Podcasts about Royal Observatory

Coming up with new ideas and questioning and challenging the ideas of others is how we make sense of the world around us and learn more about it, Paddy Rodgers says.提出新想法并对其他人的想法提出异议和挑战，才是我们解读周遭世界并深入了解它的途径，帕迪·罗杰斯这样说。The man in charge of the 350-year-old Royal Observatory in Greenwich warns that human curiosity is too vital to be satisfied by the quick answers delivered by AI.作为执掌有 350 年历史的格林尼治皇家天文台的人，他警告称好奇心对人类至关重要，绝非人工智能给出的快捷答案所能简单满足的。He's concerned that over-reliance on the tech could leave people more vulnerable to misinformation and society less able to engage with science.令他担忧的是，对科技的过度依赖可能让人们更易受到虚假消息的影响，也令社会更难以接触和理解科学。AI bosses say they believe the technology will soon be able to function at the same level as humans.人工智能行业的 “大佬” 们表示，他们相信这项技术将很快能够在与人类同等的水平上发挥作用。

Fevzi Turkalp, the Gadget Detective, joins Clive Bull on LBC Radio to discuss the latest tech news and reviews. On this week's slot; is AI affecting our own intelligence and are we relying upon these technologies more than we should, the Royal Observatory at Greenwich's Paddy Rogers warns we are.Gadget of the Week goes to;Fiio's JM21 Portable High-Res Lossless Music Player. This portable music player can store up to around 80 albums in lossless quality, or well over a thousand if you use a 2tb memory card. Featuring high quality components, such as dual flagship DAC, 4.7 inch display, and 8 core Snapdragon processor, all in an ultra slimline body. With the ability to still use online streaming services such as Spotify and Tidal this is a wonderful way to start enjoying your music the way it was intended to be heard.You can hear the Gadget Detective on LBC every Friday morning around 3.40am and you can follow and contact him on X @gadgetdetective and BlueSky @GadgetDetective.com#Fevzi#Turkalp#Gadget#Detective#Tech#Technology#News#Reviews#Help#Advice#Clive#Bull#LBC#Radio#AI#Artificial#Intelligence#Google#Gemini#ChatGPT#Claude#OpenAI#Royal#Observatory#Greenwich#Paddy#Rogers#GadgetoftheWeek#Week#Fiio#JM21#Portable#Music#Player#FLAC#MP3#Storage#iPod#Quality#Lossless#DAC#Snapdragon#Android

On this day, 21 May 1913, a bomb exploded at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, Scotland, set by suffragettes. The blast caused no casualties, although some blood was found at the scene, presumably from the perpetrator, but it did crack the masonry of the west tower, damage the floor and break some windows. The Dalkeith Advertiser reported the following day: 'The perpetrators left behind them a ladies' handbag of the kind used for shopping. It contained a few currant biscuits wrapped in paper, a couple of safety pins, and in the grounds were found two pieces of paper. On one of them was written in ink “How beggarly appears argument before defiant deed. Votes for women.”'More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9413/royal-observatory-bombedOur work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on patreon. If you appreciate our work, please join us and access exclusive content and benefits at patreon.com/workingclasshistory.See all of our anniversaries each day, alongside sources and maps on the On This Day section of our Stories app: stories.workingclasshistory.com/date/todayBrowse all Stories by Date here on the Date index: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/dateCheck out our Map of historical Stories: https://map.workingclasshistory.comCheck out books, posters, clothing and more in our online store, here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.comIf you enjoy this podcast, make sure to check out our flagship longform podcast, Working Class History

From Control to Collaboration: Five Mindset Shifts Leaders Need for the Age of AI We chat with Eleanor Gibson, Agile and Innovation Coach and Founder of Tilt   This week we chat to Eleanor Gibson, founder of Tilt, who has helped over 40 charities rethink not just what they do, but how they work. Eleanor shares her five mindset shifts model for leaders — from outputs to outcomes, hierarchies to networks, controlling to empowering, predicting to experimenting, and isolation to transparency — and explains why these shifts are more urgent than ever as AI reshapes the way organisations operate. We caught Eleanor just before she went on maternity leave — congrats, Eleanor! — and had a brilliant conversation about why discomfort is a sign you're doing change right, how smaller charities can leapfrog larger ones by moving faster with AI, and why being intentional about how you work is the single most important thing leaders can do right now. In this episode, you'll hear about: Eleanor's five mindset shifts for adaptable, resilient leadership Why focusing on how your organisation works can unlock huge potential — especially with AI The risks AI poses to institutional knowledge and collaboration, and what to do about them How to build resilience and confidence when change feels uncomfortable Why smaller, more agile charities are seizing the AI opportunity faster than larger ones Before our chat with Eleanor, Zoe and Paul discuss the human side of AI — from the Royal Observatory's warning about outsourcing our thinking, to a Stanford student's account of graduating from the first "AI era" college class, to what happens to real human connection when AI gets so good at performing empathy.   Show Notes & Links Tilt https://teamtilt.co.uk Tilt's "Where to Start with Agile Ways of Working" workbook — available via teamtilt.co.uk Charity Change Collective Find Eleanor on LinkedIn Zoe and Paul discussed: Royal Observatory Greenwich on AI and critical thinking https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2023l60370o Theo Baker, New York Times — graduating from the first AI era college class https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/17/opinion/chatgpt-ai-college-school-graduation.html Please leave us a review if you enjoy what you hear! Editing and production - Paul Thomas Music by Joseph McDade - https://josephmcdade.com/music Full transcript of this episode (srt file) Full transcript of this episode (.txt file) Transcripts are also available through your podcast app.

It was only a few years ago that excited supporters of the big bang theory for the origin of the universe announced that their theory had apparently been proven. Now their unverified conclusions are being seriously questioned on several fronts.Even as it was being announced that the big bang theory was proven, verification was being made on other results showing that the big bang theory is probably wrong. William G. Tifft of the University of Arizona had been looking at lists of red shifts from distant galaxies. On a graph, he plotted the red shifts corrected for the effects of the earth's motion. If the red shifts from these objects are the result of their speeding away from earth, their red shifts should be evenly spread over the known range of shifts. Tifft found that they're not. The red shifts are clumped into patterns. The intervals are about 72 kilometers per second, with some half that value and some one-third of that value. Astronomers from the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh verified his results.A second study by Tifft has shown that galaxy red shifts measured from earth have changed in just a few years! This change is completely unexpected by proponents of the big bang theory. The change is large enough that Tifft expects to be able to test the rate at which these changes take place within only a few years! One suggestion is that red shifts may be some sort of decay phenomenon rather than expansion of the universe.How could human beings expect to understand a universe created by the Author of Scripture when they reject Scripture itself?Isaiah 55:8"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.”Prayer: I thank You, dear Lord, for the revelation of Your Word of salvation in Scripture. I pray that I may never presume to understand something before I know and believe what You have said about it in Your inerrant Word. Amen.Image: High redshift galaxy candidates in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2012, NASA, ESA, R. Ellis (Caltech), and the HUDF 2012 Team, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1232/29?v=20251111

Most years, the Sun produces hundreds or thousands of sunspots – magnetic storms that look like dark splotches on its surface. From 1645 to 1715, though, sunspots all but disappeared. In many years, the number stayed in the single digits. And in some years, there were no sunspots at all. Today, that period is known as the Maunder minimum. It’s named for British astronomer Edward Maunder, who was born 175 years ago today. He wrote about the period in the late 1800s. Maunder was working at Britain’s Royal Observatory. He was assisted by his wife, Annie, who was a “computer” at the observatory – someone who did the tedious calculations. Maunder discovered a pattern in the sunspots, which wax and wane during a cycle of about 11 years. When a new cycle begins, most of the sunspots are concentrated at the Sun’s middle latitudes. As the cycle peaks, they’re concentrated closer to the equator. But he’s best known for the Maunder minimum. It occurred during the “Little Ice Age” – a period of unusual cold. That suggests a link between solar activity and Earth’s climate. But the link isn’t confirmed – it could be just a coincidence. We still don’t know what caused the sunspots to vanish. It had happened at least once before. So the mystery of the Maunder minimum remains unsolved. Script by Damond Benningfield

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Today we're talking to Emily Akkermans, the curator of time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. And if you want to know about John Harrison, the man who solved the longitude problem, she's the one to talk to.Welcome, Emily!Find Royal Museums Greenwich:https://www.rmg.co.uk/https://www.instagram.com/royalmuseumsgreenwich/https://x.com/RMGreenwichVisit Greenwich (...best place to be):https://www.visitgreenwich.org.ukhttps://x.com/VisitGreenwichhttps://x.com/Royal_Greenwichhttps://www.instagram.com/visitgreenwich/Find Baroque:https://www.ifitaintbaroquepodcast.art/https://www.reignoflondon.com/https://substack.com/@ifitaintbaroquepodcastSupport Baroque:https://www.patreon.com/c/Ifitaintbaroquepodcast/https://buymeacoffee.com/ifitaintbaroqueIf you would like to join Natalie on her walking tours with Reign of London:RMS Titanic:https://www.getyourguide.com/en-gb/london-l57/london-rms-titanic-walking-tour-t1246693/Saxons to Stuarts:https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/london-the-royal-british-kings-and-queens-walking-tour-t426011/Tudors & Stuarts:https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/royal-london-tudors-stuarts-walking-tour-t481355/The Georgians:https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/royal-london-the-georgians-walking-tour-t481358/Naughty London:https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/london-unsavory-history-guided-walking-tour-t428452/For more history fodder please visit https://www.ifitaintbaroquepodcast.art/ and https://www.reignoflondon.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robin Ince and Brian Cox wind up at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich – arguably the centre of time – to uncoil the mysteries of what time is and how on Earth (…and on moon) we keep track of it. Taking the time to join them are comedian Marcus Brigstocke, curator of the Royal Observatory Louise Devoy, and Head of the National Timing Centre Leon Lobo.From ancient Egyptian knuckle counting to sun dials, quartz oscillators and atomic clocks, the panel turns back time to discover how we measured and kept it throughout history. Together, they dial into why Greenwich has become such an important place for time and how time is synchronised and sold across the globe. They explore the flaws and future of accurate astronomical and atomic timekeeping, and Marcus blames the ‘leap second' for his fry-up failures.Producer: Olivia Jani Series Producer: Melanie Brown Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem A BBC Studios Production

Welcome to the Change Checker podcast, where we bring you the latest news from the coin-collecting world. From new issue coins to the UK's rarest 50p, we've got all your numismatic needs covered.  In this episode, Kate and Rachel discuss all the latest news from June!Zog 50p: https://www.changechecker.org/Zog50p  Royal Observatory Greenwich £2: https://www.changechecker.org/Observatory2PoundHead to head £2 Coin Hunt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66NV_lh6UdsRoyal International Air Tattoo 50p Swap 2025: https://www.changechecker.org/RIAT25Don't forget to stay up to date with all of our social channels: The Change Checker Web App YouTube Facebook Instagram X TikTok Subscription

The Royal Observatory at Greenwich has been one of the most important skywatching sites in history – not so much for what it told us about the stars, but for its role right here on Earth. Its location marked the starting point for measuring longitude – the position east and west on the globe. It also marked the time standard for the entire world: Greenwich Mean Time. The observatory was established on today’s date in 1675, by King Charles II. It was built on a hill near London, overlooking the Thames. Greenwich was created to provide highly accurate maps of the stars, and to measure the motions of the Sun, Moon, and planets. The work was designed to help sailors determine their longitude. Establishing longitude at sea was extremely difficult – and dangerous; many ships crashed because their navigators didn’t know where they were. The observations also played a key scientific role: they helped confirm that the motions of the Sun, Moon, and planets were governed by Isaac Newton’s laws of gravity. In 1833, the observatory began a “time service.” It dropped a ball from a tall pole at precisely 1 p.m. That allowed mariners to set their clocks before they sailed. Greenwich later transmitted the time to the whole country by telegraph, then radio. The observatory was moved in the 20th century, and closed in 1998. Today, the Greenwich site is a museum – preserving an important part of world history. Script by Damond Benningfield

Werte Hörer*innenschaft, finden Sie es nicht auch bemerkenswert, dass Daphne Bridgerton und der Duke of Hastings seit der feuchten Angelegenheit beim Royal Observatory nicht viel öfter mit einander gesehen wurden, als lediglich bei einigen Abendveranstaltungen? Erst sollte der Duke sogar auf dem Ball von Lady Trowbridge mit Abwesenheit glänzen, allerdings entschied er sich dann doch für einen späten Auftritt, nachdem er dann nach einem kurzen Gespräch mit Miss Bridgerton und einem alten Freund seines Vaters schnell wieder einen Abtritt machte. Danach waren er und Miss Bridgerton nicht mehr aufzufinden. Verdächtig? Wir denken schon. Was dahinter steckt finden wir für Sie heraus Wir halten für Sie Augen und Ohren offen, Ihre Ladies Whistlemore ---Viel Spaß mit der Folge Alle wichtigen Links über uns auf :⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/patmorespotcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Homepage:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://four-voices.de/patmores-potcast/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SozialeMedien: Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@patmorespotcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ privat: @monadifender und @dastoedchen Facebook: Patmore's Potcast Kommt auf unseren⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Server Supporten könnt ihr uns auf ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Steady⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ko-Fi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ oder in unserem⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Merchshop⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Für Fragen und Anregungen: Email: patmorespotcast@web.de oderpatmorespotcast@four-voices.de Wollt ihr mehr von uns hören, dann hört auch beiunseren anderen Podcast Projekten rein. Let's Poe:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Board Game Bravery:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Intro und Outro Musik wurden mit Udio AI beta erstellt ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.udio.com/home⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Start your stopwatches, set your timers, turn back your clocks because Izzie and Dr Becky are talking time. What is it? How, and why, do we measure it? And is time real or a human construct?!Izzie speaks with Anne Curtis at the National Physical Laboratory who works on one of the world's most accurate clocks, and editor Richard has been to the very heart of time itself in Greenwich with Finn Burridge at the Royal Observatory.The Supermassive Club is finally here. Join to support the show and for ad-free listening: https://supermassive.supportingcast.fm/The Supermassive Podcast is a Boffin Media production. The producers are Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham. Want to support the show? Join The Supermassive Club for exclusive content, star-gazing forums and ad-free listening... supermassive.supportingcast.fmAnd keep adding to The Supermassive Mailbox with your pictures and questions for the team. Send them to podcast@ras.ac.uk or follow them on Instagram, @SupermassivePod.The Supermassive Podcast is a Boffin Media production for the Royal Astronomical Society. The producers are Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mini-podcast about an event on this day in working class history.Our work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on patreon. If you appreciate our work, please join us and access exclusive content and benefits at patreon.com/workingclasshistory.See all of our anniversaries each day, alongside sources and maps on the On This Day section of our Stories app: stories.workingclasshistory.com/date/todayBrowse all Stories by Date here on the Date index: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/dateCheck out our Map of historical Stories: https://map.workingclasshistory.comCheck out books, posters, clothing and more in our online store, here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.comIf you enjoy this podcast, make sure to check out our flagship longform podcast, Working Class History.  AcknowledgementsWritten and edited by Working Class History.Theme music by Ricardo Araya. Check out his YouTube channel at youtube.com/@peptoattackBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/on-this-day-in-working-class-history--6070772/support.

Foundations of Amateur Radio Recently I saw a social media post featuring a screenshot of some random website with pretty charts and indicators describing "current HF propagation". Aside from lacking a date, it helpfully included notations like "Solar Storm Imminent" and "Band Closed". It made me wonder, not for the first time, what the reliability of this type of notification is. Does it actually indicate what you might expect when you get on air to make noise, is it globally relevant, is the data valid or real-time? You get the idea. How do you determine the relationship between this pretty display and reality? Immediately the WSPR or Weak Signal Propagation Reporter database came to mind. It's a massive collection of signal reports capturing time, band, station and other parameters, one of which is the Signal To Noise ratio or SNR. If the number of sun spots, or a geomagnetic index change affected propagation, can we see an effect on the SNR? Although there's close on a million records per day, I'll note in advance that my current approach of taking a daily average across all reports on a specific band, completely ignores the number of reports, the types and direction of antennas, the distance between stations, transmitter power, local noise or any number of other variables. Using the online "wspr.live" database, looking only at 2024, I linked the daily recorded WSPR SNR average per band to the Sun Spot Numbers and Geomagnetic Index and immediately ran into problems. For starters the daily Sun Spot Number or SSN, from the Royal Observatory in Belgium does not appear to be complete. I'm not yet sure why. For example, there's only 288 days of SSN data in 2024. Does this mean that the observers were on holiday on the other 78 days, or was the SSN zero? Curiously there's 60 days where there's more than one recording and as a bonus, on New Years Eve 2024, there's three recordings, all with the same time stamp, midnight, with 181, 194 and 194 sun spots, so I took the daily average. Also, I ignored the timezone, since that's not apparent. Similarly the Geomagnetic Index data from the Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam, Germany has several weird artefacts around 1970's data, but fortunately not within 2024 that I saw. The data is collected every three hours, so I averaged that, too. After excluding days where the SSN was missing, I ran into the next issue, my database query was too big, understandable, since there are many reports in this database, 2 billion, give or take, for 2024 alone. Normally I'd be running this type of query on my own hardware, but you might know that I lost my main research computer last year, well, I didn't lose it as such, I can see it from where I am right now, but it won't power up. Money aside, I've been working on it, but being unceremoniously moved from Intel to ARM is not something I'd recommend. I created a script that extracted the data, one day at a time, with 30 seconds between each query. Three hours later I had preliminary numbers. The result was 6,239 records across 116 bands, which of course should immediately spark interest, since we don't really have that many bands. I sorted the output by the number of reports per band and discovered that the maximum number of days per band was 276. This in turn should surprise you, since there's 365 days in a year, well technically a smidge more, but for now, 365 is fine, not to mention that 2024 was a leap-year. So, what happened to the other 90 days? We know that 78 are missing because the SSN wasn't in the database but the other 12 days? I'm going to ignore that too. I removed all the bands that had less than 276 reports per day, leaving 17 bands, including the well known 13 MHz band, the what, yeah, there's a few others like that. I removed the obvious weird band, but what's the 430 MHz band, when the 70cm band in WSPR is defined as 432 MHz? I manually created 15 charts plotting dates against SNR, SSN, Kp and ap indices. Remember, this is a daily average of each of these, just to get a handle on what I'm looking at. Immediately several things become apparent. There are plenty of bands where the relationship between the average SNR and the other influences appear to be negligible. We can see the average SNR move up and down across the year, following the seasons - which raises a specific question. If the SNR is averaged across the whole planet from all WSPR stations, why are we seeing seasonal variation, given that while it's Winter here in VK, it's Summer on the other side of the equator? If you compare the maximum average SNR of a band against the minimum average SNR of the same band, you can get a sense of how much the sun spots and geomagnetic index influences the planet as a whole on that band. The band with the least amount of variation is the 30m band. Said differently, with all the changes going on around propagation, the 30m band appears to be the most stable, followed by the 12m and 15m bands. The SNR across all of HF varies, on average, no more than 5 dB. The higher the band, the more variation there is. Of course it's also possible that there's less reports there, so we might be seeing the impact of individual station variables more keenly. It's too early for conclusions, but I can tell you that this gives us plenty of new questions to ask. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Preview: Research scientist Benjamin Rackham of MIT explains how astronomers provided the data to reason that the exoplanets TRAPPIST-1b and TRAPPIST-1c are without atmosphere. More. 1910 Royal Observatory at Greenwich.

Astronomy is just like any other human endeavor. It can stir up controversy, hurt feelings – and feuds. One of its most famous feuds involved some of the giants of science – Isaac Newton, who formulated laws of gravity and motion, and Edmond Halley, the namesake of Comet Halley. Newton and Halley were colleagues of John Flamsteed, Britain’s first astronomer royal and the founder of the Royal Observatory. Flamsteed had compiled a catalog of more than 2,000 stars. It included precise positions of the stars along with other details. He showed the catalog to Halley and Newton. They were impressed, and they wanted to use its findings in their own research. So they encouraged Flamsteed to publish the catalog. But Flamsteed refused. Halley and Newton then went behind his back. With the support of the Royal Society, they published 400 copes of it, in 1712. Flamsteed was furious. He bought up all the copies he could find – and burned them. And he waged a feud against Halley and Newton for the rest of his life. The catalog wasn’t officially published until six years after his death. The first version included new designations for the stars – a number followed by the name of the constellation. One of those designations is 32 Leonis. The star is better known as Regulus – the brightest star of Leo. And it’s especially easy to spot tonight. It’s above the Moon as they climb into good view, around 9 or 9:30. Script by Damond Benningfield

Happy New Year! This week, the Unexpected Elements team is reflecting on 2024 and looking forward to 2025 for renewed chances to spot the northern lights while they're at their peak visibility in this current solar cycle, and we recap on cellular regeneration advancements and regulations in embryonic stem cell models.  We chat to Professor Rene Oudmaijer from the Royal Observatory of Belgium who explains that stars also renew themselves... and this process is key to our lovely planet (and ourselves) existing!   We also learn all about the potential of bogs and wetlands in the fight against climate change from Professor Christian Dunn of Bangor University.  With another amazing year behind us, we reminisce about our favourite stories and listener correspondences in 2024.  And finally, we're wowed by the regenerative ‘superpowers' of the magnificent axolotl who has the cellular capabilities to re-grow limbs!  That, plus many more Unexpected Elements.  Presenters: Marnie Chesterton and Caroline Steel  Producers: Harrison Lewis, Imaan Moin and William Hornbrook  Sound Engineer: Duncan Hannant

Well… University of Nottingham scientists say that a compound, Cordyceps militaris, also known as caterpillar fungus, could help towards a 'game-changing' cancer drug. We speak to the lead author, Dr. Cornelia De Moor.The UK pledges £79 million to accelerate the energy transition in developing countries.The Royal Observatory tells us how to spot the final supermoon of 2024.Satirical website The Onion has bought the highly controversial ‘conspiracy site' Infowars.And, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland has called for tighter restrictions on fireworks following the death of Roxie, a baby red panda. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CrowdScience listeners David and Tatiana have long been captivated by an unusual dinner table discussion: the peculiar change they've noticed over the past 16 years in the sunlight streaming through their bedroom window in Ostend, Belgium. They're convinced that the room has not only become sunnier but that the actual angle of sunlight has shifted.Intrigued by their observations, we head to Ostend. Our mission: to investigate three of their theories, enlisting expert help along the way.Theory 1 – A celestial anomaly? René Oudmaijer at the Royal Observatory of Belgium considers whether our shifting position in the solar system might explain the change.Theory 2 – Movement in the Earth's crust? Alejandra Tovar from the Geological Survey of Belgium examines tectonic data to see if the Earth's crust is moving enough to alter the angle of sunlight.Theory 3 – Subsidence? Structural engineer Kath Hannigan helps us inspect the building for signs that it may be sinking or twisting.And we explore one final theory of our own, enlisting memory expert Julia Shaw to examine whether it could all be a trick of the mind. Will the team crack the case?Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Harrison Lewis Editor: Cathy Edwards Production co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano Studio Manager: Sarah Hockley(Photo: CrowdScience listeners David and Tatiana standing in front of a window in their house)

In this episode, Chris Abraham dives deep into his appreciation for the 41mm Navigator by Marathon Watch Company. He discusses the watch's unique features, including its tritium lume, lightweight and slim design, quartz accuracy, solid bars for straps, and sapphire crystal glass. Chris also shares his thoughts on the "gray man" theory and how his choice of gear helps him stay approachable in his community. Additionally, he touches on his experiences with other watches and gear from REI, his background in JROTC, and how these have shaped his aesthetic and practical choices. Q: What makes the Marathon Navigator 41mm your favorite tool watch? A: The Marathon Navigator 41mm is my favorite because of its functional design, tritium lume, lightweight and slim profile, quartz accuracy, solid bars for straps, and durable sapphire crystal glass. It's practical and reliable for everyday use. Q: How do you use the GMT feature on your Marathon Navigator? A: I use the GMT feature to track time for my freelance work with Upwork, as they close their books at midnight GMT. This helps me manage deadlines and billing efficiently. Q: What is the Gray Man Theory, and why is it important to you? A: The Gray Man Theory is about blending in and avoiding attention by dressing and acting in a nondescript way. This approach helps me stay approachable and avoid creating barriers between myself and the people in my community. Q: How do you balance wearing multiple watches? A: I wear the Garmin Instinct 2X Solar Tactical on my left wrist for tracking health metrics and the Marathon Navigator on my right wrist for its practicality and constant timekeeping. It works well for my needs and activities. Q: Are there any other watches you are considering for the future? A: I might consider the stainless steel version of the Marathon Navigator if my current watch ever fails. It's a bit more refined and civilian-looking while still offering the durability and functionality I appreciate. Tritium Lume: A self-illuminating light source used in watch dials and hands, utilizing tritium gas to create a constant glow without needing external light to charge. Quartz Movement: A type of watch movement powered by a battery and regulated by the vibrations of a quartz crystal, known for its high accuracy. Gray Man Theory: A concept that emphasizes blending in and avoiding attention by dressing and acting in a nondescript way, often used for personal security. GMT (Greenwich Mean Time): The mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, used as a reference for coordinating time across the world. Sapphire Crystal Glass: A type of watch glass made from synthetic sapphire, known for its scratch resistance and durability. REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.): A retailer specializing in outdoor gear and clothing, known for its high-quality and durable products. GORUCK: A brand known for its rugged, military-inspired gear and backpacks, often used for rucking and other outdoor activities. JROTC (Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps): A program offered in high schools to teach students leadership skills and military discipline. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chrisabraham/support

We are joined by Dr Lisa Jardine-Wright, OBE; Director of Isaac Physics, Director of Studies for Physics at Churchill College, and Vice-President for Education and Skills at the Institute of Physics. An astrophysicist by training, Lisa studied Natural Sciences and for a Master's Degree in Physics at Trinity College in Cambridge, before completing her PhD at the Institute of Astronomy just over the road from the Cavendish. While there, she became involved in the Institute's outreach activities, contributing to the first Cambridge Festivals and the regular Public Open Evenings, before moving on to a postdoc that was split evenly between simulating the formation of spiral galaxies and outreach.Since then, she has been a media fellow at the Financial Times, Astronomy Consultant for the Royal Observatory, Outreach Officer at the Cavendish, and co-founder of the internationally-used Isaac Physics project. Her work to support outreach and education has been widely recognised; Lisa has won numerous awards, culminating in an OBE for services to education in 2022.In this episode, we talk to her about her route through science, the valuable perspective that comes from seeing your work through non-specialist eyes, and the importance of making her teachers work late…Useful linksIsaac Physics is the free platform headed by Lisa, for students and teachers to master physics by solving problems. STEM SMART (Subject Mastery and Attainment Raising Tuition) is a widening participation initiative from the University of Cambridge in association with Isaac Physics, to provide free, complementary teaching and support to UK (non-fee paying) students.The research relating to A-level physics numbers that Lisa refers to is in this paper by Alan Smithers (Centre for Education and Employment Research University of Buckingham, 2014)For more inspiration on the different roles you can have in a Physics environment, listen to some of the previous episodes in the People Doing Physics' back catalogue, for example: Melanie Tribble, Emily Roe, Tom Sharp or Richard King To learn more about the Cavendish Laboratory, or if you are interested in joining us or studying with us, go to the Cavendish website.Share and join the conversationHelp us get better by taking our quick survey. Your feedback will help us understand how we can improve in the future. Thank you!If you like this episode don't...

Mini-podcast about the bombing of the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh by suffragettes in 1913.See all of our anniversaries each day, alongside sources and maps on the On This Day section of our Stories app: stories.workingclasshistory.com/date/todayAnd browse all Stories by Date here on the Date index: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/dateOur work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on patreon. If you appreciate our work, please join us and access exclusive content and benefits at patreon.com/workingclasshistory.AcknowledgementsWritten and edited by Working Class History.Theme music by Ricardo Araya. Check out his YouTube channel at youtube.com/@peptoattack

2/4: The Asteroid Hunter: A Scientist's Journey to the Dawn of our Solar System Hardcover – March 19, 2024 by  Dante Lauretta  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Asteroid-Hunter-Scientists-Journey-System/dp/1538722941 On September 11, 1999, humanity made a monumental discovery in the vastness of space. Scientists uncovered an asteroid of immense scientific importance—a colossal celestial entity. As massive as an aircraft carrier and towering as high as the iconic Empire State Building, this cosmic titan was later named Bennu. Remarkable for much more than its size, Bennu belonged to a rare breed of asteroids capable of revealing the essence of life itself. But just as Bennu became a beacon of promise, researchers identified a grave danger. Hurtling through space, it threatens to collide with our planet on September 24, 2182. Leading the expedition was Dr. Dante Lauretta, the Principal Investigator of NASA's audacious OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission. Tasked with unraveling Bennu's mysteries, his team embarked on a daring quest to retrieve a precious sample from the asteroid's surface — one that held the potential to not only unlock the secrets of life's origins but also to avert an unprecedented catastrophe. A tale of destiny and danger, The Asteroid Hunter chronicles the high-stakes mission firsthand, narrated by Dr. Lauretta. It offers readers an intimate glimpse into the riveting exploits of the mission and Dr. Lauretta's wild, winding personal journey to Bennu and back. Peeling back the curtain on the wonders of the cosmos, this enthralling account promises a rare glimpse into the tightly woven fabric of scientific exploration, where technical precision converges with humanity's profound curiosity and indominable spirit. 1910 Royal Observatory at Greenwich

This month we have a very special episode of the Look Up! podcast. We have the Royal Observatory's Dr. Ed Bloomer interviewing Professor Chris Lintott, astronomer and author. In his episode Chris tells us about his new book, ‘Our Accidental Universe', which discusses how astronomers often stumble across their discoveries. We hope you enjoy! If you wanted to learn what's in the night sky this month, head to our Night Sky Highlights blog at rmg.co.uk. We'll be back to our regular programming next month!

In Conversation with the Shortlisted and Winning Photographers from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 15. The shortlisted and winning photographers of this competition were invited to a special Private View event in September 2023 where they could see the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. During the event, Royal Observatory astronomers Affelia and Jess, recorded interviews with some of the photographers who were there to talk about their images and to ask for some advice about how to start taking beautiful photos of the night sky. This interview is with Astronomy Presenter Mario also spoke to Yann Sainty who was part of the trio who won this year's title with their photograph Andromeda, Unexpected. You can listen to their conversation in French in the recording or read the English transcription on our website - https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/astronomy-photographer-year-15-conversation-entrants-winners

In Conversation with the Shortlisted and Winning Photographers from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 15. The shortlisted and winning photographers of this competition were invited to a special Private View event in September 2023 where they could see the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. During the event, Royal Observatory astronomer Affelia recorded interviews with some of the photographers who were there to talk about their images and to ask for some advice about how to start taking beautiful photos of the night sky. This interview is with Josh Dury, Peter Larkin, Dario Giannobile, and Katie McGuiness Please be aware that you might hear some background noise from the event in the recordings below. If you'd like to see the exhibition yourself, it is open daily at the National Maritime Museum.

In Conversation with the Shortlisted and Winning Photographers from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 15. The shortlisted and winning photographers of this competition were invited to a special Private View event in September 2023 where they could see the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. During the event, Royal Observatory astronomer Affelia recorded interviews with some of the photographers who were there to talk about their images and to ask for some advice about how to start taking beautiful photos of the night sky. This interview is with Andre Vilhena, Martin Lewis, and Lorenzo Ranieri. Please be aware that you might hear some background noise from the event in the recordings below. If you'd like to see the exhibition yourself, it is open daily at the National Maritime Museum.

In Conversation with the Shortlisted and Winning Photographers from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 15. The shortlisted and winning photographers of this competition were invited to a special Private View event in September 2023 where they could see the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. During the event, Royal Observatory astronomer Jess, with help from members of the Astronomy Ambassadors Group, recorded interviews with some of the photographers who were there to talk about their images and to ask for some advice about how to start taking beautiful photos of the night sky. This interview is with entrants from the Young Competition, Benjamin Lawler, Feargus Casbolt, and Harry Johnson. They're being interviewed by members of the Astronomy Ambassadors Group - Petra, Varuni, and Lizzie. Please be aware that you might hear some background noise from the event in the recordings below. If you'd like to see the exhibition yourself, it is open daily at the National Maritime Museum.

In Conversation with the Shortlisted and Winning Photographers from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 15. The shortlisted and winning photographers of this competition were invited to a special Private View event in September 2023 where they could see the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. During the event, Royal Observatory astronomer Affelia recorded interviews with some of the photographers who were there to talk about their images and to ask for some advice about how to start taking beautiful photos of the night sky. This interview is with Derek Horlock, Joao Yordanov Serrhalheiro, and Jonathon Lodge. Please be aware that you might hear some background noise from the event in the recordings below. If you'd like to see the exhibition yourself, it is open daily at the National Maritime Museum.

In Conversation with the Shortlisted and Winning Photographers from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 15 The shortlisted and winning photographers of this competition were invited to a special Private View event in September 2023 where they could see the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. During the event, Royal Observatory astronomer Affelia recorded interviews with some of the photographers who were there to talk about their images and to ask for some advice about how to start taking beautiful photos of the night sky. This interview is with Miguel Claro, Angel Yu, and John White. Please be aware that you might hear some background noise from the event in the recordings below. If you'd like to see the exhibition yourself, it is open daily at the National Maritime Museum.

rWotD Episode 2460: David Robertson (engineer) Welcome to random Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a random Wikipedia page every day.The random article for Sunday, 28 January 2024 is David Robertson (engineer).David Robertson (1875 – 1941) was the first Professor of Electrical Engineering at Bristol University. Robertson had wide interests and one of these was horology – he wanted to provide the foundation of what we could call “horological engineering”, that is, a firm science-based approach to the design of accurate mechanical clocks. He contributed a long series on the scientific foundations of precision clocks to the Horological Journal which was the main publication for the trade in the UK; he and his students undertook research on clocks and pendulums (some funded by the Society of Merchant Venturers); and he designed at least one notable clock, to keep University time and control the chiming of Great George in the Wills Memorial Building from its inauguration on 1925, for which he also designed the chiming mechanism.Today, we get accurate time from atomic clock ensembles in observatories round the world, compared and distributed by GPS satellites and over the internet, and displayed on almost any public or personal screen. Accurate time has become ubiquitous and its maintenance a branch of information and communications technology. A century ago none of this existed, and the world depended on the pendulum clock to keep its time, referenced to astronomical observations. There was a scientific literature on the behaviour of pendulums and clocks; and a widespread craft-based industry making timepieces; but it could not be said that horology was a branch of engineering.Robertson became Professor of Electrical Engineering in Merchant Venturer’s Technical College in 1902. MVTC merged with University College Bristol when the latter was granted a Royal Charter in 1909 and became the engineering faculty of the new University of Bristol – Robertson then became the first professor of the subject in the faculty. He served in this post until his death in 1941. Clock-wise, the Shortt Synchronome Free Pendulum clock entered service at the Royal Observatory in 1923 and kept Greenwich, and therefore the nation’s, time until supplanted by quartz clocks in the 1940s. Throughout Robertson’s career therefore, pendulum time was paramount. Suppliers such as the Synchronome Company or Gents of Leicester could by 1925 have supplied perfectly satisfactory and well-proven systems to run the bell and slave clocks throughout the building. The fact that the University chose to commission a unique and original design is a tribute perhaps to its pride in the new building and to its distinguished Professor, who was able to put into practice the principles that he had developed.The Robertson ClockOriginally mounted in an interior foyer of the Wills Memorial Building, Robertson's clock is housed in an oak case 1753 x 837 x 310 mm (h/w/d), originally carried on stout oak “dogs” let into the masonry of an internal wall. The case was also secured to the wall through its back, but does not support any of the mechanisms, which are separately mounted through the case back into the wall using studs. The opening front door is fully glazed. In its new home in Queen’s Building the original studs are re-mounted on to a large steel plate, firmly screwed to the reinforced concrete wall.At the top of the case a clock dial displays hours and minutes as kept by the pendulum. The dial is a standard Gents slave clock movement which is advanced by a pulse every 30s, counted down from seconds pulses generated by the pendulum. Additional circuits in the clock once generated other half-minute pulses that controlled 3 strings of similar slave clocks throughout the building.Right down the centre of the case is the pendulum, of the order of a metre long and with a period of 2 seconds. It is suspended from a bracket attached to a massive iron casting bolted through to the wall, which also carries the “escapement” mechanism to the right under the face. This drives the pendulum with a small impulse of force every second, generated by the drop of a small weight under the control of an electromagnet. Part of the mechanism includes a 60-tooth ratchet wheel advanced on every pendulum swing by a pawl driven by the electromagnet. Originally this operated a pair of contacts by two pins on its periphery to generate the half-minute pulses, but at some stage these contacts were removed.To the left of the pendulum is the regulator. This is arranged to apply a small force to the pendulum which through an ingenious linkage effectively works against gravity, slowing the pendulum down. The force comes from a torque generated by a spiral hair-spring, one end being attached to the pivot of a lever that forms part of the escapement linkage, the other to a disk that can be rotated in small steps by a solenoid-operated “stepper motor”. This allows the period of the pendulum to be adjusted by changing the torque, under the control of a system that compares the pendulum phase to a time standard (originally a daily pulse sent out over the telegraph network at 10.00 GMT).Behind the pendulum and near its top is a standard aneroid barometer, and below that a mercury thermometer. These would have been used when checking the clocks’ rate, which depends on both atmospheric temperature and pressure.To the left of the pendulum is the Civil Time Unit (CTU). This is essentially a clock that receives a pulse every second from the pendulum and keeps track of local time, GMT or BST depending on the season, to control the pulses sent to Great George to make it chime on the hours, 0700 through 2100 except Sundays. The CTU was driven by its own electromagnet.On the right is the Greenwich Time Unit (GTU), which essentially kept GMT by counting seconds impulses but also controlled the sequencing of the synchronising system around 10.00 am GMT every day. Again, the GTU had its own electromagnet drive.Behind the wall to which the clock was mounted there was a Control Box that housed several terminal frames, some relays, and ancillary components, that were connected to contacts on the TUs by wires going through the wall. Most of this has now been lost. The clock and its circuits were power by a 24 volt lead-acid battery, possibly also housed in this room. This Control Box has also been recovered and will be installed beside the clock case to house support electronics.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:32 UTC on Sunday, 28 January 2024.For the full current version of the article, see David Robertson (engineer) on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm Kimberly Standard.

2/2: #HotelMars: Discovery of the Tasmanian Devil at 200 million light years & What is to be done. Anna Ho, Nature, Cornell University. David Livingston, SpaceShow.com https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03569-3 1945 Royal Observatory at Greenwich

The iconic ball dropping trend on New Year's Eve has a fascinating history with both ancient and modern roots. Here's a breakdown: Ancient Roots: Time Balls: The concept of a ball dropping to mark time predates the Times Square ball by centuries. In 1833, the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, installed a "time ball" that dropped at 1 pm daily, allowing ships' captains to set their chronometers. Similar time balls popped up around the world, though few remain functional today. Modern Origins: Times Square and Fireworks: Back in 1904, Times Square, then named Longacre Square, was already drawing crowds for New Year's Eve celebrations. The New York Times, residing in the newly built Times Tower, held rooftop fireworks displays to mark the occasion. The First Ball Drop: In 1907, seeking a more visible alternative to fireworks during a dim winter night, Times Square organizer Adolph Ochs opted for a 700-pound illuminated ball to descend from the Times Tower flagpole at midnight. This marked the official birth of the Times Square ball drop tradition. Evolution and Popularity: The ball has undergone several design changes over the years, becoming lighter, brighter, and incorporating various themes. The tradition exploded in popularity, broadcast nationally through radio and later television, making it a symbol of New Year's Eve celebration not just in New York City, but for the whole world. Other Influences: Times Square as a Festive Hub: Beyond the ball, Times Square's vibrant atmosphere, live entertainment, and celebrity appearances added to the allure of the event, further solidifying its status as a global New Year's Eve destination. Global Adaptations: While the Times Square ball drop remains iconic, countless cities around the world now hold their own versions, featuring a variety of dropped objects that reflect their local culture and traditions. So, the trend of dropping objects on New Year's Eve has both ancient practical roots and a modern story intertwined with the evolution of Times Square and media technology. The tradition continues to evolve, captivating audiences worldwide as a dazzling countdown to a fresh start. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/moodkillers/message

PREVIEW: From a longer conversation on space engineering, Bob Zimmerman analyzes the profound troubles with Hubble. 1945 Royal Observatory at Greenwich

AN HOUR OF PEACE OF MIND IN THE JOYS OF THE UNDISCOVERED:  2/8: The Elephant in the Universe: Our Hundred-Year Search for Dark Matter by  Govert Schilling  (Author), Avi Loeb  (Foreword) https://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Universe-Hundred-Year-Search-Matter/dp/0674248996 In The Elephant in the Universe, Govert Schilling explores the fascinating history of the search for dark matter. Evidence for its existence comes from a wealth of astronomical observations. Theories and computer simulations of the evolution of the universe are also suggestive: they can be reconciled with astronomical measurements only if dark matter is a dominant component of nature. Physicists have devised huge, sensitive instruments to search for dark matter, which may be unlike anything else in the cosmos―some unknown elementary particle. Yet so far dark matter has escaped every experiment. Indeed, dark matter is so elusive that some scientists are beginning to suspect there might be something wrong with our theories about gravity or with the current paradigms of cosmology. Schilling interviews both believers and heretics and paints a colorful picture of the history and current status of dark matter research, with astronomers and physicists alike trying to make sense of theory and observation. 1945 ROYAL OBSERVATORY

AN HOUR OF PEACE OF MIND IN THE JOYS OF THE UNDISCOVERED:  1/8: The Elephant in the Universe: Our Hundred-Year Search for Dark Matter by  Govert Schilling  (Author), Avi Loeb  (Foreword) https://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Universe-Hundred-Year-Search-Matter/dp/0674248996 In The Elephant in the Universe, Govert Schilling explores the fascinating history of the search for dark matter. Evidence for its existence comes from a wealth of astronomical observations. Theories and computer simulations of the evolution of the universe are also suggestive: they can be reconciled with astronomical measurements only if dark matter is a dominant component of nature. Physicists have devised huge, sensitive instruments to search for dark matter, which may be unlike anything else in the cosmos―some unknown elementary particle. Yet so far dark matter has escaped every experiment. Indeed, dark matter is so elusive that some scientists are beginning to suspect there might be something wrong with our theories about gravity or with the current paradigms of cosmology. Schilling interviews both believers and heretics and paints a colorful picture of the history and current status of dark matter research, with astronomers and physicists alike trying to make sense of theory and observation. 1945 ROYAL OBSERVATORY, PART DESIGNED BY CHRISTOPHER WREN

Data from the now-retired NASA InSight mission suggests that Mars' rotation is speeding up. The InSight RISE instrument's principal investigator, Sebastien Le Maistre, from the Royal Observatory of Belgium, joins Planetary Radio to get into the details. The Planetary Society's Digital Community Manager, Ambre Trujillo, shares her experience observing the October 14 annular solar eclipse and her adventure to the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule opening at Johnson Space Center. Then, our Director of Government Relations, Jack Kiraly, shares the triumphs of The Planetary Society's in-person Day of Action. Stick around for What's Up with Bruce Betts, the chief scientist of The Planetary Society, as he shares an asteroid mission-themed random space fact. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2023-insight-mars-rotationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Magdalena Ciocea, travel trade manager for Up at the O2, and Aleš Kosejk, head of business development for Visit Greenwich, talk with Alan Fine of Insider Travel Report about the many things to do in Greenwich, a 600-year-old world heritage site, 15 minutes southeast of central London on the river Thames. Greenwich is the home of the Royal Observatory, responsible for keeping track of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), and Up at the O2, a 90-minute walk up a slow incline until guests are at the top of the outdoor platform with a spectacular view of London. For more information, email magdalena.ciocea@upattheo2.co.uk or visit www.UpatTheO2.co.uk and www.visitgreenwich.org.uk. If interested, the original video of this podcast can be found on the Insider Travel Report Youtube channel or by searching for the podcast's title on Youtube.

#Bestof2022: #Astronomy: "Most Massive Neutron Star" yet found and what it means. Ken Croswell, Science News Science News:  https://www.sciencenews.org/article/heaviest-neutron-star-mass-sun-record-black-holes. 1826 Royal Observatory at Greenwich

BIG BANG THEORY PUZZLING WITH JAMES WEBB REVELATIONS: 4/4: Flashes of Creation: George Gamow, Fred Hoyle, and the Great Big Bang Debate, by Paul Halpern https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08PV5CLZQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0 A respected physics professor and author breaks down the great debate over the Big Bang and the continuing quest to understand the fate of the universe. Today, the Big Bang is so entrenched in our understanding of the cosmos that to doubt it would seem crazy. But as Paul Halpern shows in Flashes of Creation, just decades ago its mere mention caused sparks to fly. At the center of the debate were the Russian-American physicist George Gamow and the British astrophysicist Fred Hoyle. Gamow insisted that a fiery explosion explained how the elements of the universe were created. Attacking the idea as half-baked, Hoyle countered that the universe was engaged in a never-ending process of creation. The battle was fierce. In the end, Gamow turned out to be right—mostly—and Hoyle, along with his many achievements, is remembered for giving the theory the silliest possible name: "the Big Bang." Halpern captures the brilliance of both thinkers and reminds us that even those proven wrong have much to teach us about boldness, imagination, and the universe, itself 1882 Royal Observatory.

PHOTO: 1824 ROYAL OBSERVATORY.  NO KNOWN RESTRICTIONS ON PUBLICATION. @BATCHELORSHOW #BESTOF2021: 1/2  The local arm of the Milky Way and our Sun's place in it for now. Ken Croswell PNAS. (ORIGINALLY POSTED OCTOBER 4, 2021) https://www.pnas.org/content/118/40/e2116185118 Inner Workings: Astronomers are redrawing our corner of the Milky Way      We live in a giant barred spiral galaxy. The Milky Way's fast-spinning disk of stars and gas whips up spiral arms that spawn new suns, while a bar of mostly older stars cuts through its heart. From afar, our galaxy likely resembles a glowing cosmic hurricane.

Dr. Bryan Gillis is back! This time he's here to teach us about gravitational lensing. And along the way, we learn about dark matter and dark energy! What the hell are they? What the hell aren't they? Could you have a black hole made out of dark matter? So much fascinating stuff! Links: ESA Euclid Page, Euclid Wikipedia page, Vimeo Channel for the Royal Observatory.

The history of time and how it relates to the maritime world is one of the most significant chapters in global history. The question of time is nothing less than the question of civilisation; the question of us. Time itself has been harnessed, politicised and weaponised; clocks have been used to wield power, make money, govern and control; to exchange knowledge and even beliefs. For the maritime world, the history of time takes us from some of the most ingenious inventors and scientists the world has ever seen to the spread of empires around the globe. To find our more Dr Sam Willis spoke with David Rooney, an expert on the history of timekeeping and civilisation who has worked as the Curator of Timekeeping at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and is the author of ‘About Time: A History of Civilisation in Twelve Clocks.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

the day the world said, “you're it, Greenwich.”

The Non-Prophets, Episode 21.33 airing Sunday, 08-14-2022 featuring Secular Rarity, Richard Firth-Godbehere, Nate Smith and Jason Sherwood.This Sunday at 3:00 PM Central we are going to have some actual good feels in the news! So Join Secular Rarity kicking off this episode with new comer Dr Richard Firth-Godbehere, Nate Smith and myself for the latest episode. Will I finally get myself canceled? You be the judge!Up first, we ARE in Kansas, and they voted FOR abortion? What the whaa…? Yes it's true, Kansas has voted to keep abortion protections in their state constitution. Does this mean Kansas is going Democrat? Well, there is so much more to it than that. We would have called it a step in the right direction, but it is going to take some wait and see to know where we are at.Next, we check in with the original residents of the US as they suspend Christian Missionary work! Seem they didn't care for Christians saying Jesus is the only god and trampling over their spirituality and culture. I mean Americans wouldn't do that… again… and again… Well this didn't age well.Speaking of Christians, we look into how Christian Nationalism has gone mainstream. Yes, yes, the Lamestream media is now filled with hatred and your favorite congresspeople MTG and Boebert are leading the charge. I'm sure they are just happy they can finally say their quiet parts loud and proud?Lastly, we take a bit of a Looking Back at the creating of the Royal Observatory and a few of their discoveries. These discoveries would go on to teach generations about our world, the universe, and our place in it. Bringing out the truth of our universe starting, and what the Bible thinks happens. Lessons that will stand the test of time, until YouTube starts to exist…. Oops.That about wraps it up for this week. Be sure to check out all the shows this week as we have more information on the bat cruise, and catch Talk Heathen and The Atheist Experience on the 28th for another show live from The Freedom Though library!Segment 1: Progressives win in… Kansas?Three big takeaways from the Kansas abortion votehttps://bit.ly/3QGbdngKansas votes to protect abortion rights in state constitution https://bit.ly/3JWgXHoSegment 2: Sioux You, Missionaries!Oglala Sioux Tribe Temporarily Suspends All Christian Missionary Work https://bit.ly/3SNC96jOglala Sioux Tribe Rescinds Ordinance Suspending Churches and Missions https://bit.ly/3SNC96Segment 3: Christian nationalism going mainstreamAfter Trump, Christian nationalist ideas are going mainstream – despite a history of violence https://bit.ly/3peXnN1“Christian Nationalism” Used to Be Taboo. Now It's All the Rage. https://bit.ly/3Ps0bRfFaith Is Powerful. That's Why Christian Nationalism Is So Dangerous https://bit.ly/3piHfdiSegment 4: Looking Back: The Genesis of AstronomyAugust 10: Royal Observatory Opens (1675): Churches v. Astronomy https://bit.ly/3QlWxKjHistory of the Royal Observatory https://bit.ly/3w3dSPYRev. John Flamsteed https://bit.ly/3QlXp1i(if you want add some trivia from the James Web) Don't like ads? Consider becoming a patron for commercial-free episodes: http://tiny.cc/patreonnp We welcome your comments on the thread for this show. ► http://tiny.cc/fbnp► Contact us with questions or news stories at: nonprophets@atheist-community.org

Marcella's interest in astronomy and atmospheric optical phenomena (photometeors) over time led her to create a scientific dissemination site (www.greenflash.photo) with about 1000 photometeor images and videos, even rare ones, observed throughout Italy and above all on the Iblei mountains (Rg) and on the Dolomites in Cadore, landscapes chosen for the great diversity of orographic, climatic and day and night luminosity, as well as for their position at the two extreme latitudes of Italy. In 2011 he received from the Minister of Public Administration the national prize for innovation in teaching in schools "Innovascuola". In 2015, his photo "Moon and Antelao" is included in the Shortlist of the Royal Museum of Greenwich photo competition "Astronomy Photographer of the Year", which selects the best astrophotography of the year from all over the world. The photo was then also published in the volume "Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2015" published by the Royal Observatory of Greenwich in collaboration with the BBC, the photographic site Flickr and the Collins publishing house and exhibited inside the Astronomical Observatory of Greenwich.The same photo will become the December image of the 2017 Greenwich Astronomical Observatory calendar. In 2016 he exhibited his photos in a personal exhibition in San Vito di Cadore (Bl), with more than 100 photos of atmospheric optical phenomena from all over Italy. The event was the first exhibition in Italy complete with video dedicated to photometeors. The work of dissemination through video and photography continues in the following years and many of his images are published by the major national astronomy magazines (Colelum Astronomia, Nuovo Orione and Le Stelle, Focus) and internationally (Astronomy Now, Sky and Telescope) as well as by websites of primary scientific importance such as those of Spaceweather, USRA and NASA. In 2016, he documents the visibility of the Maltese archipelago from the province of Ragusa and his images and his videos are broadcast by the Maltese national TV which, in the interview, define his works as the first shots of the Maltese archipelago by the iblei. Since 2017 he has been a member of the board of directors of CISA (Centro Ibleo Studi Astronomici), UAI delegation (Unione Astrofili Italiani) for the province of Ragusa, which aims to actively promote astronomy in the province of Ragusa, contributing with conferences on atmospheric optics. In September 2018, NASA publishes an image of him that captures the Moon setting next to the active crater south-east of Etna. In 2019 the national magazine "Nuovo Orione" publishes the calendar with its images: 12 photos that tell the sky of the Dolomites and the Iblei. For the summer solstice of 2019, NASA publishes his work on the solar Analemma, a work selected for its didactic value and for the singularity in creating an "Analemma at sunset".On May 31, 2020, his photos of the Green Ray taken on the Sun, Moon and planets, become NASA 's photo of the dayIn the summer of 2020 he sets up two twin exhibitions, in northern and southern Italy, between the municipality of Isnello (PA) and San Vito di Cadore (Bl) On September 26, 2020, his photo Moon Pairs and the Synodic Month ” becomes NASA 's photo of the dayOn November 11, 2020, his “Colors of the Moon” photo becomes NASA 's photo of the dayOn October 16, 2021, on the occasion of the “International Observe the Moon Night 2021”, NASA chooses its photographic work, created in collaboration with Gianni Sarcone, “ Moona Lisa ” as the astronomical photo of the day.Collaborate on the 2021 calendar of “ Severe Weather Europe” for the month of February  For professional deformation, he always combines his passion for photometeors with his profession, focusing his works on the didactic, informative and originality value, trying to grasp what has never been produced yet, simplifying to make it affordable for everyone.Component of the Pictores Caeli is a group of astrophotographers born to share ideas and suggestions on astrophotography. The goal is the union of mutual technical and artistic skills to develop high quality images, certified by a shared brand.The purpose of  Pictores Caeli is to restore the sense of wonder that one feels at the moment of observation and shooting, narrating sidereal events, contrasts between architectural and natural elements, and stimulating suggestions that go beyond phenomenal objectivity through the photographic medium.Although a lens and an observation point determine an interpretation of reality,  Pictores Caeli follows a shared protocol in order not to alter the scientific data, using and experimenting with the best shooting and post-production techniques.Photography for  Pictores Caeli is conceived as an art form, and represents a moment of contemplation, growth, knowledge, research, experimentation and sharing.

This Slow Radio feature takes us on a leisurely stroll round the park. Parks are always important but during the lockdowns they've become vital to people stuck in cities and towns. Children can still play in the park; grown-ups can still walk, run and even dance there.When a smattering of snow fell in London recently Greenwich Park erupted with people - of all ages - pouring like lava down the icy slopes below the Royal Observatory, on sledges, tin trays, even grill pans. There were snowball skirmishes and snow sculptures appeared. It was a wonderful sight, and even more arresting were the sounds - the cacophony of joy.The park these days is 'full of noises, sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not', the sounds of life and happiness. But, in the distance you hear, too, the sounds of sorrow - a church bell tolls and ambulances wail. Today's Slow Radio programme gathers all these - the birds, the dogs, the children, runners, boxers, ice, mud, rain, and the - almost - silence, capturing a winter's Sunday in the Park With...sound.Producer: Julian May

This week's episode is a re-upload of Episode 1, Martial Bourdin. I've just upgraded my microphone and picked up a mixing desk, and the first, 10? 15?? Maybe 20??? Episodes needed a do-over. On off weeks, time permitting, I'm planning on dropping new versions of those early episodes.  At 4:45pm precisely, GMT, 15th February 1894, the grounds of Greenwich Park, London – home of the Royal Observatory, and a clock we'll discuss later – are shaken by a resounding boom. Staff at the observatory recalled a “sharp and clear detonation, followed by a noise like a shell going through the air”. Peering through windows in trepidation, they attempted to work out what just happened. A park warden and a group of students ran towards the epicenter of the blast – where a solitary young man lay dying. The young man, who died not long after in a local hospital, was identified as 26 year old Frenchman Martial Bourdin. Just who was this young man, and why was he carrying a bomb through the park on a cold winter day? The blog post of the episode is here.  Support the show on Patreon for just $2 a month and get access to exclusive content. At the current pledge level I post a bonus episode a month, and will add more extras as the channel grows.    Please leave a like and review. The best way you can help support the show is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays. We're on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.     Music, writing, narration, mixing all yours truly.  For more information on Simone click here.   

Deneys Reitz had broken his own leg in a freak accident and was still hobbling about, his compound fracture causing some pain. General de la Rey ordered him to a small medical camp behind the lines near Hartbeespoort which is west of Pretoria. There he was recovering when the British launched an attack on the Boers. Reitz saddled his horse and galloped to the ridge overlooking the British. But there was no much they could do - there were about 12 000 English versus 600 Boers. The casualties were light, although the British artillery were accurate enough and caused the Boers to fall back from ridge to ridge. By two in the afternoon the English gave up the chase. They rested their horses after the Generals' ironic speech, and then under the cover of dark rode further away. An amazing sight greeted the men as they crested a rise that night - it was called the Great Comet of 1901, Comet Viscara. But as they rode, a boyish voice from the darkness called out Vlug means retreat, another example of the sense of humour of soldiers making the best of a bad situation. The Royal Observatory in Cape Town, the Argentine National Observatory and the Government observatory in Perth Australia shared their scientific evaluation which put the Comet at 79 million miles from Earth. While the comet caused the Prophet van Rensburg some excitement, there was more excitement in the Cape. Kritzinger was back in the Midlands and causing trouble, while Gideon Scheepers was about to commit a war crime. He shot dead two black troops who'd fired on his men from a farmhouse, saying "it was a white man's war". He was to pay for that act with this life after being captured.