William Hewlett

If we hear ‘Hewlett’ maybe our imagination is imagine of famous print brand named Hewlett-Packard (HP). It’s true that one of Hewlett Packard founder is William R. Hewlett. Hewlett was born on May, 20 at 1912 in¬¬ Ann Arbor, Mich. At 1939, Hewlett establish Hewlett-Packard (HP) Company together with David Packard who died at 1996.
This company was build only with $538 investment. Of course Hewlett-Packard name taken from their name. In Hewlett-Packard Company, Hewlett hold important commission, but after 1978, Hewlett quit from his commission as Chief Executive Officer.
During his student, Hewlett take some academic title from many colleges. In 1934, Hewlett gain his Bachelor Arts academic title from Stanford University. His master academic in Electrical Engineering, gained from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at 1936 and next 3 year, Hewlett gain engineering academic from Stanford University. Hewlett is a receiver of 13 Honorary Degrees in many Universities.
When studied at Stanford University, he meet with David Packard and finally become Hewlett best friend. Hewlett career is interesting. When second word war happen, Hewlett work as US soldier. During his assignment as US soldier, Hewlett included as inspection Japan industries team when second word war over. At 1947, after he back from his assessment, Hewlett go to Palo Ato.
He begin work at his establish company with David Packard and officiate as vice president in Hewlett-Packard company. At 1957, Hewlett officiate as Executive vice president. Seven years later, Hewlett officiate as President of HP. At 1969, he officiate as Chief Executive Officer. Hewlett hold his position during 9 year and at 1978 he quit from his position.
Hewlett is a subjugate person of science and technology. Because of that, at 1985, US president, Ronald Reagan gives him a National Medal of Science appreciation for his service to science and technology. That award is a higher appreciation in America. Hewlett is a education, medical and social big concern person. He work at many institute, like Stanford Medical Center, Kaiser Foundation Hospital, The Carnegie Institution of Washington and Drug Abuse Council in Washington.
William R. Hewlett died at 12 January 2001 when he 87 years, but, Hewlett will always become people memorizes cause his company with David Packard is a one of the best word IT company. Hewlett-Packard creates many gadget like PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), printer, computer, and etcetera. Now, many of Hewlett-Package item, use by all person in the word.

Read more »

Thomas Alfa Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847. His parents were Samuel and Nancy Edison. Thomas's three older brothers and sisters died before he was born from very harsh winters. He had brother named Pitt and two sisters named Marion and Harriet Ann. His parents named him Thomas because of his great uncle.

When he was young, everyone called him Al. Al asked a lot of questions and was VERY curious. When young Thomas was six, he started a fire in his father's barn and burned it to the ground. He was charged with arson. To show that he was truly sorry, Samuel Edison spanked his son in front of the whole town the next day. Thomas was very embarrassed.

Sam was afraid that his son had no feelings because when Thomas was at the creek, his friend drowned and he showed no emotion. Al's teachers thought that he could not learn and was stupid, and when his teachers told Nancy Edison, she became very mad and decided to teach Thomas herself. Thomas's mother bought him the Dictionary of Science, and he read it all. After that, all of his allowance was spent buying chemicals at the drug store.

Before Thomas Alva Edison was ten, he had already read History of England, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, History of the World, and The Age of Reason. When he was eleven, he made his own telegraph set from a picture in a book. Then and there, he decided he wanted to become a telegrapher. At age twelve, he started selling candy on trains to people riding.

When he was 13, he was running behind a train, trying to catch it, when a man snatched his ear and pulled him up onto the train by his ears. Right then, he started to slowly become deaf. Another time, at 15, Thomas saw a boy on a train track, and a train was heading right for him. Al swept by, grabbing the boy, and put him on the grass. The boy's father was so happy, he taught Thomas telegraphy in reward.

When Thomas Edison was 21, he experimented with everything. He was fired from his job at the Boston Telegraph Service because he became bored and started playing jokes on his boss. On May 1, 1869, Thomas received a patent for a vote recording machine, but once it was invented, no one wanted it.
Later, Thomas invented a device that would control errors in stock tickers, and engineers liked it. He wanted at the most, $5,000 for it, but he kept quiet and the engineers offered him $40,000. When Thomas brought his check to the bank, the teller began to yell at him, because he could not hear. He took his check and got out of line. Al went back to the engineer's office and the engineer identified him to the teller, and Thomas had his money, which he spent all on shop equipment.

One day, Thomas Edison saw a lady standing out in the rain, and he fell in love with her. Her name was Mary Stilwell. He offered her a job in his lab, and she accepted. He taught her Morse code, and married her. After the wedding, Thomas went to see the new stock tickers. Mary spent her wedding day alone. The next day, Thomas took Mary to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon and Mary took her sister because she was so upset about Thomas leaving on their wedding day. The telephone was invented a short time later by Alexander Graham Bell. Engineers asked Thomas if he could improve it, and he tried. He invented the first phonograph, and everyone loved it. Mary later had two baby girls: Madeline, and Dot. After his daughters were born, his hard work finally had paid off. He had invented something that would change the world and technology forever.

Thomas Alva Edison had invented the light bulb. He installed a lighting system in New York, and lit it up. Everyone thought that Thomas was a wizard, and gave him the name "Wizard of Menlo Park". After his invention of the light bulb, Mary had two baby boys: Junior and Will. Mary died of Typhoid fever on August 9, 1884. Thomas was sad, but a short time after, he married a young woman named Mina Miller. On their wedding day, he was 38, and she was 22. The next day, they took Thomas's first actual vacation. They went to Paris. Mina had a baby boy named Charles, and a year later, she had another boy, Theodore. After the birth of his sons, he had invented the motion picture. America was so astounded, they named him the American Wizard.

Thomas Alva Edison died a short time later on October 21, 1931 at age 84. He was buried under an oak tree in Glenmont. The United States were so sad, they turned off their power for one minute and prayed throughout the whole United States for a tribute to Thomas Alva Edison.

Read more »

Galileo Galilei (1)

Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564. He was the first of 7 children. Although his father was a musician and wool trader, he wanted his clearly talented son to study medicine as there was more money in medicine. So, at age eleven, Galileo was sent off to study in a Jesuit monastery.

After four years, Galileo had decided on his life's work: he announced to his father that he wanted to be a monk. This was not exactly what father had in mind for his gifted son, so Galileo was hastily withdrawn from the monastery. In 1581, at the age of 17, he entered the University of Pisa to study medicine, as his father wished.

Shortly thereafter, at age 20, Galileo noticed a lamp swinging overhead while he was in a cathedral. Curious to find out how long it took the lamp to swing back and forth, he used his pulse to time large and small swings. Galileo discovered something that no one else had ever realized: the period of each swing was exactly the same. The law of the pendulum, which would eventually be used to regulate clocks, made Galileo instantly famous.

Unfortunately, except for mathematics, Galileo was bored by most of his courses and outspoken to his professors. His frequent absences from class eventually led the university to inform Galileo's family that their son was in danger of flunking out. A compromise was worked out, where Galileo would be tutored full-time in mathematics by the mathematician of the Tuscan court. Galileo's father was hardly overjoyed about this turn of events, since a mathematician's earning power was roughly around that of a musician, but it seemed that this might yet allow Galileo to successfully complete his college education. In the end, Galileo left the University of Pisa without a degree--a college dropout.

Faced with the need to somehow earn a living, Galileo started tutoring students in mathematics. He did some experimenting with floating objects, developing a balance that could tell him that a piece of, say, gold was 19.3 times heavier than the same volume of water. He also started campaigning for his life's ambition: a position on the mathematics faculty at a major university. Although Galileo was clearly brilliant, he had offended many people in the field, who would choose other candidates for vacancies. Ironically, it was a lecture on literature that would turn Galileo's fortunes. The Academy of Florence had been arguing over a 100-year-old controversy: What were the location, shape, and dimensions of Dante's Inferno?

To modern ears, this type of question sounds like asking for the location of Sherlock Holmes's 221B Baker Street, or the size of Dr. Frankenstein's castle. But the question was absolutely serious, and Galileo, asked to answer the question from the point of view of a man of science, treated it with dignity. Extrapolating from Dante's line that "[the giant Nimrod's] face was about as long/And just as wide as St. Peter's cone in Rome," Galileo deduced that Lucifer himself was 2,000 armlengths long. The audience was impressed, and Galileo was remembered with favor.

Within the year, Galileo had received a three-year appointment to the University of Pisa, the same university that never granted him a degree!

Read more »

Isaac Newton (1)

In 1642, the year Galileo died, England on Christmas Day. His father had died three months earlier, and baby Isaac, very premature, was also not expected to survive. It was said he could be fitted into a quart pot. When Isaac was three, his mother married a wealthy elderly clergyman from the next village, and went to live there, leaving Isaac behind with his grandmother. The clergyman died, and Isaac’s mother came back, after eight years, bringing with her three small children. Two years later, Newton went away to the Grammar School in Grantham, where he lodged with the local apothecary, and was fascinated by the chemicals. The plan was that at age seventeen he would come home and look after the farm. He turned out to be a total failure as a farmer.

His mother’s brother, a clergyman who had been an undergraduate at Cambridge, persuaded his mother that it would be better for Isaac to go to university, so in 1661 he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge. Isaac paid his way through college for the first three years by waiting tables and cleaning rooms for the fellows (faculty) and the wealthier students. In 1664, he was elected a scholar, guaranteeing four years of financial support. Unfortunately, at that time the plague was spreading across Europe, and reached Cambridge in the summer of 1665. The university closed, and Newton returned home, where he spent two years concentrating on problems in mathematics and physics. He wrote later that during this time he first understood the theory of gravitation, which we shall discuss below, and the theory of optics (he was the first to realize that white light is made up of the colors of the rainbow), and much mathematics, both integral and differential calculus and infinite series. However, he was always reluctant to publish anything, at least until it appeared someone else might get credit for what he had found earlier.

On returning to Cambridge in 1667, he began to work on alchemy, but then in 1668 Nicolas Mercator published a book containing some methods for dealing with infinite series. Newton immediately wrote a treatise, De Analysi, expounding his own wider ranging results. His friend and mentor Isaac Barrow communicated these discoveries to a London mathematician, but only after some weeks would Newton allow his name to be given. This brought his work to the attention of the mathematics community for the first time. Shortly afterwards, Barrow resigned his Lucasian Professorship (which had been established only in 1663, with Barrow the first incumbent) at Cambridge so that Newton could have the Chair.

Newton’s first major public scientific achievement was the invention, design and construction of a reflecting telescope. He ground the mirror, built the tube, and even made his own tools for the job. This was a real advance in telescope technology, and ensured his election to membership in the Royal Society. The mirror gave a sharper image than was possible with a large lens because a lens focusses different colors at slightly different distances, an effect called chromatic aberration. This problem is minimized nowadays by using compound lenses, two lenses of different kinds of glass stuck together, that err in opposite directions, and thus tend to cancel each other’s shortcomings, but mirrors are still used in large telescopes.

Later in the 1670’s, Newton became very interested in theology. He studied Hebrew scholarship and ancient and modern theologians at great length, and became convinced that Christianity had departed from the original teachings of Christ. He felt unable to accept the current beliefs of the Church of England, which was unfortunate because he was required as a Fellow of Trinity College to take holy orders. Happily, the Church of England was more flexible than Galileo had found the Catholic Church in these matters, and King Charles II issued a royal decree excusing Newton from the necessity of taking holy orders! Actually, to prevent this being a wide precedent, the decree specified that, in perpetuity, the Lucasian professor need not take holy orders. (The current Lucasian professor is Stephen Hawking.)

Read more »

James Watt (1)

James watt is from Scotland he invent steam engine, the key to industrial revolution.
Actually, watt is not the first person that made steam engine, same scheme also made by hero from iskandarya in early cristian's years. In 1682 thomase savery made his paten to his water pump machine and in 1712 english man thomas newcomen also made his same paten that more perfect but still newcomen machine is less eficient and low quality because only can use to waterpump for coal mine.
Watt became intersting in steam engine in 1764 when he fixed newcomen machine, even he only have one year study in tools but he had big talent to create something big, he made more perfect to newcomen machine, because the perfection of watt is more important so deserve to became the first person who made practically steam engine.

Read more »

History of Airplanes

The idea of flying has sparked the imagination of mankind for centuries or even millennia. The first man-made flying objects were not airplanes but kites; records of kite flying date back as early to 200 B.C. in China, and rudimentary hot air balloons were first designed about the same time. Leonardo da Vinci famously designed several aircraft in the fifteenth century, but never tried to construct or fly them.

All of the aircraft that were shown to work up to the eighteenth and mid nineteenth centuries were lighter than air, a significant difference from the heavier-than-air aircraft that would be developed in the twentieth century. Important mechanisms that would later be used for propelling and controlling aircraft were developed during this period, even if the overall designs themselves were flawed and unsuccessful.

By the close of the nineteenth century, the idea of flying had captured the attention of the world, and multiple aviation pioneers built various aircraft that managed to become airborne, if even just for a second or two, predating the Wright Brothers' famous flight by up to 30 years. Multiple pioneers were working on both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air aircraft concurrently, using hundreds of imaginative designs with varying degrees of success. Gustave Whitehead, for example, reportedly flew his engine-powered, heavier-than-air design for a distance of 800 meters at 15 meters height as early as 1901 or 1902, preceding the Wright Brothers' famous flight at Kitty Hawk by more than two years. Other inventors also claimed to have achieved flight between 1900 and 1910. By the early twentieth century, advancements both in engine technology and the understanding of aerodynamics made powered, controllable flight possible.

The Wright Brothers began working with gliders and other unpowered flight methods around the turn of the century, and are widely recognized to have the first sustained, controlled, and powered flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft flown by a pilot, accomplishing this feat near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903. By 1905, their airplane designs could be flown for upwards of 40 minutes or 30 miles in a single flight. The development of aircraft grew exponentially as a response to World War I, during which time aircraft were used for military flights, including both reconnaissance flights and the world's first fighter planes.

Development of the jet engine began in the 1930s, mainly in Germany and in England. Both countries would have working jet aircraft by the end of World War II. After the war, the aircraft industry turned towards the civilian market, considered the dawn of what would be known as the jet age. The first commercial jet airliners were put into service by the end of the 1940s. Regular jet service was available by the mid 1950s, ushering in the age of mass commercial air travel.

By the start of the 1960s, aircraft were no longer restricted to flights beginning and ending on land, as the first space flights became possible and the space race began. Russia's Sputnik 1, launched in 1957, started a new era of flight, culminating in the first manned moon landing in 1969.

Read more »

History of the Camera

It was called the Camera Obscura. Both the Camera Obscura and the Camera Lucida provided an image that was temporary, which could not be lastingly captured on to paper for later reference.

-->20th century chronology in the history of the camera:

1913: 35 mm still-camera created

1948: The concept of the Polaroid camera is introduced in the market. The launch of the digital camera is still many years away.

1975: Kodak's experiments with digital imaging kicked off around the mid seventies but it will take another 20 years before a digital camera for the home consumer market is launched.

1981: Sony launches a commercially available electronic still camera. 1985: Digital processing technology makes its entry. Digital imaging and processing is introduced by Pixar.

1986: The camera industry becomes even more consumer focused and taps the fun and travel connotations behind camera usage, with the launch of the concept of the disposable single use cameras. 1991: Kodak introduces a digital camera targeted at professionals and journalists. Kodak is credited with the invention of a pixel based camera technology known to us as the digital camera. Digital cameras don't use film similar to their predecessor electronic cameras but the storage method is entirely different and the final photograph is of much higher resolution. In a digital camera photos are recorded and stored in digital form. 1994: The Apple QuickTake camera, a home use digital camera is launched. -->The digital era:

The development of digital camera technology is considered to be linked to the development of TV and Video technology. The principles of transmission and recording of audio-visual images using digital electrical impulses finds use in camera imaging as well.

The innovation that sparked many an invention in the camera industry found its way into the digital world as well and continued among digital camera manufacturers. Many of Kodak digital camera models with EasyShare capabilities are compatible with Windows XP. The Kodak EasyShare software enables users to transfer digital camera pictures directly from camera to their computers and then print the pictures or even email them.

Cell phone manufacturers have tied up with digital camera manufacturers to develop new age camera phones in recent years. These camera phones can capture images and share the images through the cell phone.

Among the 21st century digital developments are the advanced product offerings from digital cameras manufacturers and these are sure to occupy an important place in the ensuing history of camera development. For instance, the Kodak Professional DCS Pro SLR/c is a high-end digital camera and the Kodak website calls the DCS Pro SLR models the most feature-rich digital cameras on the market. It has an image sensor that can handle 13.89 million pixels and this makes it the highest resolution digital camera available. Digital camera sales figures for 2003 show that the two key players Kodak and Canon have recorded impressive growth.

-->What does the future holds for camera users?

Four key ongoing camera developments that are likely to further improve the process of photography:

1. Greater resolution from even the simplest, low cost camera models

The camera and photography interest starts young and this creates a truly large audience base for the camera industry.

Read more »

Ultrasound History

The history of ultrasound began with SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging) for submarines and has had many uses with varying degrees of success since then.

Ultrasound history, medically speaking, has been primarily a diagnostic technology although it has been tested and used for therapy as well. Doctors and sonographers have been capturing images from within the human body since the 1940's and in spite of its varied history, ultrasound has become one of the most widely used medical diagnostic tools in modern medicine.

    * When was ultrasound testing invented? 1826.
    * Who invented ultrasound? Swiss physicist, Jean-Daniel Colladon.
    * How was ultrasound discovered? Colladon used an underwater bell to determine the speed of sound in the water.
    * How did ultrasound history progress to what is in 2010?
          o Many studied sound vibrations (waves), transmission, propagation, and refraction throughout the 1800's.
          o English Lord Rayleigh published in 1877 "the Theory of Sound" & first described a sound wave as a mathematical equation, forming the basis of future practical work in acoustics.
          o Italian biologist, Lazzaro Spallanzani, in 1794 demonstrated the ability of bats to navigate accurately in the dark via echo reflections from high frequency inaudible sound or 'ultrasound'.
          o High frequency sound waves (above the limit of human hearing) were generated by English scientist Francis Galton in 1876, through the Galton whistle, which was his invention.
          o Austrian physicist Christian Doppler and Buys Ballot in 1845 proved the Doppler Effect on sound waves: A sound's pitch would change if its source or recipient was in motion. This was a very significant change to the future of ultrasound.
          o It was discovered in Paris, France in 1880 by Pierre Curie and his brother Jacques Curie, that electric potential would be produced when mechanical pressure was exerted on a quartz crystal.
          o The opposite of which was mathematically deduced from thermodynamic principles by physicist Gabriel Lippman in 1881. The generation and reception of 'ultrasound' was now possible.
          o Underwater sonar detection systems were developed for the purpose of underwater navigation by submarines in World war I.
          o The first working sonar system was designed and built in the United States by Canadian Reginald Fessenden in 1914. This system was able to detect an iceberg underwater from 2 miles away. Powerful electronic amplifications were necessary for developments in ultrasonic instruments:
                + French physicist Paul Langévin and Russian scientist Constantin Chilowsky developed an ultrasonic echo-sounding device called the 'hydrophone', the basis of the development of naval pulse-echo sonar.
                + Discoveries and developments parallel to echo sound, such as electro-magnetic RADAR;
                + ENIAC, the first digital computer;
                + and the point-contact transistor.

          o In the Medical field, the heating and disruptive effects of ultrasound were applied to therapy, also as a neuro-surgical tool, before being used in the 1940's for diagnosis.
          o Karl Theo Dussik, a neurologist/psychiatrist at the University of Vienna, Austria, and his brother Friederich, a physicist, first employed ultrasound in medical diagnosis by attempting to locate brain tumors by sending an ultrasound beam through the skull which produced an A-mode image. The amplitudes seen on the image showed both sides of the skull and the midline of the brain. If a midline shift was seen, a conclusion was made that there was either a tumor or a bleed. The "image" was recorded photographically on heat-sensitive paper.

Read more »

Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery: LiFePo4

A lithium iron battery is a lithium ion battery which uses iron phosphate (LiFePO4) as cathode material. But first, we must understand what a lithium battery is to get a better idea of the advantages of a LiFePo4 battery.

Lithium-ion batteries (or simply lithium batteries) are batteries which use lithium based material as a cathode and a variety of other materials (most commonly graphite) as anode. These batteries are commonly found in portable devices, such as cellphones, digital cameras, and others due to its light weight, small form factor and long battery life.

Lithium batteries have the advantage of using lithium, which is the element that is most easily oxidized. It means that it can easily give up an electron, which is then used by the circuit to power itself. The easier electrons are taken from a battery, the more efficient it becomes, hence accounting for its longevity. In addition, lithium is the lightest known metal, therefore it allows for portability and the material can be shaped easily.

Lithium by itself cannot be used as cathode, since it is so reactive that it would immediately form a salt with non-metals in the environment. This is most aptly demonstrated by the fact that lithium cannot be found in native form or in elemental form in nature. More commonly, it is found in the form of lithium chloride and other halide salts. In addition, native lithium spontaneously ignites and even reacts violently with water, necessitating its storage under oil.

This means that lithium compounds must be used in order to have lithium as cathode. These compounds must produce ions upon decomposition and must have an easily reversible reaction for it to be used as a rechargeable battery.

One good example of a lithium compound used is lithium iron phosphate (LI). LI batteries were developed at the University of Texas in 1996 as a cheap way of creating lithium batteries. It is cheap since lithium's "partner", iron is relatively more abundant compared to other metals being used to make lithium compounds for batteries. It has the advantage of having a slower discharge rate among lithium batteries, which means increased shelf-life.

As can be observed, the reaction produces lithium ions, and iron (III) phosphate (FePO4). Iron (III) phosphate or Ferric Phosphate is non-toxic unlike the other form which is iron (II) phosphate (Fe3(PO4)2). In fact, ferric phosphate is used as an iron supplement for humans, demonstrating it is safe for human consumption. This is the main reason why lithium iron phosphate is preferred over other lithium-based batteries. Other lithium-ion batteries, such as the more common lithium-cobalt batteries, produce more toxic cobalt oxide compounds.

Read more »

Advanced Cyber Data Management

Internet in expanding everyday. Trillions of bytes data are already available online in the form of webpages, uploaded files, software and many other forms. Among these huge amount of data many information are becoming obsolete. The truth about web-sites is, among all the websites created so far only 10-15% are most visited and rest of the websites are least visited. A huge number of files uploaded to file-sharing sites (like rapidshare or hotfiles) are rarely downloaded. Older versions of different software are hardly downloaded by net users. But the servers hosting these data are running round the clock, costing hardware resources, electricity and maintenance. If we keep going this, do we have any idea what will happen after another 20 years? Out internet might end up with huge amount of unused/rarely used data.

A possible solution to this problem is to invent something like DPTP (data priority tagging protocol) & HLPP (hardware on low power protocol) by the internet/IEEE engineers. DPTP will run on each servers hosting files and websites. It will build tags or indexes of frequently used data based on Alexa page ranking, DPTP internal algorithm and statistical analysis on last few days traffic. Then all the data stored on a specific server will be sorted and the most frequently used data will be separated from the rest. This separation will be physical separation, which means frequently used data/files will be stored on some selected portion of the storage. Most of the bandwidth will be allocated for that portion of data.

The job of HLPP will be to maintain the least desired data/information. The less used data of that server will stay in standby, maybe the RPM of the storage devices will be reduced or in case of solid-state disk (which is most likely the future replacement of current storage options) it will be temporarily shutdown by HLPP. This will save electricity and prolong the hardware lifetime. If any request comes for less prioritize data then the DPTP will detect the request and it will make a wake up call to HLPP to fetch that data and reply the request. However, there is one problem with this method, the user on the other end might experience delay.

Dump Backup Server is another concept which will be a offline backup server that might be used to backup/move obsolete files transferred from other servers. This server will be formed using old computers hard-drives, unused USB drives that people no longer use and dumped away. Which means an unreliable server full of unnecessary data. By using multi-port backbone interface consist of thousand of USB, SATA or IDE ports, storage will be formed for these type of servers. After a certain period this server will come online and synchronize with the main servers and backup very old files and then go offline.

All these are just some concepts for designing a cost-effective and environment friendly internet for the future. Why don't you think up something better?

Read more »

Galileo Galilei (564 - 1642)

Galileo Galilei (February 15, 1564 - January 8, 1642), was a Tuscan astronomer, philosopher, and physicist who is closely associated with the Scientific Revolution. Galileo was born in Pisa and his career coincided with that of Kepler. The work of Galileo is considered to be a significant break from that of Aristotle; in particular, Galileo placed emphasis on quantity, rather than quality.

Experimental science

In the pantheon of the scientific revolution Galileo occupies a high position because of his pioneering use of quantitative experiments with results analyzed mathematically. There was no tradition of such methods in European thought at that time; the great experimentalist who immediately preceded Galileo, William Gilbert, did not use a quantitative approach. In the 20th century the reality of Galileo's experiments was challenged by some authorities, in particular the distinguished French historian of science Alexandre Koyré. The experiments on falling bodies (actually rolling balls) were replicated using the methods described by Galileo (Settle, 1961), and the precision of the results was consistent with Galileo's report. Later research into Galileo's unpublished working papers from as early as 1604 clearly showed the reality of the experiments and even indicated the particular results that led to the time-squared law (Drake, 1973).

Astronomy

Galileo was one of the first people to use the telescope to observe the sky. Galileo Galilei's discovery of the moons of Jupiter. For a translation from Sidereus Nuncius click on the picture.On January 7th 1610 Galileo discovered Jupiter's four largest satellites (moons): Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. (Later astronomers overruled Galileo's naming of these objects, changing his Medicean stars to Galilean satellites.) Galileo noted that Venus exhibited a full set of phases like the Moon. Because the apparent brightness of Venus is nearly constant, Galileo reasoned that Venus could not be circling the Earth at a constant distance. Galileo was one of the first Europeans to observe sunspots, although there is evidence that Chinese astronomers had done so before. Physics

Galileo's theoretical and experimental work on the motions of bodies, along with the largely independent work of Kepler and Descartes, was a precursor of the Classical mechanics developed by Sir Isaac Newton. Galileo also noted that a pendulum's swings always take the same amount of time, independently of the amplitude. While Galileo believed this equality of period to be exact, it is only approximate, applying to small swings. In the early 1600s, Galileo and an assistant tried to measure the speed of light. At a distance of less than a mile, Galileo could detect no delay in the round-trip time greater than when he and the assistant were only a few yards apart. While Galileo's application of mathematics to experimental physics was innovative, his mathematical methods were the standard ones of the day. Galileo produced one piece of original and even prophetic work in mathematics: Galileo's paradox, which shows that there are as many perfect squares as there are whole numbers, even though most numbers are not perfect squares. 

Technology

Galileo made a few contributions to what we now call technology as distinct from pure physics, and suggested others. In 1595 - 1598 Galileo devised and improved a "Geometric and Military Compass" suitable for use by gunners and surveyors. Church controversy

Galileo was a devout Catholic, yet his writings on Copernican heliocentrism disturbed some in the Catholic Church, who believed in a geocentric model of the solar system. For his insights, Galileo was threatened with death at the stake and would eventually face lifelong house arrest after recanting his claims.

The geocentric model was generally accepted at the time for several reasons. By the time of the controversy, the Catholic Church had largely abandoned the Ptolemaic model for the Tychonian model in which the Earth was at the centre of the Universe, the Sun revolved around the Earth and the other planets revolved around the Sun. The first to defend Galileo was a Benedictine abbot, Benedetto Castelli, who was also a professor of mathematics and a former student of Galileo's. It was this exchange that led Galileo to write the Letter to Grand Duchess Christina. (Castelli remained Galileo's friend, visiting him at Arcetri near the end of Galileo's life, after months of effort to get permission from the Inquisition to do so.)

However, real power lay with the Church, and Galileo's arguments were most fiercely fought on the religious level. The Church authorities gave Caccini promotion. Father Lorini proved that Galileo's doctrine was not only heretical but "atheistic," and besought the Inquisition to intervene. The Bishop of Fiesole screamed in rage against the Copernican system, publicly insulted Galileo, and denounced him to the Grand-Duke. The Archbishop of Pisa secretly sought to entrap Galileo and deliver him to the Inquisition at Rome. (White, 1898; online text (http://www.santafe.edu/~shalizi/White/astronomy/war.html))

When Galileo was tried in 1633, the Inquisition was proceeding on the premise that he had been ordered not to teach it at all, based on a paper in the records from 1616; but Galileo produced a letter from Cardinal Bellarmine that showed only the "hold or defend" order. The Roman Inquisition had rejected earlier pleas by Galileo to postpone or relocate the trial because of his ill health. Galileo arrived in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition on February 13, 1633. On April 12, 1633, Galileo was brought to trial, and the formal interrogation by the Inquisition began. During this interrogation Galileo stated that he did not defend the Copernican theory, and cited a letter of Cardinal Bellarmine from 1615 to support this contention. In a second hearing on April 30, Galileo confessed to having erred in the writing of the book, through vain ambition, ignorance, and inadvertence. He was then allowed to return to the home of the Tuscan ambassador. On June 22, 1633, the Inquisition held the final hearing on Galileo, who was then 69 years old and pleaded for mercy, pointing to his "regrettable state of physical unwellness". The tale that Galileo, rising from his knees after recanting, said "Eppur si muove!" A Spanish painting, dated 1643 or possibly 1645, shows Galileo writing the phrase on the wall of a dungeon cell. Here we have a second version of the story, which also cannot be true, because Galileo was never imprisoned in a dungeon; but the painting shows that some story of "Eppur si muove" was circulating in Galileo's time. Galileo was sentenced to prison, but because of his advanced age (and/or Church politics) the sentence was commuted to house arrest at his villas in Arcetri and Florence[1] (http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96feb/galileo.html). Though the sentence announced against Galileo mentioned no other works, Galileo found out two years later that publication of anything he might ever write had been quietly banned. Moreover, deeper examination of the primary sources for Galileo and his trial shows that claims of torture and deprivation were likely exaggerated. Dava Sobel's Galileo's Daughter offers a different set of insights into Galileo and his world, in large part through the private correspondence of Maria Celeste, the daughter of the title, and her father.

In 1992, 359 years after the Galileo trial, Pope John Paul II issued an apology, lifting the edict of Inquisition against Galileo: "Galileo sensed in his scientific research the presence of the Creator who, stirring in the depths of his spirit, stimulated him, anticipating and assisting his intuitions."

Read more »

Injection Molding: Helping Increase The Production Of Plastic

Many don't exactly find injection molding interesting, let alone even know about. However, I've made it my personal goal to, at the very least, get people to begin started on the road towards finding out how things are made! One can easily forget that what they just bought at the store was in fact made by the inventions of people over several years as well as by the hands of specialists and people with a variety of expertise. In fact, this is so often overlooked that it can be pretty fascinating to learn all the ins and outs of plastic extrusion. Man and machine working together in order to make it easier on the population. It's really a beautiful thing to watch and while researching and working alongside specialists in the industry, I've grown to actually respect them for their hard work and dedication. They're responsible for so many plastic products and byproducts that have been in use for years, and will be in use for years to come.

It's extremely important that you understand the molding process. But to start you off, I think it's smarter to just describe it as simply as possible. What polymer molding actually does is to heat and shape thermoplastic and thermosetting plastic in order to manipulate it into a finished product. This is done with the help of a number of people (engineers, moldmakers, and a number of other specialists).

To really appreciate everything that goes into injection molding, it's a good idea to track its beginnings. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, contributions to the plastic manufacturing industry have been enormous. It all started with the beginning of synthetic plastic. A man by the name of Alexander Parkes, an inventive thinker from Britain discovered a material which he named Parkesine.

Parkesine, as might be expected for what is essentially the first of its kind, had several faults. First of all, and really most importantly, Parkesine was highly flammable. This led to an incredible amount of risk for all those working on it. Moreover, the finished products were expensive, but flimsy, and were widely known to crack and break. Thankfully, In 1868, American John Wesley Hyatt improved Parkesine.

Hyatt titled his invention celluloid, and this plastic material could be molded cheaper, easier, and more durably. This invention really paved the way for the industry to start manipulating injection molded products. Four years after the making of celluloid, John and his brother Isaiah Hyatt worked together to create the prototype of the very first plastic extrusion machine. This machine was actually quite simple (in comparison with the other extrusion machines used today).

Following the introduction of Hyatt's polymer extrusion machine, the industry rapidly grew. Now that the process of plastic profile extrusion was really being set into play, new ideas and innovators were stepping up to the plate, ready to improve. Different versions of Hyatts' machines were made in order to produce different products, including collar clips, hair combs, and even buttons.

During the 1940's, a spike in the demand of plastic products. Companies were forced to turn out huge numbers of products, but too many simply couldn't keep up with the orders! So, in 1945, James Watson Hendry took it upon himself to create a bigger and better plastic manufacturing machine. This particular machine was the first of its kind to employ the use of a screw, and specialists found that they were able to better control the speed of the injection, which in turn greatly increased the quality of the final products.

It was also found out that since the screw was now mixing the molten plastic products, other things could be mixed in with it. By adding different dyes, all sorts of new colorful products could be made, expanding the industry exponentially. Even now, most injection molding machines use a type of screw injection molding. Hendry also worked for thirty more years and release an injection molding machine that applied the use of gas, hugely reducing the use of important resources.

If it wasn't for all the work that goes into injection molding, some of the simple plastic products that you handle every day. Researching the history of injection molding has been incredible. Seeing what goes into the things that a plastic company produce (tubing, medical tools, packaging, window frames) is a one of a kind experience.

Read more »

Volkswagen History

Today VW is one of the biggest car manufacturers in Europe. However this was not like that from the beginning.

The word "volkswagen" literally means "people's car" and this was the whole idea behind it. From the beginning VW tried to make a car that is simple enough so that the average people could afford it.

It was not exactly a new idea. Before 1930's there have been many attempts to create a simple car model. The problem however was that no matter how simple the car was made it still ended up costing more than the yearly wage of a normal worker.

History tells that while many affords was made from VW to create the perfect worker class car a new company was created. In 1930 Ferdinand Porsche made his company. Right after the creation Porsche patented a pretty complex suspension system. In this system the transversely mounted torsion bars are connected to two trailing arms on each side. That made the whole model very light. In fact it was lighter than every common suspension type.

In 1931 another company asked Porsche if they could make a model close to the last one for them. The 2 door sedan was made as a result of this project. It was very similar to Beetle and it had the suitability that was required.

The company who bought the model is called Zundapp and right after they bought the sedan model they wanted to put 1.2 liter radial engine from one of their own motorcycles. That didn't happen and this was the end of the line.

In 1933 NSU purchased a design from Porsche. It was known by the name Type 32. This new model was even closer to the upcoming KdF Wagen than its predecessor Type 12. It was pretty close to Tatra V570 too especially with some mechanically similarities.

After the World War II was over Tatra got some compensations from Volkswagen because they think that their model was pirated from KdF Wagen because of the similar technology. The KdF Wagen was made during that time and the similarities pointed that during the development major mechanical components were copied from it and used in the Tatra design model. Soon after that NSU dropped the Type 32 project.

In 1933 Porsche together with Hitler made possible for the citizen car project to continue. The Type 60 was soon created and its name soon changed to V1 (experiment 1). After a proposition made by Hitler V2 was designed to met the new convertible version criteria that was introduced.

In 1936 these models together with VW3 were put to major testing. After enough data was collected the next version - the VW30 was made. For the VW30 testing a new government company was responsible - the DAF. This was because of the Hitler's regime.

Members of SS were told to drive the new VW30 model and to confirm that all the problems are fixed. Soon after that in 1938 in the KdF Wagen factory the manufacturing process began. In 1939 some VW38 and a few demonstrational cars of the model VW39 came to the world.

That was made just to point out that the factory is working and to show what the future cars would look like. These models came with a difference - the front hinged doors. When V38s models were finally introduced Hitler abruptly changed the name to KdF Wagen. KdF stayed for "Kraft durch Freude" or "Strength through Joy". That made Porsche pretty upset because he was not a member of the Nazi party and the use of propaganda of this kind was not his understanding of advertisement.

Special stamps were made by the government. They were sold to people and on theory if someone got 200 stamps they could immediately be changed with a KdF Wagen. That however was not meant to be and the model didn't proceed further. In fact it stayed only as a prototype.
Many people made it to court seeking some compensation because of the stamps they had which was not going to be redeemed with a car. During that time the Type 82 was on the way. It was a simple military vehicle. It practically used the parts from KdF Wagen and its flat-sided body and increased ground clearance were some of the few differences.

During WWII Type 128 and Type 166 were created. The last was powered by a 25 hp engine. There were over 50 000 cars produced of the Type 82 and only less than 16 000 of the Schwimmwagen (Type 166).

After the war the KdF Wagen factory was taken over by the British army. Under the leadership of Major Ivan Hirsts over 2000 cars were made. Most of these cars were made by spare parts left by the old manufacturing process.

After 1945 the company was named Volkswagen and the whole town took the name "Wolfsburg" which was the name of a castle nearby. The British were looking to whom to give the control over the factory. It was very difficult because Ford though it to be a waste of money and the French government refused. Soon after that Heinrich Nordhoff took the opportunity which came to be a good step in the Volkswagen development.

In 1949 the production rapidly increased. Soon after that in 1950 the VW transporter was born. Many vehicles were transported to Denmark, Sweden, Luxemburg, Belgium, and Switzerland. In South Africa the Beetles were produced during the same year.

In 1952 dealership opened doors in England which was the first there. In 1951 deluxe version of the Beetle was exported. In 1952 the American deluxe Beetles got hydraulic brakes.

Beetles made before and some during the 1953 looked a lot like the old KdF Wagen. In 1955 the Karmann Ghia was introduced. It was made by many of the Beetle parts to keep the production line cheaper. In 1977 the production of the Beetle sedan ended. Two years after that cabriolet production stopped too.

Read more »

Economic Stability With Biosphere Technology

Economic stability is something every nation wants and needs. This is the reason why they take good care of stock markets and monitor their imports and exports. There is however, one obstacle all non-oil producing countries need to overcome before they can truly pursue real economic stability. That obstacle is oil independence. With every bit of fluctuation in the price of oil in the global market having a great impact on one's economy, no country can claim it has a fully stable economy. But the power to finally achieve oil independence is finally without our grasp, and that power is known as biosphere technology.

Biosphere technology is the only green energy technology that has the potential to rival oil in terms of output and combustion efficiency. It involves the harnessing of the combustibility of solid wastes and the utilization of the said combustibility to power generators that produce electricity. The entire process is conducted in an oxygen limited environment this greatly limiting carbon emissions. The said carbon emissions are present in oil combustion in very high levels and are the primary culprits behind the greenhouse effect that leads to global warming and climate change.

Biosphere technology thus earned its way into being classified as part of the sustainability industry. The sustainability industry aims to make certain that generations to come still have enough resources to meet their needs. Using renewable energy that are abundant and never run out is the best method of conserving resources. The problem however, is that renewable energy such as solar power, wind power, hydro power, biomass power, and geothermal power all pale in comparison to the far more prevalent oil in terms of efficiency. The huge capital investment needed to put up facilities for large scale renewable energy generation has also constantly kept potential investors at bay.

Biosphere technology is the first of its kind. It can be considered a renewable energy source because it uses solid wastes, which nobody wants, as fuel to generate electricity. It can make use of all the garbage found in landfills and convert them into power. The space used up by landfills is freed up in the process, making it available for other purposes than just housing trash. Biosphere technology completely removes the need for landfills. The weight to energy conversion ratio of this cutting edge technology is so high it can stand on its own, unlike other green energies that need supplementary energy sources to fully suffice. A biosphere machine is enough to support the energy needs of an entire household 24/7.

Biosphere technology therefore helps the environment in two ways. First, it clears existing solid wastes by turning them into energy. Second, it generates electrical power without causing harm to the environment because of the very little greenhouse emissions it releases into the atmosphere.

A nation who entrusts its energy generation processes to biosphere technologies can finally achieve true economic stability because after biosphere machines are purchased or built, the global price of the technology need not be considered anymore. Being aware of this, rich and developed countries such as the United States, Canada, Sweden and Brazil have already started building their own biosphere facilities. The said countries believe that biosphere machines will be the ones to bring them oil independence.

Read more »