Science & Technology

Health & Medicine / Wausau / Object Histories / Science & Technology / Marathon County / 1945-1965 / Society & Religion / Region 4 - Center / Science & Medicine / Employers Mutual Audiometer

OBJECT HISTORY: Employers Mutual Audiometer

This Maico Audiometer was one of many devices used by health and safety consultants of the Employers Mutual Liability Insurance Company of Wisconsin throughout the mid-to-late 1960s. Employers Mutual was the very first workers compensation insurance company in the United States. The company was founded in Wausau, Wisconsin, in 1911 shortly after the nation’s first workers compensation law was…

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November 9, 2016

Science & Technology / Object Histories / Education / Williams Bay / Walworth County / 1877-1900 / Science & Medicine / Region 7 - South Center / Region 8 - South East / Yerkes Telescope

OBJECT HISTORY: Yerkes Telescope

The 40-inch refracting telescope at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, contains the world’s largest refracting lenses. Built in 1895, the telescope contains two lenses, one made of crown glass, and one made of flint glass. The lenses are each 40 inches in diameter, weigh 500 pounds, and have a 62-foot focal length. The telescope and observatory…

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December 10, 2014

Education / Science & Technology / Williams Bay / Related Stories / Walworth County / 1900-1918 / Nature & Environment / 1918-1945 / Science & Medicine / Region 8 - South East / Yerkes Telescope

Astronomy in the 1900s

In the 1800s, astronomers valued telescope magnification to investigate planets and stars. In the 1900s, astronomers started to ask questions about the structure of our galaxy, the Milky Way, which lead to greater emphasis on light-gathering power. By 1951, William Morgan at…

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December 9, 2014

Science & Technology / Education / Related Stories / Williams Bay / Walworth County / 1877-1900 / 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

Dairy Industry / Agriculture / Health & Medicine / Science & Technology / Industry / Education / Dane County / Madison / 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

Dairy Industry / Health & Medicine / Agriculture / Science & Technology / Madison / Dane County / Education / Industry / 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