Thursday, July 30, 2015
Museum of the History of Medicine
The Great Roman Aqueducts
On Thursday after a long metro ride and a bit of adventuring (aka not being sure where to turn then crawling through a fence), we walked up to the magnificent ancient structures known as the aqueducts. We visited the longest above ground stretch still standing, the Aqua Claudia, named after the ruler Claudius. It was crazy to imagine the 150-200 million gallons of water that would rush through these 11 structures daily to quench the Romans' thirst and bathing activities. What I found most impressive however was the math and engineering behind making sure that the water was at just a slight decline all the way from its source to Rome and the ridging in the aqueduct waterway, to make sure the water would make it there and flowed at the right speed. It was also interesting to learn that rulers built fancy public drinking water fountains to show off these awesome engineering feats as well, but really who can blame them... I would have too.
Aqueducts
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Walking tour part 1
Walking!
Galileo museum
Trajectories
Walking, walking, walking
Homemade Telescopes
Some sacred grass
Influence after death
Walking tour 2.0
Museum of Galileo
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Museo Galileo
Monday we visited the Museo Galileo in Florence. While the whole museum was full of interesting items, my favorite were the globes and the moving model of the solar system. Neither of these things were as we picture them today. The globes didn't contain the New World and had different drawings of creatures, angels, etc on them as well. It was also interesting to see on the large map that Rome was intentionally at its center, since that was the home of the Pope and the Catholic Church. The movable, via crank, solar system (though probably not called that then) was a magnificent, though scientifically inaccurate now, geocentric model. It was interesting to learn that Catholics at that time believed the heavens occupied the space beyond Jupiter, the farthest viewed planet at the time. It was, and still is, truly awe inspiring to look at all that Galileo accomplished in his life throughout this museum visit!
Walking Tour Part 2
Monday, July 27, 2015
Museum of books and printing
Our tour included a detailed oration on Gutenburg and the history of the development on the first printing presses. Some of the earliest printing presses would use plates with an entire page of text. Later movable type was used to decrease the time needed to print a single page, and the individual letters could be reused over and over. These individual letters were housed in a box with several compartments. Capital letters were in the upper case and the small letters were kept in the lower case, hence the upper and lower case letters. It is interesting learning the origins of our everyday phrases.
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Thread by thread
Power of the Press
After getting in the museum, he talked about the people that worked the printing press. The top guy would proof read what were going to be printed after the first copy was made. He was classed as a noblemen. Next was the man who worked the press. This job was nicknamed the bear as the person doing the job needed to be very strong. One benefit of this job was he got to take one part of the press home with him. This worked well as a key card in France's nation pastime of striking. Which the tour guide said was started by the germens, but thats for a different day. Last was the guy who put together the printing block so the paper could be pressed on it.
Biological Science Museum
In particular, I liked the displays about how viral diseases are transferred to humans - typically through mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas, as well as direct contact with infected animals. In many cases, animals can be vaccinated to protect them and humans from infection, but there are some where the only protection is for people to get vaccinated against the virus. Unfortunately, there are several areas of the world where viruses mutate too quickly to develop effective vaccines. It is also common that in developing countries, vaccine rates are low because there often isn't enough money or manpower to distribute it.
Despite these obstacles, it was exciting to hear about all the steps we are making in new and better vaccines which makes me optimistic for the future of this field.
Silk factories
Saturday, July 25, 2015
The Power of Books
Museum of Books and Printing
Friday, July 24, 2015
Doctor Merieux Biological Sciences Museum
Museum of Books and Printing
Wednesday we traveled to the Museum of Books and Printing. I found the Museum very well laid out and our guide very knowledgeable. What I really enjoyed was our "pre-tour" where our guide described the history of the town. In particular, I liked the history of the tablet from Claudus' speech and wall plaque above it. The plaque had a lion and a man and woman holding jugs with flowing water that represented the two rivers in Lyon - the smaller, curvier, feminine Saone River and the broader, larger, masculine Rhone River.
Book printing
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Jack of all trades
Ampere house
Jacquard loom in real life
How fortunate we are to be able to see the warp threads lift according to the pattern 'programmed' on the punch cards to allow the weft color to slide between the threads to ultimately make nearly priceless material. To be able to hold material worth more than €20000 per square meter was so cool. This material is quite rare today. There are only a couple old style shops which can produce authentic jacquard material for restorations alone, along with just a couple companies which will take orders to produce materials for restorations or for the very very wealthy. In some ways it is amazing that this art was able to survive and be a remembered art form today.
Maison des Canuts
Maison des Canuts
Lumiére mansion
Printing books
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Ampére Museum
History of silk weaving.
Color Pictures
The brothers worked on several different methods of adding color to pictures, but they didn't achieve widespread success until after the invention of the Autochrome Lumière process was patented in 1903 and eventually marketed in 1907. This was a process that used three different colored dyes - red, blue, and green - which filtered the colors entering the camera with a mosaic filter . After being paired with a different filter, different amounts of light pass through the mosaic to display pictures in color.
Considering our guide said that before this process, women would hand-paint the colors on the film after it was developed, I would say this is definitely a major technological advance. It is also difficult to imagine our current society without colored pictures or movies where the life-like quality of cinema and photography are often so important.
Maison des Canuts
Although the people who were buying the silk products were usually very wealthy, the individuals making their exquisite products had very little wealth. I think a connection can be made to modern-day society regarding the lack of knowledge about the true origin of our clothes, as well as the disparity of conditions between the consumers and the producers.
Lumière Institute
On the morning of our second full day in Lyon we traveled via metro to the home of the Lumière family, now known as the Lumière Institute. Inside the gorgeous home (one of 22 we found out) turned museum, our fantastic tour guide showed us the many inventions and shared several extra tidbits of knowledge from the Lumières' lives. After our assigned reading from the day before, we had learned a good chunk of info on the impact the Lumières had on cinema and movies. What I didn't know and found very interesting was their significant impact on photography, as well as various other inventions, totaling 196 patents.
The neatest thing about these patents was the fact that both brothers signed them all, even when it was the idea of just Louis or Auguste. This was part of a pact they made earlier in life to always stick together, which showed also as they shared a home their whole life, even when both had families. As our guide said, "it was very cute" that the brothers honored their agreement.
Their patents ranged from panoramic and instant photos to colored photo and 3D technology to eyeglasses and medical advancements. Even their younger brother was an inventor, creating the first night vision goggles before his young death as a pilot during the war. I found it very surprising to hear the lack of interest in the panoramic photo knowing it's popularity now, though it makes sense as it was developed during a time when the motion picture dominated.
Without the contributions of the Lumière brothers, its hard to see our technology driven, selfie stick wielding society today. Visiting the Lumière Institute today really gave me a sense of awe on the impact two brothers had on today's modern society.