Showing posts with label Superman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Superman. Show all posts

May 30 - Krypton Discovered

  Posted on May 30, 2022     


This is an update of my post published on May 30, 2011:



On this date in 1898, krypton was discovered.

And by krypton, I don't mean Superman's planet!

I am of course referring to the chemical element krypton, atomic number 36. One of the “inert” or noble gases, krypton doesn't react with other elements (and only rarely can scientists force it to make compounds). Can you name the other noble gases?

Scottish researcher William Ramsey had already - several years earlier, with Lord Rayleigh - discovered the noble gases helium and argon. Ramsey worked with his English student Morris Travers to search for more gases in the helium family. On this day in 1898, they boiled liquefied air until they got rid of the water, oxygen, nitrogen, helium, and argon. The residue produced a unique spectrum with bright yellow and green lines. Ramsey and Travers named this element krypton because it had been hidden—like the other noble gases, colorless, odorless, and tasteless—and kryptos is Greek for hidden.

In the next few weeks Ramsey and Travers discovered two more noble gases, neon and xenon. That means that Ramsey was responsible for discovering almost the entire column of noble gases (lacking only radon)!


So...what about Krypton the planet?

In the DC Comics universe, Krypton is a planet, the birthplace of Superman, that was tragically destroyed by a nuclear chain reaction in its core. The explosion created kryptonite, a material that is the one weakness of the otherwise invulnerable Superman.

Kryptonite is sometimes used as a metaphor for one's great weakness, just like Achilles' heel. For example, a dieter could (exaggeratedly) say, “Chocolate chip cookies are my kryptonite.”


For more on krypton and other noble gases, check out Chem 4 Kids.



(Last Monday in May)



Memorial Day in the U.S.A.
(last Monday in May) 




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June 18 – Clark Kent's Birthday

Posted on June 18, 2017

Clark Kent, above, might celebrate his birthday on a
different date than Superman, below.

Even though they're the same guy!


 
If you're a fictional character, should you even HAVE a birthday?

When we talk about some fictional characters' birthdays, like Mickey Mouse's birthday, we really mean the release date of their first movie or book or comic strip what have you.

But sometimes a fictional character has such an extensive backstory, the writer / creator of that character has even invented that character's birthday.

In the case of Superman, there are at least four birthdates!

According to Action Comics #149, in 1950, Superman, also known as Kal-El, was born on Krypton sometime in October, but later comics of the 1960s through 1980s gave Superman a rarer birthdate: February 29.

Clark Kent - the human that Kal-El pretends to be - supposedly celebrates his birthday today (June 18), but that is really the anniversary of the Kent family finding him. But one comic, 2009's Superman: Secret Origin #1, depicts Kent celebrating his birthday on December 1, for some unknown-to-me reason.

Kal-El (aka Clark Kent AND aka Superman)
when he was first found.

Actually, according to the DC Multiverse Historian, there are even more possible Superman / Clark Kent birthdays bandied about! 

But let's skip away from fiction to real people, and talk about real birthdays!

Did you know...?

Many people from war-torn areas don't actually know the date of their birth. For example, a LOT of Syrians are recorded as being born on January 1, but the fact is that those who don't know their actual birthdate are assigned January 1 birthdays in the year they were born (or the best estimate of the year they were born). 

Some people, including observant Jehovah's Witnesses, don't celebrate birthdays for religious reasons. Some other people, including some Muslims, have no birthday celebration traditions in their culture and are reluctant to adopt Western traditions. Still others just don't have extra money for throwing parties, buying gifts, or even making a cake.


Although almost all of the peoples in the world have much more contact with one other these days than they used to, and to some extent popular traditions have spread far and wide, in some Asian and African nations celebrations of individual birthdays are uncommon.

In Vietnam and Korea, actual anniversaries of births are not acknoledged much. Instead, part of the New Year's tradition is adding one more year to everyone's age. In a way, it's like everyone in the entire nation having the same birthday!

Check out more birthday traditions here.
 

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July 3 – Anniversary of Superman Day

Posted on July 3, 2014

Today is the anniversary of the very first actor to play Superman.

(His name was Ray Middleton.)

In the very first Superman costume.

(It said “Superman” above the “S” on his chest.)

(And it included lace-up boots.)

Middleton played Superman at the World's Fair on this date in 1940 (or some people claim 1939). There was a special edition of DC Comics on sale at the fair, and publicists were hoping that a personal appearance of the man of steel would spark interest and promote sales.


There was a Super-boy and Super-girl contest, a live radio show, and a parade with floats, elephants, and of course Superman himself! There was also a release of 10,000 balloons, some containing coupons for Superman-themed prizes. (I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be allowed now, since balloons are dangerous for wildlife.)

By the way, some people celebrate a modern Superman Day (sometimes called Man of Steel Day) on June 12, and there is a four-day festival called Superman Celebration in Illinois each year, also in June.

My favorite story about Superman in the 1940s is the one about the fictitious hero bringing down the real-life villains, the Ku Klux Klan. Of course, Superman had a lot of help – a real-life hero named Stetson Kennedy.

After World War II was over, the white-supremacy organization the Ku Klux Klan had a huge upswing in popularity. Membership was increasing by leaps and bounds, local law enforcement was loathe to take on the well-connected group, and the Klan's political power was growing as well.

Kennedy decided to infiltrate the Klan so he could expose its secrets, but like I said, the police didn't want to even try to build a case against the Klan.

That's when Kennedy got creative. He turned to the writers of the hugely popular Superman radio show. It was one of those right-places-at-the-right-time situations, because the Superman writers were in need of villains. The Nazis had been battled and vanquished (by Superman and in real life) – what now? the writers wondered.
Thanks to Kennedy's research, the Superman writers crafted a 16-episode series titled “Clan of the Fiery Cross.” The villains of the series were men in white hoods – men who had all manner of secret code words, special handshakes, and solemn rituals that were exactly the same as the ones used in the real KKK.

Superman fought against the Clan, and he won. Little boys who wanted to be just like the Man of Steel playacted some of the action that they'd heard on the radio show, and in so doing made those secret code words and rituals seem silly and childish. People began to laugh at the KKK's ceremonies, seeing it as a bunch of grown men wearing sheets and indulging in overdramatic foolishness. Rather that the KKK losing favor because it was anti-human rights, it lost favor because it was ridiculous.

But the good news is, it really did lose a lot of its mystique and popularity. Recruiting fell to zero, the organization's charter was canceled, members started skipping meetings in droves, and whenever the members tried to appear in public in their white hoods, onlookers didn't shrink away in fear or clap their hands in support – instead, they laughed and pointed fingers.

Some historians say that Superman (and Stetson Kennedy) pretty much destroyed the KKK's growth and vastly reduced its size and influence.

That alone is a very good reason to say hooray for the Man of Steel today!


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