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The first recording of the 1900 solar eclipse became available in 4K

We live in a time when, in order tolook at the space in real time, just get out of your pocket smartphone and run YouTube. Such an opportunity arose through the centenary works of scientists, and even in the 1900s, even a video with a solar eclipse seemed something impossible and fantastic. Not surprisingly, the first such material was filmed by illusionist Neville Maskelein, who, in addition to his main work, was also interested in astronomy and radio engineering.

Nevil Maskelyn was born in Great Britain in 1863.year - he was the son of the even more famous illusionist and inventor John Maskelyna (it is believed that he invented the pay toilets). Following in the footsteps of his father, Neville published the book “Our magic: art, theory and practice” about the techniques of illusionists, and also became known as the first hacker in history.

The first ever hacker hacking

His "hacker" skills Maskelynedemonstrated in 1903, during a presentation of secure wireless communications created by physicist Guglielmo Marconi. The essence of the technology was quite simple - the transmitter and receiver worked strictly at a certain frequency, and the inventor was sure that no one could set up their equipment in the same way.

It was then that it turned out that hacking such“Protection” can be easily - right before the start of the demonstration, Marconi’s equipment began transmitting messages through Morse code. The message was encrypted unpleasant words for the physicist, and the author was Nevil Maskelyn - the name of the hacker was revealed only after 4 days in the journal Times.

It turned out that the illusionist was well versed inradio engineering, and used his knowledge when doing his tricks. The hacking conducted by Maskelein was the reason - the telegraph companies promised him a reward for disrupting the presentation, because Marconi's radio threatened their entire business.

The first ever solar eclipse video

The first person who successfully filmedthe solar eclipse, without damaging its equipment, also became Nevil Maskelyn. The shooting was organized in 1990, during the expedition of the British Astronomical Association in North Carolina. Together with astronomer John Bacon, the illusionist used a special telescopic camera adapter for shooting, protecting the sensitive film layer from bright light.

It is believed that this was the second attempt Maskelynashoot a solar eclipse. The first was undertaken in India in 1898 and may even have been successful. However, the tape was lost - most likely it was stolen during the return trip from India to the UK.

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One minute long tapethe time was kept in the archives of the Royal Astronomical Society, and only recently was digitized and restored to 4K resolution. Now a historical video can be watched as easily as live broadcasts from the International Space Station - just turn on YouTube.

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