The Race for Space

August 18, 2015 by Brady Haran

I am a nut for anything relating to the Apollo Space Programme.

That's why the recent album, The Race for Space, is my favourite thing right now.

It's by the band Public Service Broadcasting, which uses archive sound (such as newsreels, propaganda films, etc) as the backbone for their music.

They even have a brilliant song from a previous album about my other obsession, Mount Everest.

So with songs about space AND Mount Everest, it's unsurprising I've been gushing about them on the Hello Internet podcast. Even CGP Grey had nice things to say.

Hear us discuss the album here at 67'50"

The podcast discussion led to many listeners trying (and buying) the album.

This came to the attention of the band's main man, J. Willgoose Esq, who subsequently agreed to meet and appear in a special episode of Objectivity.

(I think a chance to visit The Royal Society and meet Keith was the real incentive!)

The video loosely followed a few of the key songs on the album (and hence the space race itself).

SPUTNIK

Second track on the album but first object in our video - it's Sputnik, the first human-made satellite to orbit the Earth.

Our object, from the Royal Society archives, was this Sputnik replica.

It seems unclear who gave it to the society, but presumably it was a Russian delegation blowing their own trumpets (quite rightly!)

The model included a button which no longer works, but an enclosed circuit diagram hints the model is capable of producing Sputnik's famous beep-beep-beep.

YURI GAGARIN

The PSB song Gagarin has quite the music video...

And we had some impressive objects to match it.

The first man in space, Gagarin visited the Royal Society on 13 July, 1961 - just three months after his famous space flight.

It was clearly a big deal for the society and it appears they started a new visitor's book specially.

The first signature on the on first page is Gagarin himself (written in his native Cyrillic script of course).

The page includes other interesting signatures from the event - including Howard Florey (society president at the time and Nobel Prizewinner for penicillin), Bernard Lovell (Jodrell Bank director and UK science icon) and Nikolai Kamanin (aviation hero and head of Russian cosmonaut training).

There was also a great stash of photos from the visit, including this one of Gagarin and Howard Florey (Florey was from my home city of Adelaide so gets more blog mentions than he should).

I was also very excited by this one of Gagarin with Isaac Newton's telescope.

The very same telescope we handled in an earlier episode of Objectivity.

Also among the archive items was a copy of the day's programme.

And yes Gagarin had signed it...

VALENTINA TERESHKOVA

The Race for Space album also features a track about the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova.

(another great video by the way)

The same visitor book signed by Gagarin was used again for the Tereshkova visit. She is the top signature.

After all this Russian triumph, I then then took J. to see items relating to the American cherry on top - the Apollo lunar landings!

APOLLO

There are numerous souvenirs donated by visiting atsronuats.

Perhaps my favourite relates to Apollo 8 - which is also the subject of my favourite song on the album, The Other Side. Listen to this one if nothing else!!!

In the society archive is this huge picture of the moon's far side, signed by the mission's commander, Frank Borman.

I think it might be this one of the lunar far side (which we never see from Earth). The image is AS08-14-2453.

Also in the archive were two Apollo 15 photos signed by the entire crew - Dave Scott, Jim Irwin and Al Worden.

And just as The Race for Space album ends with an emotive song from the final moon landing, Apollo 17, our video also ended with a photo from Apollo 17.

Harrison Schmitt (the only scientist to walk on the moon) had signed and written a message on this photo showing the Earth peaking past the moon's limb.

And again here is our video of the whole adventure in the archives with J. Willgoose Esq, from Public Service Broadcasting.

George Everest's Intriguing Letter

August 18, 2015 by Brady Haran

Some people will be aware I have a keen interest in Mount Everest.

I've been to base camp twice, making this video during the second trip.

But it many ways it's the mountain's history which fascinates me most.

More recently I took an opportunity to visit the grave of George Everest, after whom the mountain is named.

It was an excuse to talk a little about the mountain's history.

And this brings me to my most recent foray into Everest-arama!

Since starting the video series Objectivity, I've been granted fantastic access to archives at the Royal Society.

(This does not make me special - anyone with a good reason or who asks politely can access items from the society's archives)

On a recent visit I flipped through the catalogues and found three index cards with references to George Everest.

We made a video about them.

Perhaps the least promising of the three cards was this one.

It says Everest had written a letter to the esteemed scientist John Herschel on 14 October, 1844.

Everest had apparently travelled to the city of York where he hoped to see Herschel at a meeting "but was disappointed to hear he was not there".

Everest assured Herschel of "his friendship and esteem for his work".

All sounds very polite, albeit dull.

But the letter itself made for more interesting reading.

It begins:

"My Dear Sir,
I went to the York Association buoyed up chiefly by the hope that I might have the pleasure of meeting you..."

Pretty much as expected so far.

"and to my infinite disappointment found my journey in so far undertaken in vain"

A little melodramtic, but okay.

But then things get interesting.

"I greatly longed to express to you my regret that there should ever have been the semblance of a cause for disagreement between us, and to offer my hand in token of reconciliation..."

And so begins what essentially is an attempt at a peace offering between two of the biggest names in science.

The letter continues in a manner very praiseworthy and apologetic to Herschel, calling him an "ornament of his country", etc

"... I shall be happy when I next have the pleasure of seeing you to meet you on terms of friendship."

It ends with Everest's signature - how I'd love one of those in my Mount Everest collection! ;)

The letter makes no reference to what caused the problem - and we have no indication if the matter was resolved.

Both men certainly lived long after the letter was written in 1844 (Everest died in 1866, Herschel in 1871).

A possible clue I found was in the book "Mapping an Empire: The Geographical Construction of British India, 1765-1843" by Matthew Edney.

It refers to a man named Thomas Jervis who hoped to succeed Everest as the Surveyor-General of India. It seems Jervis was sending letters and petitions that gave the impression that Everest had resigned.

This caused a "a very public squabble" between the pair, Edney writes.

In reaction to some of Jervis's actions, Everest published materials to air his grievances.

These letters - and the bad blood between Jervis and Everest - certainly came to the attention of London's top scientists, including Herschel.

It is not clear whose side Herschel took. And Edney described the incident as "quite minor in the bigger scheme of scientific politics".

And in 1848, four years after Everest's peace letter, it appears John Herschel may have presented Everest with a medal at the Royal Astronomical Society, so perhaps things were resolved?

Peak XV was later named after the Surveyor-General

Clearly this letter is a minor thing between two long-dead men. Something we would write in an email these days and perhaps disregard hours later.

But I still find it intriguing that these things are preserved and give us a tiny glimpse into the human stories behind some of the biggest names in history!

THE FULL LETTER

See more like this at Objectivity.

It's Knot Art

August 15, 2015 by Brady Haran

I often work with artist and animator Pete McPartlan.

Most recently he has done some great stuff on Numberphile's knots series.

Inspired by his work on the videos, Pete also created some works of art.

Coincidentally, he used the cyanotype method recently featured on Objectivity.

I also found it interesting (and mildly horrifying) that he created the artworks on the backside of other Numberphile artworks from previous videos!

See the photo gallery below for all the cyanotype images and what was on the back of each!

The artwork is based on the number of "unique" knots for each crossing number, as featured in the first video of our knot series.

Seven of the artworks have been sent to Numberphile's "Prime Supporters" on Patreon.

I am keeping the rest for my own Numberphile art collection!

Flag Ships

August 13, 2015 by Brady Haran

EDIT (22 September 2015)

IGNORE THE BELOW - OUR UNOFFICIAL FLAGSHIPS WERE OFFICIALLY DE-COMMISSIONED AFTER EPISODE 47... (discussion from 18'50")

In strange turn of events, it seems the Hello Internet podcast now has two "flag ships"?

They are Anthem of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas.

Anthem of the Seas (royalcarribbean.com)

Majesty of the Seas (royalcarribbean.com)

So how did this happen?

THE FOUNDATION

Well, for starters, Brady (that's me) has a view of the sea from his office and likes to use websites and apps (preferably Marine Traffic) to identify various cargo ships sailing by.

Co-host CGP Grey - normally sceptical about Brady's interests - admitted he too has a passion for ships!

Hear about it on episode 42 (at the start of the show)

JOHN THE BASS PLAYER

We received an email from John, a bass player on the ship Anthem of the Seas.

In part, his email said:

"You and Grey mentioned you were interested in ships and had been checking out a website where you can view the position of ships all over the world and get information about them. I am employed as a bassist on a cruise ship. So the next time you’re browsing marine traffic, look up my ship and you can see the exact position of someone who is likely listening to an episode of Hello Internet while at sea!"

Sure enough, we looked up John's ship. Hear about it on episode 43 (from 16'40")

INCREASING THE BASS

Next we heard from Gannon - believe it or not he is also Hello Internet listener and a bass player on a ship... And it's the sister ship to Anthem of the Seas.

Gannon works on Majesty of the Seas.

His email said, in part:

"I work primarily as a trombonist in the orchestra on the beautiful "Majesty of the Seas" and sometimes play bass for the Jazz sets. I am what is known as a seasonal musician though. During the school year I am actually a music professor at a university in central Texas."