Recreation of Ternary Calculating Machine Based on Brief Written Descriptions and a Stained Glass Window

Printer and amateur mathematician Thomas Fowler decided that a Base 3 number system would streamline his job as treasurer for the Poor Law Union. After toiling in secrecy behind his printing press, Thomas constructed a working ternary calculating machine in 1840. Haven't heard of ternary? Me neither. It is one more, duh, than binary.

Unfortunately, neither the machine nor drawings survived and the only evidence of its existence is a brief written description and church stained glass window depicting the mystery machine. From this scant history, Mark Glusker recreated the machine from the sort of plywood commonly used for dinosaur skeleton kits.

An impressive piece of mechanical and mathematical history, but you better watch the video yourself to decide if it was really a labor saving device. Its complexity may explain why it didn't catch on.

Link (Thanks, Maria!)

Antique Italian Anatomical Wax Models

Yowza. Once again, art and science crash head on. These astonishing medical models are inspiring examples of the lengths individuals will go to in the name of explanation.

Link (via boingboing)

Is the Westinghouse Atom Smasher for sale?

From waymarking.com

Three years before nuclear fisson was thought to be a possible power source, Westinghouse decided to build the first commercial atom smasher. Based on the faith there would be a marketable discovery, this magnificent 5 million volt Van de Graff generator was built in Pittsburgh in 1936. The bulb, proudly emblazoned with the Westinghouse logo, is a 5 million volt generator which shot high energy particles 47 feet down the vacuum tube to bombard a target.

N 40° 24.628 W 079° 50.544

If you look up the location of the Westinghouse atom smasher, there appears to be a for sale sign out front. NAI commercial real estate site states that McBubbles Car Wash is available for purchase, but there is no mention of the atom smasher.

Link to waymarking.com
Link to NAI Real Estate, Pittsburgh
Link to IEEE History Center

Side note, as everything is so goddamn fascinating in this crazy bingbong world, the Westinghouse logo is the work of design god Paul Rand. Not familiar with his work? Oh, yes you are. Link

Sensory Deprivation Tank on Ebay

Link

Vintage Science Flickr Pool

Link (via Things Magazine)