Friday, October 12, 2012

The electric man


Do you know who invented the DC dynamo?! Now you do, it's this man whose name is Zénobe Gramme. He was born in Belgium then moved to Paris where he worked in several workshops (he was originally a joiner!) and ended up inventing the dynamo which is still what we use today to produce electricity. I photographed this statue in front of le musée des arts et métiers, a Paris museum that I love. The difficult part was to find an angle that was not too boring... I picked this one, even though I could have done with more front light.

7 comments:

  1. I truly believe the word "dynamo" is even more noteworthy than the device.

    I also love the poetry in choosing not to have quite enough light in a photograph of a monument to a man who gave us.... light!

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  2. Great angle nice story - he turned AC into DC then, mmm very rectifying

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  3. It's a boy, Mrs. Walker, it's a boy.

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  4. Your angle of shot is very flattering to M. Gramme, as in another photo I have seen on Wikipedia he looks at lot less dynamic.

    He is standing in front of his Gramme Generator.
    You may like to know that he found out by accident that it also functioned as an electric motor when connected in reverse to another electric current.

    Just the sort piece of information which might come in handy during a lull in the conversation, or alternatively, used to bring an unwanted conversation to a complete stop.
    Use responsibly....

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  5. @Drummond "You may like to know that he found out by accident that it also functioned as an electric motor when connected in reverse to another electric current." Yes I saw that, but I did not want to bore people with technical details ; not sure that people check a Paris blog to learn about electrical stuff LOL
    But like you said, in a "dîner en ville" as we call it in French, it may come in handy!!

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  6. Who knew? I love it when you teach me something that I hope I learned in school—but have since totally forgotten. And I love the "dynamic" angle of this photo!

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  7. Very interesting to learn about the DC dynamo and the man who created it. I enjoy learning new things -- thank you.

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