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Henry Foster (scientist)
Henry Foster (1797 – 5 February 1831) was a British naval officer and scientist who took part in expeditions to both the Arctic and Antarctic, and made various notable scientific observations. Career Foster was born in Woodplumpton, Lancashire in 1797, and at an early age joined the Royal Marines. In his early career, Foster served aboard HMS ''York''. Later, he served aboard HMS ''Griper'' in 1823 as part of the British Naval Scientific Expedition to the Arctic led by Douglas Clavering. He assisted the astronomer Edward Sabine. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1824 as a lieutenant, he joined the Northwest Passage expedition led by Captain William Edward Parry, aboard HMS ''Hecla''. He made various scientific observations in magnetism and astronomy and pendulum measurements of gravity, for which he shared the Copley Medal in 1827 and received the rank of commander. Later in 1827 he joined the British Naval North Polar Expedition, again under the leadership ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service. From the middle decades of the 17th century, and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century, it was the world's most powerful navy until the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing and defending the British Empire, and four Imperial fortress colonies and a string of imperial bases and coaling stations secured the Royal Navy's ability to assert naval superiority globally. Owing to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gravity
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the strong interaction, 1036 times weaker than the electromagnetic force and 1029 times weaker than the weak interaction. As a result, it has no significant influence at the level of subatomic particles. However, gravity is the most significant interaction between objects at the macroscopic scale, and it determines the motion of planets, stars, galaxies, and even light. On Earth, gravity gives weight to physical objects, and the Moon's gravity is responsible for sublunar tides in the oceans (the corresponding antipodal tide is caused by the inertia of the Earth and Moon orbiting one another). Gravity also has many important biological functions, helping to guide the growth of plants through the process of gravitropism and influencing the circ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Foster
Port Foster is one of the safest harbours in Antarctica, located in Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands. History The harbour was known to sealers as early as 1820, and in its early history was called ''Port Williams'', after Captain William Smith's brig, ''Williams''; or ''Yankee Harbor'', because of the number of American sealers who harboured there. The port, briefly called Yankee Harbour and Port Dunbar, was named Port Foster after Henry Foster, captain of and leader of the first scientific expedition to the island in Jan.-March 1829. The expedition, based in Pendulum Cove, made gravitational and magnetic measurements, produced the first topographic map, made temperature measurements, and made a hydrographic survey. Former names for the port have remained for other features in the same archipelago — Williams Point and Yankee Harbor. Description The centre of Deception Island is a caldera, formed by a gigantic volcanic eruption and later flooded. This h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the south. Its capital and largest city is Panama City, whose metropolitan area is home to nearly half the country's million people. Panama was inhabited by indigenous tribes before Spanish colonists arrived in the 16th century. It broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined the Republic of Gran Colombia, a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela. After Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada eventually became the Republic of Colombia. With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the construction of the Panama Canal to be completed by the United States Army Corps of Eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fernando De Noronha
Fernando de Noronha () is an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, and located off the Brazilian coast. It consists of 21 islands and islets, extending over an area of . Only the eponymous main island is inhabited; it has an area of and a population estimated at 3,101 in 2020. While the archipelago is relatively low-lying, there are parts stretching above in elevation. The islands are administratively unique in Brazil. They form a "state district" ( pt, distrito estadual) that is administered directly by the government of the state of Pernambuco (despite being closer to the state of Rio Grande do Norte). The state district's jurisdiction also includes the very remote Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago, located northeast of Fernando de Noronha. Seventy percent of the islands' area was established in 1988 as a national marine park. In 2001, UNESCO designated it as a World Heritage Site because of its importance as a feeding ground f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kater's Pendulum
A Kater's pendulum is a reversible free swinging pendulum invented by British physicist and army captain Henry Kater in 1817 for use as a gravimeter instrument to measure the local acceleration of gravity. Its advantage is that, unlike previous pendulum gravimeters, the pendulum's centre of gravity and center of oscillation do not have to be determined, allowing a greater accuracy. For about a century, until the 1930s, Kater's pendulum and its various refinements remained the standard method for measuring the strength of the Earth's gravity during geodetic surveys. It is now used only for demonstrating pendulum principles. Description A pendulum can be used to measure the acceleration of gravity ''g'' because for narrow swings its period of swing ''T'' depends only on ''g'' and its length ''L'': :T = 2 \pi \sqrt \qquad \qquad \qquad (1)\, So by measuring the length ''L'' and period ''T'' of a pendulum, ''g'' can be calculated. The Kater's pendulum consists of a rigid metal b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Hyde Wollaston
William Hyde Wollaston (; 6 August 1766 – 22 December 1828) was an English chemist and physicist who is famous for discovering the chemical elements palladium and rhodium. He also developed a way to process platinum ore into malleable ingots.Melvyn C. UsselmanWilliam Hyde WollastonEncyclopædia Britannica, retrieved 31 March 2013 Life He was born in East Dereham in Norfolk, the son of the Francis Wollaston (1737–1815), a noted amateur astronomer, and his wife Althea Hyde. He was one of 17 children, but the family was financially well-off and he enjoyed an intellectually stimulating environment. He was educated privately (and remotely) at Charterhouse School from 1774 to 1778 then studied Sciences at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. In 1793 he obtained his doctorate (MD) in medicine from Cambridge University, and was a Fellow of his college from 1787 to 1828. He worked as a physician in Huntingdon from 1789 then moved to Bury St Edmunds before moving to London in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tierra Del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, with an area of , and a group of many islands, including Cape Horn and Diego Ramírez Islands. Tierra del Fuego is divided between Chile and Argentina, with the latter controlling the eastern half of the main island and the former the western half plus the islands south of Beagle Channel and the southernmost islands. The southernmost extent of the archipelago is just north of latitude 56°S. The earliest known human settlement in Tierra del Fuego dates to approximately 8,000 BC. Europeans first explored the islands during Ferdinand Magellan's expedition of 1520. ''Tierra del Fuego'' and similar namings stem from sightings of the many bonfires that the natives built. Settlement by those of European descent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wollaston Islands
The Wollaston Islands () are a group of islands in Chile south of Navarino Island and north of Cape Horn and east of the Hoste Island. The islands are ''Grevy'', ''Bayly'', ''Wollaston'' and ''Freycinet'', as well as the islets ''Dédalo'', ''Surgidero'', ''Diana'', ''Otarie'', ''Middle'' and ''Adriana''. The islands are part of Cabo de Hornos National Park. Geography The islands are located north of the Hermite Islands and separated from them by the ''Franklin Channel''. The islets ''Terhalten'', ''Sesambre'', ''Evout'' and ''Barnevelt'' are located easterly and are not considered part of the Wollaston islands. North of the islands is Nassau Bay. History The islands were named between 1829 and 1831 by the British naval officer Henry Foster, after the English scientist William Hyde Wollaston. The indigenous name in the Yahgan language was ''Yachkusin'', "place of islands". The Yahgan lived throughout central Tierra del Fuego to Cape Horn. Numerous place names reflect Brit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deception Island
Deception Island is an island in the South Shetland Islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula with a large and usually "safe" natural harbor, which is occasionally troubled by the underlying active volcano. This island is the caldera of an active volcano, which seriously damaged local scientific stations in 1967 and 1969. The island previously held a whaling station. It is now a tourist destination with over 15,000 visitors per year. Two research stations are operated by Argentina and Spain during the summer season. While various countries have asserted sovereignty, it is still administered under the Antarctic Treaty System. Geography Located within the Bransfield Strait, the island is roughly circular and horseshoe-shaped, with a maximum diameter around . The highest peak, Mont Pond on the east side of the island, has an elevation of , while Mount Kirkwood on the west has an elevation of . Over half (57%) of the island is covered by glaciers up to 10 m thick, ice-cored ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for non-military purposes. The islands have been claimed by the United Kingdom since 1908 and as part of the British Antarctic Territory since 1962. They are also claimed by the governments of Chile (since 1940, as part of the Antártica Chilena province) and Argentina (since 1943, as part of Argentine Antarctica, Tierra del Fuego Province). Several countries maintain research stations on the islands. Most of them are situated on King George Island, benefitting from the airfield of the Chilean base Eduardo Frei. There are sixteen research stations in different parts of the islands, with Chilean stations be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
