Philosophy
by
Ron Miller
September 23rd, 2013
io9
In 1890, Arthur Kennelly, an electrical engineer working for Thomas Edison, wrote a letter to the director of the Lick Observatory. He described an interesting experiment being undertaken by the great inventor that may have been the first radio telescope — forty years before its official invention.
History shows that the first radio telescope was built in 1931 by Karl Jansky, an engineer working for Bell Laboratories, in an effort to discover the source of interference in transmissions. He identified that the origin of the interference was the Milky Way. Five years later, amateur astronomer Grote Reber applied this technique in the first application of a new branch of astronomy that became known as radio astronomy.
Still, there are tantalizing hints that its birth may have come almost 40 years before.
In his letter about Edison to the director of Lick, Kennelly said "the inventor had turned his mind to solar physics. Along with the electromagnetic disturbances we receive from the Sun," he wrote, "which, of course, you know we recognise as light and heat" Edison had decided that it was "not unreasonable to suppose there will be disturbances of much longer wavelength."
If this were to prove true, Kennelly said, "we might translate them into sound." Edison's plan was to employ a huge mass of iron ore. Around this he would erect a series of wooden poles. From these poles would be a cable consisting of seven carefully insulated wires, the terminals of which would be attached to a telephone or similar apparatus. "It is then possible," Kennelly wrote, "that violent disturbances in the Sun's atmosphere might so disturb either the normal electromagnetic flow of energy we receive, or the normal distribution of magnetic force on this planet, as to bring about an appreciably great change in the flow of magnetic induction embraced by the cable loop."
Edison suspected that such electromagnetic disturbances would be associated with sunspot activity and hoped that Lick Observatory would be able to provide information as to just when these occurred, since Edison and Kennelly would not be able to establish a connection "unless we have positive evidence of coincident disturbances in the corona."
Unfortunately, there is no evidence one way or the other whether Edison ever carried out the experiment. If he had, it probably wouldn't have worked. Edison's proposed apparatus would have been very insensitive, capable of detecting only very long wavelengths—and the ionosphere prevents such long waves from reaching the earth's surface. Ironically, it was Kennelly who went on to co-predict the existence of the Heaviside Layer, which accounted for this effect.
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Philosophy
Arthur Kennelly or Karl Jansky...first radio telescope
"That Time Thomas Edison Almost Invented the Radio Telescope"
by
Ron Miller
September 23rd, 2013
io9
In 1890, Arthur Kennelly, an electrical engineer working for Thomas Edison, wrote a letter to the director of the Lick Observatory. He described an interesting experiment being undertaken by the great inventor that may have been the first radio telescope — forty years before its official invention.
History shows that the first radio telescope was built in 1931 by Karl Jansky, an engineer working for Bell Laboratories, in an effort to discover the source of interference in transmissions. He identified that the origin of the interference was the Milky Way. Five years later, amateur astronomer Grote Reber applied this technique in the first application of a new branch of astronomy that became known as radio astronomy.
Still, there are tantalizing hints that its birth may have come almost 40 years before.
In his letter about Edison to the director of Lick, Kennelly said "the inventor had turned his mind to solar physics. Along with the electromagnetic disturbances we receive from the Sun," he wrote, "which, of course, you know we recognise as light and heat" Edison had decided that it was "not unreasonable to suppose there will be disturbances of much longer wavelength."
If this were to prove true, Kennelly said, "we might translate them into sound." Edison's plan was to employ a huge mass of iron ore. Around this he would erect a series of wooden poles. From these poles would be a cable consisting of seven carefully insulated wires, the terminals of which would be attached to a telephone or similar apparatus. "It is then possible," Kennelly wrote, "that violent disturbances in the Sun's atmosphere might so disturb either the normal electromagnetic flow of energy we receive, or the normal distribution of magnetic force on this planet, as to bring about an appreciably great change in the flow of magnetic induction embraced by the cable loop."
Edison suspected that such electromagnetic disturbances would be associated with sunspot activity and hoped that Lick Observatory would be able to provide information as to just when these occurred, since Edison and Kennelly would not be able to establish a connection "unless we have positive evidence of coincident disturbances in the corona."
Unfortunately, there is no evidence one way or the other whether Edison ever carried out the experiment. If he had, it probably wouldn't have worked. Edison's proposed apparatus would have been very insensitive, capable of detecting only very long wavelengths—and the ionosphere prevents such long waves from reaching the earth's surface. Ironically, it was Kennelly who went on to co-predict the existence of the Heaviside Layer, which accounted for this effect.
- Vista - The World's Most Powerful Survey Telescope
Light pollution here on Earth has been annoying astronomers pretty much ever since Thomas Edison invented the light bulb... thanks, jerk! :) This is one of the reasons we sent out the Hubble telescope out to space, but you can also watch the beauties...
- Lick Observatory May Be Shutdown
"Lick Observatory's astronomy research could end" by Lisa M. Krieger December 16th, 2013 mercurynews.com Astronomical research at Lick Observatory is in peril, due to the University of California's plans to cut funding and convert the 125-year-old...
- Messy Machine From The Past...the Mimeograph
Actually, they were great for short-run handouts...and they could be messy too. "Aug. 8, 1876: Run This Off on the Mimeo" by Randy Alfred August 8th, 2011 Wired 1876: Thomas Edison receives a patent for the mimeograph. It will dominate...
- The Methuselah Light Bulb
"The World's Oldest Light Bulb Has Been On for 110 Years" by Erica Ho June 16th, 2011 Time How many people does it take to change this light bulb? None. On June 18, the oldest-known working light bulb in the world will celebrate the 110th year...
- 3,000+ Patents...sorry Edison, Yoshiro Nakamatsu Is #1
Yoshiro Nakamatsu [Dr. NakaMats] June 26th, 1928 Japanese inventor who holds over 3,000 patents, making him the world's most prolific inventor. (Thomas Alva Edison is a distant second with 1,093). NakaMats invented the floppy disk in 1950 at the...