So do you have to be a god tier Nobel Laureates to get this kind of gig where you just learn about a business and then offer random suggestions that might or might not help them and charge obscene fees for the privilege?
People are giving such bizarre examples for why it helped.
Just think of a thermometer.
If it removes heat as it measures it (consumes oxygen) then it will measure everything too cold if the system can't replace the heat that's removed (this is like having an insulated thermometer).
If your thermometer replaces heat as it removes it it solves this issue.
When is this an issue for a thermometer? If your thermometer is too large in terms of heat capacity for the objects you're measuring the temperature of.
many of the older analog low impedance multimeters drew so much current that they affected the circuits they were trying to test, requiring a high impedance digital multimeter instead.
it's a similar problem, and i'm sure the physicist was aware of it, but didn't like to admit it.
I had to read this twice to understand it. Stated succinctly, it sounds like the company's sensor measured the rate of flow of oxygen through the sensor, which would give a reduced reading if the cross section is obstructed.
Feynman's sensor, by contrast, directly measured the concentration of oxygen in the sensor, which gives the same result every time once the sensor is at equilibrium with the environment.
I feel like the company might have been Yellow Springs Instrument (YSI, now a division of Xylem).
The dissolved oxygen sensor (the Clark electrode) was invented by Dr. Lee Clark at Antioch University (Yellow Springs, OH) and commercialized by YSI in the 1960s. A friend of mine worked at YSI from the late 60s thru the 80s on biosensors (glucose and lactic acid, using the Clark electrode as the basis) and worked directly with Dr. Clark.
Carl Feynman was born in 1962, according to what I'm reading, so if he was 14 that would have put this story in the time period early in the commercialization of these sensors.
Serious question: Is Dr. Clark the guy who invented the modern soda can pulltab, too? Someone who lives in YS invented it, and made a kajillion dollars by solving the problem of dangerous, sharp-edged pulltabs littering ... everywhere.
Off-topic, but I was interested to read Carl's Twitter bio[0], "I’ve spent a lifetime switching my Special Interest every year or two. By now I’m surprisingly knowledgeable in a lot of fields— a skill now obsoleted by AI."
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[ 310 ms ] story [ 687 ms ] threadhttps://xcancel.com/carl_feynman/status/2016979540099420428
https://nitter.net/carl_feynman/status/2016979540099420428
Just think of a thermometer.
If it removes heat as it measures it (consumes oxygen) then it will measure everything too cold if the system can't replace the heat that's removed (this is like having an insulated thermometer).
If your thermometer replaces heat as it removes it it solves this issue.
When is this an issue for a thermometer? If your thermometer is too large in terms of heat capacity for the objects you're measuring the temperature of.
Feynman's sensor, by contrast, directly measured the concentration of oxygen in the sensor, which gives the same result every time once the sensor is at equilibrium with the environment.
The dissolved oxygen sensor (the Clark electrode) was invented by Dr. Lee Clark at Antioch University (Yellow Springs, OH) and commercialized by YSI in the 1960s. A friend of mine worked at YSI from the late 60s thru the 80s on biosensors (glucose and lactic acid, using the Clark electrode as the basis) and worked directly with Dr. Clark.
Carl Feynman was born in 1962, according to what I'm reading, so if he was 14 that would have put this story in the time period early in the commercialization of these sensors.
Some good background:
https://derangedphysiology.com/main/cicm-primary-exam/respir...
https://www.anaestheasier.com/the-clark-electrode/
I'll have to hit my friend up to see if he knows anything about this. I'm certain he'd get a kick out of reading this, if nothing else.
Serious question: Is Dr. Clark the guy who invented the modern soda can pulltab, too? Someone who lives in YS invented it, and made a kajillion dollars by solving the problem of dangerous, sharp-edged pulltabs littering ... everywhere.
> Do you have a similar speaking cadence as your dad? I can almost hear this in his voice.
I experience the same. Wonder if Carl asked chatGPT to write it in Richard Feynman style? :/
I troll; Regardless, it made me happy to hear Richard in Carl.
That hits a bit close to home!
[0] https://x.com/carl_feynman/