#hydrogen-ann

[insanitysscribblings]

I mean you'd with the least amount of pressure possible but, would you ever think about writing a book? Every once and a while I remember how it felt reading Back to Us and I just wish I could read a story that was fully yours.

HAAAAAAA.

Friend.

Let me tell you a story about what was my writing journey post 2020 for me.

As some of you might know, I finished a book at the very end of 2020, by the title of Charlatans. It's an adult novel about three voodoo-touched adult siblings who make Faustian bargains to find their long-missing father in exchange for their hearts' deepest desires.

I was super proud of it. My first full-fledged novel, something I had always known I was capable of doing. The hard part was over.

Or so I thought.

See, to be a GOOD novelist, you have to let your work marinate. So that's what I did: I sat on it for a few months, not touching it at all, not even remembering that it existed. After those few months, I set to the hard work of editing.

When I tell you it is SO hard to edit a book you know is missing SOMETHING, but you have no idea what...ugh. And asking for beta readers was tasking, 'cause the thing was over 90K words. I did still ask, of course, but didn't really manage to get a lot of feedback at that time of editing.

Nevertheless! I pressed on. Started researching literary agents, fully aware that with a single project, you only get ONE shot with each agent.

I had a spreadsheet. I had my query letter. I had detailed notes on who to ask for and why. I was ready.

And so I started querying.

...The agents that didn't straight up ignore me gave me automated rejections. The agents that didn't do that gave me personal rejections.

And the one or two agents that actually bothered to ask AND read the whole manuscript?

They loved it!

Just...not enough to publish it.

So. Here I am, with a fully finished manuscript and no one looking to publish it. What do I do?

I put it away and go back to the drawing board, because clearly, I'm missing something. But since no rejection is personalized enough, I don't know WHAT.

Frustration makes me put it down, and I let it sit for a few more months.

Until #DVPIT.

For the uninitiated, #DVPIT is a literary event in which diverse prospective writers and established agents come together to discover new working relationships. The diverse writer has three chances to pitch their project throughout the day to agents, and if agents like your pitch, you may send them your query package. Cool, right?

I take the day off work. I have my pitches queued on my phone, ready to go. Throughout the day, I strategically post them at peak hours, keeping my fingers crossed for even one single agent's attention.

The event runs for an extra week to give agents a chance to read the thousands of pitches flooding the Discord channel. I wait.

No likes. Not a single one.

Now, this part I'm less bitter about, because 150 characters to describe my book? That's just ridiculous. And the comp titles to prove that people would like it? Ugggggh. Not an opportunity to really sell Charlatans.

But this means that, still, my first novel is without an agent. No agent, no publication.

So I put it away again and decide to move on.

And before you ask, yes, I did look into self-publishing. Still lowkey looking, but it's tough, since everything seems like a scam nowadays. And don't even get me started on the AI books being published.

I know you didn't ask for this rant, @hydrogen-ann and for that, I apologize. But TL;DR: a published book is currently a pipe dream for me, though not for lack of trying.

Bitterness aside, thank you so, so much. I'm so happy you'd be interested in something original of mine. If I ever push Charlatans out the door/find the time to write an entirely NEW novel, I'll be sure to let you know 💜

[every-single-day]

Outsiders musical quotes I reference too often!

“Ponyboyyy.”

“CUT THAT HAIR! CUT THAT HAIR! CUT THAT GREASY GREASER’S HAIR!”

“Got one of their hubcaps!”

“‘Cause ya so brainyyy.”

“544 FUCKING PAGES?! That would take me 10 years to read.” 

“I mostly dream about flying saucers and hamburgers. And sometimes… sometimes… Ann Margaret is serving the hamburgers.”

“I got a hershey barrr.”

“You’re so exactly right!” 

“Let. Her speak. For herself. EUGH!”

“Outlaws 😃”

“I’ll be 15 soon.” “How soon?” “…next July.”

“When I stood up, it felt like my knees were in my armpits!”

“I’m generally an artistic person.”

“Is there a problem, Robert?”

“Step up to the line, sugar bush.”

“EAT SHIT, MARCIA!” 

“Yeah, that didn’t feel too good, I’m not gonna lie.”

“PUT HIM IN THE WATER, BOYS!” 

“Hydrogen peroxide.”

“Do I look like Julie Andrews?” “No, you look like Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry.” “BURT LANCASTER’S A SISSY! AND ELMER GANTRY’S A TERRIBLE MOVIE!” “Fine! Paul Newman then!” “...no shit?”

“Holy shit! It’s Goldilocks and her ugly sister!” 

“Is it just terrible?” “Yeah.” 

“Bet you’d kill for a cigarette.”

“*radio noise* earth to Ponyboy.” 

“Soda… serve him some green beans.”

“So, it’s like a story?”

“Am I in it?” 

[dilf-docs]

just wondering… any hc of how Eddie would introduce venom to young reader?

would venom love us? Or try to eat us?

venom meeting u would be like

eddie x venom x younger!reader

warnings: curse words, alien wants to eat you, just smut aluded nothing too crazy, nonsense but i had fun writing this!

tbh eddie didn't want to bc introduce venom partly in shame and partly bc he didn't want u to leave him lol (he has attachment issues i'm 100% sure) (ofc venom would yell at him for being embarrassed of THEE venom like??? get your shit together omg)

eddie likes you so much so i believe it ends up passing to venom but venom doesn't really have human feelings yk? like dude copes on another level

he processes different me thinks so eddie's liking of your perfume, for example, or the sweet way you taste when you kiss would translate to: "she must be sweet to eat!"

so yeah he probably wants to eat you

literally

both ways maybe??

ends up taking over eddies body bc even if he hates loud sounds ur moans are kinda inviting, inciting and addicting™️

yeah #monsterfucking

he loves u!!! venom would adore u bc u keep eddie happy

and eddie happy means his home lasting longer!!!!

he doesn't really know how humans work but i'm convinced he thinks we'd die if we're sad

so when he finally moves on from anne (even if he kind of misses her), venom cheers!

you would probably feed him when he takes over eddie too

lots of chocolates go missing from nearby stores

maybe would do a fanfic if i knew how to write it idk

i just know venoms tongue would eat!!

literally

imagine that long ass muscle dripping in saliva along your... 😳

no words

he prob rattles eddie on you 💯 gossip time with the symbiote is fun!

ngl when eddie starts annoying him or making you annoyed he takes over w/o permission lol

it starts to be more frequent cause venom wants u just for him 😤 lmao

possessive little symbiote

eddie fights with him, both jealous, trying to win your attention

coughing baby vs. hydrogen bomb if we're honest

we know who is who IJBOL

but yeah im pretty sure after seeing how much eddie loves u and as an extension? oh him, venom loves u too<3

and the happy little weird alien symbiote family lived happily ever after

the end

[samble-movedd]

how and why are we implying mentally ill children are as bad or even comparative to "age gap, kidnapping [a baby] and drugging people" per the propaganda info?

Propaganda:

Madoka and Homura: none

Sarah and Jareth: Not even taking the age gap into account, there’s also the weird obsession, the kidnapping her baby brother, jealousy, and drugging her with a magic peach…

[aimeedaisies]

Princess Anne visit reveals how UK-Norway alliance helped to stop Nazis building atomic bomb

Royal trip highlights secret operation where a Norwegian team infiltrated a hydroelectic plant used by Germans to make ‘heavy water’

Hannah Furness, Royal Editor, 26 May 2024, 5:13pm

Princess Anne visits the Home Front Museum in Oslo CREDIT: Per Ole Hagen/Getty Images

The Princess Royal has visited the site of a secret operation to stop the Nazi atomic bomb in Norway as she celebrated the “very special people involved” in the country’s wartime relationship with the UK.

The Princess spent two days in Norway, with a visit to the site of the little-known Operation Gunnerside where she laid flowers at the memorial.

The Second World War operation in 1943 saw a Norwegian team dropped by parachute to infiltrate a hydroelectric plant where the Nazis were developing “heavy water” to build an atomic bomb.

They destroyed the containers, escaping on skis for the 200 miles to Sweden, with the Special Operations Executive (SOE) action later considered the most successful sabotage of the war.

Soon afterwards, German forces attempted to move the remaining supplies of heavy water, which were used to create a heavy hydrogen isotope to use as a moderator in nuclear reactors, by ferry the Hydro. It was sunk by a resistance bomb with passengers including Norwegian families on board.

During her visit, the Princess met a senior local police officer who had a relative who survived the Hydro sinking, as well as members of the Norwegian armed forces.

The royal visit was intended to raise public awareness of the operation, and was arranged by John Andrews and Dr Tony Insall, the British author of Secret Alliances: Special Operations and Intelligence in Norway 1940-1945.

In a speech at the Industrial Workers Museum in Vemork, where there is a memorial to Operation Gunnerside, Princess Anne said: “There is always more that can be done to remind future generations just how remarkable the wartime relationship between our two countries was and the very special people involved.”

The Princess, who is patron of the Anglo-Norwegian Resistance Commemoration Project, went on to launch a competition to select a Norwegian sculptor to create a statue to “commemorate the bravery of those Norwegians and British who risked their lives in the campaign to restore freedom in Norway”.

Previously she had met Joachim Rønneberg, a leading figure of the Norwegian resistance, and members of the Linge Company, a Norwegian unit of the SOE.

“I know, from having spoken to Joachim and others, just how important Op Gunnerside was in disrupting the supply of heavy water to the Germans and helping to prevent Germany from acquiring atomic weapons,” said the Princess.

“But success came at a cost, and we remember the tragic loss of life of both commandos and air crew involved in Op Freshman, the first attempt to sabotage the plant which sadly failed.

“We remember also those who died later on the Hydro ferry. The building we are standing in today and the displays in the main museum are a wonderful tribute to those brave men and those who helped them who risked everything.”

Writing about the visit, Dr Insall and Mr Andrews said: “At the end of World War Two neither the British nor Norwegian governments made any public acknowledgement of the close cooperation between SIS [Secret Intelligent Services] and SOE, and the Norwegian resistance groups, the Linge Company and Milorg.

“This was unfortunate given the significant contribution of their work to the Allied war effort but was due to the secrecy surrounding British intelligence operations.

“The situation has now changed, and it has become possible to acknowledge the extent of the remarkable achievements on which Britain and Norway cooperated.”

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Canary Media:

When prominent entrepreneur Jigar Shah took over as head of the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office in 2021, he had one primary mission: To get ​“dollars out the door.”

Now the office, which offers financing to clean energy technologies that struggle to borrow from banks and received a huge boost of money from the Inflation Reduction Act, is rushing to do just that before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. The incoming president, flanked by Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress, is expected to target unspent funds under the IRA, including LPO programs — putting at risk billions of loan dollars yet to be granted or finalized.

With Inauguration Day looming, the office has increased its activity in recent weeks. Since last Monday alone, the LPO announced four new conditional commitments for loans and loan guarantees and finalized a pending offer.

On Tuesday [December 3, 2024], long-duration energy storage company Eos closed a $303.5 million DOE loan guarantee to help it scale production. The day before [December 2, 2024], the DOE stated it planned to lend up to $7.5 billion to finance two electric vehicle battery manufacturing plants in Kokomo, Indiana. And one week earlier, the agency announced a conditional loan guarantee of nearly $5 billion to finance Grain Belt Express Phase 1, an interregional transmission line that will run between Ford County, Kansas, and Callaway County, Missouri.

Last Monday [November 30, 2024], the agency also announced conditional commitments for a direct loan of $6.6 billion to Rivian to build an EV manufacturing plant in Stanton Springs North, Georgia, and a loan guarantee of $290 million to Sunwealth to deploy up to a thousand solar PV systems and battery energy storage systems across 27 states.

Under the Biden administration, LPO has so far doled out just under $55 billion in funding across 32 deals for battery and EV manufacturing, nuclear reactors, ​“clean” hydrogen facilities, virtual power plants, and critical minerals projects. The majority of the LPO’s investments have gone to Republican districts, according to a Politico analysis.

Most of the financing deals LPO has announced — about $41 billion worth — remain conditional, meaning the loans or loan guarantees are not yet finalized and depend on the companies meeting certain benchmarks.

Legal experts say that while the LPO’s 14 closed loans, which total more than $13 billion in investments, should remain safe from Republican backlash, delaying or undoing conditional funds could be much easier. ​“Immediately following inauguration of the new president, there is likely to be a period of inaction on financial assistance awards that are in negotiation and on announced funding opportunities,” wrote Hogan Lovells attorney Mary Anne Sullivan.

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

(cw discussion of sexual harassment/assault and suicide) Ann Takamaki vs Mikuru Asahina feels like hydrogen bomb vs hydrogen bomb but I really want to emphasize how bad Ann's in-game treatment feels when the start of the game is taken into account. The first enemy in the game is a high school volleyball coach who leverages his status as a former Olympian to do whatever he wants at the school, including physically assaulting male students and sexually harassing female students. He tries to get sexual favors from Ann in exchange for keeping her best friend on the school volleyball team, though she's able to keep it so she just has to be seen with him instead, resulting in rumors that she's sleeping with him. When he demands she sleep with him, she doesn't show up and he "punishes her" by sexually assaulting her best friend instead, which results in her best friend attempting suicide (she lives thankfully). You spend hours of the game trying to take down this man who treats Ann like she exists purely for his own pleasure...and then you get to the next villain and the characters who helped Ann defeat her abuser are now telling her she should strip and consent to a nude painting because they need a distraction, even though she's super uncomfortable with this! The game overall just loves to treat Ann as 'the sexy one' despite including a whole arc about how fucked up and creepy it is for her to be sexualized by an adult man. The 'comic relief' sidekick of the game is "in love" with Ann and constantly making advances or weird comments towards her, the boys check her out while she's sweating through her clothes even though she's clearly uncomfortable, it just keeps going on. For a game about rebelling and challenging the status quo, it sure has no issue with treating a teenage sexual harassment victim as easy fanservice and never calling out the male main characters for continuing the cycle of sexual harassment that it punishes its villains for taking part in (small victories I guess....).

Ann deserved better. Justice for Ann!

[defensivelee]

ahhhh so so beautiful <333 !!! if i am a monarchist then it is for elements of the periodic table.

i havent done something with chemistry in a while... take some silly designs based off of @defensivelee's chemistry universe...

[septembergold]

Portrait of Monsieur de Lavoisier and his Wife, chemist Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze (1788), Metropolitan Museum of Art:

-De Lavoisier was central to the 18th-century chemical revolution and greatly influenced the history of chemistry and biology.

-He recognized and named oxygen (1778) and hydrogen (1783) & wrote the law of conservation of mass in 1783.

-Lavoisier helped construct the metric system, wrote the first extensive list of elements, and helped to reform chemical nomenclature. 

-He predicted the existence of silicon (1787) and discovered that, although matter may change its form or shape, its mass always remains the same.

- At the height of the French Revolution, he was charged with tax fraud and selling adulterated tobacco, and was guillotined.

[seraphic-sibyl]

Took me a while, but I finally got around to it. This one is officially @dissonantharmony’s fault. Sorry it took me...weeks, lol.

I tag @aurora-bore-aura, @peeardee, and @trashboatprince.

[incorrect-gentleman-jack]

Ann Walker: Hey, everyone? How do I get bloodstains out of carpet?

Anne, Marian, and Captain Lister: [simultaneously] Hydrogen Peroxide

Ann Walker: Wh- why did you just have that information on deck like that?

Marian Lister: Periods

Captain Lister: Crime

Anne Lister: Don't worry about it

[wumblr]

i'm seeing several people on my dash engaging in discussion about nuclear policy (oh good, but what, why now, did i miss something, etc) and i would like to encourage two things:

discuss facts or events, not the whole concept in vague and broad strokes (it's easier)

accept that many facts and events regarding nuclear policy are ambiguous or unknown (it's inevitable)

examples of facts and events:

holtec is the only manufacturer of casks; holtec casks are flawed, cracking, and leaking.

hanford is the worst waste site because it has extremely high level waste beyond what is typically considered "high level" (spent fuel rods), because they rushed the cleanup for a million dollar cleanup payout, because they dumped wastewater into the ground, because the wastewater dumping was the subject of peabody award winning journalism, because the director of the site resigned in 2017 (anne white).

there was recently a nuclear bribery scandal in ohio.

san onofre decommissioning has been fraught with resale upon resale to various corporations trying to turn a profit off abdicating responsibilities for waste handling.

design proposals were never able to foresee the scale of sea salp blooms under climate change, which has led to several shutdowns from clogged intakes at sites that rely on the ocean for cooling water.

yucca mountain was cancelled and there are no longterm repositories in the united states. there are also no interim-term storage sites; PFS in goshen utah was cancelled and two are currently under review. interim sites require shipment on trucks across the interstate highway system twice; once from reactor to interim and again from interim to longterm -- none of which, again, exist.

70% of high level waste is uncasked and continually reracked in cooling pools where the rods were spent, the NRC is continually rubber-stamping approval for storage extension for these sites without additional environmental review despite the additional risk.

the united states has abicated responsibility for bikini atoll dome cleanup after failing to pay out reparations as promised to the united nations (these were paid to a trust which is now empty, despite most of the beneficiaries having not received the reparations they were promised for the sacrifice of the marshall islands as a munitions testing site for the hydrogen bomb)

there are hundreds of abandoned uranium mills and mines across the continental united states.

bill gates owns terrapower.

examples of ambiguities and unknowns:

the SL-1 meltdown is typically not accounted for in reviews of nuclear power's "safety record" because it was classified for decades. we will never know whether it was an accident or intentional sabotage by operators

karen silkwood either committed suicide or was murdered by a sandwich containing polonium. she was a former anti-nuclear activist who accepted a job at a reactor

why did anne white resign

how prevalent is cancer among workers at hanford, is this the greatest risk, or is non-nuclear toxic waste a greater risk to cleanup workers

what is the total risk over the whole term of waste storage

have we made an adequate risk assessment if design specifications are not being met (such as aforementioned flawed casks, uncasked waste, further future unpredictable or unforeseeable events such as the sea salps, or the ambiguous possibility of SL-1's intentional operator sabotage)

what language, if any, will be spoken by the final handlers of the waste we generate today

what is the plan for cleanup if the united states collapses before it handles its waste, are we just planning to abandon a hundred reactor sites and several hundred more mills and mines, or what

how many radiation monitors near nuclear munitions test sites are openly available to the public (this one is a trick question, the answer is "none," it's neither ambiguous nor unknown, but many people appeal to their presence without checking whether they're accessible)

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 11.27 (after 1950)

1954 – Alger Hiss is released from prison after serving 44 months for perjury. 1965 – Vietnam War: The Pentagon tells U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson that if planned operations are to succeed, the number of American troops in Vietnam has to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000. 1968 – Penny Ann Early becomes the first woman to play major professional basketball for the Kentucky Colonels in an ABA game against the Los Angeles Stars. 1971 – The Soviet space program's Mars 2 orbiter releases a descent module. It malfunctions and crashes, but it is the first man-made object to reach the surface of Mars. 1973 – Twenty-fifth Amendment: The United States Senate votes 92–3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States. (On December 6, the House will confirm him 387–35). 1975 – The Provisional IRA assassinates Ross McWhirter, after a press conference in which McWhirter had announced a reward for the capture of those responsible for multiple bombings and shootings across England. 1978 – In San Francisco, city mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former supervisor Dan White. 1978 – The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is founded in the Turkish village of Fis. 1983 – Avianca Flight 011: A Boeing 747 crashes near Madrid's Barajas Airport, killing 181. 1984 – Under the Brussels Agreement signed between the governments of the United Kingdom and Spain, the former agrees to enter into discussions with Spain over Gibraltar, including sovereignty. 1989 – Avianca Flight 203: A Boeing 727 explodes in mid-air over Colombia, killing all 107 people on board and three people on the ground. The Medellín Cartel will claim responsibility for the attack. 1992 – For the second time in a year, military forces try to overthrow president Carlos Andrés Pérez in Venezuela. 1997 – Twenty-five people are killed in the second Souhane massacre in Algeria. 1999 – The centre-left Labour Party takes control of the New Zealand government with leader Helen Clark becoming the first elected female Prime Minister in New Zealand's history. 2001 – A hydrogen atmosphere is discovered on the extrasolar planet Osiris by the Hubble Space Telescope, the first atmosphere detected on an extrasolar planet. 2004 – Pope John Paul II returns the relics of Saint John Chrysostom to the Eastern Orthodox Church. 2006 – The House of Commons of Canada approves a motion introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper recognizing the Québécois as a nation within Canada. 2008 – XL Airways Germany Flight 888T: An Airbus A320 performing a flight test crashes near the French commune of Canet-en-Roussillon, killing all seven people on board. 2009 – Nevsky Express bombing: A bomb explodes on the Nevsky Express train between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, derailing it and causing 28 deaths and 96 injuries. 2015 – An active shooter inside a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado, shoots at least four police officers. One officer later dies. Two civilians are also killed, and six injured. The shooter later surrendered. 2020 – Iran's top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, is assassinated near Tehran. 2020 – Days after the announcement of its discovery, the Utah monolith is removed by recreationists.

[ieisia]

Jacques Alexandre César Charles

Portrait by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard

November 12, 1746 – April 7, 1823 was a French inventor, scientist, mathematician, and balloonist. Charles wrote almost nothing about mathematics, and most of what has been credited to him was due to mistaking him with another Jacques Charles, also a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences, entering on May 12, 1785. He was sometimes called Charles the Geometer. Charles and the Robert brothers launched the world's first unmanned hydrogen-filled gas balloon in August 1783; then in December 1783, Charles and his co-pilot Nicolas-Louis Robert ascended to a height of about 1,800 feet (550 m) in a manned gas balloon. Their pioneering use of hydrogen for lift led to this type of balloon being named a Charlière as opposed to a Montgolfière which used hot air.

Charles's law, describing how gases tend to expand when heated, was formulated by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac in 1802, but he credited it to unpublished work by Jacques Charles.

Charles was elected to the Académie des Sciences in 1795 and subsequently became professor of physics at the Académie de Sciences.

The balloon built by Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers

Charles conceived the idea that hydrogen would be a suitable lifting agent for balloons having studied the work of Robert Boyle's Boyle's Law which was published 100 years earlier in 1662, and of his contemporaries Henry Cavendish, Joseph Black and Tiberius Cavallo. He designed the craft and then worked in conjunction with the Robert brothers, Anne-Jean and Nicolas-Louis, to build it in their workshop at the Place des Victoires in Paris. The brothers invented the methodology for the lightweight, airtight gas bag by dissolving rubber in a solution of turpentine and varnished the sheets of silkthat were stitched together to make the main envelope. They used alternate strips of red and white silk, but the discolouration of the varnishing/rubberising process left a red and yellow result.

Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers launched the world's first hydrogen filled balloon on August 27, 1783, from the Champ de Mars, (now the site of the Eiffel Tower) where Ben Franklin was among the crowd of onlookers. The balloon was comparatively small, a 35 cubic metre sphere of rubberised silk, and only capable of lifting about 9 kg (20 lb).  It was filled with hydrogen that had been made by pouring nearly a quarter of a tonne of sulphuric acid onto a half a tonne of scrap iron. The hydrogen gas was fed into the balloon via lead pipes; but as it was not passed through cold water, great difficulty was experienced in filling the balloon completely (the gas was hot when produced, but as it cooled in the balloon, it contracted).

Charles developed several useful inventions, including a valve to let hydrogen out of the balloon and other devices, such as the hydrometer and reflecting goniometer, and improved the Graves and heliostat and Fahrenheit's aerometer. In addition he confirmed Benjamin Franklin's electrical experiments.

Charles's law (also known as the law of volumes), describing how gases tend to expand when heated, was first published by natural philosopher Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac in 1802, but he credited it to unpublished work by Jacques Charles, and named the law in his honour.

Around 1787 Charles did an experiment where he filled 5 balloons to the same volume with different gases. He then raised the temperature of the balloons to 80 °C (not at constant temperature) and noticed that they all increased in volume by the same amount. This experiment was referenced by Gay-Lussac in 1802 when he published a paper on the precise relationship between the volume and temperature of a gas. Charles' law states that under constant pressure, an ideal gas' volume is proportional to its absolute temperature. The volume of a gas at constant pressure increases linearly with the absolute temperature of the gas. The formula he created was V1/T1 = V2/T2.

[sophiesballoonblog]

Letitia Ann Sage, first English female aeronaut

Look at this DIVA:

Wore a cool hat.

Was the first English woman to fly in a hot air balloon

Was determined to fly, even though the aeronaut Rozier had died when his hydrogen balloon caught fire just two weeks before.

The newspapers reported that she fainted during the flight, even though she’d just knelt down to tie the opening of the basket closed. Typical.

Broke her companion’s barometer by kneeling on it. He was conducting experiments like sounding a bell to see if it sounded the same up in the clouds (it did), and testing the electrical charge of the clouds (negative)

Took notes of everything that happened, and his explanations of what he was doing, including his (apparently correct) theory about why his ears popped. She has this super interesting quote in her letter to someone we presume was her sister, Sarah:

“I continued most of the time in this situation [sitting on the floor of the balloon], having no table or seat; and being determined to pay attention to every minute circumstance that should occur; for which purpose I had taken a book with me; and Mr. Biggin seeing my anxiety was very great, at the same time thinking it no degradation to communicate his observations to a woman, of whose understanding, I am proud to think, he had not a contemptible opinion, gave me the most pleasing and unaffected explanations you can conceive. It is from his conversation that I am enabled to entertain you with some remarks, which would have been, perhaps, beyond the compass of my own observations. Female education does not usually leave the mind capable of drawing accurate conclusions from events, which may arise in the peculiar situation I am describing; where particular effects are produced from a variety of concurrent circumstances, every one of which would appear plausible to the reasoning of the moment.

Yeeesh. The 1780s were a different planet. She’s such an eloquent, sharp writer.

Dissed the owner of the field of beans they landed in:

“The master of the fields is one of those beings, who, though they bear the external marks of humanity, have very little of the real character in their soul. And so you’ll say when I tell you, that upon seeing a trifling injury done to his property, he was abusive, and savage to a great degree.”

Ate ham and chicken and drank a bottle of wine in the air with Biggin. They threw the bottle overboard.

After landing near Harrow, the locals threw a party for her while Mr. Biggin was busy getting the balloon sent back to London. Having partied and dined and received “many flattering attentions” and given the local girls some of her possessions, she set off home for London.

Published her account of the flight, which was wildly popular.

Was a costumer at various theatres during her regular life and played Lady Macbeth at Covent Garden Theatre.

And, to reiterate, wore a really cool hat that one time.

[laurazukerman-blog]

Henry Cavendish

Henry Cavendish (1731–1810) was a prominent English natural philosopher and scientist, recognized as one of the foremost experimental and theoretical chemists and physicists of his time. Born in Nice, France, he was the son of Lord Charles Cavendish and Lady Anne de Grey. He studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge, but left without graduating. Cavendish is best known for his discovery of hydrogen,…