Articles for March 2016

Learning from a master

The expert may not be the best teacher

lanAs we mentioned last week, our navigator was out of the office teaching a professor how to use his sextant.  Having decades of experience in both the observations and the calculations involved, he certainly has a firm grasp of the subject.  But that’s not always the quality you need in a teacher.

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Brass, glass and verniers

Scientists of yesterday were different

sextantOur astronomer and our navigator are away from headquarters at the moment, showing a Professor of Physics how to use his sextant.  This style of instrument was the mainstay of nineteenth-century astronomy: made of brass and glass, with precise scales engraved on them for careful measurements.  The people who used them had to work in a different way from current astronomers and must have had a different approach to life.

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Instant gratification in the Swinging Sixties

A darkroom inside the camera

polaroidA remarkable mid-century invention allowed a photographer to produce pictures almost immediately, a bit of magic that is rarely matched even by current digital cameras.

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The color of parchment

Scientists and scholars in partnership

filterbookOne of the advantages of living in the Washington, DC area is the wealth of cultural opportunities. Expositions of science, history and the arts are going on all the time. Our astronomer attended one of these recently, telling the story of how multicolor imaging allowed scholars to read a text that had been erased centuries ago.

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Live long and prosper

What makes a device last for decades?

autographic1Our photographer routinely handles cameras from many different eras, using them to take pictures rather than keeping them for display. Those that work best are neither the youngest ones nor the most expensive. What design features make for a long life?

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