1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:04,000 Speaker 1: Hey y'all, we're rerunning two episodes today. Enjoy the show. Hi, 2 00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:08,200 Speaker 1: I'm Eves, and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:10,800 Speaker 1: a show that uncovers a little bit more about history 4 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:23,959 Speaker 1: every day. The day was March nineteen. British astronomer and 5 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: mathematician Fred Hoyle appeared on BBC Radio's Third Program to 6 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: discuss his continuous creation theory. It was on this broadcast 7 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: that Hoyle used the term Big Bang to refer to 8 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: the point when the universe began, but he didn't believe 9 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: that the universe began. In the nineteen forties, Hoyle reformulated 10 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: the steady state theory along with astronomer Thomas Gold and 11 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: mathematician Hermann Bondi. The theory said that the universe is 12 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: uniform through time and space, so the universe is expanding 13 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: but always looks the same, and it has no beginning 14 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: or end. Instead, matter is created continually and spontaneously throughout space. 15 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,640 Speaker 1: At the same time, scientists were exploring the idea that 16 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: a singular explosive moment brought the universe into being and 17 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 1: the universe kept expanding from there, but Hoyle defended his 18 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:25,960 Speaker 1: cosmological theory to the end On March nine, Hoyle gave 19 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,320 Speaker 1: a twenty minute radio lecture on the theory on BBC's 20 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: Third Program. After explaining the theory, he contrasted it to 21 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:38,040 Speaker 1: theories that were based on quote, the hypothesis that all 22 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: the matter of the universe was created in one big 23 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: bang at a particular time in the remote past. During 24 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: the talk, Hoyle mentioned the Big Bang three times. People 25 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: have read Hoyle's use of the term as derogatory, but 26 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: he has said that it was not. He once said, 27 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: I was constantly striving over the radio where I had 28 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: no visual aids, nothing except the spoken word for visual images, 29 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 1: and that seemed to be one way of distinguishing between 30 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: the steady state and the explosive big bang, and so 31 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,680 Speaker 1: that was the language I used. Hoyle wasn't convinced of 32 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:20,600 Speaker 1: the validity of cosmologies that predicted that a definite origin 33 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: of the whole universe occurred a precise, finite time ago, 34 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: as he put it in a nineteen sixty lecture. Even 35 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: though his use of the term wasn't expressly derisive, Hoyle 36 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: made it clear that he thought the idea of a 37 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:39,840 Speaker 1: big bang creation process was irrational. After Hoyle's talk aired, 38 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: The text was put in a BBC magazine called The 39 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: Listener and distributed widely. In early nineteen fifty A series 40 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:52,919 Speaker 1: of broadcasts featuring Hoyle aired on BBC, and books based 41 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:55,520 Speaker 1: on the talks were soon published in England and the 42 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 1: United States. In the book, Hoyle again used the term 43 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 1: big Bang several times, twice in the English version, four 44 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:07,920 Speaker 1: times in the American one. Scientists were critical of Hoyle's theory, 45 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: but they didn't pay much mind to his use of 46 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: the phrase At this point. The term didn't immediately catch on, 47 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 1: though the Big Bang creation theory gained tons of traction 48 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: beginning in the nineteen sixties, big Bang wasn't commonly seen 49 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:27,079 Speaker 1: in scientific publications until more than two decades after first 50 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: coined the phrase. Nuclear physicists William Fowler might have been 51 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: the first to get the term into a research publication 52 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty seven, but it wasn't until the nineteen 53 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 1: seventies when scientific papers began using the phrase regularly. After 54 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety, use of the term regarding the origin of 55 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: the universe exploded pun intended research on cosmic background radiation. 56 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: We can support of the steady state theory, and now 57 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: evidence points to the likelihood of the universe changing over time. Today, 58 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: the Big Bang theory is the most widely accepted explanation 59 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: for the universe's beginnings. There are people who feel the 60 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: term it's inappropriate and too undignified to represent such a 61 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: momentous occasion, but today big Bang is widely used by 62 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: scientists and lay people alike. I'm Eaves, step Coote, and 63 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,600 Speaker 1: hopefully you know a little more about history today than 64 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: you did yesterday. And here's another note about the usage 65 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:31,040 Speaker 1: of big bang. In the beginning. The first scientific paper 66 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 1: to use the term big Bang and its title was 67 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:37,040 Speaker 1: received by the Journal of Meteorology a couple of months 68 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:40,680 Speaker 1: before Hoyle coined the phrase. The paper was about the 69 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:46,279 Speaker 1: meteorological effects of a large TNT explosion. Thank you for 70 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: listening and see you again tomorrow. Keep up with us 71 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:56,480 Speaker 1: on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at t d i HC Podcast. 72 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:04,919 Speaker 1: Hey everyone, it's Eaves again and welcome to another episode 73 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 1: of This Day in History Class, a podcast that brings 74 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: you a little bit of history every day. The day 75 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:24,160 Speaker 1: was March nineteen seventy nine. A failure in a reactor 76 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 1: at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station led to 77 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:32,359 Speaker 1: a partial meltdown. It was the worst nuclear disaster in 78 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:36,480 Speaker 1: US history. Three Mile Island was a nuclear power plant 79 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: in London Dairy Township, Pennsylvania. The plant had two pressurized 80 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:45,719 Speaker 1: water reactors. Unit one went into service in nineteen seventy 81 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:48,920 Speaker 1: four and Unit two began operation at the end of 82 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:54,119 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight. On March nineteen seventy nine, the Unit 83 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: one reactor was shut down from a refueling outage. Wild 84 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: Unit two was operating at ninety seven percent power. A 85 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:05,279 Speaker 1: failure caused the feet water pumps to stop sending water 86 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 1: to the steam generators that removed heat from the reactor core. 87 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:13,479 Speaker 1: This triggered the shutdown of the turbine generator, and because 88 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: the steam generators weren't getting feed water, the temperature in 89 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,240 Speaker 1: the primary coolant rows. This caused the reactor to go 90 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: into an emergency shut down. Also, the pressure was rising 91 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:27,839 Speaker 1: in the primary loop. To control the pressure, the pilot 92 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:31,240 Speaker 1: operated relief of valve on the reactor. Cooling system opened 93 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: as it was supposed to, but it stayed open after 94 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: it should have closed, and coolant water continued to escape 95 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:41,679 Speaker 1: from the relief of valve because instruments in the control 96 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: room indicated that the valve was closed. Operators did not 97 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 1: realize that coolant water was still being released. Due to 98 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: the loss of coolant water, high pressure injection pumps sent 99 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: replacement water into the reactor system. As the water level 100 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,240 Speaker 1: rose in the pressure rizer, operators decided to reduce the 101 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: flow of replacement water because they thought the reactor system 102 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:07,640 Speaker 1: was too full of water. The reactor coolant pumps began 103 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 1: to vibrate, so the operators shut them down. This stopped 104 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: forced cooling of the reactor core. The core in turn 105 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: overheated as reactor coolant water boiled away. The fuel rods 106 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: were damaged, and they released radioactive material into the coolant water. 107 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 1: Operators continued to attempt fixes based on their training, but 108 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,960 Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of gallons a radioactive coolant water had 109 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: been released. Radioactive gases were sent into the atmosphere from 110 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 1: the ventilation stack of an auxiliary building. Initially, officials believed 111 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 1: that there may be a big hydrogen explosion and that 112 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:47,360 Speaker 1: a meltdown was possible. The governor of Pennsylvania recommended pregnant 113 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: women and young children evacuate the area within a five 114 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:55,000 Speaker 1: mile radius of the plant. People panicked and Within days, 115 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:59,120 Speaker 1: tens of thousands of people had fled the area. Schools 116 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: and businesses closed posed, but officials said that the small 117 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 1: amount of radiation that was released had no measurable adverse 118 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: health effects on people who lived near the Three Mile 119 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: Island facility. Still, the accident energized anti nuclear sentiment and 120 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: lead to new regulations in the nuclear power industry. For instance, 121 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: there were changes to standards for nuclear plant design, inspections 122 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: were expanded, and emergency preparedness requirements were strengthened. Many people 123 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:33,680 Speaker 1: have claimed over the years that nuclear radiation contamination did 124 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:36,479 Speaker 1: have an effect on the physical health of local residents. 125 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 1: Unit two was too damaged to continue operating. Clean up 126 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 1: officially ended in nineteen. Unit one went back on line 127 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 1: in but it was shut down for a good in 128 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. I'm each Jeff Coote and hopefully you know 129 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 130 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: You can send us a note on Facebook, Instagram or 131 00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: Twitter at t d i HC Podcast, and if you 132 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:04,080 Speaker 1: want to, you can send us a note via email 133 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:09,440 Speaker 1: at this Day at I heeart media dot com. Thanks 134 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: again for listening to the show and we'll see you tomorrow. 135 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:24,240 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i 136 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to 137 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:27,760 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.