Priestley’s account of Franklin’s historic kite flight (1767)

Posted on November 28, 2012 by skullsinthestars

Now that I’ve spent a post defending the possibility that Benjamin Franklin could have performed, and likely did perform, his experiment demonstrating the sameness of electricity and lightning, it occurs to me that I haven’t shared in detail the most complete account of that historic experiment, published by Joseph Priestley in 1767, some 13 years after the event.

Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) was an English theologian, clergyman and natural philosopher who is credited with a number of discoveries, including the invention of soda water and the official discovery of oxygen (though the Swede Carl Wilhelm Scheele in fact discovered it earlier, Priestley was the first to publish).  When he became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1766, he decided to publish an account of the history of electricity along with descriptions of the state of the art research of the time.  He actually had a chance to meet and speak with Benjamin Franklin in person during a visit of the latter to London, and got many details about Franklin’s own electrical researches.

The result is the only historical account of the famous June 1752 kite-flying experiment (aside from Franklin’s own short and technical letter to Peter Collinson, which I have discussed previously).  The account of Priestley follows.

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Posted in History of science | 6 Comments

More on Franklin and the electrical kite (1752)

Posted on November 26, 2012 by skullsinthestars

The history of science is filled with exaggerated and even untrue stories of scientists and experiments; there are a lot of people about (such as the Renaissance Mathematicus) who endeavor to debunk some of the more egregious myths out there, and the scientific hero worship that often comes with it.  A good example is the infamous “death ray” of Archimedes, which has been shown quite conclusively to have been an impractical weapon.

Myths are often spread and propagated by people passing along imperfect information uncritically across generations.  I am usually quite forgiving of such errors, but sometimes an article comes out that gets really under my skin and I need to go off on a rant.

Benjamin Franklin, c. 1767.

Case in point: the question of Benjamin Franklin’s famous flight of a kite in a thunderstorm!  An article appeared on io9 the other day about “5 historical myths about real scientific discoveries,” which argues that Franklin never actually performed his experiment.  The io9 article also references a Mythbusters’ episode, “Did Ben Franklin really discover electricity with kite and key?”

Both of these articles end up confusing the issue of Franklin’s kite experiment more than they clarify it.  There seems to be an almost contrarian glee in suggesting that Franklin was, in fact, outright lying to the scientific community and, indeed, the world.  I can’t speak with certain on what Franklin did or did not do, but I certainly can point out the flaws in the posted articles, which fail to make as strong a case as they think.

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Posted in ... the Hell?, History of science | 5 Comments

A Tiny update!

Posted on November 20, 2012 by skullsinthestars

Posting will be light (-er than usual) this week on account of the Thanksgiving holiday!  Before I went silent, however, I wanted to announce a bit of good news: the cat Tiny that my wife and I have been fostering has been adopted!  We took a three-hour drive on Sunday to drop off Tiny with Brian and Tara Malow, aka @sciencecomedian and @artnmuzic!  Tara saw the description and photos of Tiny in my blog post and immediately fell in love with him.

Tiny, for his part, immediately fell in love with Brian and Tara!  When we brought him into their home, he immediately seemed comfortable and set about exploring.  Tara reported this morning on his progress:

Tiny is doing well! He slept out in the couch himself again last night, but came in to sleep between us for about an hour around five am.

When we got up, he was sitting by the back door avidly watching the squirrel and bird activity — he’s already got a favorite spot there.

…

He’s extraordinarily affectionate! When we get up he meows and does the leg rub and then head butts us for a scratching. We thought at first he just hungry, but he ignores breakfast (for a few minutes) in favor of petting! 🙂:)

He’s eating the food you brought as well as a little partially raw poultry (surface cooked to kill bacteria). He is CRAZY for chicken! Liver too (we eat liver once a week or two, so he’ll get a little now and then).

So far, so good! He’s fitting right in. He spends all his time curled up next to/on top of one or the other of us, only sleeping at night on his own. What a sweetie. We adore him!!

Here’s a picture I took of the new family while we were there:

Beth and I are delighted that Tiny found a great home, and I’m sure he, Brian and Tara will be very happy together!

Posted in Animals, Personal | 1 Comment

Valancourt Books’ “Terrifying Transformations”

Posted on November 16, 2012 by skullsinthestars

I’ve been a fan of the publisher Valancourt Books for almost as long as I’ve been writing this blog (my first post on one of their publications can be read here).  They have done an amazing job reprinting rare and classic literature from the 18th, 19th, and early 20th century, including many novels of horror and weird fiction.  Among these are what are now some of my favorite books!

Over the last couple of years, it seemed that they were slowing down production a bit, but they have recently published a wonderful flood of classic works, including the edited volume “Terrifying Transformations: An Anthology of Victorian Werewolf Fiction, 1838-1896”:

 

This is a lovely volume, with a great variety of stories.  Fans of werewolf fiction will not only find rare pieces that have hardly appeared anywhere for 100 years, but also learn about the symbolism of the werewolf in Victorian times.

 

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Posted in Horror | Leave a comment

The Giant’s Shoulders #53 is out!

Posted on November 16, 2012 by skullsinthestars

The 53rd edition of The Giant’s Shoulders history of science blog carnival has appeared at The Scicurious Brain!  In this edition, you can read about:

  • How politics and hurricanes have collided as far back as the 1600s,
  • The historical “invasion of the body snatchers” epidemic!
  • THE HORRIFIC CARNIVOROUS MASTODON (that never existed),
  • and much more!

Many thanks to Scicurious for putting together an excellent and lovely edition of the carnival!

The next edition will be posted on December 16th at the Contagions blog, and as always entries can be submitted to the carnival organizers (myself or Renaissance Mathematicus) or directly to the carnival host.

Posted in General science, Science news | Leave a comment

Invention of the “perfect” invisibility cloak?

Posted on November 12, 2012 by skullsinthestars

In 2006, a number of researchers made international headlines with the announcement that they had laid the theoretical foundations for the construction of an “invisibility cloak,” a device that has been a staple of horror, fantasy and science fiction for over 100 years earlier.  Since then, new developments in optical cloaking have been a regular staple of the science news media, and every new discovery has been reported on with breathless, and often over-hyped, excitement.

It is with this in mind that I mention new results that hit the media over the past few days, with tantalizing headlines like “Invisibility cloaking in ‘perfect’ demonstration,” “Researchers at Duke are perfecting an invisibility cloak,” and “Scientists call their discovery a ‘perfect’ invisibility cloak.”

These are also experimental results!  With this in mind, can we say that “perfect” cloaking has been achieved?  Well, it really depends on your interpretation of the word “perfect!”  In a very real technical sense, to be explained below, the researchers have demonstrated that optical cloaking can in principle work perfectly (with certain strong caveats), and make an object undetectable to an electromagnetic wave of a certain wavelength.  However, it is nowhere near “perfect” cloaking in the sense that most of the public would interpret the word — the object is readily, obviously visible under most circumstances!

Though there are a lot of posts out there explaining the new developments, I thought I’d spare a few words to describe what exactly what was done and what is novel about it.

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Posted in Invisibility, Optics | 5 Comments

Foster kitty Tiny!

Posted on November 11, 2012 by skullsinthestars

I’ve been rather overwhelmed with work, travel, and sick cats lately, so I haven’t had the time or energy to write significant science blog posts — this will change soon!  In the meantime, I thought I’d ask people to spread the word about a foster kitty we’ve taken in that we’re hoping to adopt out to somebody within reasonable distance of Charlotte, NC.  We have named this amazingly sweet cat “Tiny,” as he weighs roughly 19 pounds!

About 2 weeks ago, my wife took our kitty Fluff to the vet for laser treatment of his teeth*.  While she was there, she met Tiny, who had been dumped off in a cat carrier in the middle of the night at the vet’s office.  Tiny was obviously somebody’s housecat — he’d been declawed in the front, and he just *adores* people.  I’ve been able to even scratch his soft belly, which any cat-lover knows is a pretty rare thing.

Our vet’s office doesn’t handle adoptions, and the local humane society shelter was full, so Tiny was scheduled to be send to the city’s “kill” shelter.  Because he is such a friendly and loving cat, we couldn’t let that happen, so we’re fostering him until we can find him a forever home.

For those who love cats that like to cuddle, Tiny would be a perfect fit!  The only concern is that he is very scared of other cats, and would probably fit best in a house as the only cat or maybe one other.

Tiny has had all of his shots, is neutered, and tested negative for FIV.  He has a wonderfully soft coat of fur and loves to be petted and brushed.  He is estimated to be about five years old and will have a long and happy life in the right home! We are managing the adoption through our friends at S.O.S. Feline Rescue (also on Facebook), who will handle the adoption fee and application.  You can contact them directly, or you can contact me and I will put you in touch with S.O.S.

If you’re looking for a wonderful and friendly feline, please consider Tiny!  We really need to find him a home — since he’s afraid of our other cats (and we have 9 at home, so it’s hard to avoid them), he’s spent most of his time locked in a relatively small room, which he is not terribly fond of.

Tiny shows his softer side.

*************

* Fluff has an autoimmune disorder that results in him getting painful gum swelling.  Laser treatment can more or less remove that pain.  Our cats get anything they want!

Posted in Animals, Personal | 2 Comments

E.R. Eddison’s The Worm Ouroboros

Posted on November 6, 2012 by skullsinthestars

If you were to ask most people to name the truly classic works of fantasy fiction, you would almost certainly hear J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” (1954-55) and “The Hobbit” (1937), as well as C.S. Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia” (1950-56).  Many others, very much including myself, would include Robert E. Howard’s “Conan” series of stories (1930s).

All of these books and stories involve elaborately created fantasy worlds, each with its own geography, history and mythology.  Indeed, this has become the standard for good fantasy: immersion of the reader in a world that seems as detailed and vibrant as the real one.

Most people would not be familiar, however, with an even earlier fantasy novel, “The Worm Ouroboros,” written by E.R. Eddison (1882-1945) and published in 1922.  This is one of the earliest works of fantasy* to feature a completely invented and consistent fantasy world and was admired by later authors such as Lewis, Tolkien, and even H.P. Lovecraft!

Drawing of the worm Ouroboros by Theodoros Pelecanos, in the 1478 alchemical tract Synosius. (Via Wikipedia)

The title of the novel refers to the mythical serpent Ouroboros, which is forever eating its own tail.  It is a symbol of the villainous Witchland, which threatens to seize control of the free nations of the world Mercury by force in a time of vulnerability.  Opposing Witchland are the Lords of Demonland: Lord Juss, Goldry Bluszco, Lord Spitfire, and Brandoch Daha.  Their quest to defeat the Witches will involve clashes of armies, battles with fierce monsters, journeys to dangerous and mystical lands, encounters with ghosts and gods, narrow escapes from death, and horrifying conjurations.

“The Worm Ouroboros” is undeniably a classic, but a challenging one: it is written in sixteenth century English, and requires effort to understand.  I read the book at an exceedingly leisurely pace, usually only a single chapter every night.  Let’s take a quick look at “Ouroboros” and its influence on fantasy literature.

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Posted in Fantasy fiction | 5 Comments

“Are beech-trees ever struck by lightning?” (1889)

Posted on November 3, 2012 by skullsinthestars

Short answer: yes!

It’s easy to forget how relatively little we knew about the natural world even only a hundred years ago.  I came across a rather amusing and macabre example in the July 19, 1889 issue of Science magazine some time ago, a letter with the odd title, “Are beech-trees ever struck by lightning?”  This was written in response to a short bit in the “Notes and News” section of the July 5th issue of Science, which read as follows:

ACCORDING to an ancient superstition, says Garden and Forest, the beech is never struck by lightning; and so general has been this belief, that a gentleman recently thought it worth while to write to an English journal that he had been told of a lightning-shattered beech in Ireland. Beliefs of this sort are rarely without some degree of justification in fact, and it would be interesting to know whether in this country the beech has been observed to possess any greater immunity from electrical dangers than trees of other sorts.

Keep in mind that this note, which appeared in Science, suggests that beech trees might be lightning-proof in some way!

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Posted in ... the Hell?, History of science | 7 Comments

Weird Fiction Monday: The Worm

Posted on October 29, 2012 by skullsinthestars

It’s time for Weird Fiction Monday, when I post stories that I’ve written — both new and old — for the entertainment (hopefully) of my readers!  As always, I note that I haven’t done extensive editing of the tales here, so don’t be surprised to find the writing a little rough.  

This particular story is much darker than many that I write, and is oddly personal, as I note in an afterword.  It was written almost exactly fifteen years ago, in 1997.

The Worm

The dream, again.  He was shoveling, the worm was giggling, and someone was screaming.

He awoke suddenly, staring up at the ceiling, affixed to the bed by feelings of horror.  His throat felt raw; the voice screaming he always heard was, he suspected, his own.  If his neighbors noticed, though, they never commented.

Richard Dewar had needed no alarm clock to wake him for quite some time.  The dreams chased him from sleep every morning, and kept him from true rest every night.  Would they fade in time, as the memories became distant and unfamiliar?  Would the memories ever become unfamiliar?  Richard would not even dare hope.

Images of the people, and their eyes, lifeless, remained with him as he crawled out of bed, and echoes of the worm resonated within his skull.

“Your feelings are perfectly normal,” Richard told himself, rinsing up at the sink, but the words sounded hollow.  Richard’s therapist had spoken those words, many times, but how could his therapist possibly know?  She had not sat in the darkness, with the stench, and the blood, and the worm, shoveling…

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Posted in Fiction | 2 Comments