Dec

Aha Moment Maker: Battle of the Bubbly

by Your friends at OIC on December 28, 2013

CHAMPAGNE, 1668—A Benedictine monk named Dom Pierre Pérignon arrived at the Abbey of Hautvillers near Épernay. His tenure as the cellar master for the abbey’s prized wines began with a challenging assignment.

It seems that unexpected cold snaps in the fall when the wine was bottled had temporarily halted the fermentation of the wine. When temperatures warmed in the spring, the vintage began to ferment for a second time, producing excess carbon dioxide and giving the liquid inside a fizzy quality.

Not only was fizzy wine considered poor winemaking, but bottles in the cellar kept exploding. Dom Pierre Pérignon’s assignment was to correct the situation.

Over time, however, affinity for the fizzy wine grew. By 1697, Dom Pérignon had reversed course and brought the bubbles back. He learned from the weather-induced mistake and employed a second fermentation to develop the “French Method,” which is still used today to make champagne. As a result, Dom Pérignon became known as the father of champagne.

His paternal status was challenged, however, by a British winemaker’s discovery in the 1990s of a paper presented by Gloucester doctor Christopher Merret in 1662 (six years before Dom Pérignon arrived at the Abbey). It detailed experiments to create a bubbly wine, and included a recipe that resembles modern-day champagne.

The result is an ongoing debate across the English channel, and it’s not likely to fizzle out anytime soon.

What’s the aha moment you see?

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Dec

Aha Moment Maker: Kernels of Curiosity

by Your friends at OIC on December 21, 2013

LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS, 1945—Shortly after the end of WWII, Percy Spencer was touring the labs at Raytheon, where he worked. During the war, the Allies had charged the company with mass producing magnetrons, the tubes that powered radar systems. Percy had been instrumental in solving critical efficiency and production issues, so when he spotted one of his achievements in the lab, he naturally stopped to admire it.

We don’t know whether he got a warm feeling inside while inspecting the magnetron, but we do know that he got a warm feeling inside his pocket, and soon discovered that a chocolate bar he had been saving there was melting.

Ever the curious mind, Percy immediately sent for, of all things, a bag of popcorn kernels. Holding it up to the magnetron, he discovered that they all popped in a matter of minutes.

From this simple experiment Spencer and Raytheon went on to develop the microwave oven. Their first effort was a large commercial unit for cooking large amounts of food quickly, but chefs were quick to point out limitations with certain foods.

Starting out like other accidental inventions, it took decades for the microwave oven to be refined to the household device we know today—a handy device when you want some popcorn, just as Percy Spencer first wondered.