Kerr Metric
Prof Roy Kerr
What Kerr did was to sit down and write some very complex equations which model very accurately what goes on near a black hole. Scientists use Kerr's…
From the book
Category · 12 inventions
Science & Mathematics
Knot theory, the Kerr metric and the MONIAC — deep ideas with a No.8 wire pedigree.
Agriculture & Farming
Sport & Recreation
Medicine & Health
Engineering & Technology
Food & Household
Science & Mathematics
Social & Cultural
Maritime & Transport
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Knot Theory
Dr Vaughan Jones
The Fields Medal is often referred to as the 'Nobel Prize' of mathematics. It is only awarded to up to four mathematicians worldwide, and only every…
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Racing Tote
George Julius
Gambling has always been a big part of New Zealand life, and horse racing has long been our favourite way to lose money. New Zealanders love to try…
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Death Ray
Victor Penny
It is 1935, between the wars. On Somes Island in Wellington Harbour, the old hospital buildings have been turned into a laboratory where an Auckland…
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Superconductor Technology
Jeff Tallon, Bob Buckley
The coldest temperature possible in the universe is minus 273 degrees on the Celsius scale, also known as 0 degrees on the Kelvin scale. At this…
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Evolution of galaxy / cosmology
Beatrice Tinsley
Tinsley's work was on the development of these galaxies and of the stars within.
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Split Atom
Ernest Rutherford
Rutherford (b. 1871, d. 1937) was, by all accounts a very clever child. He breezed through school, where he seems to have had the quintessential Kiwi…
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Acoustics systems
Mark Poletti
Poletti is a scientist specialising in acoustics and the science of sound. Among his many innovations are a solid-state guitar amplifier ('If you…
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NMR
Paul Callaghan
Callaghan was a New Zealand physicist whose area of study and research was in the area of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). This is a way of tracking…
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MacDiarmid polymers
Alan MacDiarmid
If you're not sure what conducting polymers are or why they are important, you aren't alone. It took 23 years for other scientists, the electronics…
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Moniac hydraulic computer
Bill Phillips
Understanding an entire economy – where the money goes, where the tax comes from, how investment and savings work – is hard. Everything is sort of…
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Punch cards
Dr Leslie Comrie
Comrie was the first to use the new 'punched card' equipment to scientific use. Punched cards had been developed to control industrial machines like…
From the book
12 of 202 stories
The whole No.8 wire story is in the book.
Every invention here — and 190 more — told in full, with the people and the laughs, in No.8 Re-Wired by David Downs & Jon Bridges.