Department of Defense photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Dusty Howell, U.S. Navy
Top Questions
What is an aircraft carrier?
An aircraft carrier is a naval vessel from which airplanes may take off and land. Basically, an aircraft carrier is an airfield at sea. Special features include catapults on the flight deck to assist in launching aircraft; for braking while landing, aircraft are fitted with retractable hooks that engage wires on the deck.
Who was the first pilot to take off from a platform on a ship, a forerunner of the aircraft carrier?
American civilian Eugene Ely was the first pilot to fly a plane off a specially built platform on the deck of the U.S. cruiser
deinos (“terrible” or “fearfully great”) and
sauros (“reptile” or “lizard”). It refers to a group of reptiles that thrived on Earth for nearly 180 million years; most went extinct about 66 million years ago. The questions and answers in this list are taken from the Top Questions sections of the articles on dinosaurs and mammals, where you can find many more questions answered.
What are dinosaurs?
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles that were the dominant terrestrial life form on Earth during the Mesozoic Era, about 245 million years ago. Dinosaurs went into decline near the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 66 million years ago.
The American atomic program takes shape
While engaged in one war in Europe and another in the Pacific, the United States would launch the largest scientific effort undertaken to that time. It would involve 37 installations throughout the country, more than a dozen university laboratories, and 100,000 people, including the Nobel Prize-winning physicists Arthur Holly Compton, Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman, Ernest Lawrence, and Harold Urey.
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The first contact between the scientific community and the U.S. government regarding atomic research was made by George B. Pegram of Columbia University. Pegram arranged a conference between Fermi and officers of the U.S. Navy in March 1939. In July Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner conferred with Einstein, and the three later went to New York to meet with National Recovery Administration economist Alexander Sachs. Supported by a letter from Einstein, Sachs app
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What was Emmeline Pankhurst’s family like?
Both of Emmeline Pankhurst’s parents were abolitionists. Her father was on a committee that welcomed American abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher to England, while her mother read her bedtime stories from
Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Both also supported equal suffrage. Her parents’ dedication to ending social injustices likely shaped her own commitment to the women’s suffrage movement.
Why was Emmeline Pankhurst so influential?
Emmeline Pankhurst was a founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union, a British organization that thrust the disenfranchisement of women into public consciousness. Her organization focused on “deeds, not words,” and used public demonstrations and acts of militancy to tip public opinion in favour of equal suffrage. Pankhurst also frequently lectured on women’s suffrage.
Witness the explosion of the Hindenburg airship and listen to witnesses and survivor recount the horrific disaster
Overview of the Hindenburg.
Hindenburg, German dirigible, the largest rigid airship ever constructed. In 1937 it caught fire and was destroyed; 36 people died in the disaster.
The airship
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Marvel at the H-4 Hercules flying boat, the flying foxes of genus Pteropus, and the giraffe-sized pterosaur
Learn about seven of the largest things that ever took flight.
The
Hindenburg was a 245-metre- (804-foot-) long airship of conventional zeppelin design that was launched at Friedrichshafen, Germany, in March 1936. It had a maximum speed of 135 km (84 miles) per hour and a cruising speed of 126 km (78 miles) per hour. Though it was designed to be filled with helium gas, the airship was filled with highly flammable hydrogen because of export restrictions by the United States against Nazi Germany. In 1936 the