1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, 4 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Humans are curious by nature. We're driven to 7 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:42,920 Speaker 1: explore our world and challenge what we know about our existence. 8 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: Through the centuries, we've charted lands and oceans. We've invented 9 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,240 Speaker 1: and built a wide array of transportation methods to take 10 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: us too far away places, and not just horizontal travel. 11 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty three, two men reached the summit of 12 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: Mount Everest, and in recent years we sent humans in 13 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: submersibles through the Pacific Oceans, Mariana Trench, and then there's space. 14 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: We've been to the Moon and landed probes on Mars. 15 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 1: Despite the jokes, the moon is not made of cheese, 16 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: although the ancient Greeks did exile a philosopher for believing 17 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:19,680 Speaker 1: the Moon was just a giant rock and not a god, 18 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: which reminds me we've believed a lot of crazy things 19 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: about the Earth over the years, and it's taken centuries 20 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:28,960 Speaker 1: to dispel a lot of those notions. But in early 21 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,480 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds of America, we were still exploring and had 22 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: a lot of questions. Curiosity is a good thing, after all. 23 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: Captain John Cleaves Simes, Jr. Was a military captain who 24 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,039 Speaker 1: had served in the War of eighteen twelve. He was 25 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: well educated and well read, but of all the subjects 26 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:49,920 Speaker 1: he had studied, the one that interested him the most 27 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 1: was the Earth. He wasn't a scientist by any means, 28 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:56,960 Speaker 1: although he had a few theories about our planet and 29 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: he thought we should explore them. He published a Pamplet's 30 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: explaining his theories in detail, and had five hundred copies made. 31 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: Then he toured the United States and handed them out 32 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: to scientists and politicians during his lectures. His theories were 33 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 1: met with plenty of skepticism, and he turned to his 34 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: societal connections to give him some credibility. He held a 35 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: fundraiser for an expedition to the North Pole. If there 36 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:24,399 Speaker 1: was proper funding, he proposed explorers would bring back all 37 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: the proof necessary to back up his claims, and soon 38 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 1: enough he caught the attention of one politician in particular, 39 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:33,279 Speaker 1: who had enough power to make his dream of exploration 40 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: a reality, President John Quincy Adams. During his presidency, Adams 41 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: established the Naval Observatory in Washington, d c. Which had 42 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:46,080 Speaker 1: drawn considerable ridicule. He had also been instrumental in establishing 43 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:50,080 Speaker 1: the Smithsonian Institute. John Quincy was the eldest son of 44 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: John Adams, the second President of the United States. Considered 45 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: highly intelligence, he had attended top schools all over Europe, 46 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: eventually earning ad mission at Harvard, where he situated at 47 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,080 Speaker 1: the top of his class. And as a side note, 48 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:07,360 Speaker 1: Adams also loved to skinny dip and regularly swam nude 49 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:10,959 Speaker 1: in the Potomac River. It has no connection to our story, 50 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:13,680 Speaker 1: but if that little fact has to live inside my head, 51 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:17,720 Speaker 1: it gets to live inside yours as well. Like Simes, 52 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: Adams loved the thrill of discovery and presented the project 53 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: to Congress, but Congress didn't see the value in spending 54 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: taxpayer dollars for such an endeavor, calling it ludicrous. At 55 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 1: the time, though presidents didn't need as much approval, and 56 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: Adams overrode Congress and back simes proposal anyway. Simes believed 57 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: that the North and South Poles had deep caves and 58 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: he wanted to explore them. He estimated that one men 59 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: would be sufficient to carry out the study. At the time, 60 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: no one knew what minerals or metals they might find 61 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 1: along the way. But jun Quincy Adams didn't remain in 62 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: office long, just one term. The next President, Andrew Jackson, 63 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: had agreed with Congress that simes theories were ridiculous, and 64 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: once he was an power he immediately canceled the project. 65 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 1: By then, however, Sim's health had begun to fail and 66 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: he was never able to garner attention for his theories. Again, 67 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: well that's not exactly true. He may have inspired science 68 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:17,719 Speaker 1: fiction writers years later, and what exploration had the sixth 69 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 1: President of the United States authorized a journey to the 70 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:24,719 Speaker 1: center of the Earth. You see, while both Symmes and 71 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: Adams knew the Earth was round, they also believed that 72 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: it was hollow. When we think of brilliant minds, we 73 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:46,719 Speaker 1: think of people like Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, and 74 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,840 Speaker 1: Alan Turing, innovators who changed art, science, and every other 75 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: way we understand our world. One mind, however, stands out 76 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: as one of the greatest in his field. Albert Einstein 77 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: was a man who was widely considered one of the 78 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:04,240 Speaker 1: most brilliant physicists who have ever lived. Just a mention 79 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:06,279 Speaker 1: of his name and one cannot help but think of 80 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: his theory of relativity. He equals mc squared, an equation 81 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: that everyone knows, but few actually understand. However, Einstein did 82 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: quite a bit of work before that. One of his 83 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: earliest papers was written on the topic of capillary action. 84 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:25,480 Speaker 1: Anyone who has dipped a washcloth into a puddle of 85 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: water and watched the liquid creep upward has witnessed capillarity. 86 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 1: It's also called wicking, name for what happens when hot 87 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:36,200 Speaker 1: wax moved toward a lit candle. Wick Einstein's article on 88 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:39,120 Speaker 1: it was published in nineteen o one, and it explained 89 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: his theory that a force like gravity was what attracted 90 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:45,599 Speaker 1: the water molecules up the sides of a tube. Unfortunately, 91 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,719 Speaker 1: his paper wasn't accurate, but it did set the stage 92 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:52,839 Speaker 1: for a breakthrough yet to come. Later. In nineteen oh five, 93 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:55,880 Speaker 1: Einstein t hackled the concept that had stumped English botanist 94 00:05:55,960 --> 00:06:00,280 Speaker 1: Robert Brown a few decades earlier. Back in seven, Round 95 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: had placed to drop of dust filled water beneath his 96 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:06,279 Speaker 1: microscope and noticed something odd. The bits of dust in 97 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 1: the droplet were moving all over the place, shivering randomly. 98 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,719 Speaker 1: It wasn't until Einstein revisited Brown's observations for his own 99 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: paper that he found an explanation. The dust wasn't shaking 100 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: on its own. It was being pushed around the water 101 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:24,080 Speaker 1: by molecules that were invisible to the naked eye. Though 102 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,440 Speaker 1: the molecules would jostle the dust grains on all sides 103 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:30,360 Speaker 1: equally most of the time, they could also bump them 104 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 1: from one side without warning, sending them careening elsewhere. And 105 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:37,159 Speaker 1: although it was Einstein who had uncovered the truth, today 106 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:41,160 Speaker 1: the concept is known as Brownie in motion. But Einstein 107 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 1: didn't sit still. He continued to research and analyze for 108 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: the next fifty years. For example, in nineteen seventeen, he'd 109 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:52,040 Speaker 1: been theorizing about something he called spontaneous emission. It was 110 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:55,040 Speaker 1: a phenomenon that occurred when an atom charged with photons 111 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 1: left its high energy state by emitting those photons, which 112 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: dropped into a low energy state. The process also worked 113 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 1: the other way around, too, with low energy atoms absorbing 114 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:09,479 Speaker 1: photons to advance to a higher energy state. But Einstein 115 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 1: had a problem. He wanted to accurately calculate the kind 116 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: of radiation these atoms gave off, but other physicists were 117 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:19,720 Speaker 1: finding vastly different results in their own experiments. So Einstein 118 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,240 Speaker 1: went back to the drawing board. He looked at his 119 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: formulas and hypothesized that photons moved together when they were 120 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: in the same state. If the photons traveled in one formation, 121 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: then a high energy atom would emit its own photon 122 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 1: in the same direction. That had been the missing piece 123 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: of the puzzle, and so Einstein changed his theory from 124 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: spontaneous emission to stimulated emission. Thirty years later, when physicists 125 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: used mirrors to reflect a stream of photons, they called 126 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:52,200 Speaker 1: their discovery this light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation 127 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 1: in honor of Einstein's paper, But that name was just 128 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: too long for normal conversation, so they simply shortened it 129 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: to laser, and those lasers are now used in military weapons, 130 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:08,120 Speaker 1: DVD players, and even toys that we can annoy our 131 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:12,080 Speaker 1: cats with. As for his work on Brownie and motion, well, 132 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:15,360 Speaker 1: it's been used to analyze how stock market prices change 133 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,679 Speaker 1: over time and to predict the performance of markets around 134 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:22,000 Speaker 1: the world, and six years after publishing his article on 135 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 1: capillary action, it found its own real world application. A 136 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 1: company from Pennsylvania had been looking for an alternative to 137 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: cloth towels, which often became home to mold and disease 138 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 1: from frequent use. What the company eventually produced was disposable, inexpensive, 139 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:43,520 Speaker 1: and absorbent. The Scott Paper Company unveiled their new paper 140 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:47,679 Speaker 1: towels in nineteen o seven, and ever since, Einstein's theory 141 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: of capillarity is used every time someone needs to clean 142 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:55,440 Speaker 1: up a big spill. Sure, Albert Einstein knew a lot 143 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:58,560 Speaker 1: about the speed of light and theoretical physics, but he 144 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:02,080 Speaker 1: also contributed to some of the most important scientific discoveries 145 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:04,840 Speaker 1: in history. He may well have run into a few 146 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 1: bumps along the way, but he wasn't the kind of 147 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:11,200 Speaker 1: guy to cry over spilt milk, because if he did, 148 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: he knew he had the perfect tool to mop it 149 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 1: right up. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of 150 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 151 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:27,960 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 152 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:32,199 Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky 153 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:35,760 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works, I make another award 154 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:39,319 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, 155 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:42,000 Speaker 1: and television show and you can learn all about it 156 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:45,640 Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until 157 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.