Happy new year* *The Bad Astronomer explains just what a year is these days – saves me having to.
Category Archives: science
Sixty today
On on Dec. 16, 1947 – sixty years ago today – the world’s first transistor was constructed and tested at Bell Labs, New Jersey, USA. Those responsible for the device were William Shockley, the theorist and John Bardeen and Walter Brattain who actually constructed the first one. What started life as a heap of precariously …
High-voltage coincidence
I’m in need of a high-voltage, low current DC power supply temporarily for an experiment in the lab, prices for these from the usual suppliers run into the hundreds of pounds. Given that all (all but the very best ones anyway) they consist of is a string of diodes and capacitors in a Cockcroft-Walton configuration, …
Easier said than done
I spent most of this afternoon attempting to attach two pieces of 0.25 micron Teflon tape to some larger Teflon blocks while wearing low-friction gloves. It wasn’t easy.
Elegantly dressed Wednesday – Me
Lately, I spend much of my working day the cleanroom, well , either of two cleanrooms. Room-A is a pretty basic cap and gown type affair – the room isn’t really clean (class 100,000 to 10,000 depending on how often used; more usually high than low), the kit is really there to control access (limited …