I promise this story about microwaves is interesting.
7,946,646
Published 2021-05-17
Pull down the description for thorough references and credits.
Thanks to James Lovelock for his time! His latest book is Novacene: amzn.to/3hmKsWz [that is, of course, an Amazon affiliate link]
Filmed safely: www.tomscott.com/safe/ - thanks to jabs, PCR tests, isolation and distancing.
I did consider whether to do an extended interview with Dr Lovelock, but the Science Museum has already done far better than I ever could:
On cyborgs, asteroids and Gaia theory: • James Lovelock on NASA, cyborgs, Inve...
On his greatest epiphany: • James Lovelock discusses his greatest...
An extended 90-minute interview from the Lovelock Centenary Conference: • Tim Lenton interviews James Lovelock
REFERENCES:
HISTORY OF THE MICROWAVE:
I Burrell, in the Independent, 1997: "Your money, or the cat gets microwaved": www.independent.co.uk/news/your-money-or-the-cat-g…
M Blitz, "The Amazing True Story of How the Microwave Was Invented by Accident": www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a19567…
E Schliephake, "Ultra-short waves in medicine" in Short Wave Craft, Vol. 3, No. 11, March 1933, p. 646 [PDF]: worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Short-Wave-Televisio…
E Ackerman, "A Brief History of the Microwave Oven", IEEE Spectrum: spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/space-age/a-brief-h…
Radarange photo from Acroterion: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NS_Savannah_microw… - image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
James Lovelock in 1962: Photo by Donald Uhrbrock/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images
PAPERS FROM NIMR:
A Smith, J Lovelock, A Parkes, 1954: Resuscitation of Hamsters after Supercooling or Partial Crystallization at Body Temperatures Below 0° C.. Nature 173, 1136–1137. doi.org/10.1038/1731136a0
R K Andjus, J E Lovelock, 1955: Reanimation of rats from body temperatures between 0 and 1° C by microwave diathermy. The Journal of Physiology, 128. doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.1955.sp005323
Lovelock, J E, Smith A U, 1959, Heat transfer from and to animals in experimental hypothermia and freezing. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 80: 487-499. doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1959.tb49226.x
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All Comments (21)
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An update from July 2022: James Lovelock passed away, surrounded by family, on his 103rd birthday. I'm very grateful to have been able to interview him, and my deepest condolences to his family. Rest in peace. His obituary is worth reading, because it covers so much: www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/27/james-…
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I saw a 101 year old scientist talk about being in a highly radiated room reviving frozen hamsters with a microwave. Tom, the title was accurate, I'm not disappointed.
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The guy casually exposed himself to unshielded microwave radiation in his youth and is still strolling down the beach at 101
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wow that guy was SHARP for 101. unbelievable
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This guy was literally watching technology evolve before his eyes
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Imagine being a top of the line scientist, doing all kinds of research, contributing a lot of things to science and then somebody knocks your door asking "Sir did you, by any chance, microwave hamsters?"
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“So I decided to ask him about it” was the biggest twist, I wasn’t expecting a 1950s scientist to still be living. Just goes to show how important it is to record knowledge while we still can
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Thank you Tom. That was what you might call public service broadcasting. "Nobody has asked me about that before". Priceless.
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The fact that he was willing to be interview all these years later made me so happy. And how happy he was to share.
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I love how this old inventor says giddily "I put a potato in it, and baked it, and it was completely allright"
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"Do you mind if I borrow a bit of military kit to revive a hamster?" "Here you go, mate. You can keep it. "Top lad."
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"A hamster is an acceptable size" is a phrase I did not know I needed in my life until I heard it.
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10:50 "You cannot freeze a human, ..." when he stuttered there, I just could picture him finishing that with "I know, I've tried"
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man's 101 years old and can still speak perfectly and recall the exact story. legend
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Mr. Lovelock is by far be the healthiest clearest-minded 101 year old I've ever seen, that alone was incredible.
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My word, James Lovelock was in incredible shape and incredibly sharp for 101 years old. May he rest in peace.
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Incredible history. RIP James Lovelock. I'm astonished how well he was at his 100's even he remembered the stuff he did 50 years ago.
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I can't believe the fact that this story could have been completely lost to history if Tom hadn't stumbled upon a random line.
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"I put a potato in and baked it. It was alright." Microwaves in a nutshell, tbh.
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Oh my God. This man's cognitive ability at age 101 was so good it actually relieved my own fear of old age. You can see he had some speech hiccups, much like anyone would have while tired or nervous, but when the sentences came out, they were perfectly sound and relaying information was effortless. I wish to have such a brain when I'm old.
