Missouri First
Did you know that Missouri was the first state to take the wine industry seriously? Although Native Americans have been cultivating grapes since the beginning of time, the wine industry in America is relatively new and can be tracked to German migration to Missouri. The first wine from locally cultivated grapes was introduced in 1846 and two years later the local wineries produced 1000 gallons. By 1855, 500 acres of vineyard were in production and wine was shipped to St. Louis and other nearby locales. The next immigration wave brought Italians to the state and they contributed their expertise to the industry. By the mid-19th century this state was producing more wines (by volume), than any other state in the USA.
Image Credit: Princeton University
What started as a happy accident and an odd measurement could lead to a new, cost-effective way of measuring fluid flow.
Often the course of science doesn’t run smooth and happy accidents can lead to major findings and discoveries. From Michelson and Morley’s failure to detect the ether a mysterious substance through which light was thought to propagate arose Einstein’s theory of special relativity, for example. That’s a lesson that researchers at Princeton University also recently learned.
When they set about to test a high-resolution temperature sensor in water, Marcus Hultmark and three Ph.D. students discovered something remarkable. The sensor initially appeared to be displaying some weird ‘back to front’ readings.
Sharon Waters for the Office of Engineering Communications
Jan. 29, 2021 2:30 p.m.
It started as a failed experiment.
Princeton Professor Marcus Hultmark and three Ph.D. students in his lab were testing in water a high-resolution temperature sensor that they had developed and used successfully for measurements in air. But then-graduate student Clayton Byers saw that the sensor was delivering backwards results: warm registered as cold and vice versa. Disappointment led to discovery as the team realized they were measuring fluid velocity, which has long proven much more difficult to measure than temperature.
Marcus Hultmark led a team that found a revolutionary new approach to measuring flow rates. “You can put it in honey, in water, in air, and the same sensor does a very good job in all of them,” he said.