, in Paris. In the motion pictures that can be con­
1 890s, films were seen mostly via sidered as films. Until 1927, it was
temporary storefront spaces. the silent film era as motion pic­
On November 2 l 't, 1895, the tures were produced without
Skladanowsky brothers unveiled sound. The first films to consist
their 'Bioskop' at the Winter- of more than one shot
garten Hall in Berlin. That was appeared in the 1 9th century.
the first official film screen­
ing in Europe. Thus movie
theatres became pop­
ular entertainment
venues. In

cl
I will
make a h istory
myself!

82 Tell Me Why
When was the first
gramophone invented?

In 1877, Edison was working on a

machine that would transcribe
telegraphic messages, which
could later be sent over the tel­
egraph repeatedly.This inspired
him to try singing into the
machine to hear it recorded. He
termed his invention a 'phono­
graph,' and it worked by recording
sounds on round cylinders. However,
poor recording quality was a big issue.
Improving on Edison's design, Alex­
ander Graham Bell invented the first
graphophone, which recorded sounds
on records instead of cylinders, allow­
ing for mass production of recorded
materials. This version offered better
sound quality, but it also had a draw­
back that each cylinder had to be
recorded separately.
In 1887, Emile Berliner was granted
his first patent on a device called
Neon Lights
Neon lighting
....
gramophone. It had all the similar made its debut in
characteristics of Edison's phono­ an illuminated
graph and Bell's graphophone, but sign over a
the storage medium was not wax or barber's shop in
tinfoil-covered cylinders, but flat Paris in 191 2.
records made of glass. Thus, the mass
production of records was made pos­
sible.

STO R I ES B EH I N D EVERYDAY T H I N G S 83
 When
did the his-
tory of magnet-
ic recording begin?

Valdemar Poulsen, pop­

ularly known as the Danish
Edison, invented the first
answering machine, by cap­
turing sound on piano wire
with magnetic record­
ings in 1898. Following
the invention a flexible
tape with magnetic coating was first
patented by the German engineer
Fritz Pfleumer in 1 929.
Pfleumer also built the first tape
recorder in the modern sense in
1935. By the end of the Sec­
ond World War, high quali­
ty tape recorders were Bordeaux Mixture
made in Europe, and the In 1885, the weed-killing
US also. properties of Bordeaux
Masura lbuka, a Japa­ mixture, a combination
nese electronics indus­ of copper sulphate and lime
trialist and co-founder used to treat a mildew
of Sony, introduced the ravaging the vineyards of
first walkman. The Bordeaux, were discovered.
Sony Walkman It was the first chemical
went on sale in weedkiller.
1979. e Sneha Rao

84 Tell M e Why
 What is the history of Marconi began pur­
the radio? suing the idea of building
a wireless telegraphy sys-
G ug l ielmo Marconi was tem based on Hertzian
usually credited as the inven­ waves (radio).
tor of radio. He made significant
He started working on wire­ breakthrough on 13th May
less telegraphy in the 1890s. 1897 when he sent the
Numerous scientists had world's first-ever wireless
been exploring wireless tele­ communication over open
graph technologies at that sea. Marconi gained a patent
time. on the system in 1896 and
Heinrich Hertz, in 1888 dem­ developed it into a commer­
onstrated that one could pro­ cial communication system.
duce and detect Commercial radio broad­
electromagnetic waves, at the casting began in the 1920s and
time commonly called 'Hertzi­ became an important mass
an' waves, and now generally medium for entertainment and
referred to as radio waves. news.

STORIES BEHIND EVERYDAY THINGS 85

When was television invent­
ed?
J ohn Logie Baird, a Scottish
engineer, demonstrated the
first working television system
in 1926.
The German physicist Karl logical basis of modern
Braun contributed significantly television.
to the development of televi­ Using this technology John
sion technology. He is the one Logie Baird produced the first
who developed the cathode image of a living face. Early in
ray tube in 1897. The cathode 1926 he used his Televisor to
ray tube is a tube in which show such images to members
cathode rays produce a lumi­ of the Royal Institute.
nous image on a fluorescent Baird went on to produce a
screen. This method of scan­ colour transmission system
ning electrically is the techno- which he demonstrated in
1928. In the same year, his com­
pany (the Baird Television
Development Company)
achieved the first transatlantic
television transmission
between London and New
York. Russian inventor Vladimir
Zworykin played a key role in
the development of television,
including charge storage-type
tubes, and the electron micro­
scope. He was hailed as the
father of modern television.
 How­
ever, it was
still not possi­
ble to broadcast
visuals and audio at
the same time.
It was Ramsay MacDonald
who initiated the first simulta­
neous visual and audio trans­
mission with the help of a
receiver.
What
is the
history of
pro­
grammed
broadcasting?

J ohn Logie Baird Cellphone

strategically opened The mobile phone was
a television studio in first put into commer­
London in 1928, know­ cial use in Sweden in
ing the mass impact of 1981. Low-power radio
television as a medium. transmitters covering a
The world's first regularly designated area, known
scheduled television service as a cell, enable users to
in the United States began in make calls directly to
the same year. In 1929, Baird other cells linked by a
collaborated with the BBC for computer network.
daily transm ission. Neeth Mandrn

STO R t ES $ .E H J N D EVERYDAY T H I NGS

 Beta movie, the first
camcorder for making home
videos, was launched by
Sony in 1982.

Sony
is i n 1995. A
digital record- DVD is a type of
ing considered as a optical disk technol-
turning point? ogy, similar to the CD­
ROM. It holds a minimum
M odern digital recording of 4.7GB of data, enough
began with the introduction for a full-length movie.
of the CD or compact disc. It The Blu-ray or Blu-ray Disc
was co-developed by was designed to super­
Philips and Sony and sede the DVD format. The
released in 1982. Blu-ray Disc format was
It was in 1982, in Japan, developed by the Blu-ray
that the first CD players Disc Association (BDA).
using laser beams to scan the Sony unveiled the first Blu-ray
discs were released. DVD and Disc prototypes in October
Blue-rays were introduced 2000.
later. The name 'Blu-ray' refers
The DVD, or digital to the blue laser (actu­
video disc, was co- ally a violet laser)
developed by used to read the
Philips and disc.

88
tion of the computer take
place?

In the early days, basic com­

puters were nothing but calcu­
lators. The abacus is an
example. The ancient Greek­
designed Antikythera mecha­
nism, used for astronomical The first general purpose
prediction, is considered as the digital computer, the Elec­
world's oldest analogue com­ tronic Numerical Integrator
puter. Later, many models were and Computer (ENIAC) was
developed like the astrolabe, built in the 1940s.
the differential analyser etc. Earlier computers were
Charles Babbage, who is huge but the introduction
known as the father of comput­ of transistors reduced the
ers, first conceptualized and size of computers, and made
invented the first mechanical them portable.
computer in the early 19th cen­
tury. He designed the Analyti­
cal Engine and it was this
design that the framework of
the computers of today are
based on. The first modern
analogue computer was
invented by Sir William Thom­
son in 1872.
The first electronic digital
computer was built by Dr. John.
V. Atanasoff and Clifford Berry.
STORIES BEHIND EVERYDAY THINGS 89
 FIRST EVER
IN MEDICINE
Where did surgery originate?

It is said that the people of the Indus

Valley Civilization had surgical knowl­
edge. Sushruta is considered as the
'founding father of surgery'. The Egyp­
tians and Chinese were also said to
have practiced surgeries.
The Greek physician Galen is believed
to have had great expertise in anatomy,
surgery, pharmacology, and therapeu­
tic methods. Later, in the 1 3th century,
skilled European craftsmen called bar-
ber-surgeons, performed ampu­
tations and set broken bones.
Ambroise Pare was a reputed
surgeon. The practice for cau­
terizing gunshot wounds on the
battlefield had been to use boiling
oil, an extremely dangerous and
painful procedure. Pare began to
employ a less irritating emol-
lient, made of egg yolk, rose oil
and turpentine.
Many helpful, precise devic­
es were introduced later to be
used in surgery.

90 Tell M e Why
What is the history of anaesthe­
sia?

.,,
_/
I n olden times the Chinese used
to give patients a mixture of strong (@) @) I
wine and herbal drugs derived
from the mandrake plant, to allevi­
ate the excruciating pain of sur­
gery. The Greeks and Romans also
used mandrake extracts.
Opium and alcohol were the
most commonly used natural
anaesthetics in ancient Europe. In
1 844, an American dentist named
Horace Wells introduced nitrous
oxide for pain relief during dental
surgery with his colleague, Wil­
liam T. G. Morton.
In 1846, Morton used ether to
anaesthetise a patient undergo­ Maya Den ·s
ing neck tumour removal surgery. From around 600 A.D
Sir James Young Simpson, a British onwards, the people
obstetrician, is remembered best of the Mayan Civilization
for his introduction of ether anaes­ used to put pieces of
thesia into obstetrics in 1 847. bone, seashells, and
For many years, Morton was even carved rocks as
credited as being the pioneer of dental implantations
general anaesthesia, although the in tooth sockets.
claim is disputable. Many think Ryan Thomas
that it was Crawford W. Long who
first initiated general anaesthesia.

STORI ES BEHIND EVERYDAY TH I NGS 91

 Who invented spectacles?
X-ray, Endoscope The earliest spectacles, a pair of
It was Wilhelm convex glass discs, was produced
Roentgen who first by an Italian glazier. These eye­
identified X-rays in 1 895. glasses actually looked like two
A tube lit by a candle small magnifying glasses riveted
formed the first together at the top of their han­
endoscope. The first dles. These eyeglasses were revo­
endoscope fitted with a lutionary.
lens for viewing the Initially, chords and chains
stomach, was made by around the head, or behind the
the Polish surgeon ears, were used to hold spectacles
Johann von Mikulicz in place.
in 1 881 . In about 1500, the first eyeglass­
es with pads to secure the frames
were made in Britain. It was the
British optician Edward Scarlett
who first made rigid arms, or side
pieces, for spectacles in 1727.
The American statesman Benja­
min Franklin has long been cred­
ited with the invention of bifocals.
John Herschel, in 1827, proposed
the idea for contact lenses, but
they did not become a reality
until 1887. It was not until 1933
that a practical version was intro­
duced, by the German ophthal­
mologist Josef Dallos.

92 Tell Me Why
What is the history of
hearing tools?

Before the invention of

modern hearing aids, ear trum­
pets made from animal horns
were used by people who suf­
fered from hearing loss.
The first firm to begin commer­
cial production of the ear trum­
pet was established by
Frederick C. Rein in 1800. In 1 90 1,
Miller Reese Hutchinson of New
York invented the first electrical
hearing aid, called the Acousticon.
It was a large box containing bat­
teries and electric circuit, which
was attached to a telephone
receiver.
One of the first manufacturers
of the electronically amplified
hearing aid was the Siemens
Company in 1 9 1 3. Smaller,
modern hearing aids
were made practicable
by transistors from
the 1 950s
onwards.

STOR IES B E H IND EVERYDAY 93

 Why is it said that the history of
artificial organs dates back to
the 5th century BC?

The earliest recorded use of limb

prosthesis is that of a Persian sol­
dier named Hegesistratus. In 1579,
the French army surgeon Ambroise
Pare used artificial limbs on his
amputees. Later, a noncorrosive
metal- vitallium -was discovered. It
was widely used for making artifi­
cial ligaments. Gore -Tex, a porous
form of teflon was approved for
making artificial body parts in the
US in 1988.
The first-ever artificial pacemak­
er was engineered by Dr. A. S.
Hyman in 1932. It was an appara­
tus to deliver regular electrical
stimulations to the heart. The first
artificial heart to be successfully
implanted in a human was the Jar­
Robert Shoemaker vik-7 in 1982, designed by Willem
of the US, in 1838, made Johan Kolff and Robert Jarvik. One
the modern sticking of the earliest instances of plastic
plaster. Band-Aid was surgery can be found in the Sush­
first produced by the ruta Samhita, an important medi­
US company Johnson cal text from Ancient India.
& Johnson.
 Here's a contest for
our readers. Can you
identify this person?
All you need to do is send us an
e-mail, naming the person.
(PLEASE GIVE YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS AND
PHONE NUMBER ALSO IN THE E-MAIL)
You are also welcome to send
your answers by post.
Ten winners will be awarded
prizes. In case there are
more than ten correct
entries, the winners
will be chosen
by lot.

FOR � ® LUCKY WINNERS

SCIENCE SET 2 in1
Telescope
·& Microscope

STORIES BEHIND EVERYDAY TH I NGS 95

 Wi n ners of the CATCH ME Contest held
i n the �·• 1 ···•1e o' Tel l Me Wriy

1. Abhijnan Nanda, Kolkata. 7. Maithili Jamdhade,

2. Santosh Kumar, Bihar. Navi Mumbai.
3. Biman Bihari Bhattacharya, 8. Siddh M. Shah,
Dhanbad. Ahmedabad.
4. K. Sriraj, Kerala. 9. Rakesh Kumar,
5. Tigmanshu, Uttrakhand. Punjab.
6. Vijay Kumar Verma, 10. Hiten Rajput,
Rajasthan. Himachal Pradesh.
 Why tiger was declared the national
animal of India?
Tiger has been the national animal of
India from 1972. Earlier, from 1969
onwards, this honour was given to the
lion, because the famous Ashoka
Chakra, India's official emblem, has
four lions on it. In India, however, lions
are found only in the Gir forest, where­
as the tiger can be seen all over India.
So the tiger became India's National
Animal in 1972.
This honour also helped the tiger to
get protection from extinction. In order
to protect these majestic animals, a
Question sent by:
scheme called 'Project Tiger' was
Tanmay Dutta on e-mail
launched in 1973. Since then the tiger
Send us your questions population of the country has gradual­
E mail: [email protected] ly increased.
STORI ES BEHIND EVERYDAY TH INGS 97
 THE BASIC CHEftA ICAL BUILDING BLOCKS OF MATTER

98 Te ll M e Why