A tiny look into a big discovery

Neon. Synonymous with Vegas, Times Square, and that awful martini-shaped thing you used to declare your rebellion with in college. But since the invention of LCD lights, Neon is sometimes thought of as the ugly redheaded stepchild. But take a look into the world of Neon and you’ll hopefully walk away with more appreciation for this glowing wonder of science . . . and yes, advertising. First of all, Ne, the chemical element which creates the effect we know as “neon” is only found in small amounts in our atmosphere. So how can Neon signs be produced in such copious amounts? In the mid 1800’s, two chemists named William Ramsay and Morris W. Travers were screwing around with our earth’s elements like most of our beloved historical nerds did during that time. Ramsay was inspired to freeze a sample of our earth’s atmosphere until it became a liquid (raise your and if you had no clue that “air” could melt). When they warmed the liquid back up, they separated the gasses that boiled off and identified them as Krypton , Xenon, and our friend neon (Greek for “new”). Then, in 1898 another soon-to-be-rich nerd bottled the concentrated neon into tubes, and found that when electrified, it glowed. In 1923, the first neon banner was purchased by a Packard car showroom in Los Angeles, CA. Store owners soon began investing in the traffic-stopping, glass, pieces of art. During the repeal of the prohibition in 1933, bar owners found neon signs to be an affordable, and trendy way to lure people back into their water ing holes. Since the discovery and invention of the Neon light, scientist have been able to go beyond it’s natural glowing color, red by adding additional elements such argon, mercury and phosphor. Gosh, science is purd-y.

Ink and Pulp, our hero

One of the most dynamic and lifesaving tools in the history of health and disease prevention is the use of the printed sign. You can have buckets of Penicillin, but the only way to prevent the spread of a devastatingly contagious disease such as Small Pox, Scarlet Fever, Whooping Cough, and the dreadful Black Plague, is to quarantine the sick from the healthy.

The 14th century practice of quarantine began as an effort to protect coastal cities from infected ships arriving in Venice. The word quarantine comes from the Italian phrase “quaranta giorni”, meaning 40 days. This is the window in time in which infected ships were required to sit at anchor before landing. The “Spanish Flu” epidemic of 1918-1919 proved mortal for almost 40 million people worldwide. It was Wisconsin that proved to be the only state with lower death rates—the only state whose State Board of Health evacuated and shut down all churches, schools, saloons, and parks. On the doors of such places you would find a government issued sign, warning the public about the highly contagious disease, which was taking the country. Take a look at some of these morbidly interesting quarantine signs, and make a wish on your next shooting star that you never see one in person.