January 4 - Firsts for the Fourth

Posted on January 4, 2021

This is an update of the 1/4/2010 post:

On this date in 1885, the first successful appendectomy was performed. Dr. Grant did the surgery in Iowa on patient Mary Gartside.

Key Points

The appendix is a fingerlike pouch attached to the colon.
Doctors used to think that it has no function – something
leftover from our evolutionary past, which is called
“vestigial” – but now research seems to indicate that it
can be helpful to good health.
However, when it becomes infected and full of pus,
doctors have to remove it!

On this date in 1887, the first round-the-world bicycle trip ended. It took Thomas Stevens about two and a half years!

British cyclist Mark Beaumont currently holds the world’s
record for circumnavigation of the world in roughly 78 and a
half days. (His trip was considered “supported” because a
team provided camper van rest spots, meals, and so forth.
Some cyclists circumnavigate the world UNsupported by a
team; the men’s record for unsupported circumnavigation
by bike is 123 days, and the women’s record is 124 days.)

On this date in 1935, Billboard magazine published its first music chart based on national sales figures. Who topped that first chart? Jazz violinist Joe Venuti, with his song “Stop! Look! Listen!”

Since Billboard started keeping track of sales, it’s been keeping
track of songs, artists, and albums – and there are a lot of different
record holders for best sales of records! Overall, the Beatles
are chart toppers in many categories – kind of surprising
considering that they were only together for 8 years
(counting from the time when Ringo Starr joined in 1962.
The other three were together, mostly under other names,
for about four additional years).

Compare 8 years – or even 12 years – to The Rolling Stones’s
50 years, and single-artist chart toppers such as Mariah
Carey’s 30+ years and Elvis Presley’s 20+ years.

On this day in 1958, the world’s first artificial satellite, Russia’s Sputnik 1, became the first to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere as it fell from orbit. The unmanned Sputnik traveled about 60 million kilometers (37 million miles) in its three months in orbit.

Right now there are about 6,000 satellites circling the Earth!
As of April of 2020, 2,666 of these satellites are operational.

Have a personal first today.

Do something you’ve never done before. Sculpt with clay, cook a meal, visit the beach in winter, take a yoga class…or?

Meanwhile…

The I’s have it in January – the Isaacs, that is.

A mere two days after we celebrated the late, great Isaac Asimov, it’s time to celebrate Sir Isaac Newton!

Newton was born on this date in 1643 in England. (Because England was very slow to adopt the Gregorian calendar, compared to the rest of Europe, the date of Newton’s birth was recorded as Christmas Day, December 25, 1642.)

Sir Isaac Newton became one of the most important and influential scientists of all time—making contributions in physics, mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy. He was very religious (and wrote more about the Bible than about science and nature!), but his religious views were unusual.

Newton worked out the “laws” of universal gravitation (we would call this “the theory of gravity” now) and of motion, acceleration, and inertia. He built the first practical reflecting telescope, worked out a theory of color based on the spectrum obtained from passing white light through a prism, and developed the differential and integral calculus (with Gottfried Leibniz).

Learn some physics.
This site is easier than this one. (On the second site, be sure to check out the animations at Shockwave Physics Studio, about halfway down the page.)