Krypton and Morris Travers

Today is the birthday of, Morris Travers

(24 January 1872 – 25 August 1961)

Morris William Travers, the founding director of the Indian Institute of Science, was an English chemist who worked with Sir William Ramsay in the discovery of xenon, neon and krypton.

In 1901-1902 William Ramsay had been asked to advise the Indian government on the founding of a science institute and the institute was established in Bangalore with the help of the Government of Mysore and JN Tata. Ramsay suggested Travers as a possible director for this institute and in 1906, Travers was appointed as the director of the new Indian Institute of Science, with the directive to build an institute along the lines of the Imperial College of Science and Technology. Travers soon experienced contention with the Tata family especially in the interpretation of clauses in JN Tata's will. The institute was opened in June 1911 with four departments: General, Organic, and Applied Chemistry and Electrical Engineering. When WW I broke out he returned to Britain where in time he teamed up with William Ramsey.

Ramsay and Travers eventually discovered Krypton, no, not the planet Krypton, the fictional home of Superman but the element Krypton. What is the relationship between Krypton and Kryptonite? In reality, there is none.

Is there really any such thing as Kryponite? Well, no not really, it is a fictional element that was said to have come from the planet Krypton. It is presented as a bright green rock or gemstone, that has the ability to sap Superman's strength and powers and can even be fatal to the superhero or any native Kryptonians.

Krypton, however, is a whole different story.

Ramsay learned that in America a strange gas had been discovered by heating uranium ores. He obtained some of the gas from the mineral cleveite. It was establish spectroscopically that this was in fact helium, the element whose spectrum had first been observed in a solar eclipse by Pierre Janssen in 1868.

From the positions of argon and helium in the periodic table of elements it appeared that three more gases should exist. In 1898 Ramsay began the search for these, assisted by Morris Travers. They liquefied argon and by its fractional distillation were able to collect three new gases: neon, krypton and xenon. They derived the names from the Greek words for "the new," "the hidden," and "the strange."

Krypton is a chemical element. It's a mostly inert gaseous element that's used in fluorescent and gas discharge lamps. The element was discovered by British chemists William Ramsay and his assistant colleague, Morris Travers, who was born on this date in 1872.

Upon distilling liquefied argon, the two scientists collected three new gases: neon, krypton and xenon. They derived the names from the Greek words for "the new," "the hidden," and "the strange."

Life-size glass skeleton is illuminated by krypton

Travers continued his researches in cryogenics and made the first accurate temperature measurements of liquid gases. He also helped to build several experimental liquid air plants in Europe. He died in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Glowing twisted glass with deep green sunset background

Morris William Travers

Born: January 24, 1872, London, United Kingdom
Died: August 25, 1961, Stroud, United Kingdom
Education: University College London
Discovered: Krypton, Neon

Kitty Knows Best 2

Our pussycat was being bullied by one of the neighborhood toms whenever he went outside...so he came up with a solution.

Kitty Knows Best

Might be a good idea to take this pussy on your next trip to Vegas.

Remembering J.R.R.Tolkien On His Birthday

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

(born Jan. 3, 1892, Bloemfontein, S.Af. ~ died Sept. 2, 1973, Bournemouth, Hampshire, Eng.)

South African-born English novelist and scholar. A professor of Anglo-Saxon and of English language and literature at Oxford (1925-59), Tolkien achieved fame for his heroic epic The Lord of the Rings (1954-55), consisting of The Fellowship of the Ring (film, 2001), The Two Towers (film, 2002), and The Return of the King (film, 2003). The Hobbit (1937-film 2013) serves as an introduction to the series, The Silmarillion (1977) and The Children of Hrin (2007) as prequels. Set in the mythical past, the richly inventive tale chronicles the struggle between good and evil kingdoms to possess a magic ring that controls the balance of power in the world. In the 1960s its popularity with young people made it a sociocultural phenomenon, and the release of a series of critically acclaimed films commencing in 2001 renewed interest in the epic.

1892 Christmas card with a coloured photo of the Tolkien family in Bloemfontein, sent to relatives in Birmingham, England (Right)

Religion

Tolkien's devout Catholic faith was a significant factor in the conversion of C. S. Lewis from atheism to Christianity, although Tolkien was dismayed that Lewis chose to join the Church of England. In the last years of his life, Tolkien became greatly disappointed by some of the liturgical reforms and changes implemented after the Second Vatican Council, as his grandson Simon Tolkien recalls:

I vividly remember going to church with him in Bournemouth. He was a devout Roman Catholic and it was soon after the Church had changed the liturgy from Latin to English. My grandfather obviously didn't agree with this and made all the responses very loudly in Latin while the rest of the congregation answered in English. I found the whole experience quite excruciating, but my grandfather was oblivious. He simply had to do what he believed to be right.

Opposition to National Socialism

Tolkien vocally opposed Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party prior to the Second World War, and was known to especially despise Nazi racist and anti-Semitic ideology. In 1938, the publishing house Rütten & Loening Verlag was preparing to release The Hobbit in Nazi Germany. To Tolkien's outrage, he was asked beforehand whether he was of Aryan origin. In a letter to his British publisher Stanley Unwin, he condemned Nazi "race-doctrine" as "wholly pernicious and unscientific". He added that he had many Jewish friends and was considering "letting a German translation go hang". He provided two letters to Rütten & Loening and instructed Unwin to send whichever he preferred. The more tactful letter was sent and was lost during the later bombing of Germany. In the unsent letter, Tolkien makes the point that "Aryan" is a linguistic term, denoting speakers of Indo-Iranian languages. He continued,

But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. My great-great-grandfather came to England in the 18th century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject—which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.

In a 1941 letter to his son Michael, he expressed his resentment at the distortion of Germanic history in "Nordicism":

You have to understand the good in things, to detect the real evil. But no one ever calls on me to 'broadcast' or do a postscript. Yet I suppose I know better than most what is the truth about this 'Nordic' nonsense. Anyway, I have in this war a burning private grudge... against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler ... Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light. Nowhere, incidentally, was it nobler than in England, nor more early sanctified and Christianized.

20 Northmoor Road, the former home of J. R. R. Tolkien in North Oxford

Books:  

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937)
The Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954-55)
Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (1977)
Unfinished Tales: The Lost Lore of Middle-earth by J.R.R. Tolkien (Aug 12, 1988)
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien by J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien and Humphrey Carpenter (Jun 2000)
Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien (Nov 15, 2004)
The Children of Húrin (Pre-Lord Of The Rings) by J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien and Alan Lee (May 25, 2010)
Bilbo's Last Song: At the Grey Havens by J.R.R. Tolkien and Pauline Baynes (Oct 23, 2012)
The Fall of Arthur by J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien (May 23, 2013) 

Movies: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Hunt for Gollum, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, The Return of the King, Rings, Kings and Things: The Standard Deviants

Tolkien's monogram and the Tolkien Estate Trademark

Children: Christopher Tolkien, Priscilla Tolkien, Michael Tolkien, John Tolkien

Awards: Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, Prometheus Hall of Fame Award, Nebula Award for Best Script, Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, Gandalf Grand Master Award, International Fantasy Award for Fiction, Gandalf Award for Book-Length Fantasy

Runes and the English letter values assigned to them by Tolkien, used in several of his original illustrations and designs for The Hobbit.

For more information on John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, and here.

Tolkien's Cover Designs for the First Edition of The Lord of the Rings

Mumakil and their riders at the battle of Pelennor Fields, from the film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

© New Line Productions, Inc.; photograph, Everett Collection

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The grave of J. R. R. and Edith Tolkien, Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford