Posts Tagged: "Oxford University"

Frances Ligler’s Portable Optical Biosensors Improve Environmental Detection of Toxins, Pollutants

Dr. Frances Ligler is a pioneer in biosensor activity and a member of the 2017 class of inductees into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. This New Years’ Eve 2017 marked the 26th anniversary of the issue of a foundational patent in the field of portable optical biosensors, devices which are more adept at providing biological analysis in the field and outside of clinical lab settings.

Evolution of Technology: Roger Angel’s honeycomb mirrors enable extremely large telescopes

The use of larger mirrors enabled the creation of more powerful telescopes over time. However, by the 1970s the size of the mirror itself was becoming a limiting factor on building better telescopes as larger mirrors were prone to deforming. To address this, scientists began looking at creating large mirrors for astronomical telescopes by fusing together many smaller mirrors in a honeycomb structure. This year, the National Inventors Hall of Fame inducted a new member for his contributions to the production of large mirrors for astronomical telescopes: British-born astronomer J. Roger P. Angel. This Friday, August 19th marks the 30th anniversary of the issue date of the patent for which Angel was inducted.