science

112 years ago, optometry was a growing profession. In diverse cities like San Francisco, however, the eye chart commonplace in western countries today could not suffice. Enter George Mayerle’s multilingual eye examination chart. George Mayerle’s Vision Test Chart (ca. 1907). Via Public Domain Review Public Domain Review writes: The chart was a culmination of his many years of practice and, according to Mayerle, its distinctive international angle served also to reflect the diversity and immigration which lay at the heart of the city in which he worked....

I first came across Lagrange Points many years ago in Arthur C. Clarke’s novel A Fall of Moondust. It boggled my young mind, picturing satellites orbiting in seemingly static positions around the Moon! Of course, in fact they were orbiting Earth and the Moon, affected by and in balance with both gravitational sources. (This is what I think some of the best science fiction does: explore scientific concepts, even in passing, within a fictional story....

This video struck me in a profound way. Only a few hundred people have been in space, but they share an experience that changed them, changed how they see the world. Maybe we need to send into space more people, from every culture, every nation, so they can bring home what they’ve seen, what they’ve experienced – not the technology, but the perspective. The overview effect. h/t Upworthy, via Patricia Tallman....