AUGUST 18th - Doopity Helium Doo



On this day in 1868, French astronomer Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen discovered helium by using a spectroscope during a total eclipse. In a coincidental and epic display of scientific nerdiness, English astronomer Joseph Norman Lockyer was also able to distinguish helium during regular daylight in October. Either because Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen was taking his sweet-ass time or because Lockyer was a whiz when it came to writing up scientific findings, both papers were received at the same time, making Janssen and Lockyer the co-discovers of helium. If you want to get super technical about things, and I know you do, you could add William Ramsay into the mix because he was the first to discover terrestrial helium 30 years later. Basically the whole thing is one big gaseous mess. But since it is already one complete cluster, I propose that we just add to it. To round out the Mt. Rushmore of Helium, the first person who either knowingly or accidentally huffed him or her some helium to make his or her voice sound like Alvin or one of the other chipmunks should be recognized. Let’s face it that’s really the only thing you know about helium, right? You fill balloons with it, which has some useful applications, and you inhale a bit to make you sound as if a tiny alien has taken residence inside your vocal chords, which is highly entertaining. Basically, helium is like an infomercial hosted by a gaggle of oompa loompas--functional and highly entertaining. Doopity doo.

This day has been Marked.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AUGUST 22nd - Don't Drink the Kool-Aid

On this day in 1911, somebody working at the Louvre discovered that the Mona Lisa was missing. The previous day, a Monday--meaning the museum was closed to the public, Vincenzo Peruggia, a maintenance worker, brazenly walked out of the Louvre with what would eventually become the most famous painting in the world. Vincenzo basically sat on the painting for two years until he was caught trying to “return” it to his homeland of Italy in a misguided demonstration of Italian patriotism. The theft itself is quite interesting, mostly because of the lack of planning and preparation that went into it, but equally intriguing is the part it played in making the Mona Lisa so famous. Many historians feel that the painting reached new heights because it was stolen. It kind of makes sense in that whole “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone" kind of way. Not that I would suggest staging a kidnapping to allow your significant other to realize how much he/she loves you, because that’s jus
Read more

AUGUST 23rd - History of the One-Way

Image
On this day in 1617, the idea of the one-way street was supposedly introduced in London in the alleys near the River Thames. I’m not sure why London was on the cutting edge of traffic direction, though Albemarle Street, which is acknowledged as the first one-way street, was designated as such because the scientific lectures given there in the early 1800s were so popular. Why wouldn't they be? I can’t really imagine why a one-way street in 1617 would be necessary, but then I can’t really imagine what London in 1617 was like at all. I’m fresh out of people to interview too. Unless the Highlander is real. Just as well. Interviews take a long time. And the person inevitably goes off on tangents. Look, I’m sure the story of how you “accidentally” ingested psychedelic mushrooms while trekking across the Pacific Northwest in your hippie days and met your first wife, Wind Lover, is an incredible story, but I merely asked if you were currently married. It’s a yes or no question. Without the
Read more

OCTOBER 23rd - A Blink of the Cosmic Eye

On this day in 1977, American paleontologist, Elso S. Barghoorn, announced the discovery of some algae microfossils, complete with some super-scientific name and some super-scientific qualifiers, that were 3.4 billion years old. In layman’s terms--really freaking old. Interestingly enough October 23 was also thought, for a long time, to be the day on which the Earth was created. In 1650, church leaders interpreted that the bible documents Earth’s creation on October 23, 4004 BC. Also a long time ago. Not quite the 3.4 billion years of the first life-forms, or the 4.5 billion years most scientist believe the Earth has been around for. So old Barghoorn may have been giving a little nod there, as in “I’ll take your 5700 years and raise you a few billion.” In any case, it shows that we are here but for a blink of the cosmic eye. Stuff has been around so long that if you really start to think about it, you start feeling like you are watching first 30 minutes of The Tree of Life and wonderi
Read more