A.W. Bickerton Quotes

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This foolish idea of shooting at the moon is an example of the absurd length to which vicious specialisation will carry scientists working in thought-tight compartments.... For a projectile entirely to escape the gravitation of the Earth, it needs a velocity of 7 miles a second. The thermal energy of a gramme at this speed is 15180 calories.... The energy of our most violent explosive - nitroglycerine - is less than 1500 calories per grammer. Consequently, even had the explosive nothing to carry, it has only one tenth of the energy to escape the Earth … hence the proposition appears to be basically unsound.

A.W. Bickerton

A.W. Bickerton

Born: January 7, 1842

Died: January 21, 1929 (aged 87)

Bio: Professor Alexander William Bickerton was the first professor of Chemistry at Canterbury College in Christchurch, New Zealand. He is best known for teaching and mentoring Ernest Rutherford.

A.W. Bickerton on Wikipedia

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