1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always 3 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:35,240 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. Uh my name is Ben. 4 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: I am not currently an astronaut. Just gotta get that 5 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: out there in the front. What about the rest of 6 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:46,640 Speaker 1: us in the astronauts. I mean, I've always had astronautical aspirations. 7 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 1: I'm an aspirational astronaut. I like that. Uh my name 8 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: is Noel as well, by the way, I like that. 9 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: No years ago, folks, just a quick peet behind the curtain, Uh, Nolan, 10 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: I and one of our colleagues were talking about space 11 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: Camp and no you you always wanted to go to 12 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: space Camp? Right? Oh? I mean, I guess if you're 13 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:12,200 Speaker 1: gonna bring up this sore, sad memory, you know, I 14 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 1: think we all, everybody of our generation probably grew up watching, like, 15 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:19,680 Speaker 1: you know, shows like Double There and nick Arcade, you know, 16 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: or some quiz show on Nickelodeon where the ultimate prize 17 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 1: was a trip to space Camp. That's right, You're you're 18 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:31,680 Speaker 1: so right. I forgot about that. Super producer Casey Pegram, 19 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: I don't know whether we've talked about this on air. 20 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: Were you were you a space camp kid. Did you 21 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: want to go? Did you go? I did, in fact 22 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 1: go to space camp in uh in Alabama, and um, 23 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:45,399 Speaker 1: it was okay, I don't I don't think you missed 24 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: that much. No yet, but you know, I mean it 25 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: was fun. But it lasted for like a week. Um, yeah, 26 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: I don't. I don't have any like lasting, like amazing 27 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: memories from it, to be honest. Well, then I guess 28 00:01:57,800 --> 00:01:59,919 Speaker 1: you didn't work hard enough to get to the zero 29 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: G chamber. Casey, maybe I don't know if they had 30 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: that when I was there today? Was that was that 31 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: a thing that they would hype up on? Yes? It was, 32 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: and I clearly do not think it was an actual 33 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:12,520 Speaker 1: thing unless you can speak otherwise, ben Uh, they you know, 34 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: zero G chamber would be super expensive. It would be 35 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:21,239 Speaker 1: like it would literally be uh cheaper to just have 36 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: one of those inside wind tunnels, you know what I 37 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: mean for indoor skydiving. But if I'm not mistaken, weren't 38 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 1: the kids in the space Camp commercials like literally floating 39 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,079 Speaker 1: around and stuff. I believe you are correct. I think 40 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: that's true. I remember, I mean, I know they had like, 41 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: you know, the old classic gyroscope that's a you know, 42 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,640 Speaker 1: good old go to training thing. I guess for being 43 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: in a semi waitless state. I did, though, to be fair, 44 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: work at a science center for a time and I 45 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:52,400 Speaker 1: could ride the gyroscope is as much as I wanted. 46 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:57,639 Speaker 1: So nice, nice, It's different at the top, I hear. So, 47 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 1: why are we talking about space Camp? Why we're talking 48 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:06,440 Speaker 1: about astronauts. Well, we know that space Camp was a 49 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:11,919 Speaker 1: very successful endeavor to raise awareness amongst children about the 50 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: possibility of exploring space, of of reaching beyond the bounds 51 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: of Earth. Turns out, the idea of exploring space is, 52 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: of course, very very old. Today's episode, which may be 53 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: the first of a two parter, is about a guy 54 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: who may not have heard of, who tried to launch 55 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: his own space program way back in the seventeenth century. 56 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: His name John Wilkins. John Wilkins, a name that may 57 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 1: have been largely lost to history, especially, you know, given 58 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:49,520 Speaker 1: the reputation of folks like Galileo and copernicust names that 59 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: will live on. However, John Wilkins not as much of 60 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: a household dame as those folks. Albert Einstein, you know 61 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:58,760 Speaker 1: the guy. You know, that guy, John Wilkins not so much, 62 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: but let's give let's give you guys an introduction to 63 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 1: this uh forgotten hero of science. Um. He was a theologian. 64 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:09,920 Speaker 1: He considered himself a natural philosopher. He was born in 65 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:17,279 Speaker 1: sixteen fourteen UM and he actually married Oliver Cromwell's youngest sister, Robina, 66 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: which seems like a lot of pressure. Cromwell was not 67 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 1: particularly friendly fellow, if I'm not mistaken. Kind of an 68 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,920 Speaker 1: intense dude, from from what we understand, kind of an 69 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:31,040 Speaker 1: intense dude. Uh, you're you're right. Though he was he 70 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 1: was high up. He was a learned intellectual for the time. 71 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: He was connected to society, as many learned intellectuals were 72 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:43,359 Speaker 1: in this era. Was born in sixteen fourteen. Uh. He 73 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:48,280 Speaker 1: was a polymath, and he would go on to become 74 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:52,719 Speaker 1: one of the founders of the Royal Society. He also 75 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,480 Speaker 1: was a writer, and in some of his books he 76 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:02,160 Speaker 1: explored the possibility of carrying human beings to the Moon. 77 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: Like a lot of people in the world at this time, 78 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:08,599 Speaker 1: he believed that the Moon and the other planets in 79 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: the Solar System were inhabited, and he was like, we 80 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: should meet these people, Why hang out with them? Oh? Totally, 81 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: And he had a really optimistic view of how this 82 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: might work logistically. Uh. He envisioned a world where you 83 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 1: could literally sail to the Moon using what he would 84 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 1: call something I'm gonna call it this, but something along 85 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,600 Speaker 1: the lines of space chariots. He would prefer to orm 86 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,800 Speaker 1: as a flying chariot. But his notion of of of 87 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:36,240 Speaker 1: how this might work was that if you could just 88 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 1: get twenty miles above the Earth surface, uh, then you 89 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: would enter a zone where you could fly freely or 90 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 1: sail using the space chariot through space. Breathing wouldn't be 91 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: a problem, no worries. The astronauts would soon grow accustomed 92 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: to this pure, literally rarefied air, the likes of which 93 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:02,520 Speaker 1: was breathed by angels, which I also I gotta I 94 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:07,280 Speaker 1: gotta say I love throughout history the kind of crossover 95 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: between the idea of angels and extraterrestrials. Sure, yeah, I 96 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:15,800 Speaker 1: think we've I've mentioned this on on other shows in 97 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:20,240 Speaker 1: the past. But there's from a folklore perspective, there's this 98 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: incredible tradition of phrasing the same sort of story through 99 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 1: different cultural perspectives, Right, Like if you look at alien 100 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 1: abduction stories in the I don't know um in the 101 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:38,680 Speaker 1: twentieth century on. They have a ton in common with 102 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:42,919 Speaker 1: the older stories of people like encountering change Lands or 103 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: the Fay or you know, Rip van Winkle is pretty 104 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: much a UFO story. It's just phrased in the language 105 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: of the time. And it also has a weird emphasis 106 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:58,479 Speaker 1: on bowling. I think instead of getting probed by aliens, 107 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:01,159 Speaker 1: he goes bowling with these magic people who wakes up 108 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:04,560 Speaker 1: seven years later. That's exactly right. And and he you know, 109 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:07,599 Speaker 1: this all wasn't only within the conceptual realm. He did 110 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: actually attempt to build flying machines with Robert Hook, a 111 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: fellow enthusiast. Uh. And they would do this in the 112 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:19,040 Speaker 1: gardens of Wadham College and Oxford in the sixteen fifties. 113 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,560 Speaker 1: But you know, as time progressed, he began to understand 114 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: a little bit more of how this stuff worked. That 115 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:28,120 Speaker 1: it was, you know, the idea of a vacuum existing 116 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 1: in space. Uh, kind of throw a wrench in the works, 117 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: at least in terms of the like magical proposition of 118 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,680 Speaker 1: just gliding and sort of tippy toeing around space and 119 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: breathing in that angel air. Um. But he did this 120 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: didn't stop him right. No, yeah, you're right, and not 121 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:46,120 Speaker 1: at all. I just I love the picture of this 122 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,360 Speaker 1: guy and he was Again, we kind of emphasize this enough. 123 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: He was a very intelligent person. He was one of 124 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: the few people who in that time who attended both 125 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: Cambridge and Oxford. Like. He wasn't a blockhead, is what 126 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:02,960 Speaker 1: we're saying. Uh. He did continue in his explorations. I 127 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:07,280 Speaker 1: love the moment though, where he says, huh, maybe going 128 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 1: to the moon is a little more complicated than I thought. Uh. 129 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: He also he also had his ups and downs, and 130 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 1: he had his ups and downs in earth life. His 131 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: connections to Cromwell eventually reduced him to poverty when the 132 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: when the monarchy returned, but he eventually weathered the storm 133 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: and would end up as a Bishop of Chester before 134 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,960 Speaker 1: his demise. So nowadays, we're gonna look at some weird 135 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,680 Speaker 1: stuff in today's show. Nowadays, his ideas might seem really 136 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:47,680 Speaker 1: out there, but we have to understand he was one 137 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:52,680 Speaker 1: of the first people to really consider this in what 138 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 1: at the time was a practical way. I'm really being 139 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:57,680 Speaker 1: careful with that. I don't want to dunk on the guy, 140 00:08:57,800 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I don't want to dunk 141 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: on him yet. So it's true, we've all been dreaming 142 00:09:02,559 --> 00:09:06,959 Speaker 1: about space travel for centuries and centuries and centuries. Uh. 143 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:12,680 Speaker 1: The idea of reaching out to the moon or exploring 144 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 1: that distant surface, uh probably predates written history, and we've 145 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:21,440 Speaker 1: It's weird when you think about it, we've only traveled 146 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:25,320 Speaker 1: to space in the last century. But if you look 147 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:28,200 Speaker 1: back through the historical record, in the second century, a 148 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:33,200 Speaker 1: d True History by Lucian, which is a parody of 149 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: travel tales, was already thinking, hey, what if what if 150 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 1: people ended up on the moon? We've been thinking about 151 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:44,720 Speaker 1: it for a long, long, long time. Yeah. For example, 152 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 1: you see it in in pop culture, or at least 153 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:49,199 Speaker 1: the earliest forms of pop culture, like the what is 154 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:51,760 Speaker 1: the case the Voyage to the Moon by I believe 155 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:54,920 Speaker 1: George Meliez that's right, and then of course the Smashing 156 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:59,679 Speaker 1: Pumpkins video that basically tonight Tonight Baby. But I mean 157 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:04,679 Speaker 1: that kind of fantastical imagery is not far off from 158 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:07,440 Speaker 1: the types of sketches that we see Wilkins doing. Like 159 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: a lot of this stuff like these, like space chariots, 160 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: are the kinds of stuff you would think of in 161 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:15,520 Speaker 1: terms of like almost a Jules Verne approach to space travel. 162 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:18,600 Speaker 1: You know, yeah, absolutely, And we have to remember too, 163 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:25,199 Speaker 1: in Wilkins time, there were there was this fascination with 164 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 1: exploration in general, at least for Europeans. You know, folks 165 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:34,400 Speaker 1: were folks were very much tuned in to the earlier 166 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 1: explorations of Christopher Columbus and Magellan and Francis Drake, their 167 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:44,160 Speaker 1: discoveries of the well, they're quote unquote discoveries of these 168 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: new distant lands. So it's it's kind of like a 169 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:51,680 Speaker 1: it's like a situation where you say, Wow, their entire 170 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:55,680 Speaker 1: other continents on this planet that we didn't know about. 171 00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 1: Why stop there? What's going on in the moon. If 172 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 1: we can get across the Atlantic Ocean, surely we can 173 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: get twenty miles into the air and then sail away 174 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:11,680 Speaker 1: to the moon. Uh, this is this would prove to 175 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:14,640 Speaker 1: be incorrect. Certainly would be incorrect. And again, you know, 176 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:17,360 Speaker 1: we we kind of indicated that once he got the 177 00:11:17,559 --> 00:11:19,760 Speaker 1: drift of the idea of a vacuum, that they sort 178 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:23,400 Speaker 1: of had to you know, recalculate a bit. But um, 179 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:27,120 Speaker 1: let's let's take it back. So the scientific advances of 180 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:33,439 Speaker 1: the Jacobean era. Um, it was an important time where 181 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:35,880 Speaker 1: you know, you did see a lot of improvement beyond 182 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:40,520 Speaker 1: of actual practical execution of science. You did have folks 183 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 1: like Galileo making these incredible discoveries in astronomy using only 184 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:51,320 Speaker 1: relatively recently invented telescope technology that came in sixteen ten. Uh. 185 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 1: He was able to actually pinpoint and observe these celestial 186 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:58,040 Speaker 1: bodies and much more detail uh than anyone had been 187 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:00,120 Speaker 1: able to do up to that point. And then you 188 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:04,160 Speaker 1: have the Royal physician Dr William Harvey, who found ways 189 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 1: of exploring the human body and the human circulatory system 190 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 1: and described how the circulation of blood around the bodies 191 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,840 Speaker 1: of living creatures actually worked. Now it's in six so 192 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:19,000 Speaker 1: there was there was a lot of innovation happening, things 193 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:24,720 Speaker 1: like mechanical clocks and gunpowder and magnetic compasses and telescopes. 194 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 1: A lot of these things clearly were focused on this, 195 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:37,640 Speaker 1: you know, absolute obsession with exploration. This is a great 196 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:41,720 Speaker 1: time for gadgets. This is like an era of amazing 197 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:47,680 Speaker 1: cool technology. We're talking mechanical clocks. So say goodbye to 198 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:51,080 Speaker 1: that candle with the nails stuck in it, which I 199 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:54,319 Speaker 1: still think was a very mcgever like cool invention. Uh. 200 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:58,040 Speaker 1: Say hello to telescope, Say hello to gunpowder, which will 201 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:01,000 Speaker 1: go on to ruin the world. Uh. And magnetic compass, 202 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:04,400 Speaker 1: which is immensely useful. All of this, all of this 203 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 1: stuff is happening and people are feeling energized by it. 204 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:13,600 Speaker 1: There we can now say to ourselves the world is 205 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 1: both understandable and worth understanding. We can use a critical 206 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:26,200 Speaker 1: thinking approach to answer questions, maybe more importantly, to find 207 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,440 Speaker 1: out which questions to ask, and then we can maybe 208 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 1: bring about a new age for humanity overall. I mean, 209 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 1: like I think about that all the time, you know, 210 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:41,600 Speaker 1: like history sometimes appears for the people living in it 211 00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:45,360 Speaker 1: to be a time of stasis, right a time of 212 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:50,920 Speaker 1: of constant institutions, a time of constant existing inventions and 213 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:56,560 Speaker 1: social morays. But we have to remember it's eternally changing, 214 00:13:56,679 --> 00:14:00,960 Speaker 1: and we're all very privileged, I would say, right now overall, 215 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,720 Speaker 1: to live in a time where there are already so 216 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:08,640 Speaker 1: many scientific breakthroughs. There are people as we record the 217 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:12,600 Speaker 1: podcast today, there are people right now who are doing 218 00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:15,640 Speaker 1: stuff that was once relegated to the realm of science fiction. 219 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:21,000 Speaker 1: And this era in which Wilkins exists is very similar 220 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: they're discovering. Like it wasn't too long ago that someone said, hey, 221 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:28,640 Speaker 1: we found a continent and people are like, oh, that's crazy, 222 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:31,160 Speaker 1: really what you do. And they're like, well, you know 223 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:33,360 Speaker 1: how maps are. We just sort of went left for 224 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 1: a while, and we think if you go right far enough, 225 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:39,480 Speaker 1: you might end up in the same place. That is 226 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:43,680 Speaker 1: so cool, so end rant about how how cool it 227 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: is to be human and to discover things. Uh, back 228 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:50,960 Speaker 1: to what you said about Galileo. So, like you said, 229 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:55,880 Speaker 1: Noel in January, he first looked at the Moon through 230 00:14:55,920 --> 00:15:00,280 Speaker 1: the telescope right, which was a very new piece of technology, cheat, 231 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:04,000 Speaker 1: and he was dumbfounded. He was like, this looks like 232 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:08,680 Speaker 1: a world of some sort. And the reason you realize 233 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: that is because you know, most of the time if 234 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 1: you look at the moon with the unaided or naked eye. Sorry, 235 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:17,560 Speaker 1: off my goes think of that naked eye, I saw 236 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: good naked Yeah. Okay, wait, so let's keep that part 237 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 1: in it that it was great. So so he he 238 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:30,360 Speaker 1: looks at the moon, and if you look at the 239 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:34,080 Speaker 1: moon without the aid of a telescope, unless you have 240 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: superhuman vision, you're gonna see, like, um, something that could 241 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:41,000 Speaker 1: be arguably described as a face, you're going to see 242 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:44,520 Speaker 1: a circle or a crescent. But what happens if you 243 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:47,000 Speaker 1: look at it through a telescope? Well, first of all, 244 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: work to the wise. Don't look at the moon too 245 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 1: long because it will literally burn your eyes out of 246 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:56,000 Speaker 1: your sockets. Okay, in case you didn't know, I'm obviously kidding. 247 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:58,320 Speaker 1: But no, you look through the moon with the telescope 248 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 1: and you start to see craters, You start to see 249 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:03,840 Speaker 1: like real surface features. I mean, how cool is that 250 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:07,720 Speaker 1: that somebody just using lenses and like tubes and metal 251 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 1: and uh, you know, craftsmanship gears, you know, was able 252 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 1: to build a thing that would let you see that 253 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:18,600 Speaker 1: far out into space and in meaningful ways. Like literally 254 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:21,800 Speaker 1: was like, okay, what the hell are these things? They're 255 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:26,520 Speaker 1: clearly not just magical celestial space discs, Like there's whole 256 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 1: geographical features and and perhaps they could even sustain life. 257 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 1: Obviously they didn't have the tech to go much further 258 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:37,080 Speaker 1: than that, but it was powerful enough technology to raise 259 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:40,720 Speaker 1: some very important questions that would further the scientific exploration 260 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,640 Speaker 1: of these things. Yeah, well said, now, did Galileo get 261 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:50,440 Speaker 1: everything right automatically? Nobody ever does? Yeah, Yeah, I hate 262 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: to see him early on. I mean, like you gotta 263 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 1: you gotta break a few eggs, you know, and then 264 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:58,760 Speaker 1: you gotta appreciate the ability to kind of like learn 265 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,280 Speaker 1: what you don't know. And but but again, some of 266 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:05,480 Speaker 1: these folks would die on many hills. But I will 267 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:09,239 Speaker 1: say this about Wilkins. He was able to admit when 268 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:12,920 Speaker 1: he learned something that he was wrong about and pivoted. Yeah, 269 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: that's true. That's a really good point, and it's something 270 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:20,639 Speaker 1: that is humbling for the individual, but tremendously important for 271 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:26,760 Speaker 1: society overall. I would argue, So here's what Galileo kind 272 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:29,119 Speaker 1: of got wrong in the beginning, Well, definitely got wrong. 273 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: He saw he saw some of these features on the Moon, 274 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,919 Speaker 1: and he went, holy smokes, those are oceans, those are seeds, 275 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 1: just like we have here on Earth. He even publishes 276 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:46,679 Speaker 1: some sketches of this in Starry Messenger. And then other people, 277 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:53,280 Speaker 1: of course, are touting astronomy, working in astronomy throughout throughout Europe, 278 00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:57,520 Speaker 1: and there are various discoveries of people like Galileo and 279 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:03,520 Speaker 1: Ben Johnson sparked an intellectual flame amidst other like minded intellectuals. 280 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 1: And again, as we said earlier, we have to remember 281 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: that science and religion were still kind of commingling, and 282 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:15,840 Speaker 1: sometimes they came came to blows. So it was a 283 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:19,679 Speaker 1: natural thing. Then, whether you are an Anglican clergyman like 284 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:23,399 Speaker 1: John Wilkins, or whether you are just a just a 285 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 1: regular Joe, it's natural to ask yourself if God made 286 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:30,280 Speaker 1: the moon, right, because God makes all things in this 287 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:33,119 Speaker 1: belief system, If God made the moon and made it 288 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:37,679 Speaker 1: a world, doesn't it naturally follow that God put intelligent life. 289 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:42,679 Speaker 1: They're just the same way that God put arguably intelligent 290 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:46,400 Speaker 1: life on Earth. That's still up for debate. I would say, 291 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:50,600 Speaker 1: And if those are, if those things exist, those beings exist, 292 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:56,600 Speaker 1: can we speak with them? The idea of the Jacobean 293 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 1: Space Program was focus on the concept of speaking to aliens. 294 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:05,960 Speaker 1: And this is where we find John Wilkins. He's twenty 295 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,160 Speaker 1: four years old. He is, in the parlance of our time, 296 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:15,160 Speaker 1: crushing it. He graduated Oxford University. He published a book 297 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:19,159 Speaker 1: in sixty eight called The Discovery of a New World. 298 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:23,520 Speaker 1: On the mean m O O N E. Is that 299 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: like an old English situation? What is that about? Yes? 300 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: But if I had I like, I like thinking that, 301 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:32,920 Speaker 1: He always pronounced it in like a snarky the way 302 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:35,920 Speaker 1: people say, actually a cocktail parties. I always like to 303 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:38,520 Speaker 1: picture him saying the discovery of the new world in 304 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:43,600 Speaker 1: the mean mean Yeah, yeah, it sounds kind of like 305 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:48,399 Speaker 1: a cartman kind of thing. Yeah it it did, you know, 306 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:52,000 Speaker 1: I guess what Galileo was known. But he this guy 307 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:53,840 Speaker 1: had a lot of pull because he was sort of 308 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:57,119 Speaker 1: a high society guy. Um, he was had bona fides 309 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:00,920 Speaker 1: from Oxford University, and so in his discovery of a 310 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 1: new world in the mean uh, he really made put 311 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:10,119 Speaker 1: Galileo's descriptions of the Moon as a solid uh and 312 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: ultimately habitable world in front of a lot of eyeballs. Wilkins, However, 313 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:19,800 Speaker 1: it was a Copernican. Copernicus, you'll remember, believe that the 314 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:24,480 Speaker 1: Earth revolved around the Sun, that heliocentric views, the Sun 315 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:28,760 Speaker 1: being the center of of the universe um and or 316 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:31,399 Speaker 1: of whatever the known area of the universe that was 317 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:35,480 Speaker 1: being examined at the time. UM. And he suggested that 318 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:40,560 Speaker 1: not only might the Moon be something that humans could 319 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:45,199 Speaker 1: eventually attain, you know, in terms of exploration, but also 320 00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:48,440 Speaker 1: that other planets might be on the table, uh to 321 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:52,280 Speaker 1: to visit and perhaps even colonized. So I mean that alone, 322 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,640 Speaker 1: given how little you know, functional ability to do any 323 00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:01,240 Speaker 1: of these things existed pretty forward thinking and definitely still 324 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:06,879 Speaker 1: top of mind for a lot of you know, space arts. Yes, yeah, exactly. 325 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:10,639 Speaker 1: Are you kidding? Uh, We're gonna one day take a 326 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,040 Speaker 1: week off and we're just gonna go to space camp. 327 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,440 Speaker 1: We will be the oldest kids there, but we will 328 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:18,880 Speaker 1: have a lot of fun. So let's talk about John 329 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:21,080 Speaker 1: a little bit. Let's talk about John. So we said, 330 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:24,359 Speaker 1: he's born in sixteen fourteen. He's a New Year's baby, 331 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:30,040 Speaker 1: born January one, uh in Cannon's Ashby, Northamptonshire. He is 332 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:33,720 Speaker 1: a graduate of Oxford. He's ordained as a priest in 333 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:38,760 Speaker 1: the Church of England and after that he travels across 334 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:44,119 Speaker 1: the United Kingdom. He goes to Germany to meet other scholars, 335 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:47,280 Speaker 1: other people who are researching this stuff, who are thinking 336 00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:51,639 Speaker 1: about it. He is nowadays considered one of the founders 337 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: or pre eminent voices of something known as natural theology. 338 00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: Natural theology is super important to everybody living to day 339 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:08,720 Speaker 1: because it was a theological practice that slowly accepted scientific accomplishments. 340 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:14,720 Speaker 1: They did not see the idea of learning and understanding 341 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:20,200 Speaker 1: the natural processes of reality as somehow heretical or anti religion, 342 00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:22,520 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Yeah, seemingly he got a 343 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:24,440 Speaker 1: pass from that. I don't know if it was because 344 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:28,920 Speaker 1: of his stature within you know, society or what. Uh 345 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:38,199 Speaker 1: it's it's it's still fascinating them. Here's the thing, science fiction. 346 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:42,040 Speaker 1: It's been around for a long time, and there was 347 00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:47,560 Speaker 1: contemporary science fiction that actually much like what we see today, 348 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:52,920 Speaker 1: even at times inspired some of wilkins ideas for space travel. Um. 349 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:57,440 Speaker 1: He was a ravenous consumer of science fiction, a big 350 00:22:57,480 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: fan of of Johannes Kepler's Somnia or the Dream from 351 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:05,360 Speaker 1: sixteen thirty four, which actually um kind of speculated on 352 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:08,359 Speaker 1: this very thing, this idea of humans being able to 353 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:13,879 Speaker 1: make that ultimate giant leap for mankind into space and um. 354 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:19,919 Speaker 1: When actually preparing much of the uh the manuscript for 355 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:25,520 Speaker 1: his second edition of the Discovery of the Mune, Wilkins 356 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:30,439 Speaker 1: also took inspiration from Francis Godwin's story The Man in 357 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:33,240 Speaker 1: the Mune. It's also spelled I guess that was just 358 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:36,119 Speaker 1: a popular spelling of it at the time, UM, and 359 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:39,399 Speaker 1: that came out in sixteen thirty eight. There's a character 360 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:43,960 Speaker 1: in that piece named Domingo Gonzalez, who is magically transported 361 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:47,439 Speaker 1: to the Moon in wait for it, a chariot that 362 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: is towed by a flock of geese. So space Yeah, no, 363 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:59,400 Speaker 1: thank you. Uh no, give me space unicorns any day. 364 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,600 Speaker 1: Uh uh yes, space ge sounds terrified? Did they shoot 365 00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:07,040 Speaker 1: lasers out of their weird little serrated teeth rimmed mouths? 366 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:11,800 Speaker 1: I don't want to know you home, it's true, or 367 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,640 Speaker 1: screamed as the space keys devour your flesh. But yeah, 368 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 1: in the seventeenth century, I mean, this was the height 369 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:23,000 Speaker 1: of really out there thinking science fiction, and Wilkins believed 370 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:28,320 Speaker 1: that it would not only be possible to travel to 371 00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 1: the Moon occasionally, but that it would be possible to 372 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 1: potentially habitate it and and colonize it and create the 373 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:42,720 Speaker 1: kinds of biodome scenarios that we're still toying with today. Um. 374 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:48,040 Speaker 1: The Moon was kind of the ultimate achievable space destination, 375 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,639 Speaker 1: simply because of its proximity to the Earth and and 376 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:55,240 Speaker 1: the fact that observably it seemed doable. You know, it 377 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,600 Speaker 1: didn't seem like you'd be close enough to the Sun 378 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:00,439 Speaker 1: to like burn up in a fire. Um, and seemed 379 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,359 Speaker 1: like it was something that could actually be reached, you know, 380 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:07,840 Speaker 1: and a reasonable amount of time. Right, just so, like 381 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:13,640 Speaker 1: how how League of extraordinary Gentlemen is this? Wilkins understood 382 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:19,159 Speaker 1: that Domingo Gonzalez was a fictional character. He understood that 383 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:23,200 Speaker 1: a lot of what was inspiring him was the equivalent 384 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:29,480 Speaker 1: of uh, fanciful science fiction. But he appreciated it nonetheless, 385 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:34,680 Speaker 1: and so he aimed to quote, raise up some spirits 386 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:39,080 Speaker 1: eminent for new attempts and strange inventions, and essentially get 387 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:43,560 Speaker 1: a brain trust together to figure out ways to bring 388 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:47,800 Speaker 1: the moon closer. They called it by traveling through space. 389 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:52,919 Speaker 1: And you can read quotes from his second edition of Discovery. 390 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:56,080 Speaker 1: You can also find some great articles about this. Uh 391 00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,560 Speaker 1: we'd like to especially shout out Scientific American for their 392 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:03,360 Speaker 1: work it. You get the sense when you're reading Discovery 393 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:07,960 Speaker 1: that he knows how wild this idea is. At one 394 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:11,000 Speaker 1: point in the book, he says, I do seriously, and 395 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,520 Speaker 1: upon good grounds, affirm it is possible to make a 396 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:17,680 Speaker 1: flying chariot. It's kind of right, like we have space 397 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,360 Speaker 1: shuttles now, I guess that would be the closest analog 398 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:24,760 Speaker 1: to the chariot. From that point in Discovery, he goes 399 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:33,280 Speaker 1: on to describe and sketch out various spaceship predecessors. These 400 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:37,880 Speaker 1: mechanisms or apparatus is for flying. They're driven by manpower 401 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:45,280 Speaker 1: sometimes or they're towed by space. It's like, I think 402 00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:48,040 Speaker 1: it needs to be a reverb on that quack if possible. Okay, 403 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:51,240 Speaker 1: hopefully we can achieve Okay, sy give us some yeah, 404 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:54,400 Speaker 1: give us some sci fi music every time we say that. 405 00:26:54,800 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: So yeah. So he also, interestingly enough, thinks about how 406 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:06,560 Speaker 1: an engine could be made that would use the same 407 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:11,960 Speaker 1: natural principles as uh, doves and eagles. But he's specifically 408 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:17,400 Speaker 1: I think inspired by the old legends of mechanical birds. Yeah, 409 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:19,800 Speaker 1: and clearly inspired by a lot of like if you're 410 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:21,679 Speaker 1: talking about chariots, I mean, it sounds to me like 411 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:24,080 Speaker 1: he's trying to harness the power of the gods and 412 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 1: all of this. But despite all of this kind of ludicrous, 413 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:31,879 Speaker 1: outlandish flying chariot imagery and space keys, and again, that 414 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:33,879 Speaker 1: wasn't his thing. That was from a science fiction story 415 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:38,160 Speaker 1: that he just pulled inspiration from. His methods were actually 416 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:42,640 Speaker 1: somewhat grounded in the science, at least of the time. Right, 417 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 1: his flying chariot would technically incorporate technical details that you'd 418 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:53,159 Speaker 1: see in the designs of of ships, utilizing principles of 419 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:57,000 Speaker 1: atmospherics uh and some of the really popular kind of 420 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:04,280 Speaker 1: clockwork automata of the time, and also early experimental physics. Um. 421 00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:08,440 Speaker 1: And he would ultimately kind of squash all of these 422 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:13,960 Speaker 1: disparate kind of like elements together in synthesizing a series 423 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:18,119 Speaker 1: of theories and skills that would allow him to propose 424 00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 1: something incredible. Yeah. Yeah, And I'm so inspired by this, 425 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:28,479 Speaker 1: you know, and and ridiculous historians, we hope you're inspired 426 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:35,080 Speaker 1: by this too. He is thinking through this logically, He 427 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:40,320 Speaker 1: is thinking through this as practically as he can. You know, 428 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:46,080 Speaker 1: he spends years thinking about how how this would work, 429 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:49,640 Speaker 1: like how we could conceivably do this. One of the 430 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:56,040 Speaker 1: primary tenets of his belief is his understanding of the 431 00:28:56,080 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: gravitational pull of Earth, and he knows that this is 432 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:06,200 Speaker 1: what anybody traveling to space will need to escape from. Right. 433 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,360 Speaker 1: That's that's the first that's the first speed bump you 434 00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:12,200 Speaker 1: have to get over. We have to remember, however, this 435 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:16,800 Speaker 1: was a good uh five decades before Isaac Newton had 436 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:22,160 Speaker 1: his famous series of epiphanies and revelations. So at this 437 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:25,240 Speaker 1: point where Wilkins life, he's still kind of confusing the 438 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:29,240 Speaker 1: pull of gravity with the attraction of what we mentioned earlier, 439 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:34,160 Speaker 1: Earth's magnetic field. And so with that assumption, he noticed 440 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:39,360 Speaker 1: that a magnet wouldn't attract a compass needle at a 441 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:42,560 Speaker 1: given point of separation. If he took the magnet far 442 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,600 Speaker 1: enough away, the compass wouldn't catch it. And that's where 443 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:49,200 Speaker 1: he got his number of twenty miles. He thought, you know, 444 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:52,360 Speaker 1: once you get twenty miles above the surface of the Earth, 445 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:56,680 Speaker 1: you're no longer close enough to the magnet. You're not 446 00:29:56,840 --> 00:30:00,800 Speaker 1: subject to It's uh, it's you know why, I guess 447 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:06,280 Speaker 1: exactly exactly. So this is his initial problem to solve. 448 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:10,000 Speaker 1: This is what he tackles. His question is, if I 449 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:13,320 Speaker 1: want to get people to the Moon, what's the first 450 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 1: thing I need to do. The answer to that is 451 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:18,880 Speaker 1: I need to get them twenty miles away from the 452 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:21,640 Speaker 1: surface of the Earth. So let me work on that first. 453 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: And this is where this is where he gets into 454 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:30,040 Speaker 1: the brain and storming. First, he starts with, um, let's 455 00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:32,040 Speaker 1: see you can you can see pictures of this on 456 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:37,040 Speaker 1: Atlas Obscura. He starts with this open chariot and it 457 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:41,880 Speaker 1: has wheels, and it has like this vertical rotating sail 458 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,480 Speaker 1: that comes out of the backrest of the of the seat. 459 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:49,360 Speaker 1: And his idea is that if they could get this 460 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:53,720 Speaker 1: rolling on its wheels and lift a couple of dudes 461 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:57,520 Speaker 1: up into space, then they could glide to a landing 462 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:01,240 Speaker 1: using that sail on the Moon with the same wheels 463 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:05,080 Speaker 1: from the chariot. I want to point out if you 464 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 1: look at his work now, yes, we understand it seems 465 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,800 Speaker 1: a little weird, a little bit dr Seussian or whatever, 466 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:16,760 Speaker 1: but um, he was doing his best and he thought 467 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:19,080 Speaker 1: about the engineering right. He had a motor for this. 468 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:22,280 Speaker 1: As you said, Ben, this really was an incredible time 469 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:26,720 Speaker 1: for gadgets with things like you know, gear driven clocks 470 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:31,160 Speaker 1: and all of these various automataw that used spring driven 471 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:35,080 Speaker 1: kind of clockwork motors. Uh. And that is exactly what 472 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:38,840 Speaker 1: he envisioned as the centerpiece for his flying chariot design. 473 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,560 Speaker 1: UM gunpowder no less, which is another innovation that was 474 00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:45,960 Speaker 1: huge at the time. UM would actually be used to 475 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:50,400 Speaker 1: rapidly wind up the machine so that the mechanism when 476 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:54,720 Speaker 1: you powered it on, would cause this large kind of 477 00:31:54,880 --> 00:32:00,200 Speaker 1: explosion of energy that would then create the locomotion to 478 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:04,560 Speaker 1: drive a pair of wings resembling you know, birds on 479 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:06,880 Speaker 1: either side of the chariot. That would then allow the 480 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:14,760 Speaker 1: chariot to theoretically fly upwards UH twenty miles conceivably, which 481 00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:18,120 Speaker 1: would then allow it to escape the Earth's pull. The 482 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:21,400 Speaker 1: motor could then be switched off UH and glide towards 483 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 1: the I'm assuming he would have some sort of steering mechanism, right, 484 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:27,880 Speaker 1: and otherwise you would just kind of wander willie nilly 485 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:31,280 Speaker 1: and not have any you know, way of of navigating. Well, 486 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:34,480 Speaker 1: for Wilkins, we have to remember that the idea here 487 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:40,120 Speaker 1: is that the Moon exerts some sort of smaller level 488 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:44,480 Speaker 1: of attraction, So like, once you get far enough away 489 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:47,800 Speaker 1: from Earth, once you get to that twenty mile threshold, 490 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:51,120 Speaker 1: then you will start to be naturally pulled towards the Moon. 491 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:56,600 Speaker 1: Imagine him talking to these astronauts here, if he if 492 00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 1: he was pitching this, and you would say, okay, we're 493 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:02,080 Speaker 1: gonna get you out into space twenty miles out and 494 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:06,000 Speaker 1: then I think, based on my opinion and what I 495 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:09,520 Speaker 1: understand of the world, you'll just sort of go toward 496 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:15,480 Speaker 1: the Moon. And I hope that's right exactly fingers crossed, 497 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:21,880 Speaker 1: fingers crossed, this works out to my exacting specifications. Okay, okay, okay. 498 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:23,440 Speaker 1: We set at the top of the show thinking it 499 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:26,600 Speaker 1: might happen, but it's definitely happening. This has become a 500 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:30,800 Speaker 1: two parter, still technically a proactive two parter. We had 501 00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:32,960 Speaker 1: the inkling that it was heading in that direction. Ben, 502 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,840 Speaker 1: you had the forethought and the presciens to to actually 503 00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:38,040 Speaker 1: say it out loud, so we don't have to retroactively 504 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:41,280 Speaker 1: stemp that out. Huge thanks to super producer Casey Bagraham 505 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:44,040 Speaker 1: for putting up with us and our weird whims of 506 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:46,400 Speaker 1: two parttery, but this one did seem like it was 507 00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:49,040 Speaker 1: worth it. Huge thanks to Christopher Haciota is here in spirit, 508 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:52,640 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickling the Quister. Huge, huge thanks to Eaves, Jeff 509 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 1: Co Big big thanks to one of the stars of 510 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:59,800 Speaker 1: our personal constellation, Gabe Luizier, who will be returning on 511 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:02,880 Speaker 1: air at some point soon, so stay tuned. It also 512 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:06,440 Speaker 1: stay tuned for part two of this series, which is 513 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:10,560 Speaker 1: arriving later this week. What a ride, man, No, what 514 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:13,759 Speaker 1: a ride? I really dig this Wilkins guy. Yeah, it 515 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:16,719 Speaker 1: seems like a real mench It's a ride almost more 516 00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,200 Speaker 1: exciting than when you first rode Space Mountain when you 517 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:21,160 Speaker 1: were a little kid. Can you imagine what that would 518 00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:24,640 Speaker 1: be like now, mind Blonde, We'll see you next time, folks. 519 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:36,680 Speaker 1: For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I 520 00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:39,640 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 521 00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:40,600 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.