1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:04,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,520 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy ve Egilson, and today we're going to pick 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,640 Speaker 1: up where we left off in the story of Luis Alvarez. 5 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:23,599 Speaker 1: As we talked about in the previous episode, this was 6 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: a scientist who made huge contributions in a very wide 7 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: variety of fields, from nuclear physics to paleontology. He was 8 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: granted twenty two patents, which feels like a lot to me, 9 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: especially when you consider how vastly different these were in 10 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:43,920 Speaker 1: terms of what they covered. One was for a golf 11 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:48,199 Speaker 1: training machine that he developed for President Eisenhower. One was 12 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:51,919 Speaker 1: for a color TV system. He also developed a stabilization 13 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: system for lenses and binoculars and cameras, and that innovation 14 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: went on to be used in zoom lenses and shoulder 15 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: held video cameras when those came along. He also presented 16 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: a variable power lens to Polaroid, which came to market 17 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:09,840 Speaker 1: in six although he had shown it to them about 18 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 1: twenty years before. So he invented a lot of different stuff. 19 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: In addition to all of his scientific accomplishments, he was 20 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 1: also a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the 21 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:27,560 Speaker 1: American Philosophical Society, the American Physical Society, the American Academy 22 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,960 Speaker 1: of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering. 23 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:34,480 Speaker 1: And his accomplishments were so many and so far reaching 24 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:37,839 Speaker 1: that even with two episodes, there are highlights and elements 25 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:41,200 Speaker 1: and side trips that we could talk about around him 26 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: and his work that we kind of have to leave out, 27 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: otherwise it would become an entire podcast series called How 28 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:51,480 Speaker 1: Louis Alvarez Works, would be like nine episodes long. Where 29 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: we left off in the previous episode, he had been 30 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: creating new radar systems that were used during World War Two, 31 00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: which helps save the lives of Allied pilots and other 32 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: crew and allowed Allied planes to detect and destroy German 33 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: U boats. In this episode, we're going to look at 34 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:10,920 Speaker 1: his other major portion of his work during World War Two, 35 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: as well as some of his more diverse contributions to science, 36 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:17,519 Speaker 1: which somehow wound up falling into the realm of sort 37 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:21,920 Speaker 1: of scientific mystery solving. Yeah. Uh, Luise actually left m 38 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: I T in ninetee and he became part of the 39 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,919 Speaker 1: Manhattan Project. First, he spent a little while in Chicago, 40 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 1: where scientists were working on creating the chain reactions that 41 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,080 Speaker 1: are necessary uh in a nuclear bomb. And from there 42 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 1: he went to Los Alamos, New Mexico, and he became 43 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: part of the steering committee for the laboratory there. The 44 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: team at Los Alamos was working on bombs that used 45 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: both uranium and plutonium as their fuel. While Luise participated 46 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: in missions involving both of these types of weapons, most 47 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: of his scientific work in New Mexico was on the 48 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:58,840 Speaker 1: plutonium bombs. The main part of his work had to 49 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 1: do with gating their detonators, so he was the one 50 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,359 Speaker 1: who developed the detonators that were used in plutonium bombs. 51 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 1: He flew aboard the B twenty nine bomber that dropped 52 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: the bomb in the world's first atomic bomb test. The 53 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 1: only visual documentation we have of the explosion from the 54 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 1: air is a pair of sketches that he made, since 55 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 1: nobody had thought to send a camera up aboard the plane. 56 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 1: There are plenty of pictures at ground level, but none 57 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: from the air. He kind of relied on that mechanical 58 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: sketching knowledge that he had gotten in his high school 59 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 1: time to to do some sketchwork based on what he 60 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 1: saw aboard the plane. In preparation for the bombs to 61 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: actually be used. During World War Two, he along with 62 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 1: other scientists, moved to the island of Tennyan, where they 63 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: lived in tents and prepared the bombs and the bombers 64 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: for their eventual missions. He was aboard the Enola Gay 65 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: when it dropped the bomb known as Little Boy on Hiroshima. 66 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: On the flight itself, he didn't wear a parachute. He 67 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,160 Speaker 1: decided that if the plane were to be shut down, 68 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: he didn't want to be captured. While he was returning 69 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: home from having witnessed this bombing, he wrote this letter 70 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: to his son Walt, who was four years old at 71 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: the time. What regrets I have about being a party 72 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,360 Speaker 1: to killing and maiming thousands of Japanese civilians this morning 73 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: are tempered with the hope that this terrible weapon we 74 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,919 Speaker 1: have created may bring the countries of the world together 75 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: and prevent further wars. Alfred Noble thought that his invention 76 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 1: of high explosives would have that effect by making wars 77 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:37,839 Speaker 1: too terrible, but unfortunately it had just the opposite reaction. 78 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 1: Our new destructive force is so many times worse that 79 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: it may realize Nobel's dream. That's quite a letter to write, Yeah, 80 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:52,280 Speaker 1: especially to your tiny child, your four year old, having 81 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: just witnessed the destruction of a city one weapon. Uh 82 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: Luis flew on the Nagasaki mission as well, this time 83 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 1: aboard another B twenty nine aircraft, the Great Artiste rather 84 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: than the one that was deploying the bomb. Just before 85 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, the Great Artists 86 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: dropped canisters containing telemetry devices like the ones like the 87 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:16,800 Speaker 1: one Luis had created for the bomb, along with a 88 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,559 Speaker 1: letter written by him and to other physicists. The letter 89 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: was addressed to Japanese physicists Ryokichi Sagani, who had worked 90 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 1: with Louise at Berkeley before the war. Luis had remembered 91 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 1: their connection and he hoped that by writing to him 92 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 1: he could get information about Americans nuclear capabilities to the 93 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,159 Speaker 1: Japanese in a way that could put an end to 94 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:43,480 Speaker 1: the war. Here's that letter. We are sending this as 95 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,919 Speaker 1: a personal message to urge that you use your influence 96 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: as a reputable nuclear physicist to convince the Japanese General 97 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:53,920 Speaker 1: Staff of the terrible consequences which will be suffered by 98 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: your people if you continue in this war. You have 99 00:05:57,360 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: known for several years that an atomic bomb could be 100 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 1: built if a nation were willing to pay the enormous 101 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:06,279 Speaker 1: cost of preparing the necessary material. Now that you have 102 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: seen that we have constructed the production plants, there can 103 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: be no doubt in your mind that all the output 104 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 1: of these factories, working twenty four hours a day will 105 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:19,760 Speaker 1: be exploded on your homeland within the space of three weeks. 106 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: We have proof fired one bomb in the American desert, 107 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,360 Speaker 1: exploded one on Hiroshima, and fired the third this morning. 108 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:30,240 Speaker 1: We implore you to confirm these facts to your leaders 109 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 1: and to do your utmost to stop the destruction and 110 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,279 Speaker 1: waste of life which can only result in the total 111 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: annihilation of all your cities if continued. As scientists, we 112 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: deplore the use to which a beautiful discovery has been put, 113 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: but we can assure you that unless Japan surrenders at once, 114 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:51,719 Speaker 1: this reign of atomic bombs will increase manyfold. In fury 115 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: to my friend Sagane, with best regards from Louis w Albarez. 116 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: Luise and Sagani actually met four years after the war 117 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:06,279 Speaker 1: was over, at which point Louise added his signature to 118 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:09,560 Speaker 1: a copy of the letter that Sagany had. Yeah, that 119 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: this letter did actually get to the Japanese government. It 120 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:18,000 Speaker 1: didn't get to Saganay until after the war was over. Um, 121 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 1: but it it did, It did get to its intended recipients. 122 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 1: Just digesting that whole thing, Yeah, Well, and the like 123 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 1: many of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project, 124 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: Luis was really horrified at the level of destruction and 125 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: death that the atomic bombs had the power to cause. 126 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:44,000 Speaker 1: But since World War Two ended so quickly after the 127 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: second one was dropped, he really had no doubt that 128 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: the United States had done the right thing. Um. He 129 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 1: really felt like the bombing of Nagasaki, which that's a 130 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:57,120 Speaker 1: question that comes up, like we had already bombed Hiroshima, 131 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: that we also need to bomb as other city. He 132 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: really felt like that was necessary to bring an end 133 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:06,640 Speaker 1: to the war. Everybody knew that it took a whole 134 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: lot of uranium to make one bomb, and it took 135 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: a whole lot of time to make that uranium. And 136 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:14,560 Speaker 1: if we could his point of view was that if 137 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 1: we had only brought bombed Hiroshima, people would have been like, well, 138 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: it's gonna be a while. They would have thought it 139 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:24,280 Speaker 1: was a one off there, it's gonna be a while 140 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 1: before they can make another one. So he really felt 141 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:30,560 Speaker 1: like that that second event was necessary to end the war. 142 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 1: And he also felt sure that if something had gone 143 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:36,280 Speaker 1: wrong and they had not perfected the bombs, or if 144 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:39,800 Speaker 1: the bombs had not been dropped, Hiroshima and Nagasaki would 145 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: have been destroyed anyway through more conventional warfare techniques and 146 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 1: incendiary bombs, and a departure from pretty much the overwhelming 147 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: majority of other Manhattan Project scientists, he also thought that 148 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: the United States should continue its nuclear weapons program and 149 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:01,560 Speaker 1: develop a hydrogen bomb. On a note about his personal life, 150 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: Louise and Geraldine divorced not long after World War Two. 151 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 1: He remarried in nineteen fifty eight to Janet Landis, who 152 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: had worked with him in the lab at Berkeley, and 153 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: they had two children together, named Donald and Helen. Louise 154 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: returned to Berkeley after the war was over, and at 155 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:21,040 Speaker 1: that point he turned his focus to high energy atomic research. 156 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 1: Like some of the stuff that we talked about in 157 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 1: the previous episode, this kind of esoteric work, but it 158 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 1: involves bubbles, so so a little lighter in toe into 159 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: what we've been talking about. Yeah, we're going to talk 160 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:35,240 Speaker 1: about in a little bit more detailed because it's also 161 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:38,680 Speaker 1: what he won his Nobel Prize for um. So there 162 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:43,560 Speaker 1: had already been electron accelerators in use for some years 163 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:46,480 Speaker 1: before he went back to Berkeley, but he wanted to 164 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:50,960 Speaker 1: create a proton accelerator, and he did so. He completed 165 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:55,560 Speaker 1: a forty ft proton accelerator in ninety seven. In nineteen 166 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: fifty three, Louise met University of Michigan physicist Donald Glasser, 167 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,800 Speaker 1: who had just invented the bubble chamber that we alluded 168 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:07,560 Speaker 1: to a minute ago. So, unlike particle accelerators, which produced 169 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 1: the particles that scientists want to study, the bubble chamber 170 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:14,480 Speaker 1: detected the particles that had been produced. So in a 171 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 1: bubble chamber, particles passed through a fluid and they leave 172 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: this trail of bubbles behind in their wake. Luise realized 173 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:25,960 Speaker 1: that this invention could be used to detect particles from 174 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: uh Sinco cyclotron, which is a circular particle accelerator that 175 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: had just been built at Berkeley. Luise made some improvements 176 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: to the bubble chamber, including using liquid hydrogen as the 177 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:41,840 Speaker 1: fluid and developing more sensitive recording and transmission. He then 178 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:44,480 Speaker 1: worked on making the chamber even bigger so it could 179 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:48,560 Speaker 1: record the trails of more particles. The first chamber was 180 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:51,959 Speaker 1: a one inch glass tube, and about five years later 181 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:55,240 Speaker 1: he was actually using one that measured seventy two inches. 182 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:59,680 Speaker 1: So thinking big so when a particle passed through the 183 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:04,520 Speaker 1: high drogen, which was about degrees below zero celsius, it 184 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:06,840 Speaker 1: would heat the hydrogen to the boiling point and leave 185 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:10,520 Speaker 1: this little trail of bubbles in its wake. Photographs would 186 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:13,480 Speaker 1: record what this trail looked like, and then Luis and 187 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:16,960 Speaker 1: his students developed lots of tools for scanning and measuring 188 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,440 Speaker 1: all of these photos um The bubble chamber could produce 189 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:24,439 Speaker 1: more than a million photographs in one year, and they 190 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,120 Speaker 1: needed to look at and analyze and record all of 191 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:30,560 Speaker 1: these photographs to see the trails that it was picking 192 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:34,560 Speaker 1: up a little tiny bubble trails. Using the bubble chamber, 193 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:38,559 Speaker 1: he discovered a tremendous number of elementary particles. He also 194 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:43,800 Speaker 1: discovered extremely short lived particles known as residents states. Luise 195 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:46,959 Speaker 1: won the Nobel Prize for this work in ninety eight, 196 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:50,640 Speaker 1: and in the ceremony his methods were created were credited 197 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:54,559 Speaker 1: with making practically all of the other discoveries about particle 198 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:59,480 Speaker 1: physics possible. Side note, there a whole lot of Nobel 199 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:03,160 Speaker 1: Prizes come out of University of California at Berkeley. Yeah, 200 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:08,480 Speaker 1: that lab is clearly um enabling a lot of scientific exploration. Yeah, 201 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:11,640 Speaker 1: there are there are other labs that uh, that have more, 202 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:15,640 Speaker 1: but there's still a whole lot they're coming from Berkeley. Uh. 203 00:12:15,679 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 1: And after this Louise Louise's career started to put his 204 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:25,040 Speaker 1: physics knowledge into practical use to solve mystery. You know. 205 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:30,240 Speaker 1: For the first mystery it was are there any hidden 206 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: chambers in the pyramid of King Kaffrine in Giza? Great mystery? 207 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:38,720 Speaker 1: To try it solve, he went to Egypt five as 208 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:42,680 Speaker 1: part of an Egyptian American expedition, and they used cosmic 209 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:45,920 Speaker 1: rays to try to look for areas of lower density 210 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 1: within the pyramid, which they theorized could be hidden chambers. Unfortunately, 211 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:55,440 Speaker 1: the solution to this mystery was not very satisfying because 212 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,880 Speaker 1: the answer was no. Yeah, you always hope it's like 213 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:02,400 Speaker 1: her Aldo's vault, right. His next mystery was whether the 214 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 1: official account of the Kennedy assassination was right. It started 215 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:10,760 Speaker 1: after Life magazine published enlargements of frames frames from the 216 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:14,160 Speaker 1: famous Azruter film, which is the infamous footage that actually 217 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:18,320 Speaker 1: caught the assassination as it happened. Luise was captivated by 218 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:21,280 Speaker 1: these images and he spent Thanksgiving weekend going over them 219 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: in detail, using the same skills he had used to 220 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:26,600 Speaker 1: look at bubble trails from the bubble chamber. So he 221 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:30,280 Speaker 1: was so accustomed to really like looking at fine level, 222 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:34,720 Speaker 1: tiny details that he just transferred that scientific approach to 223 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:37,920 Speaker 1: looking at grainy photographs. Yeah, and what he caught. The 224 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: anomaly that he caught in these pictures were streaks in 225 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,560 Speaker 1: sunlight or streaks of sunlight that were on the body 226 00:13:45,679 --> 00:13:48,719 Speaker 1: of the limousine. And these streaks were longer in some 227 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:52,920 Speaker 1: places than in others. He eventually concluded that this was 228 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:58,400 Speaker 1: because Abraham's Apruter had involuntarily moved his hand like he 229 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 1: had a very steady hand that tracked the limousine really well. Um. 230 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:06,120 Speaker 1: His theory was that he he moved involuntarily when he 231 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:09,240 Speaker 1: heard gunshots, right as many people will do. You jump 232 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:13,559 Speaker 1: a little bit when they're startling noise. CBS, which asked 233 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:17,160 Speaker 1: for Luise's findings, did a recreation to try to confirm 234 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:20,280 Speaker 1: what Louise had found, and their consensus was that it 235 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: was possible to connect when these streaks occurred to when 236 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 1: the shots were actually fired. So Louise's point of view 237 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 1: is that these streaks on the film were a more 238 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:34,640 Speaker 1: accurate indication of how many shots were fired and when 239 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:38,560 Speaker 1: they were fired than the more obvious movements that people 240 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:41,800 Speaker 1: had been associating with the shots. So there was like 241 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:44,320 Speaker 1: a moment when the president grabbed at his throat and 242 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:46,960 Speaker 1: they were like, that was one shot, and then there's 243 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 1: the moment when his head snaps back there saying that's 244 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:53,520 Speaker 1: the second shot. Um. But the conclusion based on this 245 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:56,240 Speaker 1: looking at the images was that no, there were actually 246 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: two shots and one of them missed. Uh. That are 247 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 1: tracked when the streaks in the sunlight are a different length. Interesting, 248 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: it's actually uh. Has led to it to a lot 249 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 1: of debunking of conspiracy theorists, which was the motivation of 250 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 1: some of this work. Yeah, there were some MythBuster esque 251 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,280 Speaker 1: sorts of experiments to try to figure out exactly why 252 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:25,280 Speaker 1: the presidents had recoiled the way it did if he 253 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 1: was really only hit from one direction, and Louise imagined 254 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:32,280 Speaker 1: the scenario as involving a melon being shot, since it 255 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:35,280 Speaker 1: was painful for him to try to imagine this happening 256 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:37,600 Speaker 1: to a man, and in fact the president, who was 257 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: quite popular on someone that he personally admired. He and 258 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:47,880 Speaker 1: a friend named Sharon nicknamed Buck Buckingham then replicated the 259 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 1: experiment with actual melons reinforced with glass fiber tape that 260 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,240 Speaker 1: they shot at a firing range, And what they found 261 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: in that test was basically that their melon, when shot, 262 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:03,680 Speaker 1: move the way John F. Kennedy's head did when shot 263 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:06,440 Speaker 1: once in one from one direction. So even though his 264 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:10,000 Speaker 1: head sort of recoils right, which had led some people 265 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:12,119 Speaker 1: to think that there were but there was a shot 266 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:17,720 Speaker 1: from behind. Uh that their conclusion was no, that that 267 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:20,840 Speaker 1: was that was just physics. That's actually a normal movement. Yes. 268 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:24,640 Speaker 1: He went on to do all kinds of physical analysis 269 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:27,320 Speaker 1: on the film to try to pinpoint exactly how fast 270 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:30,640 Speaker 1: the car was traveling and where it was exactly at 271 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:34,080 Speaker 1: any given point in time, which is one of those 272 00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:38,240 Speaker 1: things where today sounds just like an easy task because 273 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:42,800 Speaker 1: today we have much more sophisticated recording and measuring techniques 274 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:46,240 Speaker 1: than we did at that point. Um. But that that 275 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:49,960 Speaker 1: was also a lot of like looking at how people 276 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,440 Speaker 1: were clapping and how fast the car was going, and 277 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: where they seemed to be in relation to other things, 278 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:58,640 Speaker 1: to really give a moment by moment account of exactly 279 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:02,440 Speaker 1: where the car was and where other people were, and 280 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:05,160 Speaker 1: where the shooter was. All of that I could see 281 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 1: where someone with a physics mind who likes to analyze 282 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 1: things and kind of parted out into mathematical equations would 283 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:14,639 Speaker 1: really get into doing that. Yeah, it's kind of even 284 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: though it's a very different field, it's sort of the 285 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:21,440 Speaker 1: same methodology to breaking it down. And later on Louis 286 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,920 Speaker 1: served on the committee of the Committee on Ballistic Acoustics, 287 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:27,159 Speaker 1: which did an eighteen month study into the sound of 288 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:30,240 Speaker 1: gun shots during the assassination and whether there was more 289 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,000 Speaker 1: than one gunman or a shot fired from the Grassy 290 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:37,159 Speaker 1: Knoll uh. Their conclusion, from a report released in nineteen 291 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:39,879 Speaker 1: eight two was no. There was no shot from the 292 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: Grassy Knoll, and the acoustic data that had been used 293 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:45,439 Speaker 1: to support the idea of a second gunman came in 294 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:49,399 Speaker 1: an entire minute after the president had been shot. The 295 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:53,040 Speaker 1: final mystery that Louis put his scientific minds to work 296 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:56,960 Speaker 1: trying to solve was what happened to the dinosaurs. And 297 00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,159 Speaker 1: this is work that he did with his son Walter 298 00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:02,080 Speaker 1: also known as Walt, who was a geologist at the 299 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:06,720 Speaker 1: University of California at Berkeley. So here's your theory. Sixty 300 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:10,280 Speaker 1: five million years ago, a giant asteroid slammed into the Earth, 301 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:14,639 Speaker 1: causing enormous earthquakes and tsunamis and clogging the atmosphere with dust, 302 00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:18,560 Speaker 1: catastrophically affecting life on the planet and wiping out the 303 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:22,800 Speaker 1: dinosaurs in the aftermath, along with s of all species 304 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 1: that were alive at the time. Yep. So here's how 305 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:33,000 Speaker 1: they arrived at this At the time cuckoo hypothesis. Uh 306 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,040 Speaker 1: that it was not well received when they started making 307 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:38,199 Speaker 1: it known that that was what they thought happened. In 308 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven, Walter had been studying soil layers in 309 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 1: Italy because he was a geologist. He found this layer 310 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:50,119 Speaker 1: of clay between two layers of limestone, and that layer 311 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:53,439 Speaker 1: of clay marked the end of the Cretaceous Period and 312 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:57,119 Speaker 1: a worldwide mass extinction. That's what was there in the 313 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:01,679 Speaker 1: geologic record. Under the layer of clay were lots of 314 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:06,080 Speaker 1: fossils of lots of different species of microscopic marine animals, 315 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:10,000 Speaker 1: and on top of that layer, there was only one 316 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:14,159 Speaker 1: species of fossils, and there were no microscopic marine animal 317 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:19,280 Speaker 1: fossils in this layer of clay itself. Walter brought these 318 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,720 Speaker 1: samples back to his father, who sent them to a 319 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:24,320 Speaker 1: couple of nuclear chemists at Berkeley to have a look, 320 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:26,760 Speaker 1: and they found that the clay was about six hundred 321 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:30,840 Speaker 1: times richer in iridium than the limestone around it, and 322 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,280 Speaker 1: this raised some eyebrows. Iridium is very rare on Earth, 323 00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:39,199 Speaker 1: but it's really common and extraterrestrial objects. Uh So, further 324 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:42,960 Speaker 1: research found that this iridium layer existed on other sites 325 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:46,639 Speaker 1: all around the world, all in the same layer of 326 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:50,040 Speaker 1: the geologic record um and all of the clay samples 327 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:53,280 Speaker 1: also contained lots and lots of soot, So it became 328 00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 1: quickly apparent that the soil layer full of iridium seems 329 00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:02,720 Speaker 1: to exist all over the world. Louise started pouring over 330 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:05,919 Speaker 1: astronomy research to figure out exactly what had brought this 331 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:08,720 Speaker 1: iridium to Earth. He came up with all kinds of 332 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: cookie ideas involving supernovas, a piece of Jupiter. Uh you know, 333 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:17,679 Speaker 1: he was basically brainstorming what could have done it, But 334 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:20,720 Speaker 1: then he concluded that an asteroid or a comment was 335 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: the most logical, so something huge that would have also 336 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 1: vaporized on impact. Then he started comparing how much volcanic 337 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:33,480 Speaker 1: rock was released from the Krakatoa volcanic explosion in He 338 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,040 Speaker 1: compared that to the irridium layer to try to figure 339 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:39,080 Speaker 1: out how big the asteroid would have had to be 340 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:43,600 Speaker 1: to make that much stuff, and eventually he concluded that 341 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:46,280 Speaker 1: it would have had to have been at least ten 342 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:51,080 Speaker 1: kilometers across. The father's son Alvarez team, along with nuclear 343 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,919 Speaker 1: chemists Franka Sorrow and Helen Michelle, published a paper in 344 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:59,400 Speaker 1: Science in night theorizing that a massive asteroid impact had 345 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 1: created this iridium layer and led to the extinction of 346 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 1: the Cretaceous period. At the time, this idea was extremely controversial. 347 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,879 Speaker 1: The prevailing belief at that point was that volcanoes had 348 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:13,880 Speaker 1: wiped out the dinosaurs, and nobody really liked this idea 349 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:17,280 Speaker 1: that that it had really been an asteroid. Then in 350 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:21,919 Speaker 1: the Chicks a lob crater was discovered off the Yucatam Peninsula, 351 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,720 Speaker 1: which is a giant impact site that was both the 352 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:27,520 Speaker 1: right age and the right size to have caused the 353 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:31,920 Speaker 1: irridium layer on impact. At that point it became a 354 00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:36,240 Speaker 1: lot more respected as a theory, and then in a 355 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: panel of forty one experts published a paper concluding that, yes, 356 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:45,160 Speaker 1: following an exhaustive review of all that data, the asteroid 357 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:48,639 Speaker 1: that struck the earth off the Yucataman Peninsula was indeed 358 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 1: what wiped out the dinosaurs, not just a bunch of 359 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 1: volcanic explosions, although there probably would have been some volcanic 360 00:21:55,760 --> 00:22:00,000 Speaker 1: explosions following this impact. Yeah, and we would be remiss 361 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:03,439 Speaker 1: if we left out the point that the prevailing theory 362 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:06,880 Speaker 1: today is that birds are in fact descended from dinosaurs. 363 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:11,239 Speaker 1: So wiped out the dinosaurs and air quotes kind of 364 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:17,560 Speaker 1: an oversimplification, Yeah, the dinosaurs as we think of them. Yeah, 365 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:25,200 Speaker 1: that was really Louis alvarez last big scientific announcement slash 366 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:28,840 Speaker 1: achievement um was this theory of what happened at the 367 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:32,199 Speaker 1: end of the Cretaceous period. He died of cancer on 368 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:37,760 Speaker 1: September one, when he was seventy seven years old. It's 369 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: quite a life's a huge Yeah. So he wrote a 370 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:49,800 Speaker 1: memoir called Alvarez Surprisingly Um, which just it's written in 371 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:54,360 Speaker 1: this just very candid off the cuff voice, like he's 372 00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:57,040 Speaker 1: just chatting with Yeah, he's just chatting. He's talking about 373 00:22:57,080 --> 00:22:59,920 Speaker 1: all these things that he did and just all these 374 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:03,160 Speaker 1: scientific problems that he decided to put his mind to 375 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:06,919 Speaker 1: try solve. Um. I think he had not talked a 376 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 1: whole lot publicly about his work during World War Two 377 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:13,560 Speaker 1: with the Manhattan Project until the book came out. He 378 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:19,640 Speaker 1: talked about that really candidly also, UM, which I think, 379 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:26,399 Speaker 1: considering how how much of classroom study is devoted to UH, 380 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:28,960 Speaker 1: the impact of the bombs being dropped in the end 381 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:32,240 Speaker 1: of the war and whether that was the right decision 382 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:36,680 Speaker 1: to make, it is interesting to get a viewpoint from 383 00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:38,560 Speaker 1: one of the scientists who worked on the project. He 384 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:42,120 Speaker 1: was ultimately in favor of the decisions that were made, 385 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,200 Speaker 1: because a lot of the opinions that you hear about 386 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: are the opposite when it comes to the Manhattan Project scientists. Yeah, 387 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:53,080 Speaker 1: that they really had. He's really an outlier in the 388 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:57,000 Speaker 1: UH and the sort of aftermath of that in terms 389 00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 1: of most of the scientists who worked on the man 390 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:05,040 Speaker 1: and project such a life. Yeah, I love that his 391 00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:07,359 Speaker 1: work is all over the map. I love it too, 392 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:09,560 Speaker 1: even though it meant that some of some of it 393 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: is difficult to think about. But yeah, I'm gonna stick 394 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:15,960 Speaker 1: with the dinosaur part. That's my favorite. I like the 395 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:19,680 Speaker 1: dinosaur part. I like the I like the bubble chamber part, though, 396 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:22,480 Speaker 1: even though the discoveries that came from the bubble chamber 397 00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:25,199 Speaker 1: are you know, of the sort that are interesting in 398 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:28,760 Speaker 1: the realm of physics and hard to apply to everyday 399 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,080 Speaker 1: life in a way that's relatable to people. I love 400 00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:34,160 Speaker 1: the idea that they're little particles and they're making little bubbles, 401 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,560 Speaker 1: and then we're taking pictures of them. I like how 402 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:40,120 Speaker 1: in your head physics became really cute. It's so good. 403 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:43,880 Speaker 1: I could just tell what you're talking about it. It's 404 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:47,720 Speaker 1: my little bubble physics is magic. There you go. Hey, 405 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:50,760 Speaker 1: that's a listener mail on the docket I do. This 406 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:54,199 Speaker 1: is from Kevin. Kevin says, I was really intrigued by 407 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:57,600 Speaker 1: the segment where you introduced Benjamin Bannaker, as it reminded 408 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,600 Speaker 1: me of my own family's history. Are family would have 409 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,040 Speaker 1: been counted in that small group of free blacks in 410 00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:06,240 Speaker 1: Maryland that you mentioned in the podcast. I'm sorry that 411 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:08,000 Speaker 1: I'm sending this so late, but I get a little 412 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:12,160 Speaker 1: behind on listening to the podcast sometimes, Kevin, that is fine. 413 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:15,000 Speaker 1: Everyone who is behind on listening to the podcast, that 414 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:17,600 Speaker 1: is fine. I am also behind on listening to all 415 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:22,280 Speaker 1: of my podcasts. Kevin goes on to say, my ancestor, 416 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:25,919 Speaker 1: Robert Pearl, was born either in sixteen eighty five or 417 00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:28,720 Speaker 1: sixteen eighty six in Maryland. He was the son of 418 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:31,480 Speaker 1: a female slave, and as a slave he was called 419 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:35,320 Speaker 1: Lato Robin. His father is unknown, but it's theorized that 420 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:41,040 Speaker 1: his father was his owner, Richard Marsham. Interestingly, Robert had 421 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:44,920 Speaker 1: been married to Catherine Brent, daughter of Princess Mary Kamakland 422 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:49,040 Speaker 1: of the Piscataways. That Catherine died prior to the alleged fathering. 423 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,800 Speaker 1: He later married an Calbert, daughter of Maryland's first governor 424 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:57,080 Speaker 1: and granddaughter and niece of the first and second Lord's Baltimore, respectively, 425 00:25:57,520 --> 00:25:59,879 Speaker 1: and mother in law to Marsham's daughter from his first Mary. 426 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:03,679 Speaker 1: On Richard Marson's death in seventeen thirteen, He's stipulated in 427 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:07,840 Speaker 1: his will that Robin slash Robert be emancipated along with 428 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 1: Robert's wife and son, but not until he reached age 429 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,679 Speaker 1: thirty five. Seven years later, Robert was unique as a 430 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,639 Speaker 1: slave in several regards. He was a skilled carpenter, not 431 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:20,160 Speaker 1: an unskilled laborer. He probably could read and write, as 432 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:24,479 Speaker 1: evidenced by inventories which show among his belongings writing paper 433 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:28,439 Speaker 1: and ink. After his emancipation, Robert was quite successful, and 434 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 1: he went on to acquire numerous farms, livestock, and slates. 435 00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:35,000 Speaker 1: Court records show that he frequently was able to successfully 436 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 1: sue to recover debts, including from whites, despite his race. 437 00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:42,320 Speaker 1: In seventeen forty four, he moved out west to what 438 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 1: soon would become Frederick County, Maryland. There he leased a 439 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:49,800 Speaker 1: two hundred acre dwelling plantation in Carrollton. During most of 440 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 1: his tenure there it was managed by Charles Carroll of Annapolis, 441 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: but during the last few years it had passed down 442 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:58,399 Speaker 1: to his son, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, of whom I 443 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:01,359 Speaker 1: assume you are familiar. The is an interesting letter written 444 00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:05,240 Speaker 1: by Charles Carroll of Carrollton complaining about Robert's son, Robert 445 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 1: Son's assuming Robert's lease after his passing, a pretty cool 446 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:14,160 Speaker 1: familial mentioned by a signer. By the time of his death, 447 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:15,760 Speaker 1: he had sold off all his land that he had 448 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:19,240 Speaker 1: previously purchased only keeping the least land where he lived, 449 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:22,879 Speaker 1: but he had acquired significant wealth. One account estimates that 450 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,520 Speaker 1: the value of his state his estate would have placed 451 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,320 Speaker 1: him in the top five to ten percent for the 452 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,840 Speaker 1: colony in that time period. He owned at the time 453 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:34,119 Speaker 1: of his death working slaves, which were passed along to 454 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:37,679 Speaker 1: his children. None were manumated. To my modern mind, it 455 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:40,600 Speaker 1: has always been difficult to understand how a former slave 456 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,760 Speaker 1: could own slaves, but I do not presume to understand 457 00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:47,200 Speaker 1: the environment of the time. And then he goes on 458 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,440 Speaker 1: to say that he loved our mention of Jonathan Colton's 459 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:51,840 Speaker 1: On Your Mooon in the in the Pluto podcast because 460 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:53,840 Speaker 1: that was the song that he and his wife chose 461 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:58,359 Speaker 1: to use for their way. Thank you so much, Kevin. Yes, 462 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:01,240 Speaker 1: that's a cooler letter, Such a cool letter. I love. 463 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:04,960 Speaker 1: Number one. I love when people's personal stories intersect with 464 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:07,120 Speaker 1: stuff that we talked about in the podcast in one 465 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,280 Speaker 1: way or another. I love when people have this end 466 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:13,679 Speaker 1: up knowledge of their family history. Also, you know, not 467 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:16,160 Speaker 1: everyone has the opportunity to have such an end depth 468 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,920 Speaker 1: knowledge of their family history, but when people are able 469 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,359 Speaker 1: to share stuff about their personal ties to what goes 470 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:28,680 Speaker 1: way way way back. It's really cool. Um. And in addition, 471 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:32,960 Speaker 1: h I appreciate that that Kevin shared this story with 472 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:36,640 Speaker 1: us in spite of his conflicted feelings about that part 473 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: of the family history. So thank you so much, Kevin. 474 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:42,840 Speaker 1: It is it's uh, you know, it is great to 475 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:46,480 Speaker 1: contextualize what we've talked about with you know, a very 476 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 1: real world connection to it that's modern and that we 477 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:53,280 Speaker 1: understand and can identify with. Fabulous Kevin, you rock. Thank 478 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:56,280 Speaker 1: you very much. If you would like to write to 479 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:58,680 Speaker 1: us about this or some other subject, we're at History 480 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:02,040 Speaker 1: Podcast at Discovery dot calm. We're also on Facebook at 481 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:04,840 Speaker 1: facebook dot com slash history class stuff and on Twitter 482 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:07,480 Speaker 1: at miss in history. Are Tumbler is a ms in 483 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:09,640 Speaker 1: history dot tumbler dot com, and we are putting things 484 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:13,280 Speaker 1: away on Pinterest. If you would like to learn more 485 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,520 Speaker 1: about one of the areas that Luis Alvarez put his 486 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:20,520 Speaker 1: thought into. We are not going to make you try 487 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,320 Speaker 1: to spell chip Salobe in our search bar, but you 488 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:25,480 Speaker 1: could if you wanted to and found you can find 489 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,080 Speaker 1: a great article about what if that asteroid had missed 490 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:31,120 Speaker 1: the Earth. You can also put in the words nuclear 491 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:35,280 Speaker 1: bomb and you will find how nuclear bombs work. You 492 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:36,880 Speaker 1: can learn about all that and a whole lot more 493 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:43,720 Speaker 1: at our website, which is how stuff works dot com 494 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:46,160 Speaker 1: for more on this and thousands of other topics. Because 495 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: it has stuff works dot com. Audible dot com is 496 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:02,320 Speaker 1: the leading provider of downloadable digital audio books and spoken 497 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:05,880 Speaker 1: word entertainment. Audible has more than one hundred thousand titles 498 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:08,360 Speaker 1: to choose from to be downloaded to your iPod or 499 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:12,160 Speaker 1: MP three player. 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