Posted by
Jill Cowan on Sunday, March 30, 2008 12:17 pm
You know how everyone’s always thought that Thomas Edison–famous inventor the lightbulb, the phonograph, the immortal soul, etc.–was the first person to record sound? Well, it turns out that’s just a pack of dirty lies perpetuated by the victors of history–maybe.
While it’s true that Edison did, in fact, invent the phonograph, the first machine to both record sound and reproduce it as sound, it was a rightfully spiteful Parisian typesetter by the name of Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville who was the first guy to record sound at all, if only as a visual representation in lines and squiggles. Finally, after searching for years for the original gift of sound and vision, an American audio historian, David Giovannoni, recently got a hold of a “pristine” one of these phonautograms, apparently the audio equivalent of the “holy grail.” read more »
Posted by
Jill Cowan on Sunday, February 10, 2008 04:31 pm
Forget dead presidents, racial minorities and religion. The UC Museum of Paleontology has declared its own holiday in the name of Science! Starting this year, February 12 takes on new significance as “Darwin Day,” transforming a date that was once known only as “two days before Valentine’s Day” into a day of celebration, joy and uh, special lectures.
The festivities began yesterday with a couple of events at the Valley Life Sciences Building, including a short course about evolution (surprise, surprise) and how it’s influenced by an obscure concept that the progressive scientific community is calling “global warming.” However, the bulk of Darwin-related stuff is happening on Tuesday at the UC Botanical Gardens, the Hearst Museum of Anthropology and the Museum of Entomology.
OK, we’ll admit it. We didn’t even know that museums of entomology existed, but that doesn’t mean we won’t give a shout-out to our favorite Beagle-riding homeboy. Plus, most of the events are free. Yep, you can pay almost goose egg (which, incidentally, may or may not have come before the goose) and see all kinds of Science-y things. They’ll run the gamut from Bigfoot to Bay Area Biosystematists–who, we hear, are actually quite sexy. Next year, we’re voting for a symbolic releasing of the finches on Sproul Plaza. Now the big question is when the creationists will declare a counter-holiday in honor of Jesus. Oh, wait …
Darwin Day 2008 at Cal [Website]
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