There is a longstanding argument about water on the moon. Does it exist? Hence, if the Chinese say that their lander has found water there (and they do), that's a big deal. If this is tl:dr skip down to the *** In fact there is a longstanding argument about exactly where the water on earth [...]
Category: science and engineering
Francesco Faa di Bruno, priest, mathematician, & ?
As I wandered through the 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia the other day I stumbled over Father Francesco Faa di Bruno. Born in Alessandria, Piemonte (later part of Italy) in 1825, he died in Turin, Italy in 1888. The Encyclopedia said that he was an Italian mathematician and priest. It also said he was a captain in [...]
Chaucer and the tides
Recently I came across a blog post discussing two geniuses from the 14th century, Guillame de Machaut and Nicole Oresme. https://yardsaleofthemind.wordpress.com/2023/02/20/timelines/ Machaut was musical and lived from 1300 to 1377. Oresme (~ 1320 to 1382) was a priest, professor, and scientist (natural philosopher). The blogger says that he can’t think of any other genius from [...]
What came before the Internet?
I recently read a fascinating book called The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage (Walker and Company, NY, 1998). The author's thesis is that the telegraph was very similar to the modern internet in its ability to connect people from all over and to send information anywhere, almost instantly. He traces the invention of the telegraph [...]
Guest Post: Dr. Lucy Hancock on dust rings around Earth (bumped)
This is the presentation Dr. Lucy Hancock gave at a session on space weather at the Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society's session on Space Weather, in January, 2022. Dr. Hancock presented an anomaly in solar radiation data, and suggested it be explained as the effect of space dust shading the line of sight [...]
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