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It looks like a crystal ball, which it is, but this is a 19th century invention to record the amount of sunshine, called the Campbell-Stokes Sunshine Recorder.
It was invented in 1853 by the Scottish Gaelic scholar Iain Òg Ìle, known in English as John Francis Campell. Perhaps unsurprisingly he was also the Secretary to the Lighthouse Commission at the time. It was adapted and improved in 1879 by Sir George Gabriel Stokes (pictured left) a Cambridge University based physicist and mathematician known for his work in fluid dynamics, mathematical physics and, importantly, optics. As president of the Royal Society and Commission he also investigated the causes of railway disasters during that period.
Campbell’s idea was straightforward but brilliant. A glass sphere would be placed in to a wooden bowl. The sun would burn a trace on the bowl as it the earth circled it – the above is a picture of the original now housed at the Science Museum in London. It worked and would measure the amount of sunshine in a single day with some accuracy. The downside, obviously, was the number of bowls which would have to be used to collect a significant amount of data – a year’s worth for example.
There are other versions of this simple device in use around the world. See pictures of them at Kuriositas. Link -via the Presurfer
(Image credit: Flickr user Science Museum London)
For kids with xeroderma pigmentosum, sunshine is deadly. UV rays cause them to develop cancerous tumors. They stay inside and covered, except for rare occasions late at night. Patients travel to Camp Sundown in New York to meet others with the condition and enjoy activities designed to accommodate their needs. This year, those activities included a major league baseball game at Yankee Stadium.
Because they couldn’t leave until the sun was almost down, and because it was a three-hour drive, they knew they’d be able to see only the last couple of innings of the game. But then it rained, causing a more-than-two-hour rain delay. While the rest of the crowd cursed, the campers rejoiced. How lucky can you get? The bus arrived just before the first pitch. “It was almost like the game was waiting for them to show up,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said. “That kind of gave us goosebumps.”
To get the kids out of the bus and into their VIP suite for the game, Yankees media-relations director Jason Zillo — the man who dreamed up the whole night — had to take them on a rat’s route of back staircases and tunnels to avoid any fluorescent lights. After the Yankees beat the A’s 6-3, the stadium lights had to be dimmed to 30 percent. Once they were, all the kids came running onto the field with smiles that could’ve lit up the Bronx.
“It’s cool to be part of this,” said [Yankee player A.J.] Burnett, whom Zillo forced to leave at 3:15. “And it’s kind of mind-boggling. I can’t imagine if I couldn’t take my children outside.”
The Yankees partied and played baseball with the campers until they had to leave at 3:30 AM to beat the sunrise. Link -via YesButNoButYes
Don’t you hate it when your vacation is spoiled by rain? Now, there’s something you can do about it: buy a bad weather insurance …
The insurance policy, launched by holiday groups Pierre et Vacances and FranceLoc, will allow holiday-makers to claim back part of the cost of their trip if they suffer at least four days of rain in any one week.
"Aon France allows Pierre & Vacances to propose its clients with automatic reimbursement for part of their stay…if weather conditions don’t meet expectations," the holiday group said in a statement.
Aon France will use satellite photos obtained by the French weather bureau to calculate how much money subcribers should receive.
