Bed Time Story

Mrs SJR and I were great believers in the bed time story routine; Mr Men, Daisy and the Egg and so on.  When he was a little bit older (our oldest now doing a maths course at Uni) instead favoured “facts” from me at least. This tended to be about science and technical subjects and sometimes I had to brush up a little before the bed time routine. 

(Meantime, S his young brother loved to hear chapters from his dinosaur book.)

I clearly recall explaining that Helium meant Sun Gas because at the time the thought was that it only existed in the sun. Neon, meant new gas and all this tied in with the work of William Ramsay the first Scottish scientist to receive a Nobel Prize (well that’s what I told him and perhaps I should double check)

We also spoke about Samuel Curran, instrumental in creating Strathclyde University and his involvement in the Manhattan Project.

Given my work and interest in the mountains straying on to the work of an early astronomer (Maskelyne) in to the concept we would now call “geoidal undulation” was definitely covered. Basically, pendulums suspended at either side of a mountain do not hang perpendicular to the planet surface. They swing ever so slightly towards the mountain “Schehallion” due to the gravity effect of the mountain’s mass.
Because of this hill’s popularity in Scottish mountaineering circles I suspect every hill walker will know the story.

Bizarrely, the same astronomer was a contemporary of John Harrison, famous for building the first reliable maritime chronometer and a worthy winner of the “Longitude Prize”. That Harrison didn’t get the entire prize (or any of it initially) was much to do with Maskelyne’s influence with the King and his firm belief that the solution to longitude position at sea was determinate from the stars and moon alone. Surely this was flawed from the start given how many evenings per month we do not see the moon at all. Sorry, I’m straying on to another bed time story.

It was hard to keep it fresh latterly so I’m relieved he’s not six anymore!

Forgotten, where am I going with this?

Mrs SJR was speaking to L on the phone. He explained that digesting the narrative from the tutor on one of his recent lectures he could clearly see where the lesson was leading; to the famous gravity experiments of 1773 by Maskelyne on the Perthshire Mountain. The tutor didn’t conclude the lesson but opened it up to the floor for contribution from the students hoping the students already had some insight and could complete the lesson. Our boy put his hand up to impart his knowledge on the story which curiously had escaped his class mates. I think he got a star on his jotter for that.
 

I am continuing on light duties for my back which actually feels better when I don’t stay still. Seated at the desk or steering wheel are nasty when it is time to get up. I had an errand in the town and had to wait an hour and a half. What better way to keep everything supple than to have a wee stroll up the North Face Path. Bob and Caley had no complaints.