Canals on Mars
October 22nd, 2009 by AriI learned something yesterday from Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Death by Black Hole“, (an otherwise so-so book). The mysterious “Canals on Mars” that many people actually thought for a time were real were initially “discovered” by Percival Lowell – one of the preeminent astronomers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Lowell was the founder of the Lowell Observatory, which at the time boasted the best telescope in the world. Other astronomers of the time could not duplicate Lowell’s observations, but they all simply assumed it was because they did not have access to the equipment Lowell did. However as telescopes got better, Lowell’s observations were still not duplicated, and after Lowell died in 1916 the source of the canals remained a mystery. Until recently that is. A retired Optometrist from Minnesota noticed that Lowell’s setup was similar to what is commonly used when examining patients for cataracts. Combine this with the fact that Lowell was known to have high blood pressure, and Lowell was actually seeing the blood vessels in his eye! (The blood vessels cast a shadow directly on his retina). A comparison of the maps Lowell drew with the arrangement of blood vessels in the eye yield a remarkable correlation.
October 25th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Wow, that is amazing! I get to see the blood vessels on my retina every year – thanks to a very, very bright light that the ophthalmologist shines in an attempt to draw an intricate map of the blood vessels and nerve endings therein (and, hopefully, not cause me to faint from pain in the process). I guess this is good anecdotal evidence of the dangers of untreated high blood pressure…
By the way, I’m glad that your math problems have gotten harder – but when are you going to introduce calculus problems? (If you’re going to make me answer math problems to respond to your posts, I want to have some fun…)