Category Archives: History of Science and Technology

Oxygen on Earth

As my regular readers can tell, I do not passively sit and watch television. While I am watching a program (history or science-oriented, nothing else), I have my computer right there and I actively research what is being said during the program. Last weekend, I was watching an interesting program on the History channel called "How the Earth was Made". This particular program was about the formation of the Earth and it contained an excellent section on the generation of atmospheric oxygen (transcript of program). In my opinion, the star of the show was a little rocky structure called a stromatolite (Figure 1). A stromatolite is a layered, rock-like structure formed when shallow-water sediments are trapped in films of microorganisms. Continue reading

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Trigonometry, WWII Torpedoes, and a Museum Docent

Introduction I received a message a few weeks ago from a docent at an East Coast museum. He was using an article I wrote for the Wikipedia years ago to demonstrate an application of trigonometry to high school kids. In … Continue reading

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Neat Use of Gravity Measurements

Quote of the Day Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. — Steve Jobs One of my sons is into archeology. Whenever he talks about it, I always find the discussion interesting. We were talking … Continue reading

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Interesting Old Submarine Photo

A co-worker and I were discussing strange photos we have seen. I mentioned a photo that I saw years ago that showed USS S-5's tail sticking out of the water. During the 1920s, submarines that submerged occasionally did not come … Continue reading

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Little Stories from the History of Science and Technology

Introduction I have always been interested in the connectedness of people. The theory that each of us is separated by only six degrees from anyone else is a theory I like to test. If you examine things carefully, you may … Continue reading

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Max Planck was Nice Guy

I am reading a great book called "Plutonium: A History of the World's Most Dangerous Element" by Jeremy Bernstein. The history of plutonium has been touched by many of the greatest minds in physics. One of the more intriguing people … Continue reading

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