Team Marco Polo

History Schmistory, July 11: Pons Comet Pun

Friday, July 11, 2025 by teammarcopolo

1801 – French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons discovered his 1st comet. He then went on to discover 36 more. Jeez louise!

I see one…two….three…four….

History Schmistory, June 28: The Tomato Playing Ketch-up!

Saturday, June 28, 2025 by teammarcopolo

1820Â –Â The tomato was proven to be non-poisonous. Thank goodness for that…our most important foods (pizza, spaghetti, burgers) would never have been the same!

Way to go tomatoes!
“Jumping tomato” by Gabi Greve /CC BY

History Schmistory, June 21: Sun, You’re In Trouble!

Saturday, June 21, 2025 by teammarcopolo

1633Â –Â Galileo Galilei was forced by Inquisition to “abjure, curse, & detest” his Copernican heliocentric views (the view that the Â planets revolve around the sun). I guess some people couldn’t handle the thought of not being in the spot light! However, Galileo can now relax & galiLAY out to enjoy the sun, which we now know, is the realÂ starÂ of the show!

Look who gets to say “I told you so!”

History Schmistory: February 15. Compute this!

Saturday, February 15, 2025 by teammarcopolo

1946: ENIAC, the first electronic general-purpose computer, is formally dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The ENIAC (electronic numerical integrator and computer) filled an entire room, weighed thirty tons, and consumed over two hundred kilowatts of power, (1 kW=1000 regular watts) so clearly the room must have felt like a sauna. Parts included over 19,000 vacuum tubes -the principal elements of the circuitry- and hundreds of thousands of resistors, capacitors, and inductors, all jumbled up inside forty-two panels nine feet tall, two feet wide, and one foot thick. And not a mouse to be found!

It would be decades before the true potential of the computer would be realized…

History Schmistory: February 13. “I give up.”

Thursday, February 13, 2025 by teammarcopolo

1633: After a grueling twenty-three day trip, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, seventy years old and suffering from excruciating sciatica, arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition. Having failed to convince the cardinals with his evidence, Galileo was to be tried for heresy forÂ professing and detailing his belief that Earth revolves around the Sun. In order to avoid a particularly torturous jail sentence, the mark of any bona fide Inquisition, Galileo had no choice but to submit, renouncing his beliefs and denying a lifetime of work so he could go back home and live out his remaining days in peace.

Some folks were just too far ahead of their time…

OK, Edison, it is your birthday and all.

Tuesday, February 11, 2025 by teammarcopolo

We must admit, we are guilty of giving Thomas Edison a lot of grief for being a back-stabbing, elephant-killing, meanie-head, but he certainly was a powerfully advantageous business man and a worthy icon for American progress and ingenuity. So, I guess we can at least say Happy Birthday to the dead guy. Here’s a great video from Jeremiah Warren that breaks down his legacy quite efficiently 🙂

Now That’s Progress! Harnessing the power of lighting.

Monday, February 10, 2025 by teammarcopolo

Okay, so we’ve all heard the Ben Franklin-kite flying-electricity story enough times, but what some of us may not realize is that those experiments led to one of the most important inventions in history. One that has arguably saved more lives than any other: The Lightning Rod. Pachow, pachow!
You see, most building materials like wood and drywall and… roof, are horrible conductors of electricity, so when hit with a streaking supercharge of juice, they tend to burst into flames. This can cause quite a predicament for those contained within. Back in Franklin’s day most homes and buildings were constructed with wood based materials, so it was common for lightning to ruin a perfectly good evening for many an unlucky household. The Lightning Rod offered a simple and effective solution. A pointed metal rod placed at the highest point of a structure would attract and conduct the energy a lightning bolt produces and pass it by wire down the side of a structure and into the ground where a much larger rod absorbs the bulk of the load. Genius.
Back in the day, lightning rods were very decorative and most contained glass bulbs, which, when shattered, offered clear evidence of their awesomeness.

So next time you find yourself in a tall building, a dwelling on a hill, an airplane, or a yacht or something, during a crazy lighting storm, give a quick thanks to Mr. F for keeping you perfectly safe.

…Well from lightning anyway.