Archives December 2013

I had never got an occasion to travel by air. Therefore when in August last, my father had to go to Delhi from Allahabad by a plane to attend an important meeting there, I requested him to take me with him. And it was a great moment for me when he agreed. My joy knew no bounds. My long awaited dream was to be fulfilled soon. We went in a car from Allahabad to aerodrome in the morning. Our seats had already been reserved. I saw a number of planes at the aerodrome. One plane just came to the ground when we reached. People got down from it in a very short time and the plane was ready for the flight again. We put our luggage in the plane and took our seats. I had seen a plane from a distance and it always looked tiny while flying above in more...

The Babylonians are said to have built a tunnel under the Euphrates River in circa 2180 B.C.E. using what is now known as the cut-and-cover method. The river was diverted, a wide trench was dug across the riverbed, and a brick tube was constructed in the trench. The riverbed was filled in over the tube and the river allowed to resume its normal course. However, there is no firm proof of this tunnel's existence, so we need to look to the more recent past. Many tombs of the Egyptian New Kingdom pharaohs buried between 1481 and 1069 B.C.E. in the Valley of the Kings were approached by tunnels dug in the solid rock, but these are as much entrances as tunnels. The first real tunnel—that is, one that was dug through solid rock from both ends, to meet in the middle—was Hezekiah's Tunnel (the Siloam Tunnel) in Jerusalem. This tunnel more...

It may come as no surprise to some that the three- point seat belt in widespread use today was invented by a Swede working for Volvo. Nils Bohlin (1920-2002) was an aircraft designer for Saab, where he developed ejector seats, before joining Volvo as its first safety engineer in 1958. Seat belts at that time involved just one belt across the lap, a design that risked injuries to internal organs in high-speed crashes. Bohlin sought to find a simple, comfortable alternative that would protect both the upper and lower body. His three-point solution allowed occupants to buckle up with one hand, using one strap across the chest and lap with the buckle placed next to the hip. The design spread out the forces of a crash more evenly across the body, resulting in fewer injuries. It was effective at restraining the body and preventing ejection from the vehicle in high-speed more...

"We in astronomy have an advantage in studying the universe, in that we actually see the past." Lord Rees, Astronomer Royal for England Often known simply as Hubble, the Hubble Space Telescope was named for Edwin Hubble, the U.S. astronomer who showed the existence of other galaxies outside the Milky Way. Hubble is an orbiting reflecting telescope designed to study the distant universe in visual light. Funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) since 1977, its launch was planned for 1986, but the Challenger Space Shuttle tragedy put it back until April 1990. The four instruments attached to the telescope focal plane were designed to be modular, and it was intended that they should be replaced by other instruments during the mission. This attribute was extremely useful because it was soon found that the main mirror had a design fault. A space shuttle rescue mission in 1993 corrected more...

Vallabhbhi Patel, who is called Indian Bismark, was the architect of modern India. After India got freedom, he became the Deputy Prime Minister of the country. This man of iron will was born on October 31, 1875 at village Karamsad in Kaira district, Gujarat. His father, Javar Bhai was a great soldier. At school he had a brilliant career as a student. He was famous for his fearlessness and boldness. In 1910 he went to England to study bar. He returned home and started  his practice in Ahmedabad district court. His fame and brilliance spread far and wide. He became an eminent lawyer of his time. He was elected as one of the city Municipal Commissioners in 1915. He met Gandhiji at this time. He was very much inspired by Gandhiji's ideas and gave his full co-operation to him during freedom struggle. After 1919 Rowlett Act Agitation Patel became a more...

Generally dreams are the results of our thoughts which we have in our mind. The things or ideas that strike our minds which we cannot display in the day appear in form of dream when we sleep. Generally we see dreams when we sleep at night. During the examination days a student dreams of papers and results. Sometime, we dream of those things which have no relation with our profession or day to day matters. Last night, I also saw a dream. It is still fresh in my memory. In the dream I saw that one day I was going to Agra to see the Taj Mahal in the company of my friends. Near the bus stand of Agra I was attracted by some persons selling lottery tickets. Much against .the will of my firm I bought a lottery ticket of Haryana government. I never thought that I would win more...

“I couldn't reduce the explanation to a freshman level. That means we really don't understand it." Richard Feynman on the behavior of electrons The first spectrometer was devised by Martin Deutsch (1917-2002) and Robley D. Evans (1907-1995) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Electrons are a by-product of nuclear reactions and the first electron spectrometers were used to monitor the radiation from the nuclear tests that took place toward the end of World War II. They have since become a "must have" instrument on scientific space missions. The fourth state of matter is plasma, where some of the outer electrons of the atoms have been knocked away, and move off freely in space. Electrons are relatively simple fundamental particles. Their mass, charge, and collision cross-section are well known. That leaves their speed and direction of motion as unknowns. An electron spectrometer measures their kinetic energy by registering the way more...

Change in life is like spices in food. Change makes life worth- living. The desire of change is human instinct. One fashion today is declared as outdated by another tomorrow. They are always moving. Changing in fashion is a universal process. No race, nationality is a hindrance in its move. Mostly in oriental countries fashions infiltrate from western countries where fashions are born and brought up. The most significant role is played by film industry in changing fashions. Common masses  wears the dresses that actors and actresses wear as they are the models for the people. The change of fashions in dress is very old. It changes from time to time. Sometimes it is body tight fitting fashion. On the other time it is very loose fitting fashion. Sometimes considerable parts of the body are exposed to the viewers and sometimes they are covered with sufficient clothes. Everywhere we can more...

The first manned helicopter flight was achieved by the Frenchman Paul Cornu who lifted his twin-rotor craft off the ground fortwenty seconds in 1907; his machine unfortunately broke up on landing. In 1909 Igor Sikorsky (1889-1972) built two helicopters but these could lift very little more than their own weight. The first practical helicopter was the German Focke-Wulf FW 61, which flew in 1936. By 1939 the British had built the two-seater Weir W.6, which was powered by a pair of rotors mounted independently, one on each side of the fuselage. The Weir W.6's prototype was the first helicopter in the world to carry three occupants. Many control problems had to be solved, the main ones being unsymmetrical lift, which caused the craft to flip over on takeoff, and the fact that the body's natural tendency was to spin in the opposite direction to the rotors. However, one big advance more...

“... the sewing machine was as awe-inspiring as the space capsule [was to twentieth-century people]" Grace Rogers Cooper, writer The history of the sewing machine begins in 1790, with a patent by British inventor Thomas Saint for a device (never built) to puncture leather and repeatedly pass a thread through the holes. In 1830 Frenchman Barthelemy Thimonier successfully built a machine that also used this "chain stitch" method. Within a dozen years he had built eighty machines, but they were destroyed by a mob of angry tailors. The first person to develop the sewing machine as we know it was American Walter Hunt (1796-1859), in 1834. His crucial innovation was to use two spools of thread (on an upper spindle and a lower bobbin) and an eyed needle to create "lockstitch"—the two threads lock together when they pass Through the hole. Hunt, also the inventor of the safety pin, failed more...