Today in Science History March 25th
by Greg on Mar.25, 2009, under Science Life History
Fun fun fun, science science science: (thanks to todayinsci.com)
The Curie's
In 1903, The Times newspaper reported that the French physicist, Pierre Curie assisted by Mme Curie, communicated to the Academy of Sciences that the recently discovered Radium “possesses the extraordinary property of continuously emitting heat, without combustion, without chemical change of any kind, and without any change to its molecular structure, which remains spectroscopically identical after many months of continuous emission of heat … such that the pure Radium salt would melt more than its own weight of ice every hour … A small tube containing Radium, if kept in contact with the skin for some hours … produces an open sore, by destroying the epidermis and the true skin beneath … and cause the death of living things whose nerve centres do not lie deep enough to be shielded from their influence.”
In 5th grade I did a book report on Marie Curie and I wore a dress for the class presentation. I can’t recall if i did a good job. The gimmick makes me believe that I was low on historic, informative content. I do remember how sad the end of Curie’s life became with the horse trampling death of her husband, and her eventual cancer death due to high exposure to radioactive material. She used to keep radio active material in her desk drawer. Curie is the only person to win 2 Nobel prizes. It’s a Women’s History month moment!
And a bonus moment:
click me
In 1857, Frederick Laggenheim took the first photograph of a solar eclipse.
I am a little confused with this moment in science history, because the picture I uploaded is dated as May 26th, 1854 by the Met in NY.
I remember a total solar eclipse we had in grade school, and on this very nice day, we could not go out to the St. Anthony school parking lot (playground) to have playtime. Obviously, the nuns didn’t want us looking up and damaging our eyes, because there was going to be at least one person to attempt it (I am looking at myself). I remember the eerie light that it cast on the playground and how it shown through the windows. It was very different from the light when the sun drops behind a could. It was almost green.
And now for some awesome media. I would imagine that not many people have seen an accurate depiction of a solar eclipse. Enjoy this video:
Here’s a time lapse video of a less dramatic lunar eclipse, by way of greg ladens blog:
And what post is complete without the Simpsons:
:eclipse, Frederick Laggenheim, Marie Curie, Pierre Curie, Radium
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Nasa's Image of the Day
Little Galaxy With a Tail
This infrared portrait of the Small Magellanic Cloud, taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, reveals stars and dust in this galaxy as never seen before. T The image shows the main body of the Small Magellanic Cloud, which is comprised of the "bar" and "wing" on the left and the "tail" extending to the right. The bar contains both old stars (in blue) and young stars lighting up their natal dust (green/red). The wing mainly contains young stars. The tail contains only gas, dust and newly formed stars. Spitzer data has confirmed that the tail region was recently torn off the main body of the galaxy. Two of the tail clusters, which are still embedded in their birth clouds, can be seen as red dots. The data in this image are being used by astronomers to study the lifecycle of dust in the entire galaxy: from the formation in stellar atmospheres, to the reservoir containing the present day interstellar medium, and the dust consumed in forming new stars. The dust being formed in old, evolved stars (blue stars with a red tinge) is measured using mid-infrared wavelengths. The present day interstellar dust is weighed by measuring the intensity and color of emission at longer infrared wavelengths. The rate at which the raw material is being consumed is determined by studying ionized gas regions and the younger stars (yellow/red extended regions). The Small Magellanic Cloud, and its companion galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud, are the two galaxies where this type of study is possible. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI
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