#historyofscience
‘On October 3rd, he asked me what day it is’
‘It’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry day’
Mean Girls Day meets the Nobel Prize on the best day of 2018 so far
Back in 1967 our former Director George Porter won the #NobelPrize in Chemistry for using lasers to study super fast chemical reactions ⚗️
In the 1950s, Porter had brought one of the first ruby lasers to the UK to develop his technique, Flash Photolysis
- First a strong flash of light from a laser excites a chemical’s molecules in a known quantity of a substance
- Then further flashes record how long it takes all excited molecules to return to their baseline state, by looking at the different proportions in the sample over time
Amazing to think how far we’ve come with laser technology in the last 60 years - especially looking at this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics winners! #pewpew
Michael Faraday achieved electromagnetic induction here at the Ri for the first time #OnThisDay in 1831
His work revolutionised our understanding of electricity and led to the development of electric generators, motors, inductors & transformers ⚡️
Electromagnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force (voltage) across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field.
You can find his electromagnetic induction ring and notes within our Museum and archival collection!
If beautifully scrawling handwriting ain’t your thing, read the transcription of Faraday’s notes here.
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Albemarle Street (where we live) was the first road in London to become one-way, because our public science lectures were the talk of the town and the street became gridlocked by the carriages of our eager audience members #humblebrag
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