21st September 1842

Birth of the inventor of the vacuum flask

Kincardine-born chemist, James Dewar, needed to keep gasses cold so he could study them in their liquid form. He achieved this when he came up with the concept of the vacuum flask, in which the storage chamber sits within a sealed outer sleeve, from which all the air has been removed. With no air between the inner and outer layers there’s no way for external temperatures to be transmitted between them and affect the temperature of the stored liquid.

The flask was later popularised as a household item, particularly beloved of motorists and explorers who used it not to keep gasses cold, but hot drinks hot.

 

 

Other events that occured in September

  • 01

    Author Walter Scott dies
    Walter Scott was one of Scotland’s most accomplished writers, responsible for several classics, including Rob Roy, Waverley, and Ivanhoe.

  • 02

    BBC Pacific Quay opens
    Prime Minister Gordon Brown opened the BBC’s new studios and Scottish headquarters at Glasgow’s Pacific Quay in September 2007

  • 03

    First match played at the new Ibrox Stadium
    The new Ibrox Stadium, which opened in 1981, had more seating than the earlier stadium and was based on designs from West Germany.

  • 04

    Grampian Television goes on air
    Grampian Television formerly covered north Scotland, Northern Isles, Western Isles, Grampian, parts of the Highlands, Tayside, and north Fife.

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