I’m not a big fan of those fake “days” to celebrate, including New Hampshire Day on Sept. 7, the anniversary of us joining the Union. But if you must celebrate New Hampshire Day, the National Inventors Hall of Fame suggests you do it by “honoring the lives of three Granite State innovators who have been inducted”:
- NIHF Inductee Moses Farmer spent his life expanding the capabilities of electricity. Farmer was born in Boscawen and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1841. Following graduation, he began working on an electric striking apparatus for a fire alarm service. The system had a signaling mechanism that triggered a special water motor that drove the electric dynamo. The first electric fire alarm system was an immediate success when it was installed in Boston in 1851.
- NIHF Inductee Carleton van Staal Ellis was a pioneer in the field of organic chemistry. The Keene native is best known for his 1913 invention of vegetable-oil-based margarine. Ellis also made contributions toward longer-lasting house paint, more durable polyesters and plastics, and improved printing inks.
- NIHF Inductee and Exeter native Ambrose Swasey helped advance the field of astronomy through his development of the telescope. Swasey and Worcester R. Warner built a 36-inch refractor – the largest of its time – for the University of California’s Lick Observatory in 1887.
I have to admit I hadn’t heard of any of these.
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