Wow, it has been awhile since I've posted anything on here (December was a very busy month here). However, I have not forgotten the [rq} and will try to continue with interesting articles to get the brain juices flowing (or at least get more synapses working). So to start off the year I bring you the man who discovered element fifteen - Phosphorous.
I stumbled across this little fact about three years ago in Discover magazine. Apparently the guy - Hennig Brand who was a German alchemist after being a soldier - was like most other alchemists searching for a way to create gold synthetically. I should mention here that alchemy is a fake science and that he was looking for the Philosopher's Stone to turn everyday items into gold.
In his pursuits he came up with a plan which he hoped would be the key. He took fifty buckets of his own urine and stored them in his basement for months. He then boiled the urine until it became a thick syrup, did a few more alchemical steps, and eventually discovered a glowing substance on the surface of the urine. Lo and behold it was the new element Phosphorous. But back in 1669 it was normal to keep these kinds of discoveries secret - lest he actually discover a way to turn urine into gold.
Well let's hope this is the first of even more 2010 articles, and remember that you can write your own Guest Posts.
I remember hearing about this story. It reminds me of the accidental inventions you told me about. You should do a random quotient report on one of those.
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