The legend of Archimedes’ solar powered death ray has captured the imagination of people for centuries and some have tried to prove or disprove its existence. It seems it’s even caught the interest of U.S. President Barack Obama.
The fabled solar death ray constructed by Archimedes is said to have consisted of a series of highly polished metal plates or mirrors that were used to reflect and focus the sun’s rays onto ships invading Archimedes’ home of Syracuse in Greece, setting the alight.
As mentioned in our previous article on the Archimedes heat ray, in the centuries since the reported occurrence, others have tried to emulate the setup to prove or disprove whether it actually existed, with mixed results.
Obama’s apparent interest in the topic isn’t for applications such as one of his predecessors, Ronald Reagan, might have had – it’s all about inspiring children to take an interest in science.
On Tuesday, President Obama spoke about the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education to the country’s economic future at the White House Science Fair. In a sometimes jovial speech, he also made an announcement that he would be appearing on the Discovery Channel’s “MythBusters“, a popular television show that investigates rumours and myths using science.
“I can announce today that I taped a special guest appearance for their show — although I didn’t get to blow anything up. I was a little frustrated with that.”
The president will be featured in the episode, Archimedes Solar Ray, scheduled to screen on December 8 in the USA. In the episode, he challenges Adam and Jamie to revisit the ancient myth and report back to President Obama their findings. The Mythbusters team had previously run an experiment and came to the conclusion it was a myth, but experiments run by others have had more success.
With Obama’s appearance on the show; perhaps it will inspire a new generation of solar researchers working towards making solar power even more efficient ..and not just at burning stuff..
Trivia: MythBusters is created and produced by an Australian company, Beyond Television Productions, for the Discovery Channel.
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