This learn node connects to six excellent online sources for learning about the July 20, 1944 plot to assassinated Hitler. The learn node was stimulated by the movie Valkyrie, which is based on the actual people and events of the plot. The internet is a new way, in the 21st century, to quickly assemble information about events from virtually any place and any time. If your interest is aroused by seeing the movie — or are teaching or learning about the Nazi resistance — the following links will fill in the facts and characters.

There is a Claus von Stauffenberg biography at the Jewish Virtual Library and a book available at Amazon.com (in German) about Claus von Stauffenberg’s wife Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg. The Wikipedia article on Claus von Stauffenberg is one of several subjects related to July 20, 1944 plot that are covered in Wikipedia. A BBC feature describes the events of July 20, 1944: Hitler survives assassination attempt. A BBC report at the time of the 60th anniversary memorial of the attempt to assassinate Hitler, recalls the events and persons involved. And, of course, the homepage of the movie Valkyrie, about the assassination plot provides dramatization of the places and times of the German resistance to Hitler and of the plot itself.

BBC reports the 2008 discovery by Max Planck Institute scientists, using telescopes in Hawaii and Spain to capture faint light echoes of the original explosion — in effect capturing a fossil imprint of Tycho’s famous supernova. Wikipedia’s excellent article on Tycho’s Supernova for more background. NASA’s dictionary defines supernova and other relevant terms. The Galileo Project has a fine biography of Tycho Brahe. MIT’s open courseware offers instruction on the Plasma Physics that is a major focus for Tycho’s supernova.

The center node takes you to the work of Timothy Wei, professor and acting dean of Rensselaer’s School of Engineering, to see how he has solved Gray’s Paradox using his new state-of-the-art water flow diagnostic technology — Digital Particle Image Velocimetry DPIV — that measures the force a dolphin generates with its tail. Other nodes are about DPIV, how the US Navy trains dolphins (a retired Navy dolphin stars in the Rensselear video), general dolphin information (from the San Diego Zoo), and open courseware from Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine on marine mammal medicine including care of dolphins, who are cetaceans.

The Origins of World War I is a lecture from a Yale University on which this learn node is based. The topic is from the Open Yale course France Since 1871 taught by Professor John Merriman, shown teaching in the image. The 45-minute lecture is offered in transcript, mp3 audio, and Flash or Quicktime video. The course overview explains:

The traditional, diplomatic history of World War I is helpful in understanding how a series of hitherto improbable alliances come to be formed in the early years of the twentieth century. In the case of France and Russia, this involves a significant ideological compromise. Along with the history of imperial machinations, however, World War I should be understood in the context of the popular imagination and the growth of nationalist sentiment in Europe.

A major player in the era that led to World War I was Otto von Bismarck. Internet Archive provides his book online: Bismarck, the man and the statesman; being the reflections and reminiscences of Otto, Prince von Bismarck 1898. His image here is from that books frontispiece. The Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions is an online source that of a sort the internet has made possible. Dozens of scholars contribute articles to the encyclopedia about the era from in the causes of World War I percolated. The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, a kick-off point in World War I, is described in a report in the WWI Document Archive housed at Brigham Young University.

galileo spacecraft

Galileo and the Pendulum is a node for learning that is part of a rich cluster and course, The Galileo Project at Connexions. Other sections of the Galileo Project are his biography, family life, the Inquisition, and descriptions of his work on motion, mechanical devices, and the telescope.

Surely the great Galileo Galilei of 14th century Italy would gaze in pride on the achievements of his namesake, the Galileo spacecraft that explored the solar system from 1989-2003.

The image above is the Hurricane Ike Interactive Map from NOAA. When you go to the page you can click into the boxes to locate and study satellite photos of damage. StormWatch is part of the work of the Johns Hopkins University/ Applied Physics Laboratory.

Remote sensing imagery and study materials abound on the internet. An excellent cluster of information can be found at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program which “is a multi-laboratory, interagency program, and is a key contributor to national and international research efforts related to global climate change. A primary objective of the program is improved scientific understanding of the fundamental physics related to interactions between clouds and radiative feedback processes in the atmosphere. ARM focuses on obtaining continuous field measurements and providing data products that promote the advancement of climate models.”

To learn scientific and technical background for the field MIT offers open couseware on Atmospheric Radiation that is “an introduction to the physics of atmospheric radiation and remote sensing including use of computer codes. Subjects covered include: radiative transfer equation including emission and scattering, spectroscopy, Mie theory, and numerical solutions. We examine the solution of inverse problems in remote sensing of atmospheric temperature and composition.”

A NASA- based Remote Sensing Tutorial provides further introduction to the field.

John Locke had such a profound influence on Thomas Jefferson that he may be deemed an honorary founding father of the United States. He advocated the natural equality of human beings, their natural rights to life, liberty, and property, and defined legitimate government in terms that Jefferson would later use in the Declaration of Independence. Locke’s life and works are discussed, and the lecture shows how he transformed ideas previously formulated by Machiavelli and Hobbes into a more liberal constitutional theory of the state.

Biography of people alive today is being preserved with new, robust digital methods. A good place to find out examples of this kind of preservation is the Library of Congress Blog, where for example the new recording of people recalling history is described in this post: Library Preserves Voice of Last Living World War I Veteran.

Remembering World War I in a different way are memorial structures and spaces. These are studied in The Open University’s Arts and History course on the Commemoration of War, which includes this page on The Royal Artillery Memorial.

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A biography learn node of William Penn with the story of his role in the history of Pennsylvania is a large topic. The Internet has many excellent nodes of materials on the subject. This blog post is a small learnode combining a sampling of William Penn webpages:

The image that illustrates this post is from an excellent introduction to Penn at HippoCampus.org. To see the image in the introductory presentation click on “Pennsylvania and Delaware” on HIppoCampus’s page: Browse US History, English Colonies.

Long, official and authoritative Penn biographies are woven into the online exhibits of two official institutions of the State of Pennsylvania and one from the university of the state to the south of Penn’s former colony, at the University of Virginia:

- Pennsylvania General Assembly of history: The Quaker Province: 1681-1776
- Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
- Extensive account of the life of William Penn at the University of Virginia

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Other excellent Internet biography is openly available online for the Dalai Lama. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, and like all winners his biography is posted on Nobelprize.org which is the website of the Nobel Foundation. The Dalai Lama’s Peace Prize acceptance speech is also available at Nobelprize.org. A Library of Congress exhibit about the Dalai Lama’s visit to Washington in October 2007 has more about him, and offers a list of selected links to further materials.

Here, also, is a video posted on YouTube.com in December 2007 where His Holiness answers a question about technological change.