According to Checkiday.com today is Helium Discovery Day because helium was discovered on August 18, 1868.
It was discovered by a French astronomer named Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen. He went to India to watch a solar eclipse hoping to learn about the chemical composition of the sun. He used a prism and found a yellow light that he though was sodium. But it was a bit different. That turned out to be helium. Another scientist by the name of Joseph Norman Lockyear was also studying the sun the same year and also discovered helium. For many years, people didn't believe the scientists until another scientist named William Ramsay found helium inside an iron ore.
According to Wikipedia helium is named after the Greek god of the sun.
Most people know helium as the gas that makes balloons float. But it's also used in MRI scanners, rockets, and solar telescopes. Helium is the second most common element in the universe. (Hydrogen is the most common.)
So in honor of Helium Discovery Day, here's a video explaining whether or not there was enough helium to lift Mr. Fredricksen's house in the movie Up.
Comments