tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46590125463334033792024-02-19T02:21:57.547-08:00SMC History of Science in LondonMark Lingwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01316119412920300766noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659012546333403379.post-27502849408754062102015-02-15T13:11:00.000-08:002015-05-03T21:43:18.433-07:00Science Museum<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">by Asia Torres</span><br />
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<b>London Adventure! Day 9!</b></span><br />
<span style="color: black;">It's very sad to say that we are now coming to the last days of being in London. After a grand total of 8 days in London I am pleased to say that I have fallen in love with this grand city. The city is so diverse and full of life there is literally something to see on each corner that is completely different than in the United States. It's also true to say that everything here that would interest so many different people, is free. There are of course other things you can do that cost money, like catch one of the many shows that go on every night or take a tour of the Harry Potter set in London. Even so, on this day, January 26th, the 9th day that we have been <span style="background-color: white;">here, we</span> did something very science-y, the Science Museum, which happened to be free.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Entrance of Science Museum</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black;">Funny story actually about the entrance, this isn't the one we got to go through. Since our class counted as a group we had to use a much less impressive group entrance around the corner of the museum but the inside of the museum was definitely worth it. An impressive 5 floors of every kind of science you could think of. Even with how impressive the entire museum was I'll just talk about the exhibits that I found the most interesting.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Upon entering the museum I spotted something that drew my attention. A huge steam engine that because of this class I knew who had invented it. It was a predecessor to the steam engine,<span style="background-color: white;"> built by</span> James Watt and Matthew Boulton. This machine still used a water wheel which was what was creating the energy, this device was used just to bring water up so that the wheel could turn and create that energy, so not a steam engine yet. After this machine Watt created more engines that did not require the water wheel, in turn creating the steam engine. What fascinated me about this was that it really is still intact. It seems like there are a lot of old things in London and it just fascinates me that things are not broken yet. Even so, the durability of these devices prove that what these people were working on were advancements for society. We need these to last a long time so that they can benefit us and lead to further advancements. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oldest surviving engine built by Watt and Boulton</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGhNvQK2hibNijKZDHfg18HXsSV0NH_RkvDp7_BYEymgCMHzWnAO4JRsRrYjgWckrF27d2LdgdNOkUlcLZIdZh0OneARoUR_HAf9Br6sLjlCnPbyH8mjKYrhxvbzixKGEzOdpwYCV8n0/s1600/IMG_1373.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGhNvQK2hibNijKZDHfg18HXsSV0NH_RkvDp7_BYEymgCMHzWnAO4JRsRrYjgWckrF27d2LdgdNOkUlcLZIdZh0OneARoUR_HAf9Br6sLjlCnPbyH8mjKYrhxvbzixKGEzOdpwYCV8n0/s1600/IMG_1373.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Newly Discovered Bust of James Watt</td></tr>
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<b><span style="color: black;">IMAX FILM</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="Mysteries of unseen world logo" src="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ImageHandler.ashx?image={03DD0148-7CDC-46F3-B85E-4C953E84943D}&height=392&width=800&crop=true" height="156" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Advert of the IMAX film</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black;">We saw this all before we went to see the IMAX movie that was playing. The IMAX movie was Mysteries of the Unseen World 3D and before I even get into what the movie was about, this was the first IMAX movie I had ever seen and let me tell you, it was not a disappointment. IMAX movies are just on a much bigger screen and equipped with a very loud speaker system, to which the narrator showed us by screaming at the entire audience.Now, about the movie. It's called Mysteries of the Unseen World because it dealt with things that we could not see, but not because they are not there but because they happen on a different timescale than we see. We are surrounded by the things that are either too fast, too slow or too small for us to observe but they are still there. The film consisted of time-lapse photography to show us different things that are too slow for us to see such as the way a flower moves in light.The film also used high-speed photography to capture things that move too fast for our eyes to see, like the complex way a dragonfly flies with each wing going in a different direction. Electron microscopy was used to see the smallest things that our naked eye can't such as the bacteria that makes our feet stink. All these things that happen around us and we have no idea that they're happening, or how they are happening. Which to me seemed amazing to watch since I did always wonder, "just how much bacteria can be in my belly button?"</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: black;">What Time is It?</span></b><br />
<span style="color: black;">The last thing that I thought was really interesting in the museum was John Harrison's wooden clock. Now a quick recap of who John Harrison was, he was the guy who practically figured out the longitude problem, which was to find longitude for sailors out at sea.<span style="background-color: white;"> As described in the book</span><u> Longitude,</u> Harrison was a very grand watch maker and created a series of watches for the longitude problem, but before that he had created a very unique clock. What really intrigued me at the museum was a clock that he built entirely out of wood and brass. Most clocks were made up of different metals and therefore had to be oiled so that the cogs would spin properly, not this clock. Harrison made the cogs and the entire frame out of a wood that secreted it's own oil so that it would not require the need for tinkering.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front view of wooden and brass clock</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Side view of clock to see wooden cogs</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black;">This city holds so many different things to see and I wish our time here was one that would last a lot longer than what we're here for. There really isn't ever enough time to witness and experience everything that you could in a new city. This journey was one that brought not only our minds and bodies to a different experience but it also brought our class a bit closer as well. Travelling with such a small group of people in this big city really brings different things into perspective. Such a shame we have to go home, but we all bought souvenirs to show off our time here in London. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Cheers.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Asia </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659012546333403379.post-148782816001462352015-02-06T13:46:00.001-08:002015-02-06T13:46:13.244-08:00The Royal Society<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #418eba; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">by Brett Peix</span><br />
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">The Royal Society was founded in </span></span>November 28, 1660 at Gresham College as a group
"for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematical Experimental Learning." Shortly thereafter they sought approval of the King, Charles II, and upon his consent became known as The Royal Society. Since then, the Royal Society become the preeminent fellowship of the world's most
distinguished scientists. It was
originally housed at Gresham college, but after the Great Fire of London
in 1666 it was relocated to the Arundel House in
Norfolk, located in London known as the home of the Dukes. In 1710 the Society acquired its own home;
two houses in Crane Court, off the Strand. It was not until 1967 until it
moved to the present location we viewed today on our tour.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Council Room</span></td></tr>
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<b>What they do now:</b> Today the society encourages the development of science, mathematics, engineering, and medicine around the world. Their recent big headliner that you may know was on Fracking, "T<span class="_Tgc">he process of drilling and injecting fluid into the
ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release
natural gas inside". They claimed it was safe for the environment if proceeded with all of the right precautions, but as the tour guide stated, "Certain companies will misread the publications and take certain shortcuts". </span><br />
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<b>What we did</b>:
As a whole class we received a tour of the Royal society. We were shown
around the building, told historical information regarding the society
and its members, what they do, and how it was originally founded. We
also used their library to access any information we needed to help
write our essay for the trip, which included even some original <span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">books</span> </span>written by some of the founding fathers of the Royal Society. <br />
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<span class="_Tgc">Here are some of the cool things we got to see on our tour.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sir Isaac Newton's first telescope</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: start;">Presidents of the Royal Society</b><span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;">: Each president is listed by the order they served their presidency followed by the years they were elected to when they left office on the right side of their names.</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white;">Presidents</span>:</span><span style="color: blue;"> </span></b> Isaac Newton ran the Royal Society for 24 years, which seems like an eternity, but Joseph Banks (The name on the very bottom left corner) served as the Society's President for the longest period of time at 42 years. Lord Wrottesley was the Society's shortest serving president when he only ran the Society for one year in 1854-1855.<br />
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The Royal Society has been made up of some of the most brilliant minds
in science for the past 355 years to this very present day. <span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">Famous</span> </span>names, such as, Robert Boyle, Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Thomas Young were all<span style="color: red;"> <span style="color: black;">elected as fellows</span> </span>of the Society at certain points in their lives. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">Portrait of Thomas Young</span></td></tr>
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<b>Thomas Young</b><br />
As science has progressed, certain fields have become quite complex and specialized. Fields range from biochemistry to astrophysics now, and even new branches have been made in recent decades, such as my major, Kinesiology. In the past, it was easier for a scientist to contribute to many different fields. Thomas Young, deemed "The Last Man who Knew Everything" was one of the last, if not, the last scientist to be well versed in nearly every field. He's most famously remembered for his Double Slit experiment in which he proved that light can display characteristics of waves, and <span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">for</span> </span>deciphering the Rosetta Stone.<br />
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<b>What we got to do in the library:</b> Once we showed our passports and I.D's, we got to access their library for any information and use any book they had in it through the help of the librarians. One of the books they presented us with was <span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">an original first-edition copy of</span> </span>Robert Hooke's book on microscopy <span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">(<u>Micrographia</u>, 1665),</span> </span>with <span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">his</span> </span>original sketches of cork cells and insects he viewed through a microscope. Because he wanted realistic images, he refrained from killing the insects and would try various tactics to hold them still including, alcohol to "loosen them up" and sticks to help hold them in place.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sf6-v4ZI_eU/VNUCHfxrzSI/AAAAAAAAABs/BddxdKe4zvs/s1600/cork%2Bcells.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sf6-v4ZI_eU/VNUCHfxrzSI/AAAAAAAAABs/BddxdKe4zvs/s1600/cork%2Bcells.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sketch of the microscopic structure of cork - Hooke used the term
"Cells" for these, and while they are not cells in the modern sense of
the term he is credited with originating the term.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6XvMB2JjeBw/VNUCOLYZncI/AAAAAAAAAB0/h-lU9p41YRg/s1600/flea%2Bphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6XvMB2JjeBw/VNUCOLYZncI/AAAAAAAAAB0/h-lU9p41YRg/s1600/flea%2Bphoto.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sketch of a Flea</td></tr>
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Overall going to the Royal Society was a great experience and an eye opener for me. I loved standing in a building that may of had a short but very strong scientific history with some of the greatest names in science. What lies ahead for the future will be deemed nothing but greatness as science continues to evolve and shape our everyday lives.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv-2uQIWdSP0bQTWrMt67tXseFlNTe47hMg9bTApGggBAxmwf7hExnFezQIVNJWPGTKdX5Q0ocVQmq_5Z8ZHHGQExJ5XlFrZ6SOXosAKITFuQQaOyqlcv9bViEx65OaDsy_zzRt8PZEhY/s1600/cavendish.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv-2uQIWdSP0bQTWrMt67tXseFlNTe47hMg9bTApGggBAxmwf7hExnFezQIVNJWPGTKdX5Q0ocVQmq_5Z8ZHHGQExJ5XlFrZ6SOXosAKITFuQQaOyqlcv9bViEx65OaDsy_zzRt8PZEhY/s1600/cavendish.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Main Entrance</td></tr>
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So for those who are unaware the Cavendish Laboratory is the department of physics at the University of Physics. At the time the Cavendish Laboratory was created, in the year 1874, there was a need for a place where the study of physics and experimental sciences could take place. However, The University of Cambridge was unable to provide sufficient funds for the necessities of Natural Sciences. Luckily, thanks to William Cavendish and his generous donation to the university, today stands the lab which is home to 29 Nobel Laureates and many other amazing accomplishments. </div>
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Upon arrival to the Cavendish Laboratory I was <span style="background-color: white;">unsure of what to expect. I had no idea of the history of the lab </span>so I was surprised to find out about all the accomplishments and discoveries made there. Of everything I saw at the lab's museum the two things that interested me the most were the replica of the gas discharge tube with which J.J. Thomson discovered the electron and model of DNA made by Francis Watson and James Crick.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTh79RY0NxyYuNDSQEwFdVdAqk_BQsDIApdm0eTtRopx9ipP5NbZPH76iQKBCmIlmDKWvT7P_vyUt7T6VDXhcB6ohvDzZrkY5l2tBZ17Dcp5Nk1od4oeqgw95Rl2p3fXhrrDsI1tsPUqc/s1600/electron+discovery.JPG" height="240" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Replica of Thomson's gas discharge tube</td></tr>
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In 1897 the electron was discovered by the third Cavendish professor of experimental physics, J.J. Thomson. Thomson was particularly interested in Cathode rays and the discharge of electricity through gases. In his experiment that led to the discovery of the electron Thomson used a discharge tube (left) and a pair of metal plates. One of the plates inside the tube was negatively charged and the other was positively charged and attracted cathode rays. When he passed the cathode rays through the electric field within the tube the rays moved toward the positively charged plate and he therefore concluded that the rays must be negatively ch<span style="background-color: white;">arged. Other scientists had already established that the rays must be negatively charged. Thomson measured the charge to mass ratio of these particles and discovered that they have ~1800 times less mass than hydrogen, and therefore they must be a sub-atomic particle (now known as the electron).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhdkKkUaFEBtUR8vegQds3Z7Z_BtiQv_hy36Xt6F8pdKUhtAdYWd4EgK5JNFvBM-4o3Alzw9XyZJKd0hU3NMOdxzgXFlNsfJgVzy1OAqBNzbE0YUk0uiwcqzXjVK_LlRMxVEHfx1cw5T0/s1600/DNA+model.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhdkKkUaFEBtUR8vegQds3Z7Z_BtiQv_hy36Xt6F8pdKUhtAdYWd4EgK5JNFvBM-4o3Alzw9XyZJKd0hU3NMOdxzgXFlNsfJgVzy1OAqBNzbE0YUk0uiwcqzXjVK_LlRMxVEHfx1cw5T0/s1600/DNA+model.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Model of DNA made by Watson and Crick</td></tr>
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DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, which is a long chain of nucleotides held together by phosphate. The discovery of the structure of DNA is credited to James Watson and Francis Crick. At the time another pair of scientists were working at King's College in London, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin. They were working with x-ray diffraction to study DNA. When Watson and Crick got their hands <span style="background-color: white;">on their X-ray data they were able to deduce the correct structure. In 1953, Watson and Crick published their discovery that DNA must be in the shape of a double helix, with each helix held together by weak hydrogen bonds. Since these hydrogen bonds can easily break and reform, this suggested a means by which the genetic material can be duplicated. The structure of DNA impacted the world of molecular biology and to this day helps researchers make advances in science.</span><br />
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Going to the Cavendish lab and museum really opened up my eyes to the importance of science and everything it allows us to do. It's definitely a place to stop if you find the history of how things were discovered interesting. <br />
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This particular Sunday was nice because we had a morning to sleep in. Our day started like any other day, except for the fact that we had a quiz! (*GASP* SOMETHING ACADEMIC?! WHAT?! NO!) However, we were all able to make it through our quiz on <u>Longitude</u> by Dava Sobel (SIDE NOTE: I recommend this book to everyone! [WARNING: slight obsession with clocks and astronomy are possible side effects.]) After that we hopped on a bus to Greenwich. When we got there we enjoyed the scenery and happily hiked up the miniature mountain to finally set our eyes on the observatory itself.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The front of the Royal Observatory Greenwich</td></tr>
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The Royal Observatory Greenwich was founded in 1675 by order of King Charles II. It was originally established so that scientists and other academics could have a place to work on the mystery of finding longitude. Traveling by sea at this time was quite dangerous as sailors had no way to determine their longitude at sea. This requires knowledge of both the time at your current location (solar noon) and also the time back at home (which proved problematic.) Early astronomers studied the sky for years making detailed astronomical measurements of the moon among the stars in hopes of discovering a kind of" celestial clock."<span style="color: red;"> </span>Eventually the problem was solved thanks to a mechanical clock made by carpenter and clockmaker John Harrison (more on him later.) Today the observatory is the site of the Prime Meridian, this means that it sits at 0º longitude. Visitors, like us, come from all over the world to stand on both sides of the Prime Meridian and claim they have stood in 2 hemispheres at once.<br />
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<b>FUN FACTS </b>(aka remember these for your next run on Jeopardy):<br />
<ol>
<li>The first Astronomer Royal was John Flamsteed.</li>
<li>The current is Martin Rees.</li>
<li>The Royal Observatory was designed by Christopher Wren who also designed St. Paul's Cathedral.</li>
<li>While at his post as Astronomer Royal John Flamsteed (see #1) had some of his astronomical data stolen by Isaac Newton (and published without his consent!) </li>
<li>Pacific Standard Time (PST) is 8 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT.)</li>
</ol>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Time ball at the observatory which originally communicated the correct time to sailors on the Thames, and still drops every day at 1pm</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sculpture with the Prime Meridian running through it at 0º longitude</td></tr>
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The highlight of my visit was seeing John Harrison's clocks. With the help of Professor Lingwood, I found them tucked soundly in a room within a maritime exhibit. As mentioned earlier, our class read <u>Longitude</u> and learned about Harrison's quest to make the perfect sea clock to aid sailors in their oceanic travels. He toiled for years and years with the aid of grants to come up with a clock worthy of the £20,000 prize (more about the Longitude Act <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_Act_1714" target="_blank">here</a>.) He made 5 clocks during this time, he called them H-1 through H-5, four of which we got to see in person! His fourth was the one that ultimately tipped the scales on discovering accurate longitude calculations. After reading about all of Harrison's work it was almost unreal to see them in person. Without further ado here are the pictures of them... <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Harrison's first model titled H-1, weighing in at 75 pounds!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">H-2 inscribed "Made for His Majesty George The IInd, By order of a Committee Held on 30th of June 1737."</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">H-3: which Harrison spent almost 2 decades working on.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://36.media.tumblr.com/6d7b3e7163a09fafbf8b546b1978ccdf/tumblr_niszrvQTlH1qhf9g3o2_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://36.media.tumblr.com/6d7b3e7163a09fafbf8b546b1978ccdf/tumblr_niszrvQTlH1qhf9g3o2_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The back of the prized H-4 inscribed "John Harrison & Son AD 1759."</td></tr>
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After the excitement of witnessing the clocks first-hand the class headed to the Planetarium. We concluded our trip by watching a show here entitled "Dark Universe." We learned about dark matter, our universe, and the possibility of discovering farther places in the galaxy as science continues to advance. The show was relaxing and informative. It was the perfect end to an exciting day in Greenwich. I'll leave you all with our view while leaving the observatory.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the top of the hill at the Royal Observatory.</td></tr>
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Cheers!<br />
<br />
Tai :)<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659012546333403379.post-21853648734617960712015-01-26T13:54:00.001-08:002015-01-26T13:54:02.908-08:00Royal Institution and Faraday Museum<span style="background-color: white; color: #418eba; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">by Daniel Farrell</span><br />
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Our class visited the Royal Institution January 21 to explore its contributions to the scientific community. <span style="background-color: white;">The Royal Inst</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">itution (or RI) was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the time as a place to put into effect new ideas as well as teach s</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">cience to the rest of the country. George Finch was elected the first president of the institution, and promptly used his influence with the crown to secure a Royal Charter in 1800, giving legitimacy to the organization. The Royal Institution soon became famous for its lectures on Chemistry. As it's reputation grew, great minds from all over began to flock to London to see the lectures and for an opportunity to use the materials and labs that were built at their headquarters. In the early years, much of the research involved isolation of previously discovered elements and discovery of new ones. Within 20 years of its founding members had isolated <span style="color: black;">p</span>otassium, sodium, and calcium and discovered many new elements including magnesium, boron, chlorine, and iodine. Surprisingly it wasn't till 1862 that research formally became a part of the mission of the RI. Through the rest of its history the RI has become famous for its Christmas Lectures as well as new discoveries that have changed the face of all branches of science like the existence of the electron, decay of atoms, nerve impulses, and uses of mature stem cells. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outside view of Royal Institution</td></tr>
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Despite its regal reputation, the building itself seemed small and much less impressive than I expected. Upon entering we immediately went to the basement where the Faraday Museum is set up. Despite being only one hallway long, the museum is home to a plethora of world-changing experiments done by Faraday, for whom the museum is named, as well as many other influential members of the Royal Institution. After the class was able to tour the entirety of the museum, we all talked about the exhibits which interested us most. For me the most interesting parts of the museum were the experiments created by Faraday having to do with advancements in electromagnetism. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ModLm12jVj0/VMJEzgwiDHI/AAAAAAAAACo/JtZ3IQg1-5Y/s1600/Faraday%2BPortrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ModLm12jVj0/VMJEzgwiDHI/AAAAAAAAACo/JtZ3IQg1-5Y/s1600/Faraday%2BPortrait.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Portrait of Faraday</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Faraday</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">is
one of the most famous members of the RI. His many discoveries
helped helped the RI to emerge as a dominant
player in the research community. He first came to the RI in 1813 as
a research assistant, where promptly he and Davy were credited with inventing the first mining safety lamp that prevents explosions of flammable gases in the mines. In 1821 Faraday is credited, among other amazing
discoveries, with building the first electromagnetic motor and generator,
liquifying the first gas (chlorine)</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>,
</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">discovering</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>
</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Benzene,
interpreting electromagnetism as a field, and inventing photography
before his death in 1867. As Faraday showed his aptitude for
research, he stepped up through the ranks of the RI. Faraday was first appointed
Superintendent of the House in 1821, Director of the Laboratory in</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
1825, and finally in 1833 he was appointed as the </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">first
Fullerian Professor of Chemistry (A special research position created
just for him that continues today). In 1973 in honor of his contributions to the RI, Queen
Elizabeth II opened the Faraday Museum, which displays examples of
many of his experiments, as well as experiments conducted by other
members of the RI.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KeeVPe7bVSM/VMJEsOJIYFI/AAAAAAAAACg/-ST4mTSByN4/s1600/faraday%2Bhallway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KeeVPe7bVSM/VMJEsOJIYFI/AAAAAAAAACg/-ST4mTSByN4/s1600/faraday%2Bhallway.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Main Hallway of Faraday Museum</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rt-PRNljIqY/VMJMsyuWomI/AAAAAAAAAC0/6mWxnb-ts-I/s1600/electromagnetic%2Binduction%2Bring.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rt-PRNljIqY/VMJMsyuWomI/AAAAAAAAAC0/6mWxnb-ts-I/s1600/electromagnetic%2Binduction%2Bring.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Coiled wire around a ring which wa<span style="background-color: white;">s used to first observe electromagnetic induction. The magenta coloring is due to the lighting in the display case. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">First Electric Generator created by Faraday</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">While Far<span style="background-color: white;">aday was one of the most well known researchers at RI, the society was home to countless world changing scientists such as:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">John Tyndall, who explained why the sky is blue due to the low wavelength of blue light, causing it to be scattered more easily. Below is the tube which he used to demonstrate this effect.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">John Tyndall's Blue Sky </span>Apparatus</td></tr>
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One of the<span style="background-color: white;"> most Important discoveries to come from the Royal Institution was the X-ray spectrometer, created by William Bragg. He used his spectrometer to observe the cell structure of crystals. Today this technique has been improved over the years and used to discover molecular and atomic structures as well as mak</span>e discoveries about electronic energy levels.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">William Bragg's X-ray Spectrometer </td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659012546333403379.post-71904397118852428162015-01-25T04:20:00.000-08:002015-01-25T04:20:04.135-08:00Charles Darwin's House at Down<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #418eba; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">by Taylor Gida</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles Darwin's House at Down</td></tr>
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Charles Darwin is one of the most renowned scientists to have ever lived. In most of today's classrooms, Darwin's Theory of Evolution is as important to the biological sciences as Isaac Newton's discoveries were to the understanding of Physics.While most of his field work was conducted on the<i> HMS Beagle</i>, it is at his home that Darwin did his most influential work.<br />
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The house was first and foremost home to Darwin, his wife and their many children. But it is also the birthplace of his great work<i> The Origin of Species</i> that gave the world its first in-depth explanation about the mechanisms for evolution<span style="background-color: white;"> by natural selection. Understanding the potential consequences of his ideas, he wanted an unassailable set of evidence for his theory. </span>In the large garden area behind the house he performed an extensive number of experiments using plants and insects <span style="background-color: white;">from around the world Over the course of 20 years he worked on his manuscript, making the necessary intellectual leaps to make se</span>nse of his data.<br />
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When we first pulled up t<span style="background-color: white;">o the house at Do</span>wn I saw that the house itself was a quaint two-story home that, although large to my eyes, was probably cozy if not small for a family boasting 10 children. As I began the self-guided tour of upper floor of the house, I was pleasantly surprised to see almost half of the floor was dedicated to the home life of the Darwin family as well as a number of interactive games and videos. This combination worked to<span style="background-color: white;">gether create a fu</span>n and comfortable atmosphere that I'm sure kept the younger visitors (and many of the older ones as well) of this museum thoroughly entertained.<br />
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Having studied Darwin and his work in several different classes, the rooms summarizing his research provided very li<span style="background-color: white;">ttle new information for me personally. </span>Looking at his notebooks and a few of his preserved specimens was fascinating (especially the finches--his most famous example), but what really caught my attention was how much this site emphasized the impact Darwin's home life had on his work, most notably the death of his daughter Anne, which not only crushed his faith in Christianity, but also cemented his belief that life was a competition for survival rather than a strive towards harmony. The rooms that showed that he was a loving and supportive father to his children made him much more human to me than ever before, which is probably why I loved them so much.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Garden Path</td></tr>
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It was also remarkable to be able to walk in Charles Darwin's footsteps during the audio tour of the garden. Once I broke through the barrier of unclear walking directions and was able to match locations to the stories I was listening to, it was easy to call up the images of Darwin puttering around the greenhouse or taking a stroll along the sandwalk with his children. While there are very few of Darwin's original specimens still preserved, and none of them in that greenhouse, I found that there was an atmosphere of scientific study infused within the space. Whether it was from the preserved nature of the house and its museum of Darwinian artefacts or the simple, natural state of the garden I can't say.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the Greenhouse</td></tr>
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I enjoyed the greenhouse the best--not only for the relief from the chill outside, but also for the rich variety of plant life that couldn't be found anywhere else in the garden. It certainly made me feel closer to the observations Darwin carried out there on climbing plants and carnivorous flowers.<br />
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Overall I found this site to be enjoyable, informative, and interactive. It is definitely a unique type of museum that is perfect for those people who prefer active, hands-on styles of learning. But it is also great for those who--like me--enjoy getting a glimpse at the man behind the science.<br />
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Sincerely,<br />
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Taylor GidaUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659012546333403379.post-6313654038157248912015-01-23T13:46:00.001-08:002015-01-23T13:46:23.814-08:00Museum of London<span style="background-color: white; color: #418eba; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">by Anne Dinh</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">The Museum of London focuses on the history of London from its early beginnings to modern day. The exhibit begins with first settlements and continues on to Roman Britain, Medieval London, Renaissance, and into the 20th century. My two favorite parts of the museum were the early landscape of Britain as well as the Roman Britain period.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMcTfILIA3BerlIJ1bPcUs3SvRPeDML1yoI2D-pz__dOj2Ashj-O4nBYwe4DJFkYD9iqpXCNIFpEl7ORUEtpwyVjEFhbk8HhXtvcTbXkwWgXjuchpfl0c7PuzoCdSdjCkjDNuaGE8ZQtQ/s1600/20150121_053614.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMcTfILIA3BerlIJ1bPcUs3SvRPeDML1yoI2D-pz__dOj2Ashj-O4nBYwe4DJFkYD9iqpXCNIFpEl7ORUEtpwyVjEFhbk8HhXtvcTbXkwWgXjuchpfl0c7PuzoCdSdjCkjDNuaGE8ZQtQ/s1600/20150121_053614.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">A view of the museum from its entrance. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The landmass of Britain, located on the peninsula of Europe, was shaped by climate change and ice sheets. During the Anglian Ice Age 480,000 years ago, Britain was covered by ice. The weight of ice sheets changed the landscape and carved new valleys while ice dams changed the route of the Thames river. Before our trip the class discussed one possible explanation for the intermittent ice ages: Milankovitch cycles. This theory reasons that three components of Earth's orbital movement influence the climate. These components are eccentricity (elliptical shape of Earth's orbit), axial tilt (the angle between Earth's rotational axis and orbital axis), and precession (the orientation of the rotational axis). These aspects of the earth's orbit change in cycles on the order of 100,000 years, and cause changes in the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">Temperature variations over the last 500,000 years</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">By 8500 BC, a warming climate allowed the ice to melt and gave rise to forests. The landscape was then heavily shaped by highly adaptable human communities. As the land became habitable, people settled in the land and coped with rising water levels by building wooden trackways across the marshy valley floor. Between 1500 and 700 BC, the areas near the Thames Valley were used for raising livestock and agriculture.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">The museum continues the history of London with the rule of Romans over Britain. Around 50 AD, the Roman Empire established Londinium, which is modern day London. By 100 AD, this city grew into one of the largest cities in the Western Roman Empire with a population of 60,000. Roman rule influenced the layout of the city and the way of life. In 150 AD, the civic center was established with the forum and basilica as the focal point. The offices and shops nearby were built with stone rather than timber or mud-brick, and water-pipes were laid down. I really enjoyed the Londinium exhibit because it gave me a sense of the millions of incremental changes in the structure of the city and the way of life. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZmluQnZfhToQMuiJcyjC5SNDRKnpba0cXmEiMSPlZUmBKwZALskYmfQA9qsahcsnsdGE4FlWBcXk6jMHZ1fay33fzZPUOOFv5Xj4d5WlzcsSbIb8iDewbDHWsZf9g2zPziggWet-E34/s1600/20150121_055706.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZmluQnZfhToQMuiJcyjC5SNDRKnpba0cXmEiMSPlZUmBKwZALskYmfQA9qsahcsnsdGE4FlWBcXk6jMHZ1fay33fzZPUOOFv5Xj4d5WlzcsSbIb8iDewbDHWsZf9g2zPziggWet-E34/s1600/20150121_055706.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">This is a model of London's civic center in 150 AD with shops, offices, and houses around the central courtyard. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">This museum allowed us to appreciate London's immense history beyond the beautiful ancient architecture. Thus far, we've seen stunning cathedrals and grand towers. A peek back to the beginning of this country and its development through the centuries only serves to strengthen my love of this city. This understanding of early London also allows us to grasp the impact of scientific discoveries and how our perspective of the world around us has gradually changed.</span>Mark Lingwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01316119412920300766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659012546333403379.post-48020573478765598642015-01-23T13:09:00.001-08:002015-01-25T03:57:56.923-08:00British Library<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> The British Library </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px;">was founded in 1753 and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">is home to many historical texts of the Western Civilization that can be found no where else in the world. The British Library consists of close to 200 million research texts and is a place where many people go to do in depth research. This was my second visit to the British Library and I am glad I was able to do a blog entry on this particular place. At first, I wanted to look at the Beatles work which mainly consisted of lyrics, many of which had originally been written on a napkin. I also quickly skimmed through the religion section which included Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. With that said, I moved my focus towards the sciences, which included Galileo Galilei, Anne Mclaren, and Willaim Henry Fox Talbot.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> I came across The Starry Messenger by Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), which we had read parts of in seminar classes and our current class that we are taking. His text was filled with his astronomical observations that he made with one of the first telescopes. We also have discussed many of the observations and discoveries of Galileo in our History of Science class. The text is also referred to as Sidereal Messenger that was published in New Latin in March 1610. With his telescope, he discovered that the moon had rough surfaces (contradicting the classical model, which was the belief that all astronomical surfaces were smooth) and discovered hundreds of stars that were never able to be seen from the naked eye.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 20.2222232818604px; text-align: left;"><i>Sidereus Nuncius</i> (<i>The Starry Messenger</i>) by Galileo Galilei</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> Another interesting text I came across was research done by an English woman named Anne Mclaren (1927-2007) which involved embryo transfers in mice (gene activity of mice is similar to those of humans), which made mice a good way to test for what would work on humans. She was made an officer of the Royal Society after her work in developmental biology lead to human in vitro fertilization.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> Another person who caught my attention was William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877). Talbot came up with the first way of using a process known as calotype which were photographic process. His invention of the calotype process has made current day photography available and he was more noted as contributing towards the artistic field.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a picture of the first printing press of Johannes Gutenberg, the books in the back were a separate part of the library</td></tr>
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Mark Lingwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01316119412920300766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659012546333403379.post-31087591052235193412015-01-23T13:07:00.002-08:002015-01-24T14:05:37.610-08:00Cambridge Walking Tour<span style="background-color: white; color: #418eba; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">by Leslie Montano</span><br />
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<span style="color: #418eba; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Once upon a time a group of students took a 10 hour flight to London and started their adventures a week ago. A week ago! Time flies when you're having fun! </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thursday, January 22, 2015... It starts off like any other day: Get up, get ready, eat breakfast & sign a paper to get money <span style="background-color: white;">(per diem)</span>, but today was different. Today, we arrived at King's Cross Station and took a 50min train ride to <b>CAMBRIDGE</b>. It was like a Harry Potter scene! Except half the people were still asleep...Regardless, we finally made it to Cambridge where we got a lovely tour about the University and its many accomplishments. Pretty cool eh?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>First of all this University is nothing but beauty. But besides the breathtaking sites, some pretty amazing people <span style="background-color: white;">attended and/or performed research </span>there. Because this course focuses on the history of Science I thought it would interesting to mention some of those people who have made a major impact. Some of those people included: Charles Darwin, Ernest Rutherford, J. J Thompson, Francis Crick, James Watson, Sir Isaac Newton, and James Clerk Maxwell. (collage below in no particular order)</i></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Clockwise from top left</b>: Charles Darwin, Ernest Rutherford, J. J Thompson, Francis Crick and James Watson, James Clerk Maxwell, and Sir Isaac Newton</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><u>Quick Facts:</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><u>Charles Darwin </u></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He is most famous for his work on natural selection</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">His 1859 book ‘On the Origin of Species’, detailed much of his research on natural selection, it contained a large amount of evidence to back up his ideas and became a landmark work in the field of evolutionary biology</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><u>Ernest Rutherford</u></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Rutherford, Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden carried out the Geiger-Marsden experiment, an attempt to examine the structure of the atom. The surprising results of this experiment demonstrated the existence of the atomic nucleus and became an integral part of the Rutherford model of the atom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><u>J. J Thompson</u></i></span></div>
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<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sir Joseph John Thomson, more commonly known as J. J. Thomson, was an English physicist who stormed the world of nuclear physics with his 1897 discovery of the electron, as well as isotopes. </span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He is also credited with the invention of the mass spectrometer.</span></span></li>
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<span style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><u>Francis Crick & James Watson</u></i></span></span></div>
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<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">Discovered the structure of DNA and postulated a mechanism for the duplication of genetic material.</span></li>
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<i style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Sir Isaac Newton</u></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1687, Newton published Philosophae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, what is widely regarded to be one of the important books in the history of science. In it he describes universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, concepts that remained at the forefront of science for centuries after.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><u>James Clerk Maxwell</u></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He produced a set of equations, known as ‘Maxwell’s Equations’ that explain the properties of magnetic and electric fields and help show that light is an electromagnetic wave.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Besides all those great people, we got to see some of the amazing monuments, memorials, and buildings Cambridge has offer.</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now that you all know how important these people are I'll tell you what we saw. First we got to see Emmanuel College and its dining hall. No one is allowed to walk on the grass here unless you were a fellow so needless to say that the grass around here was pretty nice. Students of all majors live here and attend lessons. They even attend a smaller meeting of about 2 students with one fellow to follow up on their studies. From there we were able to see the dining hall where, they too, eat like Harry Potter on long tables. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Dining Hall at Emmanuel College</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> The next quick site was a nice small pond where ducks could be seen. Emmanuel College is known for their ducks so it was nice to see them roaming around the college. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> We then left Emmanuel College and visited other campus sites including the zoology building, the buildings of environmental sciences and the old location of the Cavendish Lab. As you can see, science radiated throughout the walls.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> As we continued our walk we were able to visit the famous pub where Watson and Crick liked to hang around. They even labeled the booth where they sat! At this pub, Watson and Crick first announced their discovery of the structure of DNA. Because of that, the pub even has a beer called Eagle DNA and a dessert called the Double Helix. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The Eagle pub, where Crick and Watson first announced their ideas. </td></tr>
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<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> So we continued through our tour and stopped to look at a famous clock called the Corpus Clock. This clock has a </span><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">scary creature that lies on top </span><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">called a Chronophage, literally meaning "time eater." The Chronophage moves along the top of the clock while it eats the seconds reminding us that time is eaten and we can never get that second back. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Corpus Clock</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> As time was being eaten our tour continued. From there we crossed the street towards King's College and it's chapel. </span><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The king had loads of money and decided to build this amazing chapel. I was able to walk inside and see this amazing chapel with all of it's stained glass windows. The glass was even removed at one point because of the fear it might be damaged in the war and was later put back into the chapel. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside, but believe me, the chapel inside we gorgeous! We even got to hear the organist practice!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Entrance to King's College</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> And last but not least, we reached </span><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> the famous Newton Apple Tree. Of course this wasn't the actual apple tree where Newton claims to have discovered the theory of universal gravitation, but it was genetically tested to prove that it was in fact a descendant from the original tree. Close enough right?</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">A descendant of Newton's Apple Tree</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> This is where our tour ends. We only got to see a portion of the University, but it all was great to see. Hopefully one day I can see the rest of it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>From here we departed to our next adventure at the Cavendish Lab!</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Cheers!</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>Long Live the Queen!</i></b></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659012546333403379.post-14050540672891874552015-01-21T16:15:00.001-08:002015-01-21T16:15:14.989-08:00British Museum<span style="background-color: white; color: #418eba; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">by Olivia Silva</span><br />
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"Science is made by people, not people by science"<br />
− John Gribbin, <i>The Scientists</i>. </blockquote>
It is important to note the various advancements in technology, medicine, and science, however none of these crucial and influential achievements would have occurred without the men and women dedicating numerous hours of their lives for the betterment of society. All of these people began their life's journey somewhere, as did their ancestors, taking us all the way back to early civilizations from all over the world. Therefore, an understanding of history is crucial to understand the progression of science. <br />
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One of our first stops in London was the famous British Museum. The British Museum was established in the year 1759, dedicated to showcase human history and culture. The size of the building is overwhelmingly large and contains exhibits that date back to Mesopotamia in 6000-1500 BC! Anyone can easily spend all day in the British Museum and still not be able to see the entirety of it, which is why at different times certain certified volunteers take groups of eager people<b> </b>around a particular room for about thirty minutes on a themed tour to explain in detail certain key pieces on display. Out of all the various exhibits found in the museum (such as Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Africa) my two favorite exhibits hands down were Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outside of British Museum</td></tr>
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The nine large rooms dedicated solely to Ancient Egypt not only had giant statues, mummified cats, and actual hieroglyphs on ancient tile but also the actual Rosetta Stone! For those who do not know, the Rosetta Stone is a giant slab of granodiorite (similar to granite) with a written decree from King Ptolemy V in three different languages: Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Demotic, and Ancient Greece. Since this tablet contains the same decree written three times, historians were able to use this stone as a "key" to translate Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs for the first time. Sure, learning about the Rosetta Stone in elementary school was interesting, but actually seeing this monumental piece of history only a few feet in-front of me is a surreal experience I hope everyone can enjoy in their lifetime.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ancient Egyptian Mummy and sarcophagus </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Egyptian Pharaoh statue </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Rosetta Stone</td></tr>
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Seeing the Rosetta Stone was unreal, but the Ancient Greek sculptures utterly took my breath away. It amazes me how realistic each piece of art looked. The details in the sculptures are so intricate that it appeared as if actual cloth was draped over the statue of a human being (which actually means the sculpture subject is a woman, as men were always depicted naked). Luckily for us, marble was used as the sculpting medium; it is extremely durable and was able to endure the potential damage of decades of abandonment. The Greek classical period saw a revolution in sculpting associated by historians with the popular culture surrounding the introduction of democracy. These sculptures were brilliantly carved (using a hammer and chisel) to capture realistic yet overly exaggerated and idealized features desirable to the Greeks. The sculptures were used for tombs, offerings to the gods, and the temples and were eventually discovered and put on display for the pleasure of the public.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MX-g2tTWXZE/VMArkCb_gLI/AAAAAAAAAAw/g6ZpRSvM_0Y/s1600/IMG_2124.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MX-g2tTWXZE/VMArkCb_gLI/AAAAAAAAAAw/g6ZpRSvM_0Y/s1600/IMG_2124.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ancient Greek female marble statue</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4XJbbc12Rqk/VMArk4FcOBI/AAAAAAAAAA4/GBjC_4y4Kw0/s1600/IMG_2125.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4XJbbc12Rqk/VMArk4FcOBI/AAAAAAAAAA4/GBjC_4y4Kw0/s1600/IMG_2125.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ancient Greek female marble statue </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The content of the British Museum was so extensive that if I talked about every exhibit I found interesting you would be reading this post for hours on end. The history of human society is extremely relevant even now because not only does it include the history of our own ancestors but it sets the stage for the scientific discoveries that paved the way for a functional modern society. I can honestly say that I have already learned so much about the history of science, humankind, and history on this trip and I cannot wait to see what London has in store for me and my classmates on our second half of our adventure!<br />
<br />
Cheers!<br />
Olivia<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659012546333403379.post-18515899656617342382015-01-20T15:03:00.000-08:002015-01-20T15:03:21.944-08:00Westminster Abbey <span style="background-color: white; color: #418eba; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">by Catherine Kuo</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br />
I know we’ve only been in London
for a grand total of two days, but I’m falling more and more in love with this
city each day. The people are so gracious, transportation is easy, and there seems
to be something around every corner that is so historical and valuable to the
British culture. Each day we are lucky enough to have a packed schedule that
gives us the opportunity to appreciate London in its full glory.<br />
<br />
With that
being said, we kicked off today with a visit to the iconic Westminster Abbey. Upon
approaching Westminster Abbey, I couldn’t help but think of one thing: the
royal wedding. I had a series of thoughts along the lines of “Yes, this is
where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were first introduced to the world as
newlyweds. No, you can’t hold your own wedding here. And yes, you are literally
walking in the footsteps of <i>the </i>Kate
Middleton.” Little did I know that this historical site was so much more than
that- the royal wedding was just the beginning. Led by our kind and very
knowledgeable tour guide, Barry, we spent most of our morning learning and understanding
what makes this famous abbey a “must see” to many of those who visit London. </div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e-_ZFeJSO7o/VL7TeUPQPRI/AAAAAAAAACQ/CUU2B6vgZ-k/s1600/IMG_7947.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e-_ZFeJSO7o/VL7TeUPQPRI/AAAAAAAAACQ/CUU2B6vgZ-k/s1600/IMG_7947.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Main entrance </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Se3_CpkErtw/VL7TedhTEaI/AAAAAAAAACM/4JB2Qqqt_KE/s1600/IMG_7944.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Se3_CpkErtw/VL7TedhTEaI/AAAAAAAAACM/4JB2Qqqt_KE/s1600/IMG_7944.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view of the western facade </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">After establishing his royal
palace near the river Thames in the 1040s, King Edward decided to enlarge a
nearby monastery in honor of St. Peter the Apostle. </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">This church was known as “West Minster” and
was consecrated on December 28, 1065. Two centuries later, King Henry III
rebuilt the abbey in French gothic style and declared it to be a place of
worship as well as a place for the coronations and burials of monarchs. It has
hosted every coronation since 1066, sixteen royal weddings, and many other celebratory
events. Unfortunately I was not able to take pictures inside, but as seen in
the pictures above, the architecture of Westminster Abbey has the ability to
leave people in a state of awe. Everything is so magnificent and intricate down
to every last detail. Something I found particularly beautiful were the statues
upon one of the entrances. Instead of the common saints, the statues were of “people
who died for the faith,” such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr (which I thought
was quite fitting since it was MLK day back in the U.S). There was so much to
see at Westminster Abbey, but here are the top two things I thought were worth
sharing: </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b>1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal;">
</span></b><!--[endif]--><b>The
Scientists </b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in;">
There are many well-known
scientists buried or honored in the abbey, which I thought was fascinating since
the purpose of traveling to London was to study the history of science. Here
are a couple descriptions of these scientists who furthered the development of
science and were worthy of being honored in a place of great reverence: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in;">
-<i>Isaac Newton:</i> Known for his law of gravitation and his book, <i>Principia, </i>which contains the
fundamental parts of physics <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in;">
-<i>Charles Darwin:</i> Discovered natural selection, which says that
organisms better adapted to their environment have a greater chance of
reproducing, as the main mechanism of evolution <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in;">
-<i>Robert Hooke:</i> Known for his law of elasticity (Hooke’s Law) and
studied microscropy in which he first used the word “cell” to describe the
basic unit of life <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in;">
-<i>Michael Faraday:</i> Contributed greatly to the fields of electromagnetism
and electrochemistry<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in;">
-<i>Ernest Rutherford:</i> Known as the “Father of Nuclear Physics” and
discovered that atoms contain a dense nucleus<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b><br /></b>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b>2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal;">
</span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Tomb
of the Unknown Warrior </b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in;">
Similar to the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier in the Arlington National Cemetery, a grave for an unknown
warrior, buried on November 11, 1920, lies within an abbey. Part of the
inscription included that “they buried him among the Kings because he had done
good toward God and toward his house.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
From the tomb of Queen Elizabeth I to the William
Shakespeare memorial, I could go on and on about this beautiful abbey. Hopefully
I was able to convey my excitement and newfound love for this famous abbey
through this post. Everywhere in London seems to be considered as “holy ground”
and I’m looking forward to soaking in the greatness that is this city and for
the many adventures to come throughout the next few weeks! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Cheerio, <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Catherine<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659012546333403379.post-68142075489770673372015-01-20T10:43:00.000-08:002015-01-20T10:43:46.335-08:00Tower of London<span style="background-color: white; color: #418eba; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">by Mackenzie Theis</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzOApTCtmJQlTStlxcjkHN_8syP2BmBlIK8Xuilh_-Zyqi1vPlzrW7SdWkuHp876uDtruvHQBOEM1dBYvsRFdRyqRismM2rH2sTRHZDybMz7tEebvFrUgbpnITPWrssQx6RDzL5_UbnOM/s1600/IMG_20150120_180343.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzOApTCtmJQlTStlxcjkHN_8syP2BmBlIK8Xuilh_-Zyqi1vPlzrW7SdWkuHp876uDtruvHQBOEM1dBYvsRFdRyqRismM2rH2sTRHZDybMz7tEebvFrUgbpnITPWrssQx6RDzL5_UbnOM/s1600/IMG_20150120_180343.jpg" height="207" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">A view from the outside of the Tower including the wall that surrounds the Tower and grounds.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
The Tower of London, founded in 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest, is a Castle known by many as the home of the famous Henry the VIII and his many wives. Named after the large White Tower, built by William the Conqueror in 1078, the grounds and buildings surrounding the White Tower span over 12 acres. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCjJ15S-D6gS7ZmurDzHmeD8GPUBX0n3yxAT4DlI1PMJoSxCc5gW6TMtpgrDruMNF2Zr87mvpuXBrWFTM8rzYhRC1oo8QIBZYFlRGNibvHSVupOR44zYBvFeNvruMqNvpD1l0qh1ILLvQ/s1600/IMG_20150118_152406694.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCjJ15S-D6gS7ZmurDzHmeD8GPUBX0n3yxAT4DlI1PMJoSxCc5gW6TMtpgrDruMNF2Zr87mvpuXBrWFTM8rzYhRC1oo8QIBZYFlRGNibvHSVupOR44zYBvFeNvruMqNvpD1l0qh1ILLvQ/s1600/IMG_20150118_152406694.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">The White Tower</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
As the royal castle it was used as the residence of many Monarchs and later held the reputation as an infamous prison that housed some of the more high-status criminals who were often kept in comfortable conditions. One example is Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry the VIII, who was later executed on the tower grounds. For centuries the Tower has housed the Crown Jewels, which can be viewed when visiting the Tower. Today the Tower is still officially a royal residence for Her Majesty the Queen, but has not been used as such for many centuries, and has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in London.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
In order to fully understand the Science aspect of our trip, we needed a historical background to set the stage for us. The Tower was our second stop <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1716708901" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Sunday</span></span>, after we were able to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace. I was extremely excited to visit and looked forward to seeing the notorious Tower in person and learn some of its more extensive history. The Tower stands out from the other buildings around it and is a true historical landmark. From the outside the Tower looks like a formidable fortress, but once you enter you are transported back in time, from the uneven stone roads throughout the Tower grounds to the white stone castle itself. As a class we went on a guided tour lead by one of The Beefeaters, who guard and live on the Tower grounds with their families. After the tour we went through the inside of the buildings on our own and could take our time looking through some of the buildings that make up the famous Tower of London. Some of which were The Bloody Tower, where the notorious murders of two Princes in the Tower is said to have taken place, the White Tower, which now houses much of the armor and weapons of the time, and the Jewel House which is home to the Crown Jewels. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQt5IrcIAB0E4CE7bfF4Qc4HKstm1ZM15D1YQUcZs_SK1N46Zb1d7weD8Y1yCaE0j73V-T_lcPQbYeCndZx5Jk7rGAWcKRB7C7LVPdeRUqcA-25B6fJeCOnFkjHP_8i4hBOQR5D_RQZOI/s1600/IMG_20150118_155004679.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQt5IrcIAB0E4CE7bfF4Qc4HKstm1ZM15D1YQUcZs_SK1N46Zb1d7weD8Y1yCaE0j73V-T_lcPQbYeCndZx5Jk7rGAWcKRB7C7LVPdeRUqcA-25B6fJeCOnFkjHP_8i4hBOQR5D_RQZOI/s1600/IMG_20150118_155004679.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Some of the armor that was worn by Henry the VIII. The hand holding the camera is a later addition.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="font-size: 13px;">Throughout the grounds of the Tower life-sized exotic animals constructed out of chicken wire can be found. The animals represent the menagerie of creatures that once lived at the Tower which were gifted to the kings, such an elephant, lions, a polar bear, and baboons. It is said that the roar of the lions could be heard from outside the tower and symbolized the power held by the royal family. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzW2MY6ujx9jG2Zas9F_I16dbw93LJF1I2qxya-_YQeC22mNlExtdpIji7J6Ld0uMp1zTmpFWNnulc3xQXq-NPwejQTHyy3T3XYfHcApdT5fGDQDHKSFgNUrNv1Ec0x6EgF8u-ib3lHJc/s1600/IMG_20150118_134356146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzW2MY6ujx9jG2Zas9F_I16dbw93LJF1I2qxya-_YQeC22mNlExtdpIji7J6Ld0uMp1zTmpFWNnulc3xQXq-NPwejQTHyy3T3XYfHcApdT5fGDQDHKSFgNUrNv1Ec0x6EgF8u-ib3lHJc/s1600/IMG_20150118_134356146.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The representation of three lions that are said to be gifts to King Henry III, which are just outside the castle walls.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Overall this was an amazing experience, a site that I would not hesitate to visit again. I would recommend this to anyone who is visiting London or hopes to do so in the future. </div>
</div>
Mark Lingwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01316119412920300766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659012546333403379.post-2749740093947601882015-01-16T07:05:00.001-08:002015-01-16T07:05:24.361-08:00Welcome to the Blog!Hi Everyone,<br />
<br />
Thanks for stopping by the blog. Today we get on the plane to London! Then in a few days blog entries will start appearing here.<br />
<br />
Every student in the class will write an entry on one place that we see, to be posted a few days after our visit. So please check back and see what we've been up to!Mark Lingwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01316119412920300766noreply@blogger.com0