Vsauce!
Kevin here.
Throughout history, some have given their lives to advance scientific research.
Because of their efforts, we can fly, stave off death, carry fire in our pocket and play
golf on the moon.
In the decade before the Wright Brothers first flew at Kitty Hawk, Otto Lilienthal made over
2,000 flights in gliders he designed.
In 1894, Otto built a 45 foot (13.7 meters) artificial hill that allowed him to test his
gliders in any direction so he always had suitable wind conditions.
On Otto’s final flight, the top wing of his newest prototype broke off and he fell
55 feet (17 meters), suffering fatal injuries.
Before he passed away his last words were “Sacrifices must be made.”
Lilienthal is considered the inventor of piloting and was a direct influence on the Wright Brothers.
The aviation industry now supports over 58 million jobs, roughly the entire population
of Italy, and transports 3 billion passengers each year - almost twice the world population
at the time Otto made his sacrifice.
Russia's Alexander Bogdanov wrote a science fiction novel about a perfect world on Mars
in which technology has solved all of life’s problems and blood transfusions between the
young and old extend lifespans.
His fiction morphed into scientific research when he founded the Institute for Haemotology
and Blood Transfusions in 1926.
Building on centuries of slowly-advancing research, he began experimenting with blood
transfusions on his friends and on himself.
He believed blood transfusions would make him immortal and claimed they improved his
eyesight and cured his baldness.
Unfortunately, his 12th transfusion was with a student infected with malaria and tuberculosis,
and Bogdanov died.
Today 108 million units of blood are collected globally each year to save lives during surgeries
and after trauma.
4.5 million people in the U.S. alone would die annually without life-saving blood.
Baldness, however, rages on.
In the early 1770s Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovered a gas he called "fire-air" - the element we
know as Oxygen.
Prior to his discovery, people believed in the Phlogiston theory, which stated that something
called phlogiston, a fire-like element, was responsible for combustion.
Part of Scheele’s study of compounds and elements involved tasting them, including
ones we later discovered are toxic like lead, arsenic, hydrofluoric acid and mercury, leading
to his death by poisoning at the age of 43.
Scheele didn't just identify the source of combustion; he also developed a way to mass-produce
phosphorus, leading to the production of matches, and he described the reduction of silver salts
to metallic silver via sunlight, which is the basis of photography - which led to film
- which led to video - which led to YouTube - which led to Vsauce.
Thanks, Carl.
In the 1960's the space race brought us technologies ranging from artificial limbs and firefighting
equipment to solar panels and memory foam -- and also a crater on the far side of the
moon named Wan Hoo.
Chinese legends claim Wan Hu was the world’s first astronaut, who in the 16th century attached
two kites and 47 gun-powered rockets to a chair.
After a big explosion, Wan and the chair were never seen again.
And as always - thanks for watching.
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