Today’s program is brought to you by the word “progrom.”
The first United States recipient of a Nobel Prize in science was Albert Abraham Michelson. Michelson was brought to the U.S. at the age of 2 by his parents from the Kingdom of Prussia (now geographically in Poland.
Michelson was appointed to the USNA by President Grant. After graduation and 2 years of sea duty, he was returned to the Academy as an instructor in physics and chemistry. His experiments provided the first acceptably accurate measurement of the speed of light.
“He measured the speed of light in air to be 299,864±51 kilometers per second, and estimated the speed of light in vacuum as 299,940 km/s, or 186,380 mps.”
His experiments and findings are a prime example of the cost of European anti-Semitism with regard to the loss of intellectuals whose came to contribute to modern science, medicine, and other highly important fields of study. They helped vault the young United States into prominence over the nations of Europe, which ejected or forced European Jews to immigrate because of exclusion from universities, unequal press-gang military conscription, widespread exclusion from the social structure, and pogroms.
Round 2
“Rickover is known as the "Father of the Nuclear Navy", which as of July 2007 had produced 200 nuclear-powered submarines, and 23 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and cruisers, though many of these U.S. vessels are now decommissioned and others under construction.”
From that part of Poland that was once the Pale of Settlement, Rickover was brought to the U.S. by parents fleeing pogroms. He entered Annapolis after high school and was graduated in 1922.
He was a unique and powerful individual, not popular among his fellow naval officers but well connected in Congress. The Congressional resources allowed him to survive multiple attempts to force him to retire, resulting in four stars and the longest active duty career of any U.S. Navy officer to date, 63 years.
And in the also interesting column. Sholom Schwartzbard is distantly related to me. http://www.fondation-besnard.org/article.php3?id_article=204
He was not a USNA appointee, but I was. Bad vision prevented my attendance.
That’s all for today.
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