ScienceHistory

= S cience H istory = ==== Burke and Wills Expedition | Scientific Discoveries | Inventions ====

Melbourne has been home to many great inventors throughout its history. In 1874 the underwater torpedo was invented by Louis Brennan. Arthur James Arnot invented the electric drill in 1889. More recent inventions include the frozen embryo baby (1984) and anti-flu medication (1996). Most of these inventions make Melbourne what it is today.

**Burke and Wills Expedition:**[[image:Science_s_002.jpg width="240" height="155" align="right" caption="The Royal Society of Victoria"]]
In 1854, the Philosophical Institute was founded. It would become the Royal Society of Victoria in 1859. It's an organization that aims "To contribute to the advancement of science and, through science, to the good of the Victorian community". In 1857, the institute created an Exploration Committee. A $1000 donation was made in August 1858 by Ambrose Kyte towards the Exploration Committee. This caused the establishment of the Exploration Fund Raising Committee and a decision was made to import camels into Australia.

In 1860 Robert O'Hara Burke was appointed as the leader of the Victorian Exploring Expedition. The aim of the expedition was to cross the Australian continent from north to south. George Landells became second-in-command, and was assigned to looking after the camels. William John Wills was appointed surveyor and astronomer and also third-in-command. As the expedition travelled through New South Wales, Landells began to argue with Burke over the management of the camels. After seeing the camels across the Darling river he resigned, leaving Wills as second in command.

Between Melbourne and Cooper Creek, Burke made a lot of changes to his team, and many of the members were left at a depot camp in Menindee. The other members of the expedition kept going and eventually made it so close to the Gulf of Carpentaria they could taste salt water in the creeks. However, they couldn't navigate the mangroves and tidal flats close to the coast and had to turn back.

By that time, there were only four men left in the expedition - Burke, Wills, Gray and King. They travelled back south through the wet season and became gradually weaker as time passed. On 17 April 1861, Gray died. Burke insisted on burying him, which took an entire day. Four days later, on the evening of the 21 April, the three remaining men reached the depot at Cooper Creek, only to find the depot party and left earlier that day. The last of their camels died in a final, desperate attempt to reach Mt Hopeless. Without the camels, they couldn't carry enough water to make it across the Strzelecki desert, and they all returned to Cooper Creek. By early July both Burke and Wills were dead.

King survived, and was looked after by the Yandruwandha for three months. A rescue party led by Alfred Howitt found King on 15 September and brought him back to Melbourne. He was hailed as a hero, but never fully recovered from his ordeal and died twelve years later aged 33.

**Scientific Discoveries**:
One past discovery was made by the Bureau of Meteorology. In the 1970's Neville Nicholls discovered 'El Nino', a weather system that causes dry conditions in Australia and in the tropics. El Nino occurs when water from deep within the ocean rises to the top. This deep sea water contains a lot of nutrients which plankton to grow, supplying more food for krill to eat. More krill are able to grow, so it affects the whole food chain in a positive way. The opposite of this is La Nina, which creates wetter conditions.

Inventions:
One of the many great inventions was the 'black box'. The black box was invented in 1957 by David Warren and was used to record flight data on airplanes, but at first no one was interested in it. Australia only became interested in the black box after the crash of an aircraft in Australia. The government then passed a law that stated that all airplanes have to have a black box.

Another very important invention was the bionic ear. The bionic ear began development in Australia in 1970 and the prototype was completed in 1978. Around the 1990's the bionic ear was very large due to it's external components, but gradually became smaller and smaller and is still in the process of improvement. The bionic ear is used by deaf people or people severely hard of hearing. The bionic ear was invented in Melbourne University and they are currently working on the bionic eye, a device that will be used for blind people.

The Rotary Air Engine was also invented in Melbourne and was built by Angelo Di Petro. The date the rotary air engine was invented is unknown because it was continually being perfected, however it is believed that it was invented around 2010. The rotary air engine is a motor vehicle that runs on compressed air. The air is used to power a rotary engine. The engine produces no pollutants and is very efficient because it only has two moving parts.

Another invention was the microwave landing system, invented in 1975 by John Paul Wild. The microwave landing system was a landing guidance system that used microwaves and was tested successfully at the Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne. The microwave landing systems is a landing guidance system for airplanes and it is designed so it doesn't get interference from other airports (transmissions).

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