Who were the first astronomers? Detailed answer

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Who were the first astronomers? Detailed answer

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Who were the first astronomers?

Stars played an important role in ancient cultures. The stars determined the timing of sowing and harvesting. Giant stone structures served as a calendar. Some of them collapsed over time, but such as the Mayan temples in America or the Egyptian pyramids can still be seen today.

Author: Mendeleev V.A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

What are violin strings made of?

Violin strings are not - and never have been - made from cat sinew.

This is a myth started in the Middle Ages by Italian violin makers who discovered that sheep's intestines were the ideal material for strings. And to protect their invention, they told everyone that their strings were made from cat entrails, because to kill a cat meant to bring disaster upon yourself.

According to legend, a long time ago in a mountainous Italian village called Salle, not far from the city of Pescara, in the province of Abruzzi, there lived a master saddler, and his name was Erasmo. One day, Erasmo heard a delightful sound: it was the sound of the wind blowing through sheep's veins hung out to dry. "But you can make beautiful strings out of them," thought Erasmo. This is how the strings for the first violins of the Renaissance appeared.

For six centuries, the town of Salle turned into a world center for the production of violin strings, and Erasmo's saddle maker was canonized. Saint Erasmo is still considered the patron saint of string craftsmen.

Strong earthquakes in 1905 and 1933 put an end to string making in Salla itself, but two of today's most famous string makers, the D'Addario and Mari companies, are still run by the descendants of the Salla families.

Before 1750, all violins used strings made from sheep's intestines. The intestine was pulled out of the animal while still warm, cleaned of fat and secretions, and soaked in cold water. After that, the best sections were cut into ribbons, and then twisted and scraped until a string of the desired thickness was obtained.

These days strings are made from a combination of gut, nylon and steel, although most true connoisseurs still believe that pure gut string produces the warmest tone.

The famous German composer Richard Wagner, wishing to discredit Brahms, whom he could not stand, spread the horrific rumor that Brahms had received a "Bohemian sparrow bow" as a gift from the Czech composer Dvořák. Armed with this same bow, Brahms allegedly amused himself by shooting street cats from the window of his Viennese apartment.

“Having pierced the unfortunate animal,” Wagner continued, “he dragged him to his house, like a fisherman returning with a trout planted on a prison. .).) remarks".

In fact, Wagner never visited Brahms and did not see his apartment; there is also not a single record indicating the existence of a "sparrow bow", not to mention the fact that Dvořák sent this bow.

Cats, like most other animals, die in silence.

Despite all this, the label of "cat-killer" stuck firmly to Brahms, and Wagner's invention is presented as fact in several biographies of the composer.

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Power lines for green energy 02.02.2016

American scientists led by Alex MacDonald have developed a scheme for transmitting solar and wind energy through power lines domestically, which circumvents the problem of storing such energy and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 80%.

Until now, the widespread use of green energy has been limited by the inconsistent nature of its production: the sun does not always shine, and the wind also blows. Therefore, the generated energy must be stored somewhere in order to be used later during periods of darkness or calm. Storing sufficiently large energy reserves requires complex and expensive equipment. An alternative option was to transfer energy from those areas where it is generated to those where this is not currently happening - however, until now it was believed that the design features and capabilities of existing electrical networks do not allow this.

And now McDonald and his colleagues have proven that with the help of new high-voltage direct current (HVDC, i.e. High-Voltage, Direct-Current) power lines, it is still possible to transfer green energy from one region of the country to another. Since the wind is always blowing in some part of the US, this will effectively provide (partly) the country with energy. In this case, it will no longer be necessary to store it.

The transfer of green energy from one area to another, according to NOAA experts, will be handled by a special computer program that will determine how to do it in the best way. Scientists have already created a working model of such a system and proved its effectiveness. In McDonald's model, the entire country was divided into 152 square meters, according to the number of district electricity networks.

Calculations have shown that with the introduction of this system, the United States will be able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2030% by 80 compared to 1990, without spending resources on solving the problem of storing "green" energy.

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