Historical Events tagged with "spectroscopy"

Turns out history loves a label—battles, breakthroughs, and the occasional disaster, all neatly tagged for your browsing pleasure. Because sometimes you just need every weird invention in one place.

Space Exploration

Discovery of Hottest White Dwarf Recorded

January 27th, 2011 14 years ago

Within the constellation Ursa Minor, astronomers documented H1504+65, a white dwarf featuring the hottest known surface temperature in the universe, reaching an astonishing 200,000 K. This extreme temperature challenges existing theories about stellar evolution and provides insights into the lifecycle of stars. The findings were communicated through various astronomical journals and have sparked ongoing research into the properties of white dwarfs.

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Space Exploration

Pierre Janssen Discovers Helium in Solar Spectrum

August 18th, 1868 156 years ago

French astronomer Pierre Janssen, while observing the solar spectrum during a total solar eclipse in Guntur, India, discovered a new element. Upon analyzing the light emitted by the sun, he identified a spectral line that did not correspond to any known element at the time, which was later confirmed to be helium. This unexpected discovery was significant, expanding our understanding of elemental composition in celestial bodies.

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Science & Technology

Sir William Crookes Discovers Thallium

March 30th, 1861 163 years ago

In 1861, Sir William Crookes announced the discovery of thallium, a new chemical element. He identified it through his studies of uranium minerals, utilizing a spectroscope to analyze the emitted light and detect the unique spectral line characteristic of this element. Crookes's meticulous experimentation led him to isolate thallium, which he named after the Greek word for green, 'thallos', reflecting the bright green line in its spectrum. This discovery expanded the periodic table and contributed to the field of chemistry.

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