Author Archives: Stephanie

ALD21: Hertha Ayrton, Physicist, Inventor and Suffragette

Posted on by

Hertha Ayrton

Born in 1854, Hertha Ayrton’s first accomplishment was to invent and patent a line-divider. Built out of several parallelograms, it allows users to divide a line into any number of equal parts and to enlarge or reduce a figure.

Her work on electric arcs started in 1893. Widely used in street lighting, electric arcs flickered and hissed, which caused problems. Ayrton discovered that the arc’s hiss was due to oxygen coming into contact with the carbon rods used to create the arc, and that when oxygen was excluded the arc remained steady. This allowed her to develop the Ayrton equation, which describes the linear relationship between arc length, pressure and potential difference.

Ayrton became the first woman to present her own paper, The Hissing of the Electric Arc, in front of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), and soon became the first woman to be elected to the IEE. The Royal Society rejected her petition to present her paper, The Mechanism of the Electric Arc, which was read by a man in her stead. They also rejected John Perry’s proposal that she become a Fellow.

Ayton went on to study the formation of ripples in sand and waves in water, and recognised that the formation of ripples would affect propellers and aircraft. She became the first woman to read a paper, The Origin and Growth of Ripple Marks, at the Royal Society in 1904, and was the first woman to be awarded the Hughes Medal for her work on ripples and the electric arc in 1906.

During World War I, she used her work on waves to design the ‘Ayrton anti-gas fans’ that were, eventually, used to remove mustard gas and other chemical weapons from the trenches, dug-outs and shell holes, and mine craters.

Further reading

ALD21 Books: The Book of the Moon, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock

Posted on by

Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock

The Book of the Moon: A Guide to Our Closest Neighbour, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock

Have you ever wondered if there are seasons on the moon or if space tourism will ever become commonplace? So has Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE. In fact, she earned her nickname “Lunatic” because of her deep fascination for all things lunar. In her lucidly written, comprehensive guide to the moon, Aderin-Pocock takes readers on a journey to our closest celestial neighbor, exploring folklore, facts, and future plans.

She begins with the basics, unpacking everything from the moon’s topography and composition to its formation and orbit around the Earth. She travels back in time to track humanity’s relationship with the moon — beliefs held by ancient civilizations, the technology that allowed for the first moon landing, a brief history of moongazing, and how the moon has influenced culture throughout the years — and then to the future, analyzing the pros and cons of continued space travel and exploration. Throughout the book are sidebars, graphs, and charts to enhance the facts as well as black-and-white illustrations of the moon and stars.

Order the book on Bookshop.org.uk here and your purchase will support a local independent bookshop of your choice!

ALD21 Archive: Using maths to model music – Professor Elaine Chew, 2015

Posted on by

Using maths to model music – Professor Elaine Chew, 2015

Professor Elaine Chew demonstrates how she uses mathematical and computational models, with scientific visualisation, to explain what musicians do. 

Elaine Chew is a Visiting Professor at King’s College London, and senior researcher at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in France. A classically trained pianist and operations researcher, she uses mathematical and computational models, with scientific visualisation, to explain what musicians do. She was a 2005 (US) National Science Foundation-nominated honoree of the Presidential Early Career Award For Scientists And Engineers and 2007-2008 recipient of the Edward, Frances, and Shirley B. Daniels Fellowship at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She has the unique honour of having appeared twice in Ignobel presentations: as pianist in the Duct Tape Opera and as scientist-musician in a technical analysis of PDQ Bach.

You can follow her work here:

Website: https://elainechew-research.blogspot.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainechew/

Recorded at the IET and sponsored by Digital Science, you can watch the rest of the Ada Lovelace Day Live 2015 playlist here.

ALD21: Maria Sibylla Merian, Naturalist and Scientific Illustrator

Posted on by

Maria Sibylla Merian

Maria Sibylla Merian was a naturalist and scientific illustrator, one of the first researchers to systematically observe insects and the first person to document the process of metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly or moth. She also discovered that caterpillars ate only specific plants, and that the butterfly would therefore lay eggs near these plants. She observed the way that some larvae shed their skins, detailed how larvae spun their cocoons, and made many other observations that had not been recorded before.

Born in 1647 in Germany, Merian made major contributions to entomology and was one of the first ecologists. Her observations were very detailed, for example, she identified the differences between male and female adult insects and examined their full life-cycle. In one notable illustration, she shows all the steps of the silkworm moth life-cycle.

In 1679, a year after the birth of her second daughter, Merian published Der Raupen wunderbarer Verwandlung (The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars), the result of almost two decades of observations. Merian illustrated her book about caterpillars herself, composing complex, lifelike scenes, where several insects interact with each other.

In 1699, Merian travelled with her youngest daughter to Suriname in South America and spent two years collecting specimens. Expeditions for scientists at that time were quite uncommon, and women especially did not travel to a different continent on their own. The outcome from her research justified the trip: her seminal work Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, (Metamorphosis of Surinamese Insects), which describes the plant and animal life of Suriname.

Further reading

ALD21 Podcasts: Handmade, Anna Ploszajski

Posted on by

Handmade, Anna Ploszajski

Handmade is a podcast which explores the personal connections we all have with the materials around us. Anna Ploszajski started Handmade four years ago when she realised that, although she is theoretically a materials expert, she didn’t actually know anything really about materials, like how to turn a pot on the wheel, or forge a steel bar or spin wool into yarn. This podcast features conversations with materials experts who do. 

Handmade now has over 80 interviews with makers, craftspeople, artists and enthusiasts all with a love of handmaking with materials and looks at materials including synthetic diamond, leather, ceramics, clothing, musical instruments, wood, dyes and more.

Recent episodes feature interviews with: 

  • Steph Couturier on stained glass;
  • Hester Hamilton, costume-maker and burlesque performer;
  • Sophie Cotterill about her craft of weaving;
  • artist and designer Frances Priest about her work with ceramics; and,
  • Shannon Nicley on synthetic diamonds.

You can follow her work here:

Twitter: @AnnaPloszajski and @rialtalk
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/anna-ploszajski-a9381144
Website: www.annaploszajski.com