Lumiére mansion

A couple days ago we toured the Lumiére mansion which belonged to Auguste and Louise's father. I loved the tour and the tour guide, she was very easy to understand and was very knowledgable. I really liked all of the small models they had of the mansion and of the factory that the brother's owned. It is sad that the brother's house was destroyed during World War II. Also their factory was basically in their back yard and they have several thousands of workers who were mostly women. It was very interesting that the video of the factory workers was staged. I didn't notice that at first but once she pointed it out you could tell, becaue of their clothing and they are looking at the camera. It was astonishing to hear that the original projector that the brothers used for their first showing still worked! I would have never thought that and the camera also worked too. I enjoyed every bit of this tour and would visit again when I could.

Printing books

Today we went to the printing museum to see how books came to be and the intricate history behind it. It was rather interesting to learn how the start of the printing came to be was by demand. It mainly started out when the church believed that everyone should be able to read the bible. When the priests weren't writing it fast enough they made wooden blocks that they could cost in ink and then press a piece of parchment to it. However, even that wasn't enough and the printing press was created. I foun it interesting that before the printing press was created it took priests about 2-3 years to make one book with over 300 pages while with the printing press it took them only about 2 hours if they print 2 sheets at the same time. Now in modern times the printing press has expanded and is printing out hundreds of thousands of books every day compared to only maybe 5 books in one day. It just goes to show how much technology has expanded and improved as time has passed by.

Ampére Museum

As an EE it was a great start to our abroad trip being able to nerd out at the Ampère Museum. After listening through the audible tour of the house it was astounding to learn that Ampère had self taught himself from a young age. He was able to develope the first type of portable energy source which he called the column which was composed of several layers of zinc and copper plates separated by an electrolytic liquid. Stacking this disks allowed for a higher voltage at the terminal ends. This can be thought of as batteries on series. It was interesting to discover the relationship between Ampère himself and Michael Farrady, another major contributor to the field of electromagnetism. Farraday's discovery of how magnetism can induce an electric current was a crucial achievment for modern electromagnetism. Seeing the equipment developed and used by Ampère was a humbling experience because it showed with what resources some of the most significant contributions to electrodynamics were made.

History of silk weaving.

Yesterday afternoon we visited the Maison des Canuts where we learned about the history of silk. We learned about the tedious process of getting silk threads from the cocoon of silk worms, with the bug still inside them. They would need to kill the cocoon in order to have one long continuous thread, if the bug had escaped they would get lots of little threads which were useless in weaving. They would then put the cocoon in boiling water to get the glue like substance out of the thread. The glue like substance was produced by the worm in order to keep the cocoon held together.   They would then spin together 6-10 of these threads depending on the type of silk being made in order to have a strong enough thread to weave. Then the thread would be dyed a color and sent to a weaver. The weavers lived in their shops with their families and worked 18 hours a day. They could only weave 36-42 cm per day depending on the pattern and that would take up to two years to complete an order. The weaver family would then get paid only after they completed the weave mad not very much. The weavers worked in horrid conditions and it really makes you appreciate the clothes and technology of today. Just a side note we got to touch a gold weaved cloth worth 20,000 euro per meter. 

Color Pictures

Today we visited the Institut Lumière in the Monplaisir district of Lyon, France. While the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, are famous for their contributions to film-making and the invention of cinema as we know it today, I learned that they also made significant advances in photographic technology.
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

On 21 July we took the metro to Croix-Rousse, the historical silk district of Lyon. We took a tour of Maison des Canuts, where we learned about the how silk worms are used in silk making as well as the actual making of brocade cloth using a Jacquard loom. Historically, the silk worm eggs were purchased in large amounts, and tedious labor was required to sort out the empty eggs which could not be used. Labor was also required to incubate the eggs to 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or human body temperature. In order to protect the eggs, women would keep them close to their bodies until they were ready to hatch. After the cocoon stage was reached, more work was needed for the raw silk strands to be extracted, wound together, and washed to remove the adhesive substance that is secreted by the silk worms. After this entire process, the silk was made into extravagant cloths that were to be sold at very high prices. From a historical standpoint, it was interesting yet unfortunate to learn that the individuals who worked in the silk factories, whether processing the raw silk or making the cloth, lived under very distressing conditions. These people worked for 18 hours a day, 6 days a week, and were paid very little money for all the hard labor that they performed.

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.