A Big Bang: Krakatoa 1883
12/05/2021
Our whole Earth was in a pretty normal state
What came first, the invention of chicken salt or the discovery that you can uncook an egg?
21/08/2020
Do you know when WiFi was invented? How about the discovery that the universe is expanding faster than we thought? Or why wombats have cubed poo?
From medicine to maps and film to fashion, put your science knowledge to the test as we journey through time and explore a few of Australia's most exciting science discoveries and inventions.
Many of us are familiar with the classic Aussie Hills Hoist and the development of antibiotics from penicillin by Howard Florey, but how about the invention of the electric drill and BarleyMax™ superfood? If you're up for it, see how many science stories you've heard before and double points if you know when they occurred!
Orange is the new black
The black box flight recorder was prototyped by Australian Dr David Warren in the 1950s when he was trying to understand why the Comet aircraft was suffering a series of deadly crashes. The almost indestructible flight recorder is now carried on every commercial plane in the world and stores flight data vital to investigating aeroplane accidents. But guess what? The "black box" is not actually black, it's orange!
Helping Aussies repel mozzies
CSIRO scientist Doug Waterhouse was working on repelling sheep blowflies when WWII broke out. He then switched tack and developed a repellent to protect allied troops from mosquitoes, saving soldiers from the dangers of malaria. By the 1960s, Aerogard had become a household name with even Queen Elizabeth II taking a spray, and of course, today it's a must-have at every Aussie barbeque.
Film in focus
Frustrated by the limits of film lenses in the 1980s, cinematographer Jim Frazier set about developing his own deep-focus film lens that would allow the subject and background to be in focus at the same time. Despite being told the project was impossible by CSIRO scientists, Jim invented his Frazier lens in 1993 revolutionising the film industry and earning him an Academy Award in 1998. The Frazier lens has since been widely used in Hollywood movies and wildlife filming.
From whiteboard to roadmap
Who knew that what began as a few scribbles on a whiteboard could develop into a technology that many of us rely on everyday? In 2003, Danish brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen along with Australians Neil Gordon and Stephen Ma created the beginnings of Google Maps when they founded the Sydney-based start up Where 2 Technologies. The four co-founders were quickly picked up by Google to develop the project into the web-based Google Maps we know today.
Of course, these are only a few of the many innovative Australian science stories. Current projects in the pipeline include "solar windows" where solar cells are integrated in window glass and bendable green cement-free concrete. Not to mention the vast array of First Nations practices that have been around for years and have only recently been gaining recognition, in particular: Indigenous land management, weather knowledge and astronomy.
But that's about all we can fit in here, except to say chicken salt came first! The recipe was concocted by chip shop owner Peter Brinkworth in the 1970s, and it wasn't until 2015 that chemistry professor Colin Raston won the ignoble prize for "uncooking an egg".
This article was originally published via Scientific Scribbles.
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