Thursday, December 13, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Died This Day: Charles Alexandre Lesueur
Lesueur (Jan. 1, 1778 - Dec. 12, 1846) was a French naturalist and artist who is remembered for high quality natural history illustrations. He travelled to Australia under Nicolas Baudin on a scientific expedition (1800-04) and returned to France with collection of over 100,000 zoological specimens, including some 2,500 new species.
In 1815, he began an association with William Maclure on a scientific excursion to the principal islands of the Lesser Antilles to make a study of the geology, followed by further work in the U.S. revising Maclure's geological maps. From 1816-37, while living in the U.S., he explored the Mississippi Valley. Lesueur followed a particular interest in ichthyology. He made the first scientific study of the archaeological prehistoric mounds in vicinity of New Harmony, Indiana.
Images from HERE
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Died This Day: Frank Conrad
Conrad (May 4, 1874 - Dec. 11, 1941) was an American electrical engineer whose interest in radiotelephony led to the establishment of the first commercial radio station. Conrad worked for Westinghouse as assistant chief engineer at its East Pittsburgh Works and acquired over 200 patents in his lifetime.
As an amateur, having built a transmitting station on the second floor of the garage behind his home in Wilkinsburg, Pa., when he substituted a phonograph for his microphone, he discovered a large audience of listeners who had built their own crystal radio sets and who, upon hearing the music, wrote or phoned requests for more music and news. When he became swamped with these requests, he decided to broadcast regular, scheduled programs to satisfy his listeners. He coined the term "broadcast." From Today in Science History
Air Wave © DC Comics
Monday, December 10, 2012
Friday, December 7, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Died This Day: Wolfgang Paul
Paul (Aug. 10, 1913 - Dec. 6, 1993) was a German physicist who developed the electromagnetic Paul trap in the 1950's to capture ions and holds them long enough for study and precise measurement of their properties.
The device consists of three electrodes - two end caps and an encircling ring. The ring is connected to an oscillating potential. The direction of the electric field alternates; for half the time the electron is pushed from the caps to the ring and for the other half it is pulled from the ring and pushed towards the caps.
The Metal Men & The Atom © DC Comics
For his work he shared the 1989 Nobel Prize for Physics with Hans Georg Dehmelt and Norman F. Ramsey. From Today In Science History
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
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