This Week in Physics History: Oct. 20 - 26

By Andrew Zimmerman Jones, About.com GuideOctober 20, 2008

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Oct. 22, 4004 BC - According to a 17th century chronology of world history by Anglican Archbishop of Armagh, James Ussher, the universe is created. Needless to say, the specificity of this particular date is not considered historically or scientifically accurate by most authorities ... probably not even by the Anglican church.
Oct. 21, 1879 - Thomas Edison successfully tests the first practical incandescent light bulb. The bulb burned out after 13.5 hours.
Oct. 22, 1881 - American physicist Clinton Davisson is born. Davisson received the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the electron diffraction, along with George Paget Thompson (who independently discovered the same thing). This work helped prove the validity of the de Broglie hypothesis, a key feature in quantum wave particle duality.
Oct. 20, 1891 - English physicist Sir James Chadwick is born. Chadwick discovered the neutron and led the way for the discovery of nuclear fission.
Oct. 23, 1905 - Swiss physicist Felix Bloch is born. Bloch, who emigrated to the U.S. in 1934 and did most of his work in that country, worked on atomic energy and radar during World War II. His post-war work laid the foundations for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) ... work which ultimately earned him the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physics along with Edward Mills Purcell.
Oct. 23, 1908 - Soviet physicist Ilya Mikhailovich Frank is born. In 1934, Frank (along with Igor Tamm) provided the theoretical explanation for Cherenkov radiation (which was discovered by Pavel Cherenkov in 1930). The trio shared the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics for this work.
Oct. 26, 1936 - The first electric generator at Hoover Dam goes into full operation.
Oct. 22, 1949 - The Soviet Union successfully tests their first atomic bomb.
Oct. 20, 1984 - British theoretical physicist Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac dies. Dirac is one of the founders of quantum physics. He made many mathematical innovations that helped with analysis of physical systems ranging from electromagnetic phenomena to quantum physics. He earned the 1933 Nobel Prize in physics, along with Erwin Schroedinger, "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory." The "Dirac equation" that he developed describes the behavior of fermions.

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