Science & Medicine

Science & Technology / Education / Williams Bay / Related Stories / 1877-1900 / Walworth County / Nature & Environment / Science & Medicine / Region 8 - South East / Yerkes Telescope

Yerkes Telescope Construction and Use

The construction of the 40-inch refracting telescope at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, was directed by George Hale, an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago, and funded by Charles Yerkes, a Chicago businessman. The telescope is made of 40-inch glass lenses manufactured by the…

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December 9, 2014

Agriculture / Dairy Industry / Madison / Object Histories / Food & Cooking / Dane County / Industry / 1877-1900 / Manufacturing & Trade / Babcock Butterfat Tester / Science & Medicine / Region 7 - South Center

OBJECT HISTORY: Babcock Butterfat Tester

The Babcock butterfat test, developed at the University of Wisconsin, provided a simple, accurate, and inexpensive way to assess milk quality and to pay farmers accordingly. By improving standards and rewarding the best milk producers, the Babcock butterfat test transformed the dairy industry in the United States and set Wisconsin firmly on the path to…

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December 1, 2013

Agriculture / Dairy Industry / Health & Medicine / Dane County / Madison / Industry / Education / Science & Technology / Related Stories / Curators' Favorites / 1877-1900 / Manufacturing & Trade / Babcock Butterfat Tester / Science & Medicine / Region 7 - South Center

How Does a Babcock Tester Work?

Simplicity, Simplicity, SimplicityIn 1890, few farmers had ever taken a science class, and even if they understood the potential benefit, most lacked the cash to pay an expert for laboratory testing. Babcock’s great accomplishment was to develop a powerful, reliable test that was simple…

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December 1, 2013

Agriculture / Dairy Industry / Madison / Dane County / Industry / Food & Cooking / Education / Related Stories / Curators' Favorites / 1877-1900 / Manufacturing & Trade / Babcock Butterfat Tester / Science & Medicine / Region 7 - South Center

The Babcock Tester and the Wisconsin Idea

Free As Well WaterIn 1894 Adolph Schoenman of Plain, Wisconsin, published a booklet extolling the virtues of the Babcock butterfat test. In a parable explaining its benefits, an astonished Farmer Jones exclaims, “Isn’t that a dandy little machine, though? I suppose, of…

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December 1, 2013

Agriculture / Dairy Industry / Health & Medicine / Science & Technology / Industry / Madison / Dane County / Education / Related Stories / 1877-1900 / Manufacturing & Trade / Babcock Butterfat Tester / Science & Medicine / Region 7 - South Center

The Men Behind the Butterfat Test

The “Real” InventorAlthough Stephen M. Babcock has been immortalized for his work on the butterfat test that received his name, it was not really his idea. The Babcock test was originally conceived by the forgotten man of the dairy industry, Frederick Garland Short. Short,…

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December 1, 2013

Health & Medicine / Appleton / Object Histories / 1848-1877 / Outagamie County / Science & Medicine / Region 5 - Center East / Cupping Kit

OBJECT HISTORY: Cupping Kit

Cupping therapy is a medical treatment in which local suction is created on the skin in an effort to increase blood flow to promote healing or restore humoral health balance. It was practiced as early as the Hippocratics and persisted in high medical popularity until the late nineteenth century. This particular kit belonged to Dr. James T. Reeve a physician…

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November 15, 2013