st.+paul

Schmincke < kunst> (grüner Farbton) ■ green Paul Veronese

   Aussi discret que présent dans le monde de l’hyperfiction francophone, Jean-Paul, écrivain et musicien, est explorateur d’hypermédia. Il est le webmestre des Cotres furtifs, un site hypermédia collectif racontant des histoires en 3D. "Les membres des cotres, ’ensemble flou à géométrie variable’, aiment jouer avec les mots en y associant images et sons, non pas comme de simples illustrations, mais comme partie intégrante du récit et de ses architectures. On ne les trouve que sur le net parce que c’est le dernier espace, instable, fluide et non-fermé, dont tous les passages ne sont pas encore contrôlés." Des initiatives intéressantes de littérature électronique sont proposées dans Canon Laser et L’agression 93.

   Voir aussi: hypermédia, littérature numérique.

SUBJECT AREA: Medical technology

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Domagk's studies in medicine were interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War and his service in the Army, delaying his qualification at Kiel until 1921. For a short while he worked at the University of Greifswald, but in 1925 he was appointed Reader in Pathology at the University of Munster, where he remained as Extraordinary Professor of General Pathology and Pathological Anatomy (1928) and Professor (1958).

In 1924 he published a paper on the role of the reticulo-endothelial system against infection. This led to his appointment as Director of Research by IG Farbenindustrie in their laboratory for experimental pathology and bacteriology. The planned programme of research into potential antibacterial chemotherapeutic drugs led, via the discovery of the dye Prontosil rubrum by his colleagues, to his reporting in 1936 the clinical antistreptococcal effects of the sulphonamide drugs. These results were confirmed in other countries, but owing to problems with the Nazi authorities he was unable to receive until 1947 the Nobel Prize that he was awarded in 1939.

Domagk turned his interest to the chemotherapy of tuberculosis, and in 1946 he was able to report the therapeutic activity of the thiosemicarbazones, which, although too toxic for general use, in their turn led to the discovery of the potent and effective isoniazid. In his later years he moved into the field of cancer chemotherapy, but interestingly he wrote, "One should not have too great expectations of the future of cytostatic agents." His only daughter was one of the first patients to have a severe streptococcal infection successfully treated with Prontosil rubrum.

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SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy

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Paul Héroult, the son of a tanner, at the age of 16, while still at school in Caen, read Deville's book on aluminium and became obsessed with the idea of developing a cheap way of producing this metal. After his family moved to Gentillysur-Bièvre he studied at the Ecole Sainte-Barbe in Paris and then returned to Caen to work in the laboratory of his father's tannery. His first patent, filed in February and granted on 23 April 1886, described an invention almost identical to that of C.M. Hall: "the electrolysis of alumina dissolved in molten cryolite into which the current is introduced through suitable electrodes. The cryolite is not consumed." Early in 1887 Héroult attempted to obtain the support of Alfred Rangod Pechiney, the proprietor of the works at Salindres where Deville's process for making sodium-reduced aluminium was still being operated. Pechiney persuaded Héroult to modify his electrolytic process by using a cathode of molten copper, thus making it possible produce aluminium bronze rather than pure aluminium. Héroult then approached the Swiss firm J.G.Nehe Söhne, ironmasters, whose works at the Falls of Schaffhausen obtained power from the Rhine. They were looking for a new metallurgical process requiring large quantities of cheap hydroelectric power and Héroult's process seemed suitable. In 1887 they established the Société Metallurgique Suisse to test Héroult's process. Héroult became Technical Director and went to the USA to defend his patents against those of Hall. During his absence the Schaffhausen trials were successfully completed, and on 18 November 1888 the Société Metallurgique combined with the German AEG group, Oerlikon and Escher Wyss, to establish the Aluminium Industrie Aktiengesellschaft Neuhausen. In the early electrolytic baths it was occasionally found that arcs between the bath surface and electrode could develop if the electrodes were inadvertently raised. From this observation, Héroult and M.Killiani developed the electric arc furnace. In this, arcs were intentionally formed between the surface of the charge and several electrodes, each connected to a different pole of the AC supply. This furnace, the prototype of the modern electric steel furnace, was first used for the direct reduction of iron ore at La Praz in 1903. This work was undertaken for the Canadian Government, for whom Héroult subsequently designed a 5,000-amp single-phase furnace which was installed and tested at Sault-Sainte-Marie in Ontario and successfully used for smelting magnetite ore.

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SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace

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Soon after Alberto Santos-Dumont had made his first successful flight in a small airship, Paul and Pierre Lebaudy decided to construct a large airship. The two brothers were sugar manufacturers in Moisson, France, and in 1899 they commissioned their chief engineer, Henri Julliot, to build them a large airship. Julliot was conscientious and cautious, and consequently he spent many months studying the problems and working out a feasible design. The Lebaudy I was not completed until late in 1902 and made its first flight on 13 November. It was 57 m (187 ft) long and powered by a 30 kW (40 hp) Daimler petrol engine driving two propellers which enabled it to fly at 40 km/h (25 mph); it could overcome all but very strong winds. During the ensuing months, Lebaudy I made many successful flights, often carrying passengers, and usually returning to its base at Moisson. On 12 November 1903 it flew a distance of 62 km (381/2 miles) in 1 hour 41 minutes, from Moisson to Paris, where it was put on display and attracted huge crowds. After being damaged, Lebaudy I was rebuilt as Lebaudy II, although it was often called La Jaune because of the yellow fabric of the envelope. In 1905 it made a flight lasting over 3 hours; few would argue that this was the first really successful airship.

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SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace

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As a boy, Paul MacCready was an enthusiastic builder of flying model aeroplanes; he became US National Junior Champion in 1941. He learned to fly and became a pilot with the US Navy in 1943. he developed an interest in gliding in 1945 and became National Soaring Champion in 1948 and 1949. After graduating from the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) as a meteorologist, he set up Meteorological Research Inc. In 1953 MacCready became the first American to win the World Gliding Championship. When hang-gliders became popular in the early 1970s MacCready studied their performance and compared them with soaring birds: he came to the conclusion that man-powered flight was a possibility. In an effort to generate an interest in man-powered flight, a cash prize had been offered in Britain by Henry Kremer, a wealthy industrialist and fitness enthusiast. A man-powered aircraft had to complete a one-mile (1.6km) figure-of-eight course in order to win. However, the figure-of-eight proved to be a major obstacle and the prize money was increased over the years to £50,000. In 1976 MacCready and his friend Dr Peter Lissaman set to work on their computer and came up with their optimum design for a man-powered aircraft. The Gossamer Condor had a wing span of 96 ft (27.4 m), about the same as a Douglas DC-9 airliner, yet it weighed just 70 lb (32 kg). It was a tail-first design with a pedaldriven pusher propeller just behind the pilot. Bryan Allen, a biologist, pilot and racing cyclist, joined the team to provide the muscle-power. After over two hundred flights they were ready to make an attempt on the prize, and on 23 August 1977 they succeeded where many had failed, in 7 minutes. Kremer then offered £100,000 for the first manpowered flight across the English Channel. Many thought this would be impossible, but MacCready and his team set about the task of designing a new machine based on their Condor, which they called the Gossamer Albatross. Bryan Allen also had a major task: getting fit for a flight which might take three hours of pedalling. The weather was more of a problem than in California, and after a long delay the Gossamer Albatross took off, on 12 June 1979. After pedalling for 2 hours 49 minutes, Bryan Allen landed in France: it was seventy years since Blériot's flight, although Blériot was much quicker.

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SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy

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Merica graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1908. Before proceeding to the University of Berlin, he spent some time teaching in Wisconsin and in China. He obtained his doctorate in Berlin in 1914, and in that year he joined the US National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in Washington. During his five years there, he investigated the causes of the phenomenon of age-hardening of the important new alloy of aluminium, Duralumin.

This phenomenon had been discovered not long before by Dr Alfred Wilm, a German research metallurgist. During the early years of the twentieth century, Wilm had been seeking a suitable light alloy for making cartridge cases for the Prussian government. In the autumn of 1909 he heated and quenched an aluminium alloy containing 3.5 per cent copper and 0.5 per cent magnesium and found its properties unremarkable. He happened to test it again some days later and was impressed to find its hardness and strength were much improved: Wilm had accidentally discovered age-hardening. He patented the alloy, but he made his rights over to Durener Metallwerke, who marketed it as Duralumin. This light and strong alloy was taken up by aircraft makers during the First World War, first for Zeppelins and then for other aircraft.

Although age-hardened alloys found important uses, the explanation of the phenomenon eluded metallurgists until in 1919 Merica and his colleagues at the NBS gave the first rational explanation of age-hardening in light alloys. When these alloys were heated to temperatures near their melting points, the alloying constituents were taken into solution by the matrix. Quenching retained the alloying metals in supersaturated solid solution. At room temperature very small crystals of various intermetallic compounds were precipitated and, by inserting themselves in the aluminium lattice, had the effect of increasing the hardness and strength of the alloy. Merica's theory stimulated an intensive study of hardening and the mechanism that brought it about, with important consequences for the development of new alloys with special properties.

In 1919 Merica joined the International Nickel Company as Director of Research, a post he held for thirty years and followed by a three-year period as President. He remained in association with the company until his death.

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SUBJECT AREA: Broadcasting, Electronics and information technology, Recording

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He received his education at Dulwich College and in 1922 graduated with a BSc from University College, London. He had an early interest in the application of valve amplifiers, and after graduating he was employed by J.E.Hough, Edison Bell Works, to develop a line of radio-receiving equipment. However, he became interested in the mechanical (and later electrical) side of recording and from 1925 developed principles and equipment. In particular he developed capacitor microphones, not only for in-house work but also commercially, until the mid-1930s. The Edison Bell company did not survive the Depression and closed in 1933. Voigt founded his own company, Voigt Patents Ltd, concentrating on loudspeakers for cinemas and developing horn loudspeakers for domestic use. During the Second World War he continued to develop loudspeaker units and gramophone pick-ups, and in 1950 he emigrated to Toronto, Canada, but his company closed. Voigt taught electronics, and from 1960 to 1969 he was employed by the Radio Regulations Laboratory in Ottawa. After retirement he worked with theoretical cosmology and fundamental interactions.

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SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace

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After the early hot-air balloons of the Montgolfier brothers in the 1780s, this branch of ballooning was superseded by hydrogen, coal gas and helium balloons. Following the research by Auguste Piccard into cosmic radiation during the 1930s, a renewed interest in this branch of research arose in the United States from 1947 onwards, using helium-filled balloons. Modern plastics were available by this time, and polythene was used for the envelopes.

Paul E.Yost developed an improved form of envelope using nylon fabric laminated with mylar plastic film. This provided a strong impermeable material that was ideal for balloons. Using this material for the envelope, Yost produced the Vulcoon in 1960. He also reintroduced the use of hot air to inflate his balloon and developed an easily controlled gas burner fuelled by propane gas, which was readily available in cylinders for portable cooking stoves. Yost's company, Raven Industries, developed these very basic balloons as a military project. The pilot was suspended in a sling, but they improved the design by fitting wicker or aluminium baskets and turned to a market in the field of sport. After a slow start, hot-air ballooning became popular as a sport. In 1963 Yost made the first crossing of the English Channel in a hot-air balloon, accompanied by Donald Piccard, nephew of the balloonist Auguste Piccard, and Charles Dollfus, the eminent French aviation historian. Yost's attempt to cross the Atlantic in his balloon Silver Fox during 1976 failed and he was rescued from the sea near the Azores. The popularity of hot-air ballooning increased during the 1970s, and evolved into a very original form of advertising with unusual shapes for the envelopes, including a house, a bottle and an elephant.