David J. Kent's Blog, page 45

Reflections of a Science Traveler

Today marks the fourth anniversary of resigning my consulting job to pursue a career science traveling. Recently I caught up with a former colleague who still works at the old firm. We hadn’t spoken in a long time so she … Continue reading →

Abraham Lincoln and the Smithsonian Institution

Joseph Henry was not initially impressed with Abraham Lincoln. Barely a month after Lincoln settled into his new office in “that big white house,” the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution made his introductory visit. Henry’s inherent misgivings about the … Continue reading →

Buenos Aires, Charles Darwin, and the Giant Ground Sloths

I’m currently working on a travel memoir of a recent trip to Patagonia. Our first stop was Buenos Aires, where we toured the opera house, visited the cemetery (trust me, it’s the thing to do), and dreamed about Darwin and … Continue reading →

Big News for Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity

Nikola Tesla was an eccentric genius that was born just before the U.S. Civil War and died in the middle of World War II. Since its release, my book, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity, has been a big reason nearly … Continue reading →

Thomas Edison and the Total Solar Eclipse of 1878

Thomas Edison invented just about everything, or at least got credit for much of it. He even was involved in a total solar eclipse in 1878. Edison had developed a tasimeter to measure infrared radiation, and he wanted to use … Continue reading →

Win a Free Copy of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America

You now have a second chance to win a copy of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America on Gooreads. I’ll even sign it for you. Entering is simple: Go here and scroll down to the “Win a Copy of this … Continue reading →

Abraham Lincoln – The Dogmas of the Quiet Past are Inadequate for the Stormy Present

In December 1862 President Abraham Lincoln was in the midst of a Civil War, his Emancipation Proclamation was due to take effect in a few weeks, and he was struggling to maintain some sense of our national meaning. What he … Continue reading →

How a Cat Helped Nikola Tesla Discover Electric Current

One of the most important events of Nikola Tesla’s youth relates to Tesla’s childhood cat Mačak. As Tesla writes in a letter to a friend’s daughter, at one point during a cold snowy day Tesla “felt impelled to stroke Mačak’s … Continue reading →

Should the 1864 Election be Postponed?

A shocking poll conducted in June 2017 found that more than half of Republicans (52%) said they would support “a postponement of the next election if Trump called for it.” Such a postponement would be anti-American and unprecedented. Indeed, during … Continue reading →

Chasing Thor Heyerdahl and the Kon-Tiki Raft

Today (August 7, 2017) marks the 70th anniversary of Thor Heyerdahl’s amazing 4300-mile, 101-day sailing of a balsa wood raft named Kon-Tiki from Peru to an island near Tahiti. And I got to see Kon-Tiki in Oslo recently. Heyerdahl was … Continue reading →