Lab Notes
The ball that only beeped
On 4 October 1957 a rocket left the Kazakh steppe and put a polished sphere into orbit. Sputnik 1 was 58 centimeters across, about 84 kilograms, and almost aggressively simple....
The ball that only beeped
On 4 October 1957 a rocket left the Kazakh steppe and put a polished sphere into orbit. Sputnik 1 was 58 centimeters across, about 84 kilograms, and almost aggressively simple....
The planet found on paper
On 23 September 1846, Johann Galle pointed the Berlin Observatory's telescope at a patch of sky he had not chosen. The coordinates came in a letter from Urbain Le Verrier...
The planet found on paper
On 23 September 1846, Johann Galle pointed the Berlin Observatory's telescope at a patch of sky he had not chosen. The coordinates came in a letter from Urbain Le Verrier...
The paper that weighed light
On 27 September 1905, the journal Annalen der Physik received a three-page note from Albert Einstein with a title that does not look like a slogan: "Does the Inertia of...
The paper that weighed light
On 27 September 1905, the journal Annalen der Physik received a three-page note from Albert Einstein with a title that does not look like a slogan: "Does the Inertia of...
Lost to inches
On 23 September 1999 — the same calendar date as Neptune's discovery, 153 years later — NASA lost contact with Mars Climate Orbiter. The spacecraft was supposed to enter orbit....
Lost to inches
On 23 September 1999 — the same calendar date as Neptune's discovery, 153 years later — NASA lost contact with Mars Climate Orbiter. The spacecraft was supposed to enter orbit....
The man in the ice
On 19 September 1991, two hikers in the Ötztal Alps, on the border between Austria and Italy, saw a body melting out of the ice. They thought it was a...
The man in the ice
On 19 September 1991, two hikers in the Ötztal Alps, on the border between Austria and Italy, saw a body melting out of the ice. They thought it was a...
The hole we actually fixed
September 16 is the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. The date is not a metaphor. It is the anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987...
The hole we actually fixed
September 16 is the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. The date is not a metaphor. It is the anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987...