In the last decade and a half we have seen the rise of many tech companies. The stated goal of these companies is often some sort of common good, which is to be reached by means of emerging technologies. Certainly there is something to be said for the value that these companies provide; it’s unquestionable that the free availability of information and global communication is a societal good and that’s something which is often facilitated by these companies.
On a sunny day, earlier this year, I left my flat and headed into town. This had become somewhat of a routine for me; go into the town centre, grab a drink and go for a stroll. It keeps me happy. I sat down in the kind of chain cafè that only really exists in the UK and took out the book I had been reading. “We are Bellingcat” by Elliot Higgins is an almost autobiographical book that explains how Higgins and a growing group of followers and friends started Bellingcat and created the ever-growing field of Open Source Intelligence or OSINT.
Almost 2 years ago, I began a compulsory sustainability course as part of my degree. In modern times, this isn’t such a strange thing to do; it’s important that we tackle the climate problem head-on and you can’t do that if you don’t understand it. It’s easy to think “what’s there to learn about?”, after all, we all know that CO2 and Methane emissions are causing the earth to warm and the climate to change.
In a small bay, on the northern side of the southwestern tip of England, not too far from lands’ end. The usually quiet and quaint town of Hayle has become a flurry of activity with Boris Johnson hosting 7 other countries and representatives from the EU and UN for informal talks in order to address the day’s issues. By far the most important issue this year, as in other recent years; is the climate crisis.
Recently I read a book by the Dutch historian Rutger Bregman, called “Human Kind: A hopeful history”. The book is about human nature, the underlying features that shape us and how we are affected by civilisation or perhaps how civilisation is shaped by our nature. The book systematically goes through each aspect of human nature, each example of our collective nature that you may think is true and then shows you how it can be reversed.
Today we will be looking into the history of spaceflight and how it has been developing aggressively more recently.
A short history of rocketry and spaceflight. Rockets first began as an invention in 13th Century China under the Song dynasty when they were used as incendiary weapons by the Chinese navy. It wasn’t until the early 19th century however that the western world adopted rockets as a military weapon when the “Congreve rocket” was developed by Sir William Congreve.
Today we will be looking at the history of nuclear energy and how it may help us in the future. From the discovery of nuclear fission to its more attractive cousin: nuclear fusion, today we learn the ins and outs of the atomic realm.
Nuclear Fission, a short history. Let’s start our journey with possibly one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century: Nuclear Fission. Nuclear Fission was first discovered in 1938 in Berlin after 50 years of research into radioactivity, which naturally broadened into what is now known as nuclear physics.
A quick introduction into what this blog is about:
In this blog, I shall be exploring many different scientific, technological and political ideas. Often these leaps in human technology and organisation and the theories behind them have connections to history and the world around us, I hope to talk about this side of the world of science too; the inspirations and the problems that led to clever solutions.
Over the course of this blog I hope to cover many topics including Spaceflight & Rocketry, Physics, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry and the overall future of consumer Technology.