I did mean overall history as a club and you are right BB. I have read that they had nearly 20 home bases before settling at Loftus Road in 1917 - where they have been ever since apart from a short spell at the White City Stadium. Over to you.
Pub Quiz thread
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I'll have to resist answering these - it means thinking up more questions when right...
Which Australian was awarded a Nobel prize for a discovery made whilst trying to develop a death ray?
yorkshirehornet
Well-Known Member
Meet Alexander Prokhorov: the Australian-born co-inventor of the laser and Nobel Prize winner you have probably never heard of.
But that could be all about to change as top scientists and former federal science minister Barry Jones push to have him more widely recognised in Australia.
His discovery has helped transform almost everything we rely upon: from surgery to the internet.
While he is a celebrated scientific hero in Russia, his formative years were actually spent in far north Queensland.
In the year of what would have been his 100th birthday, Australian scientists want us to know all about him, celebrate him and even recognise him with a stamp in his honour.
Australia's 'little Siberia'
Professor Prokhorov's family fled to Australia as refugees from Tsarist Russia in 1912, eventually settling in what was known as "little Siberia" — a Russian colony in the Atherton Tablelands.
On July 11, 1916, Alexander Prokhorov was born in Butcher's Creek, where he spent the first six years of his life.
At the tiny local school, the few records available show he had a very rural upbringing and "was a talented little kid", according to Australian National University physicist Hans-Albert Brochor.
His grandson, also named Alexander, told the ABC his grandfather told him about the "very nice butterflies, jungles... and warm climate".
"He got lost in the jungles once and all the village had to look for him," grandson Alex said.
Fond memories of a 'magical' upbringing
P
Former science minister (1983-1990) Barry Jones, who visited Professor Prokhorov on a trip to Russia, said the scientist had a very fond memory of Australia.
"He had a very vivid and very affectionate view of Australia and the openness and the colours and the trees and the magical environment he lived in," Dr Jones said.
Professor Prokhorov's family returned to Russia in 1923 after the Russian Revolution, where he finished his high school studies and went on to study radio waves.
After serving with the Russian army in World War II and being wounded twice he returned to study physics at the Soviet Union's Institute of Atomic Energy where he developed the technologies that made the laser possible.
He became a member of the Communist Party in 1950 and according to Professor Bachor, Professor Prokhorov was actually trying to develop a "death ray" while at the institute.
Death ray race led to laser revolution
In 1964, the Nobel Prize was jointly awarded to Professor Prokhorov, his Russian colleague Nikolay Basov and also American Charles Townes — who was independently working on the same research.
"Albert Einstein in Germany published papers that [proposed] a way to amplify light in a machine... but for 40 years nobody could build such a machine," Professor Bachor said.
"[Professor Prokhorov] was one of these people who had the right idea and that was basically to put your amplifier between two mirrors and bounce the light forwards and backwards many times so it got stronger every time it went through the amplifier."
Professor Bachor said the research was part of a wider military project during the Cold War.
"Both countries were trying everything ... lasers at the time were thought of as death rays as you see them in Star Wars," he said.
"The death rays were the initial program and then people came up very rapidly with all sorts of ideas of what you could do — so you could cut a hole and cutting a hole is very useful for cutting metal, or welding a car or for surgery."
Lasers enabled the creation of a whole range of devices — from DVD players, barcode scanners, 3D printers and even optical fibre cables (the ones that provide superfast internet).
But that could be all about to change as top scientists and former federal science minister Barry Jones push to have him more widely recognised in Australia.
His discovery has helped transform almost everything we rely upon: from surgery to the internet.
While he is a celebrated scientific hero in Russia, his formative years were actually spent in far north Queensland.
In the year of what would have been his 100th birthday, Australian scientists want us to know all about him, celebrate him and even recognise him with a stamp in his honour.
Australia's 'little Siberia'
Professor Prokhorov's family fled to Australia as refugees from Tsarist Russia in 1912, eventually settling in what was known as "little Siberia" — a Russian colony in the Atherton Tablelands.
On July 11, 1916, Alexander Prokhorov was born in Butcher's Creek, where he spent the first six years of his life.
At the tiny local school, the few records available show he had a very rural upbringing and "was a talented little kid", according to Australian National University physicist Hans-Albert Brochor.
His grandson, also named Alexander, told the ABC his grandfather told him about the "very nice butterflies, jungles... and warm climate".
"He got lost in the jungles once and all the village had to look for him," grandson Alex said.
Fond memories of a 'magical' upbringing
P
Former science minister (1983-1990) Barry Jones, who visited Professor Prokhorov on a trip to Russia, said the scientist had a very fond memory of Australia.
"He had a very vivid and very affectionate view of Australia and the openness and the colours and the trees and the magical environment he lived in," Dr Jones said.
Professor Prokhorov's family returned to Russia in 1923 after the Russian Revolution, where he finished his high school studies and went on to study radio waves.
After serving with the Russian army in World War II and being wounded twice he returned to study physics at the Soviet Union's Institute of Atomic Energy where he developed the technologies that made the laser possible.
He became a member of the Communist Party in 1950 and according to Professor Bachor, Professor Prokhorov was actually trying to develop a "death ray" while at the institute.
Death ray race led to laser revolution
In 1964, the Nobel Prize was jointly awarded to Professor Prokhorov, his Russian colleague Nikolay Basov and also American Charles Townes — who was independently working on the same research.
"Albert Einstein in Germany published papers that [proposed] a way to amplify light in a machine... but for 40 years nobody could build such a machine," Professor Bachor said.
"[Professor Prokhorov] was one of these people who had the right idea and that was basically to put your amplifier between two mirrors and bounce the light forwards and backwards many times so it got stronger every time it went through the amplifier."
Professor Bachor said the research was part of a wider military project during the Cold War.
"Both countries were trying everything ... lasers at the time were thought of as death rays as you see them in Star Wars," he said.
"The death rays were the initial program and then people came up very rapidly with all sorts of ideas of what you could do — so you could cut a hole and cutting a hole is very useful for cutting metal, or welding a car or for surgery."
Lasers enabled the creation of a whole range of devices — from DVD players, barcode scanners, 3D printers and even optical fibre cables (the ones that provide superfast internet).
A fairly comprehensive answer there yorkie.
As an aside, I tried for a teaching position at Butcher's Creek school once - a lovely little school (not just because their school colours are red and yellow) in a wonderful part of the world, with an enrolment of under 20 the last time I looked.
Over to you...
As an aside, I tried for a teaching position at Butcher's Creek school once - a lovely little school (not just because their school colours are red and yellow) in a wonderful part of the world, with an enrolment of under 20 the last time I looked.Over to you...
yorkshirehornet
Well-Known Member
mmmmm..........A fairly comprehensive answer there yorkie.
Over to you...
which is the oldest longest known journey in the UK... and by what?
Scilly Isles to Shetland Islands by boat? (Did consider putting Road to Nowhere by Talking Heads until I looked them up and saw that they're American)
yorkshirehornet
Well-Known Member
If, by longest, you mean in terms of time rather than distance then I would say the transporting of the stones for Stonehenge.
They have found some evidence that the A1 was used as a route 10,000 years ago, anything to do with that ?
Excavations in Watford High Street have uncovered the fabled old pub crawl - the one I never quite managed to complete?
yorkshirehornet
Well-Known Member
Yes proven that the dog came from near York around 8,000 years ago i think.. .the earliest recorded long journey
over to you
What is the link between Guy Babylon, Bob Birch, and Dee Murray. Which is the odd one out and why?
They are all deceased, former members of the Elton John Band. Dee Murray left the band before the other two joined, so is odd man out because the other two were band members at the same time?
Hmm - Murray died from skin cancer, Babylon died after a heart attack and Birch committed suicide..
Two from 'natural causes' and the odd man out by his own hand?
That was what I had in mind. Birch had been knocked down by a car and after many years of pain couldn't live with it anymore.
Over to you.