JoAnn Morgan, Aerospace Engineer
JoAnn Hardin Morgan was born in 1940, during a time when women were expected to stay home, keep house and raise kids, while the husband was out in the world making a living. JoAnn loved math and science, and entered high school during the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union were trying to outdo each other in rocket technology. JoAnn watched rocket launches from near her home in Florida. But it was when Explorer 1, the first United States satellite, was launched into space on January 31, 1958 that she became determined to be a part of the space program. It’s not the kind of career…
Nature’s Light Show
The year was 1859. Several astronomers around the world who had been studying the sun reported a massive, almost blinding burst of light ejecting from the sun’s surface, lasting for several long minutes before it subsided. The next day, the Carrington Event occurred, in which the sky in much of the world lit up like a gaudy Christmas lights display. It was bright enough at night to read a newspaper without an additional light source. Although several astronomers hypothesized a connection between the sun burst and the aurora, it was Richard Christopher Carrington who got his name attached to that incident. Science In 1619, Galileo Galilei coined the term “aurora…
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The 1500s was the Age of Exploration, as ships became faster and more efficient, if not necessarily safer. Adventure seekers traversed the world and brought home every kind of curiosity and artifact from distant lands. These oddities were in great demand by collectors, who clamored for the strange, bizarre and unusual, and Cabinets of Curiosity became a focal point in upper class homes. The Cabinet of Curiosity displayed everything from fossils to strange stuffed animals to tribal masks, and anything else to impress guests and spark debates about the nature of the offbeat items. The more absurd and gruesome, the better. Then in 1798, Napoleon conquered Egypt, and within a…
Movin’ on Down… Under, That Is.
Francis Howard Greenway was born in Gloucestershire, England in 1777. You probably never heard of him. He grew up and became a successful and talented architect until 1809, when unfortunate circumstances led to his bankruptcy. Undeterred, he tried to recover his fortune by counterfeiting financial documents. Accomplished architect he may have been, but he was not so proficient at forgery, and got caught. In those days, Britain gave many criminals a choice: be hanged or imprisoned at home, or be transported to a penal colony in Australia. Greenway chose transport. After settling in the new colony of Sydney, he sent for his wife and children. Prisoners were all assigned jobs…
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