(no subject)
Those long nights gazing into the depths of space prompted a spiritual awakening of sorts for Hubble. Though never a churchgoer, he read religious texts avidly and sometimes discussed religion with his wife and friends. His scientific inclinations won out, however. "The whole thing is so much bigger than I am, and I can't understand it, so I just trust myself to it; and forget about it," he told a friend.
Hubble's work focused on nebulae, immense concentrations of gas or dust, some of which he found to be distant galaxies. Using the observatory's huge telescopes, he studied the brightness of different nebulae, believing that would help him create a scale for measuring interstellar distances.
Hoping to find the edge of the universe, if one existed, Hubble instead discovered that distant nebulae are moving even farther away from Earth at speeds of up to 40,000 kilometers per second. This indication that the universe was expanding, not static, provided some of the earliest hard evidence for the Big Bang theory.
Fourteen-year-old Philo Farnsworth (1906-1971) was plowing a field on his uncle's Idaho farm in 1919 when he got an astounding idea. The teenager, who had already developed a strong interest in science and was particularly intrigued by a concept he had read about called "television," was looking back at the pattern of parallel rows he'd tilled when he hit upon a new method for transmitting images electronically. His idea, to transmit images as a series of lines, made television possible, though Farnsworth himself reaped few rewards from his innovation.
Before his inspiration, Farnsworth had been reading about a concept for broadcasting images. Alexander Graham Bell (whose telephone transmitted sound) had speculated about the possibility, and, in 1884, German scientist Paul Nipkow had proposed a method for scanning images mechanically and transmitting them as lines encoded in an electric signal. Farnsworth realized that speed was the key: The more lines used, the sharper the image would be. He was convinced that no mechanical device could scan fast enough to project enough lines, and he devised an alternative system with no mechanical parts.
In 1926, Scotsman John Logie Baird used Nipkow's approach to broadcast an image of a dummy's head. It was blurry, as Farnsworth had predicted. The next year, Farnsworth filed for his first patent and transmitted a clear image of a thick, black line.
Farnsworth spent the next decade perfecting his approach and patenting important improvements. As World War II began, his system worked well enough to interest commercial manufacturers, but the government halted production so the companies could make war-related materials. After the war, Farnsworth's key patents had expired, and manufacturers could make televisions without his cooperation or permission. Farnsworth continued inventing--early versions of radar and the electronic microscope, among other things--but he reaped few rewards from television. But, in 1969, as Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon were broadcast using equipment he had invented, Farnsworth turned to his wife and said, "This has made it all worthwhile."
Hubble's work focused on nebulae, immense concentrations of gas or dust, some of which he found to be distant galaxies. Using the observatory's huge telescopes, he studied the brightness of different nebulae, believing that would help him create a scale for measuring interstellar distances.
Hoping to find the edge of the universe, if one existed, Hubble instead discovered that distant nebulae are moving even farther away from Earth at speeds of up to 40,000 kilometers per second. This indication that the universe was expanding, not static, provided some of the earliest hard evidence for the Big Bang theory.
Fourteen-year-old Philo Farnsworth (1906-1971) was plowing a field on his uncle's Idaho farm in 1919 when he got an astounding idea. The teenager, who had already developed a strong interest in science and was particularly intrigued by a concept he had read about called "television," was looking back at the pattern of parallel rows he'd tilled when he hit upon a new method for transmitting images electronically. His idea, to transmit images as a series of lines, made television possible, though Farnsworth himself reaped few rewards from his innovation.
Before his inspiration, Farnsworth had been reading about a concept for broadcasting images. Alexander Graham Bell (whose telephone transmitted sound) had speculated about the possibility, and, in 1884, German scientist Paul Nipkow had proposed a method for scanning images mechanically and transmitting them as lines encoded in an electric signal. Farnsworth realized that speed was the key: The more lines used, the sharper the image would be. He was convinced that no mechanical device could scan fast enough to project enough lines, and he devised an alternative system with no mechanical parts.
In 1926, Scotsman John Logie Baird used Nipkow's approach to broadcast an image of a dummy's head. It was blurry, as Farnsworth had predicted. The next year, Farnsworth filed for his first patent and transmitted a clear image of a thick, black line.
Farnsworth spent the next decade perfecting his approach and patenting important improvements. As World War II began, his system worked well enough to interest commercial manufacturers, but the government halted production so the companies could make war-related materials. After the war, Farnsworth's key patents had expired, and manufacturers could make televisions without his cooperation or permission. Farnsworth continued inventing--early versions of radar and the electronic microscope, among other things--but he reaped few rewards from television. But, in 1969, as Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon were broadcast using equipment he had invented, Farnsworth turned to his wife and said, "This has made it all worthwhile."