No cookies :(

Gaps gaps at triumf.ca
Wed Jan 15 13:20:35 PST 2020


Hi All,

There may not be any cookies today, but we can't let you go without your weekly science quote! So enjoy this appropriately themed quote from Nikola Tesla on his fascination with electricity.

"Now, I must tell you of a strange experience which bore fruit in my later life. We had a cold snap drier that ever observed before. People walking in the snow left a luminous trail behind them and a snowball thrown against an obstacle gave a flare of light like a loaf of sugar hit with a knife. As I stroked Macak's (his cat) back, it became a sheet of light and my hand produced a shower of sparks. My father remarked, 'this is nothing but electricity, the same thing you see on the trees in a storm.' My mother seemed alarmed. 'Stop playing with the cat,' she said, 'he might start a fire.' I was thinking abstractly. Is nature a cat? If so, who strokes its back? It can only be God, I concluded.

I cannot exaggerate the effect of this marvelous sight on my childish imagination. Day after day I asked myself what is electricity and found no answer. Eighty years have gone by since and I still ask the same question, unable to answer it."
     - Nikola Tesla

So if you're out in the snow (safely) or stroking any cats today, keep an eye out - you never know what fascinating discovery might be lurking in plain sight!

- Your GAPS
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.triumf.ca/pipermail/postdocs/attachments/20200115/ce51b516/attachment.html>


More information about the postdocs mailing list