1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,680 Speaker 1: Hey, y'all, were rerunning two episodes today, which means that 2 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:06,280 Speaker 1: you'll hear two hosts me and Tracy V. Wilson. Enjoy 3 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 1: the show. Welcome to this Day in History Class from 4 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:12,479 Speaker 1: how Stuff Works dot Com and from the desk of 5 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Class. It's the show where 6 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:17,119 Speaker 1: we explore the past, one day at a time with 7 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:23,920 Speaker 1: a quick look at what happened today in history. Hello, 8 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and Et. 9 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 1: September twenty nine. Rudolph Diesel disappeared on this day in 10 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:33,680 Speaker 1: nineteen thirteen, which is also generally marked as the day 11 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: of his death. Of course, Rudolph Diesel is best known 12 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:40,199 Speaker 1: as an engineer, the inventor of the Diesel engine. He 13 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: was born in Paris to German parents on March eighteenth 14 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:45,840 Speaker 1: of eighteen fifty eight, and he lived in France until 15 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:48,519 Speaker 1: the family was deported in eighteen seventy due to the 16 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:52,559 Speaker 1: Franco German War. Although the family was deported to England, 17 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: Diesel was sent to his father's hometown of Augsburg, Germany. 18 00:00:56,720 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 1: He showed an enormous aptitude for engineering, as un as 19 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 1: he enrolled in school there and he decided to be 20 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:06,280 Speaker 1: an engineer at the age of fourteen. As he continued 21 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: his studies, he was really captivated by lectures he attended 22 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: that were given by Carl von Linden. These were on thermodynamics, 23 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: and what he became really focused on was trying to 24 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:22,680 Speaker 1: replace the steam engine, which was incredibly inefficient. It takes 25 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 1: a lot of energy to make the steam required to 26 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 1: run a steam engine. About of the energy used in 27 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 1: a steam engine is just wasted, and at this point, trains, 28 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 1: ships and factories were pretty much all running on steam. 29 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: People were mostly traveling by horse. There also were some 30 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: internal combustion engines in use, but they also were very inefficient. 31 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: So Diesel was working on an engine that would inject 32 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: fuel into the engines combustion chamber, where the air inside 33 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: of it was compressed to the point that it was 34 00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: very hot. That would cause the fuel to spontaneously ignited. 35 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: So this engine worked without an ignition system and without 36 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 1: spark plugs. Today we associate diesel engines with diesel fuel, 37 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:12,920 Speaker 1: but Rudolph Diesel was designing them to run on vegetable 38 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:17,960 Speaker 1: or peanut oil. His first engine was more than twice 39 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: as efficient as a steam engine, and he got a 40 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:23,680 Speaker 1: patent for it in eighteen ninety two. But he kept 41 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: on improving his design, trying to make it more and 42 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 1: more efficient, and at first his his inventions seemed to 43 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: be catching on. He was making a fair amount of money. 44 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:36,200 Speaker 1: By nineteen twelve, there were tens of thousands of diesel 45 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: engines and use, especially in factories, most of them replacing 46 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,519 Speaker 1: steam engines. But these early models of the diesel engine 47 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: had some problems. It was true they were a lot 48 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: more efficient than what they were replacing, but they often 49 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: weren't as reliable as what they were replacing, so dissatisfied 50 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: customers demanded their money back. On September twenty nine nine, 51 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:05,239 Speaker 1: Rudolph Diesel was traveling from Antwerp, Belgium, to Harwick, England, 52 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:08,440 Speaker 1: on the steamship Dresden. He was headed there to meet 53 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:11,120 Speaker 1: with the British Navy about the idea of using diesel 54 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: engines and submarines, and that night he disappeared from the deck. 55 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: In the morning, his bed was found not to have 56 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:22,360 Speaker 1: been slept in. Then, on October a sailor spotted a 57 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: body in the water that turned out to be diesels. 58 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:29,920 Speaker 1: There is a lot of mystery still surrounding this conspiracy 59 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: theories started circulating all over the place at the time, 60 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 1: connected to everything from the oncoming First World War to 61 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: just in general, the British wanting to not have to 62 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: pay licensing fees on his invention. It was officially ruled 63 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: that he had taken his own life, but many people 64 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: believed and still believed, that he was murdered. The diesel 65 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 1: engine continued to be incredibly influential in the years after 66 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: Diesel's death. Though it was used in railroads, and especially 67 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: in the years after World War Two, it became standard 68 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: in trucks and busses. The diesel engines high efficiency made 69 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: it a lot more economical for hauling really heavy loads 70 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: of cargo or passengers than the other options available at 71 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: the time, and of course today there are cars with 72 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,479 Speaker 1: diesel engines, including those that run on bio diesel. Although 73 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:26,160 Speaker 1: diesel automobile engines hadn't been developed yet during Rudolph Diesel's lifetime, 74 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: he was working on much larger engines for much larger uses. 75 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: Thanks to Christopher Hasciotis for his research work on today's episode, 76 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 1: Antatari Harrison for all her audio work on this podcast, 77 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: you can Subscribe to This Day in History Class on 78 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:43,279 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and where Rails to get your podcasts. 79 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: Tune in tomorrow for a colossal aircraft. Hey I'm Eves 80 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: and welcome to This Day in History Class, a show 81 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:12,280 Speaker 1: that uncovers history one day at a time. The day 82 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: was September twenty nine, nineteen fifty seven. A waste tank 83 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:21,599 Speaker 1: exploded at Mayak plutonium processing plant in the Soviet Union. 84 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: The explosion led to the contamination of nearby towns, but 85 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: the Soviet government resorted to covering up the Kistum disaster. 86 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:34,279 Speaker 1: As it's now known, people in the area are still 87 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:39,280 Speaker 1: suffering from the effects of the nuclear contamination. In nineteen 88 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:42,599 Speaker 1: fifty seven, during the Cold War, the Soviet Union was 89 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: embroiled in a nuclear arms race with the United States. 90 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 1: The Kistum Nuclear Energy Complex, then known as Cheliabinsk forty, 91 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: was located in the Ural mountains, several miles east of 92 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:59,240 Speaker 1: the city of Kaistum. The nuclear reactors and plutonium processing 93 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: plant were built at the complex in the nineteen forties 94 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: for the development of nuclear weapons. The city built to 95 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:10,719 Speaker 1: house the workers was called julia Binsk. The secret nuclear 96 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 1: facility is now called Mayak and the surrounding city is 97 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 1: known as Ozyorsk. There was such a push to develop 98 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:21,159 Speaker 1: nuclear weapons that safety and research on the effects of 99 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: radioactivity on people and the environment was not a priority. 100 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:29,479 Speaker 1: Even before the nineteen fifty seven disaster, Mayak was the 101 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:34,080 Speaker 1: source of many hazards and accidents. Workers did not wear 102 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 1: much protective gear. Nuclear reactors dumped radioactive waste right into 103 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:44,159 Speaker 1: the Taka River. Villagers who used the contaminated water faced radiation, 104 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: poisoning and other illnesses. Though there have been many accidents 105 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: at the plant since it opened, the one it's infamous 106 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: for happened on September ninety seven. Cooling systems surrounded the 107 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: buried tanks that contained liquid reactor way East, but one 108 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 1: of the cooling systems had been malfunctioning. The waist grew 109 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: so hot from atomic decay that the system failed. The 110 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: tank's cooling liquid evaporated, and the seventy eight tons of 111 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:18,000 Speaker 1: radioactive waste inside the tank combusted. The lid burst, and 112 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 1: the explosion created an aerosol plume of radioactive fallout that 113 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 1: was spread over about eight thousand square miles or twenty 114 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 1: square kilometers, though around two hundred and seventy thousand people 115 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:34,640 Speaker 1: lived in that area, only eleven thousand people were evacuated, 116 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:40,160 Speaker 1: and evacuations were slow and left many people behind. The 117 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: Soviet government did not tell evacuees what happened, and the 118 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 1: people who remained in the area were exposed to radiation 119 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 1: as they were tasked with destroying crops and livestock. In fact, 120 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: the Soviets kept the cause of the disaster a secret, 121 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: even as radiation sickness sent many people to the hospital 122 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,960 Speaker 1: and people began dying. The Western press did receive reports 123 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: that there had been a nuclear accident in the Soviet Union, 124 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: but those reports were a little more than rumor until 125 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: the dissident Soviet biologists zures A met Bedif, reported on 126 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:16,559 Speaker 1: the disaster in the journal News Scientists in nineteen seventy six. 127 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: The Soviet government continued to deny the occurrence of the 128 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: disaster until it began declassifying relevant documents in nineteen eighty nine. 129 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: It's been positive that the U. S c i A. 130 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 1: Knew about the disaster for years before it was uncovered, 131 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:35,640 Speaker 1: but kept it a secret and later downplayed the severity 132 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:38,960 Speaker 1: of the accident to avoid selling doubt about the safety 133 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: of American nuclear plants. The Kashtum disaster was rated at 134 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:47,559 Speaker 1: a level six as a serious accident on the International 135 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:51,559 Speaker 1: Nuclear and Radiological Events Scale, making it the third most 136 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:56,440 Speaker 1: severe nuclear accident ever. The two above it major accidents 137 00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: rated as level sevens on the scale are the disasters 138 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 1: at Fuka Shima and Chernobyl. The reason the disaster is 139 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:05,840 Speaker 1: remembered as the cash Um disaster, even though it didn't 140 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:08,600 Speaker 1: take place there, is because people were told that a 141 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 1: coal boiler explosion in the city caused a mess that 142 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 1: residents were made to clean up with no protective gear. 143 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:19,559 Speaker 1: Russia has claimed that the plant stopped dumping its waste 144 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:23,120 Speaker 1: into the Taka River, though some people have questioned whether 145 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 1: the dumps ever really stopped. Some villagers who lived along 146 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 1: the river were relocated, but many still live in their 147 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:36,680 Speaker 1: contaminated villages. Cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, and other health issues 148 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 1: occur at higher rates in places along the river. The 149 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: Mayak plant is still in operation, but it no longer 150 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:49,199 Speaker 1: processes weapons great plutonium. It now reprocesses spent nuclear fuel. 151 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: I'm eve Chef Coote, and hopefully you know a little 152 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:57,240 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If there's 153 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 1: something that I missed in an episode, you can share 154 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:04,160 Speaker 1: with everybody else on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook at t 155 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: D i h C podcast. Thanks for joining me on 156 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:13,360 Speaker 1: this trip through time. See you here in the exact 157 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:29,680 Speaker 1: same spot tomorrow. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 158 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:32,440 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 159 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.