Gamma-Ray Bursts: Crash Course Astronomy #40
Gamma-ray bursts are not only incredible to study, but their discovery has an epic story all its own. Today Phil takes you through some Cold War history and then ...
==========
Sometimes in science, the story of HOW we learned something is just as cool as what we learned. In the case of gamma-ray bursts, it’s kinda hard to beat the awesomeness of what they are. But of all the plotlines in astronomy, their origin story comes the closest. It begins, quite literally, in the grip of Cold War paranoia, and ends…well, it doesn’t end. What true story ever does? But it does lead to us discovering the single most violent events occurring in the Universe, events which, paradoxically and ironically, are almost entirely hidden from our view. After World War II, the allies that were the United States of America and the United Soviet Socialist Republic had gone their separate ways. They had fought together against a common enemy, but that war was done, and a newer,...
==========
Sometimes in science, the story of HOW we learned something is just as cool as what we learned. In the case of gamma-ray bursts, it’s kinda hard to beat the awesomeness of what they are. But of all the plotlines in astronomy, their origin story comes the closest. It begins, quite literally, in the grip of Cold War paranoia, and ends…well, it doesn’t end. What true story ever does? But it does lead to us discovering the single most violent events occurring in the Universe, events which, paradoxically and ironically, are almost entirely hidden from our view. After World War II, the allies that were the United States of America and the United Soviet Socialist Republic had gone their separate ways. They had fought together against a common enemy, but that war was done, and a newer,...
