On the 15th of February 1564 in Pisa Italy, Galileo Galilei was born. A skilled mathematician, philosopher, and physicist, Galileo is widely known for his contributions to astronomy. By grinding his own lenses and experimenting with new designs, Galileo greatly improved and popularized the telescope – making possible his own detailed study of the planets. […]
On William J. Turkel’s Digital History Hacks site, he writes (back in Dec): In December 2004, I bought a copy of Joe Martin’s Tabletop Machining to see what would be involved in learning how to make clockwork mechanisms and automata. It was pretty obvious that I had many years of study ahead of me, but […]
Today is Jules Verne’s birthday. Verne was born in Nantes, France on February 8, 1828 and died on March 24, 1905. Along with H.G. Wells, his work gave birth to the science fiction genre. One of the things Verne pioneered, and much of the sci-fi to follow has emulated, was writing about the fantastic upon […]
What does it feel like to make something for the first time? Or to try a new and foreign project or technique? One of the goals of MAKE is to inspire you to try something you never have before. I just love the feeling of grasping a new idea or successfully implementing a new method […]
The latest New Scientist has a piece on Ted Ciamillo, the machinist who invented the hydrospeeder (think: Bondian underwater motorcycle) and the Lunocet (a tail for divers modeled on dolphins). Ciamillo’s latest project is a human-powered mini-sub he plans to use to pedal across the Atlantic: Ciamillo designed his mini-submarine around a larger version of […]
Mike Petrich and Karen Wilkinson of San Francisco’s Exploratorium‘s Learning Studio have a choice assignment this month. They are visiting a monastery in Sarnath, India, helping organize hands-on science workshops for Tibetan Buddhist monks. Mike and Karen who run the Learning Studio program at the Exploratorium were brought to India by a program called Science […]
These women are fired up: The Flaming Lotus Girls, a women-centric maker collaborative, creates gargantuan, fierce, flame-breathing sculptures. This popular Bay Area organization boasts diverse membership, welcoming members from all backgrounds. Whether they’re artists, lawyers, mothers or scientists, all Flaming Lotus Girls share two things in common: a desire to get their hands dirty, and […]
