22 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
The Marriage of Space and Time
The marriage of space and time that heralded the modern era began with the marriage, in 1864, of electricity and magnetism. This remarkable intellectual achievement, based on the cumulative efforts of great physicists such as AndrŽ-Marie Amp?re, Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, and Michael Faraday, was capped by the brilliant British physicist James Clerk Maxwell. He discovered that the laws of electricity and magnetism not only displayed an intimate relationship with one another but together imp... 1 
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notesOccurred when the relationship between electricity and magnetism was discovered.
06 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Electricity is Like Magic, but is Also Law
Surely there is no technology that has changed our lives more than the electricity that comes into our homes on a wire. Lighting, cooling, heating, ironing, cooking, and entertainment at the flick of a switch. Cheap, silent, invisible energy at our beck and call, flowing though a wire.
Magic. Wonderful.
One of my scientific heroes is Michael Faraday -- gentle, brilliant, infused with wonder. No one did more to wrest electricity from the gods and make it do our bidding than he. For most peop... 1 notes
notesWe cannot forget when we appreciate the wonder of our Universe that it is governed by laws, not magic.
05 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Michael Faraday's Advice to School Children
Study science with earnestness -- search into nature -- elicit the truth -- reason on it, and reject all which will not stand the closest investigation. Keep your imagination within bounds, taking heed lest it run away with your judgment. Above all, let me warn you young ones of the danger of being led away by the superstitions which at this day of boasted progress are a disgrace to the age, and which afford astonishing proofs of the vast floods of ignorance overwhelming and desolating the hi... 1 notes
notesFind truth, temper your imagination, don't be led astray by superstitions.
02 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Science is a Relay Race
Indeed, there is a particular problem with finding endings in science. Where do these science stories really finish? Science is truly a relay race, with each discovery handed on to the next generation. Even as one door is closing, another door is already being thrown open. So it is with this book. The great period of Victorian science is about to begin. The new stories are passed into the hands of Michael Faraday, John Herschel, Charles Darwin …and the world of modern science begins to rush t...
1 It is difficult to know where to end a story about science, because the discoveries never cease and will continue into the future.
02 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Davy On Science as a Force for Good
By relating the human predicament to the scientific solution, Davy produced one of the great demonstrations of scientific ‘Hope’. He showed that applied science could be a force for good previously unparalleled in human society, and might gradually liberate mankind from untold misery and suffering. Deliberately echoing Bacon — as Lavoisier had once done — he claimed that scientific knowledge was a disinterested power for good: ‘The results of these labours will, I trust, be useful to the caus... 1 notes
notesScientific knowledge as a "disinterested power for good."
02 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Humphry Davy's Wife Doesn't Like Michael Faraday
She in turn may also have found Faraday physically awkward, and even irritating. He was small and stocky — not more than five foot four — with a large head that always seemed slightly too big for his body. His broad, open face was surrounded by an unruly mass of curling hair parted rather punctiliously in the middle (a style he never abandoned). His large, dark, wide-apart eyes gave him a curious air of animal innocence. He spoke all his life with a flat London accent (no match for Jane’s ele... 1 notes
notesAn amusing description of the physicist, who was widely respected as a lecturer, but disliked by the social woman.
29 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
More Than Material Goes Into Consumer Products
Suppose, in our imagination, we take this radio apart. Suppose we take all the pieces out of the wooden box we call a cabinet. Now, you could call in a good cabinetmaker and say, "Jim, can you make a cabinet like that for me?" He'd answer you, "Of course I can. For about five dollars." You could say to another fellow, "How much can you make that pin for?" He might say, "Oh, about a dime."
Then you look at all the parts on the table. Someone had to make every piece in the set. If you checked ... 1 notes
notesKettering describes the intangible element that goes into a the construction of a radio, the scientific know-how, the blood, sweat, and tears of invention.
