Archive for May 2023
Dr. Boss and the Martians
By now, you’ve probably seen our Outreach Astronomer, Dr. Rapson, talking about the new discovery of exoplanets around the TRAPPIST-1 system. Or maybe you’ve heard her talking about the coming solar eclipse, or the discovery of water on Mars, or any of a number of astronomical topics. She’s fulfilling a role that the representatives from Dudley have…
Read MoreEdison and the Eclipse: Chickens Come Home to Roost
I mentioned the eclipse of 1878 a couple of weeks ago. I am now required by the historian’s code of ethics and the miSci by-laws to mention the stories around Edison’s trip out to Wyoming. There are a lot of stories. At the age of 31, Edison was already a folkhero. Some of it stemmed from…
Read MoreFrom the Library: “A Plan for Securing Observations of the Variable Stars”
Pamphlets were the blog posts of the nineteenth century. They could be quickly and cheaply produced, then distributed either for free or for a few pennies to cover printing costs. If popular, they could be bound and go from being ephemera to being permanent. One fan of the preserving the media, Samuel Johnson, explained the…
Read MoreFrom the Library: Solar Cooker
Here’s another “what is it?” from the image collection: If you’re like me, you associate the phrase “solar cooker” with a summer camp construction project made out of cardboard and aluminum foil, used to toast a marshmallow. But that’s not the limit of solar ovens. At the extreme end of the range, the Odeillo solar furnace…
Read More