Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), the inventor of dynamite, was a chemist, engineer, businessman and, most memorably, philanthropist; he was also a scholar, fluent in Russian, French, English and German. Above all, he loved poetry.
He had unveiled a plaque affixed to the Eagle that bore the inscription, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”
Most of us are never prompted to think about the dynamic nature of the world, a world in which the planets move in their orbits in space at varying speeds and that the relationship between the planets changes.
At month’s end, 44 minutes will have been added to nighttime. Experience the difference as darkness falls earlier each evening and lasts later into the morning.
Although moonlight will screen out a view of all but a fraction of the shooting stars in the Geminid meteor shower, “a patient observer may be able to spot 20 or so per hour, even from urban locations,” according to the United States Naval Observatory writer.
