Science & Mathematics Questions & Answers

A gelotologist is a specialist who studies the physiological effects of laughter. When a person laughs, some special muscles called gelastic muscles get exercised, and, as a result, several physiological changes such as an increase in respiration and blood circulation take place. A gelotologist is concerned with analysis of such changes and their effect on human health. The word originated …

Whitcomb L. Judson invented the zipper and YKK is the Japanese company that makes them. Whitcomb L. Judson was a lover of gadgets and machines and the idea for his “clasp locker” came from when a friend had a stiff back from trying to fasten his shoes. Judson’s clasp locker was used mostly on mailbags, tobacco pouches and shoes. However, …

Galileo, the Italian scientist, invented the thermometer in 1593. At that time, however, it was used to measure pressure changes in relation to weather predictions, rather than to take a human temperature!

The history of writing instruments with which humans have recorded and conveyed thoughts, feelings and grocery lists, is the history of civilisation itself. This is how we know about our ancestors and their lives. The handy sharpened-stone, used for skinning and killing animals was adapted into the first writing instrument. Around 24,000 BC, the cave man started drawing pictures with …

A pen drive is another term for USB (Universal Serial Bus) flash drive and is basically a data storage device. The pen drive was invented in 1998 by IBM, with the intention of replacing the floppy drive in its ThinkPad line of products. The first flash drive was manufactured by M-systems under contract with IBM and was called the disgo. …

From earlier times, in all parts of the world, people have made fire by rubbing a hard stick against a soft stick so that soft flakes of wood, sloughed off by the hard stick, stick started to smoulder. Another way was to use flint, a very hard stone, striking it against a lump of iron to produce sparks. Until the …

Sir James Dewar, in the year 1892. It consists of a double-walled flask with a vacuum between the walls. The walls are silvered and heat cannot be conducted across a vacuum. They keep hot liquids hot because the heat cannot get out and cold liquids cold because heat cannot get in. After the liquid has been poured in, a cork …

William Einthoven in 1903. For this great achievement, he was awarded by a Nobel prize in 1924. The electrocardiograph is an instrument which is used in the examination of people suffering from heart disease. It indicates how serious is their illness and maintains a check on recovery subsequent to a heart attack. In essence it detects the amount of electricity …

Though there were water clocks (invented by the Greeks in 250 BC), striking clocks were invented by the Buddhist monk Yi Xing (in the 6th century). The first mechanical alarm clock was invented by Taqial-Din of the Ottoman Empire in 1559. But the patent holder for the above clock was French inventor Antoine Redier in 1847. The use of the …

The indoor game of ‘real’ tennis was played in the Middle Age. During the 19th century it overflowed on to the lawn, where players made up their own rules. In 1874 Major Walter Wingfield invented rules for lawn tennis. Even by 1890, however, ‘real’ tennis rackets were still being used.