Posted by BGH
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On this day, July 20, in 1969 man first stepped on the moon. Thirty-nine years ago, this feat was a scientific and engineering marvel, and the nation showed great interest. A time where science, knowledge and ingenuity was valued by the whole of this nation unfortunately seems to be left behind in the sixties/seventies.
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"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"
Posted by BGH
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We have a "Quotes Of The Day" widget in the sidebar and I read them all daily.
Almost always there is one which makes you think and sometimes more. One of today's is especially correct and thought provoking, I did not want to let it pass without pointing it out.
- The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.
- Frank Herbert
Posted by Susan
It's summer in the Midwest. It's hot. It's so damned hot!
Outside, that is.
I truly dislike sweat. Even as a child I disliked summer and being hot. I spent much of the time reading in the basement. It was cooler in the basement because there was a dehumidifier to keep the area from getting damp and moldy.
No, not a nice finished basement like folks have now. No TV. No radio. But it was cooler than any place else I could find. So I haunted the local library, took home stacks of books and spent many afternoons curled up in the basement to read.
Thanks to Willis Carrier for the modern day air conditioning that we now take for granted.
He didn't set out to invent air conditioning. The original problem in 1902 was that of a printing company in Brooklyn. They were having trouble due to the paper expanding and contracting which caused the color to run. At the age of 25, Carrier solved the problem for them by controlling the humidity.
In 1906, he solved a problem for a South Carolina cotton mill when their spindles spun so quickly that they were so hot they would burn the workers even after several minutes of being shut down.
He even solved the problem of a pasta maker who was having problems drying macaroni.
There's an excellent article from Time Magazine online which is of the opinion that Carrier is one of the Top 100 people in the 20th century.
The article also indicates he was a plain ol' nice guy:
What a concept!
Yet Carrier was without question the leading engineer of his day on the conditioning of air (more than 80 patents). Carrier was also an exceptionally nice man, according to all reports, modest and sometimes droll, and a farsighted manager — he devoutly believed in teamwork and mentoring decades before the management consultants discovered it. One of his other management precepts, born of his own experience, is that time spent staring into space while thinking is not time wasted.
Posted by BGH
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375 years ago today the catholic church exerted influence over science findings they disagreed with, good thing in today's progressive, forward thinking society that kind of thing has ceased [sarcasm].
June 22, 1633 • Galileo Renounced His Views before the Inquisition
Does this sound familiar? Does the fight over stem cell research bear any of the same characteristics? How about the battle of evolution vs. intelligent design?
There is no doubt the church was in the wrong. A commission formed by Pope John Paul II in the 1980s admitted as much. But was it fully responsible? There were, in fact, two other parties at fault.
One was Galileo himself. His vanity, sarcastic words, contempt for lesser minds and half-truths had earned him fierce enemies among the intellectuals of Europe--especially among the Jesuits. Galileo even fudged at least one experiment.
The second set of culprits were naturalists (the scientists of the day). Advocates of the pagan philsopher Aristotle resisted Galileo's findings. The pope and cardinals would not have acted if dozens of these "scientists" had not said Galileo was wrong. Some hated Galileo, who had hurt their feelings. Others felt that Aristotle and the Bible should not be overturned without solid evidence. It did not matter that both Kepler and Galileo had shown that the Bible could be interpreted to agree with the new science. Their own eyes showed them that the sun, not the earth moves. Galileo could not provide hard evidence to the contrary. Solid proof for the earth's movement around the sun was two hundred years away, when tiny shifts in star positions and subtle pendulum motions were finally measured.
Posted by BGH
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These are a set of thoughts that drive my skepticism and inspire me towards continuous inquiry.
Posted by BGH
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[Edit: Original title had a typo in the year, it was 1965, not 1963]
Very Cool!
In the sixties the space race was on and our country took great pride in technological a scientific advancements. The cold war served as a catalyst to make the leap into space and eventually to the moon.
It was an exceptional time in human history for any person who loved science and served to inspire a generation. Unfortunately, in modern culture, much of space news is often overlooked and shuttle launches are not paid much attention unless there is tragedy.
What a great image.
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"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"
Posted by JCE
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Here is a commercial from the Discovery Channel that pretty much sums up how I feel:
I love science, I love discovering new things, I love thinking, I love the earth and the moon and the stars and the sun, I love watching people and how they interact, I love watching things grow...yeah, I love the world!
(h/t to BGH for sending me the link)
Posted by BGH
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Very Cool! The Chandra X-ray Observatory has detected remnants of the most recent (that we know of), nearby supernova.
This supernova occurred within the Milky Way galaxy about 140 years ago, though it was not visible during that time due to it's location near the center of the galaxy and being obscured by gas and dust. The composite image above is beautiful, and to see a larger, full screen image size click on the picture, of click this link for a Flash application that allows you to zoom in on the object.
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"These things I'll carry on
And when you're gone I'll honor you
Each day, however long"
Posted by JCE
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Every time I research one of these women, I become more and more impressed by human abilities and less and less impressed with cultural laws. These women have left permanent footprints on the path of intellectual growth and yet their contributions are largely overlooked in the schoolbooks and by the media in favor of equally accomplished men. This gap in information has been our loss, but fortunately their work lives on, recognized or not.
Today's Woman in Science focuses on Emilie du Chatelet who, I must admit is my favorite so far. She received education because it was decided early on by her father that she would never achieve enough beauty to secure a good marriage. Born December 17, 1706, against all odds she succeeded in nearly everything she studied. She ran through tutors, frustrating them with endless questions and outpacing them intellectually. Fencing, riding and gymnastics were among her physical pursuits and by the age of 12 she was fluent in Latin, Greek, Italian and German. She was an accomplished musician, actress, songstress and dancer and a high-stakes gambler using mathematic formulations to assist her card skills. She did, in fact, get married, but she did so much more than that and I hope her father eventually wised up to the fact that by educating her he helped to nurture one of the most beautiful minds in history....
A synopsis of her work from Wikipedia:
In 1737, Châtelet published a paper entitled Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu, based upon her research into the science of fire, that predicted what is today known as infra-red radiation and the nature of light. Her book Institutions de Physique (“Lessons in Physics”) appeared in 1740; it was presented as a review of new ideas in science and philosophy to be studied by her thirteen-year-old son, but it incorporated and sought to reconcile complex ideas from the leading thinkers of the time. In it she combined the theories of Gottfried Leibniz and the practical observations of Willem 's Gravesande to show that the energy of a moving object is proportional to its mass and the square of its velocity (E ∝ mv²), and not directly proportional, as had previously been believed by Newton, Voltaire and others. The exact formula was later shown to be Ek = (1/2) mv², where Ek is the kinetic energy of an object, m its mass and v its velocity.
In the year of her death, she completed the work regarded as her outstanding achievement: her translation into French, with her own commentary, of Newton’s Principia Mathematica, including her derivation from its principles of mechanics the notion of conservation of energy
Posted by BGH
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These are not Cassini Spacecraft or Hubble quality, they are taken with a 5" scope and a Sony Alpha A100 DSLR.
First attempt at Saturn, I only had a little time this evening to try this out. I tried a few different things with shutter speed and white balance, I will play around with the settings even more when I have more time.
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Posted by JCE
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From Women In Science:
(370?-415 C.E.) SOME HISTORIANS THINK HER DEATH HERALDED THE END OF FREE THOUGHT IN THE ANCIENT WORLD. BUT HER WORK CONTINUED TO BE STUDIED FOR OVER A THOUSAND YEARS AFTER SHE WAS MURDERED.
Letters addressed simply to “the Philosopher” were delivered to her at the Museum in Alexandria, the intellectual center of the world in the 4th C. Self-possessed and confident, she had no qualms about addressing an academy full of men. In fact, Hypatia’s intellect surpassed even that her father Theon, the scholar.
Hypatia was born mid century and studied mathematics and philosophy with her father. Together they wrote an eleven part commentary on the works of the astronomer Ptolemy. She was instrumental in the refinement of the astrolabe, hydroscope, and planisphere. Hypatia studied Plato and spent her life revising the works of Euclid. Today’s students can thank her for making geometry courses easier to understand.
Hypatia was a scholar who believed in science, not religion. She was caught in a power struggle between Cyril, the Bishop, and her friend Orestes, the civil governor. Inflamed by Cyril, a mob of Christian fanatics flayed her to death with broken tiles. Most of Alexandria’s scholarly works were destroyed in the service of bigotry and civil war when religious authorities purged the Library and Museum. But 12 to 14 hundred years after her death Descartes, Leibniz and Newton all based their work upon Hypatia’s theories. Remnants of her letters remain. Among the nuggets of blasphemy she passed on to her students are these words: “Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.”
More information on the burning of the Library at Alexandria
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Posted by BGH
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H/T to Universe Today.
These are some of the most spine shivering, awe-inspiring images of the terrestrial surface on another planet. The detail is amazing.
I know I have said this before but, the next generation of space exploration is going to be very interesting.
Click on the images for full size views.
Posted by BGH
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In a bit of humorous news this morning I ran across an article about two men from Hawaii that have filed a lawsuit (link) against U.S. Department of Energy, Fermilab, the National Science Foundation and CERN claiming the Large Hadron Collider built on the border between France and Switzerland is a "doomsday machine".
Whenever mankind appears to be on the verge of learning something fundamental about the nature of the universe the naysayers come out of the woodwork. I think this suit should actually add to the citation, "doomsday machine" an additional two words, "for ignorance". I can understand concerns that some may hold about the nature of the experiments to be held at the LHC, but I think the magnitude is misunderstood. The amount of material to be used in the machine during experimentation is of such little mass that "doomsday" would be near impossible, but as in science there is always the possibility. This is why massive, safety precautions have been taken to eliminate nearly all probability of an accident.
I for one, look forward to what we may learn during the operation of the LHC.
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Posted by BGH
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Well, I got the T-Ring and the T-Adapter (discussed here), I was so excited to try them out. I wish I had this set up for the eclipse last month. Here are my first, of what I am sure will be many, astro-photos.
The moon in all its glory! I toyed around with various white balance, film speed and shutter settings. Click here to see the full set, or click one of these images to see the full size. The detail is great!!
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| Lunar Photos With Telescope |
Posted by BGH
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I have had a decent telescope for almost two years now. What I purchased is by far not a 'top of the line' model but it has provided me with many hours of star gazing and a lot of enjoyment. My 'scope is a Celestron Maksutov-Cassegrain C130, decent size, not really a "light bucket" but still very capable of providing some great viewing.
But there has been something missing, I have always wanted to experiment with astro-photography. When I got the scope I had an okay camera that I mostly used to photograph my son's hockey games. It was not really even performing that job very well, as the lens size didn't lend itself to fast motion or low lighting, it was a Kodak DX7590. It wasn't a DSLR which would allow me to change lenses so I was kind of stuck.
Well, last year I finally upgraded that old camera to a Sony Alpha A100. I chose the Sony because their company had purchased the old Minolta Maxxum technology and I had a few very old, still high quality Maxxum lenses from a film camera that bit the dust some time ago. Let me say, I couldn't be happier with the camera and so far, and I have not one complaint. It does an excellent job with the hockey photographs and even surpassed expectations when I recently shot the lunar eclipse(my photos) with a f/500mm lens, tri-pod and remote. The remote was a"Winter Solstice" present and one of the last pieces of equipment I needed before finally making the commitment to purchase the adapters for attaching the camera to the telescope.
Well, this week I ordered the t-ring and the t-adapter needed to begin taking astro-photos, so be prepared. If the pictures turn out as well as I hope they will, you might just be inundated with my very amateur astro-photography. Don't look for any NASA or Hubble type images, most likely they will be very blurry images of Saturn, Jupiter or an million and a half images of the moon.
Next up.... a solar filter for imaging the sun, YAY!
Consider this fair warning.
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Posted by BGH
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NASA has announced that with the Hubble Space Telescope, they have, for the first time detected an organic molecule on an extrasolar planet. This is not 'life', but organic molecules are believed to be necessary in order for there to be life.
With this news my thoughts immediately turn to the awe and wonder of the universe that Carl Sagan helped instill in me so many years ago. Every passing year we inch closer and closer to being able to detect life (if it exists) elsewhere in the cosmos.
Such a discovery would have such an interesting impact on religious sensibilities. What would happen to the beliefs in the biblical 'special creation'? Would the findings or evidence even be accepted by the uber-religious or would it be dismissed as is evolutionary theory? Would this cause so many believers to question their faith, their holy books or even their god?
Naturally, there will be denouncements and rationalizations, but I wonder about the bigger picture...what will the majority do with their beliefs? Can a scientific, awe inspiring finding such as exobiological life, change someone's faith? Or, would they merely alter their doctrine to accommodate the new data?
Oh well, the next few years/decades of discovery should prove to be very interesting and entertaining, if we all don’t get blown up by suicide bombers before then.
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Posted by BGH
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I am a first shift working man that on normal weekdays needs to get out of bed around 6:00 - 6:15am. So, as it is, most days I do not get the 'pleasure' of catching the Coast to Coast radio show, which comes on at midnight, with any of their numerous hosts... Art Bell, George Noory or the newest addition, Ian Punnet. On the weekends I try to make the painful effort of catching the show in order to get an idea of the multitude of delusional beliefs, conspiracy theories and other general non-sense out there in 'underground' America. Last night was special... specially painful.
On the show the guest announced was Film Producer of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (view movie trailers), Mark Mathis. Now, I mean this in the kindest way possible, he is a pitiful puke of a human being and a fucking jackass.
I would not say this if I thought he was innocently deluded into his belief of 'Intelligent Design', but alas, from the ridiculous claims being made, he sounded more as if he was practicing a form of cognitive dissonance. He had, what seemed to be a intense hard-on for what he called, 'the atheistic science' conspiracy. His claims were outlandish, and his fallacious reasoning was not challenged in the least by the host, Ian Punnet. Instead it seemed to be an hour of attacking so called 'darwinism'.
According to Mathis, there has been a systmatic exclusion of any origin theory which proposes the idea that there is design in the universe that may be better explained by an intelligent source, rather than from random processes. As an example, he talked about the recent controversy involving Guillermo Gonzalez, astronomer and author of The Privileged Planet. Mathis said Gonzalez, the author of 68 peer-reviewed papers, was denied tenure at Iowa State University because of his views on intelligent design.
It was a painful experience, nowhere did the host ask why magic and superstition should be included in science realm, at one point I even turned off the show because I needed a break from the droning stupidity. I was screaming at the radio, aggravated with the host for his lack of challenges and in the end I had to relegate myself to the fact that this show is all about wishful thinking and people who want to believe in things like the paranormal and pseudoscience. When I turned the radio back on it was nearing the end of the interview and a caller had phoned in to challenge the host and the guest on the issue of allowing that which is clearly not science and cannot be tested to be taught in our science classes and institutions. He was effectively blown off, without really responding to his question, so the host could 'let go' of the guest.Posted by JCE
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I am so monumentally frustrated with the news headlines released around the study on spanking that I could scream!
Once again, the media has managed to take non-news and turn it into ratings generating non-news - way to go! Here is an example:
Spanking may lead to sexual problems
(Every single headline regarding this study read pretty much the same way and you could have hardly missed them so I won't bother listing all of them here.)
There is so much wrong with this it is hard to know where to begin...but I'll try:
Posted by BGH
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See pictures in full size here, Lunar Eclipse Pictures.
Song "Wrong Company" from Flogging Molly," Within A Mile From Home".
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