[OFF TOPIC] Science & Technology Thread

[Olympian1010 7,973]

The Milky Way Galaxy was first measured at the Mt. Wilson Observatory. Our position in the Milky Way Galaxy was also calculated using data from observations at Mt. Wilson. Edwin Hubble discovered other galaxies besides our own at Mt. Wilson. Data collected at Mt. Wilson also helped lead to the formation of the Big Bang Theory.

 

Mt. Wilson Observatory is now endanger of burning down in one of the massive California wildfires. 

 

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[OlympicsFan 858]

Yesterday the first Nobel prizes were awarded:

Medicine: Harvey J. Alter (USA), Michael Houghton (UK) and Charles M. Rice (USA) for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus

Physics: Roger (UK) for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity; Reinhard Genzel (Germany) and Andrea Ghez (USA) for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy

 

Tomorrow at 11:45 CEST the prize for chemistry will be awarded, on Thursday at 13:00 CEST the prize for literature will be awarded, on Friday at 11:00 CEST the peace prize will be awarded and next Monday at 11:45 CEST the prize for economic sciences will be awarded.

 

First edit (7 October):

The prize in chemistry was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier (France) and Jennifer A. Doudna (USA) „for the development of a method for genome editing“. I can only recommend to everyone to learn about CRISPR/Cas9 (there are a lot of good introductions on YouTube), since this is probably one of the most groundbreaking „discoveries“ during our lifetime with many practical applications (already).

 

Some of the more famous authors who are favorites for the prize in literature (awarded tomorrow) are Haruki Murakami, Margaret Atwood, Ngugi Wa Thiong‘o, Don DeLillo and Cormac McCarthy. The committee has a history of ignoring „popular“ choices, so there might be a good chance for France (Maryse Condé) to win another prize. Toni Morrison in 1993 was the last black writer to win the prize. The last black african writer to win the prize was Wole Soyinka (Nigeria) in 1986.

 

Second edit (11 October):

The Nobel prize in literature was awarded to American poet Louise Glück „for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal“. Funnily enough „Glück“ is the german word for luck ...

 

On friday the Nobel peace prize was awarded to the World Food Programme „for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict“.

 

Tomorrow the prize in economic sciences will be awarded. The following scientists are among the favorites: 
Nobuhiro Kiyotaki, Andrei Shleifer, David Card, Ross Levine, Richard Blundell, Joshua Angrist, Avinash Dixit, David Autor, Sanford J. Grossman, John Hardman Moore and Drew Fudenberg

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[heywoodu 15,141]

RIP to one of the world's major scientific instruments of the past half century

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55147973

[heywoodu 15,141]

SpaceX just succesfully performed a 12,5km test flight of Starship SN8, a new milestone in their incredible development. The thing exploded rather violently on landing, but that is not at all surprising and absolutely not an indication of a failed test - it was a first of this kind, the flight and move went very well and the data will be invaluable. What a show  

 

Go to 1:47 hours for the flight (the first attempt was stopped).

 

[Olympian1010 7,973]

 

[Yannakis 362]

[rybak 3,217]

Meanwhile on Mars

 

[Yannakis 362]

The first-ever video of a spacecraft landing on Mars.