Science – Page 9 – Mark Bere Peterson’s Counterculture, Urban Legends, Paganism & Witchcraft

Today in Science —> Galilean Satellites

Today in Science—> On this date in 1610, Galileo observed three small “stars” in a line and very close to Jupiter. Over the next several days, he saw that the stars were changing position in relation to Jupiter and he concluded that they were orbiting the planet and also discovered a fourth such star as well. He originally called them the Medicean stars in honor of the de’ Medici family which ruled Tuscany, but they have since been renamed the Galilean satellites and are the four largest moons of Jupiter—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Galileo’s observations were the first that showed heavenly bodies orbiting each other and not Earth, leading to the overthrowing of the Aristotelian geocentric model of cosmology.

#Galileo #GalileanSatellites

Today in Science —> Alfred Wegener

Earth Science, Science, Today in Science

1912 – German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presents his theory of continental drift.

Wegener’s theory was poo-pooed for a long time, but was finally accepted by 1960, 30 years after Wegener’s death. Now, using satellites, we can measure how fast the continents move. We know, for example, that Europe and North America are moving apart at about the same rate your fingernails grow: about an inch a year.

Dr. Michio Kaku on the Big Bang

Astronomy, Astrophysics, Quotes, Science

“If the universe is uniform and infinite, then the sky should be on fire, since there is a star at every point you look. But since you look into the past when looking at distant stars, you eventually reach a cut-off, the big bang. So the sky is black because there was a beginning!”

~ Dr. Michio Kaku

#Science #BigBang #MichioKaku

Isaac Newton Quote

Science, Scientist Profiles

“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

~ Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

#IsaacNewton #Science

Robert Goddard

Human Space Travel, Science, Today in Science

On this day Robert Goddard, the father of American rocketry, conducted the first rocket test flight from his new laboratory in Roswell, New Mexico (December 30th) in 1930. The new laboratory and launch site was partially funded by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution. On this date Goddard’s liquid fuel rocket launched to a height of 610 meters (2,000 feet) – a new record height for his rockets, and one that he would soon break…

#Science #Rocketry #Goddard

Through A Window by Jane Goodall

Art, Biology, Quotes, Science

THROUGH A WINDOW

There are many windows through

which we can look out into the

world, searching for meaning …

… Most of us, when we ponder on the

meaning of our existence,

peer through but one of these

windows onto the world.

And even that one is often misted over

by the breath of our finite humanity.

We clear a tiny peephole and stare through.

No wonder we are confused by the

tiny fraction of a whole that we see.

It is, after all, like trying to

comprehend the panorama of the

desert or the sea through

a rolled-up newspaper.

~ Dr. Jane Goodall

Today in Science —> HMS Beagle

Biology, Evolution, Science, Today in Science

It was on this day in 1831 that Charles Darwin, only 22, set out on HMS Beagle as the captain’s companion, returning five years later with a head full of facts and some half-formed ideas.

Twin Jet Nebula

Astronomy, Science

On December 17th, 1997, this Hubble Telescope image of the Twin Jet Nebula (or M2-9) shows gas being ejected, like exhaust from a pair of jet engines, at more than 200 miles per second in opposite directions from a star 2,100 light-years from Earth.

#TodayInAstronomy #HubbleTelescope #TwinJetNebula

Zhang Heng

Ancient World, Astronomy, China, Science, Scientist Profiles

Zhang Heng was born in 78 CE in the town of Xi’e, in what is now Henan Province, in Han Dynasty China. At 17, he left home to study literature and train to be a writer. By his late 20s, Zhang had become a skilled mathematician and was called to the court of Emperor An-ti, who, in 115 CE, made him Chief Astrologer.

Zhang lived at a time of rapid advances in science. In addition to his astronomical work, he devised a water-powered armillary sphere (a model of the celestial objects) and invented the world’s first seismometer, which was ridiculed until, in 138 CE, it successfully recorded an earthquake 250 miles (400 km) away. He also invented the first odometer to measure distances traveled in vehicles, and a nonmagnetic, south-pointing compass in the form of a chariot. Zhang was a distinguished poet, whose works give us vivid insights into the cultural life of his day.

Nicolaus Copernicus

Science, Scientist Profiles

Born in the Polish city of Torun in 1473, Nicolaus Copernicus was the youngest of four children of a wealthy merchant. His father died when Nicolaus was 10. An uncle took him under his wing and oversaw his education at the University of Krakow. He spent several years in Italy studying medicine and law, returning in 1503 to Poland, where he joined the canonry under his uncle, who was now Prince-Bishop of Warmia.

Copernicus was a master of both languages and mathematics, translating several important works and developing ideas about economics, as well as working on his astronomical theories. The theory he outlined in De Revolutionibus was daunting in its mathematical complexity, so while many recognized its significance, it was not widely adopted by astronomers for practical everyday use.