Today, Anna is meeting Werner Herzog during his visit to Chapman University. Here are five reasons that space nerds and science buffs should be interested in Herzog. In the documentary Lo and Behold, he told Elon Musk that he’d be happy to go on a one-way trip to Mars. Musk would prefer to offer round-trips. See the story HERE. At the end of Wild Blue Yonder, Herzog says, … Continue reading Werner Herzog
What’s It Like In Space by Ariel Waldman Black Hole Blues and Other Songs From Outer Space by Janna Levin Crash Course: Essays from Where Writing and Life Collide by Robin Black Hood (an Object Lessons book) by Alison Kinney Being Mortal by Atul Gawande Continue reading 5 Books We’re Reading This Summer
May 25, 1931: Georgy Grechko was born in Leningrad. He grew up to become a cosmonaut who flew on several Soviet missions to space and spent almost a month aboard the Salyut 4 space station in 1975, almost three months aboard Salyut 6 in 1977, and eight days on Salyut 7. May 25, 1961: President John F. Kennedy told a joint session of Congress that the United States … Continue reading On This Date: 5 Things
Looking for something to ponder or celebration today, April 20? Here you go! 1862: Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard prove that spontaneous generation doesn’t happen. If you’re still hoping that something can come from nothing, you’re more than 150 years behind the times. 1902: Pierre and Marie Curie radium chloride, the first compound of radium to be isolated in a pure state. In 2013, the FDA approved … Continue reading On This Date: 5 Anniversaries for April 20
It’s Nobel Prize week, and Wednesday’s announcement of this year’s award in Physics says, “The Nobel Prize in Physics 2015 recognises Takaaki Kajita in Japan andArthur B. McDonald in Canada, for their key contributions to the experiments which demonstrated that neutrinos change identities. This metamorphosis requires that neutrinos have mass. The discovery has changed our understanding of the innermost workings of matter and can prove crucial to our … Continue reading 5 Physicists with Birthdays This Week
What It Is: the formless thing which gives things form (2008) By Lynda Barry Lynda Barry’s What It Is is a book like none other we’ve seen. It’s part stories, part memoir about her life, and part creativity workbook for the reader. It’s nonlinear; it poses questions; it’s fun. One of our favorite bits of wisdom: To be able to stand not knowing long enough … Continue reading 5 Graphic (Nonfiction) Books
Seventy years ago, at a site near Alamogordo, New Mexico, a new era in human history was birthed into existence. At approximately 5:30 a.m. Mountain War Time (MWT) on July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated. In the pre-dawn hours of that long-ago July morning, a rainstorm passed through the area of the impending test. Thunder and lightning filled the skies, and members … Continue reading Countdown to The Cold War: Trinity
Within 4 months we shall in all probability have completed the most terrible weapon ever known in human history, one bomb of which could destroy a whole city. These words began a memo that was drafted by Secretary of War Henry Stimson and presented on April 25, 1945, to President Truman. Truman had been president less than two weeks, and, with the help of General … Continue reading Countdown to The Cold War: June 1945
Last week, we posted about five French scientists who made important discoveries and adavances. Last week, we were standing under the Eiffel Tower, on which the names of 72 French scientists and engineers are engraved. These names are engraved around the first level, which makes them easy to read from ground level. Each side boasts 18 names. None are names of women. Yesterday marked the … Continue reading Five French Scientists (Part Deux)
We’re in Paris for a week. See last week’s post for information about the A380 we flew. Here are five French scientists we’d like to meet while we’re in France, if only they were still alive. These scientists represent the kind of thinking we appreciate, thinking outside the box and searching for novel connections. Marie Curie (1867-1934) Okay, she was a naturalized French citizen, but … Continue reading Five French Scientists
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