Snowy Range Pass

Snowy Range Pass

Monday, September 19, 2011

35 Centuries of history



















If you are in the Corning, NY area, it is almost mandatory to visit the Corning Glass Museum. This is the largest glass museum on the world with 35 centuries of glass making history. While I am not a huge fan of the art, certainly glass products are essential to our everyday life. Some of the art forms of this product are rather amazing.

Touring the museum you can learn how glass products evolved over 3500 years. One of the latest practical applications is literally changing the world. That is a design and product discovered and perfected by the Corning Glass Company right in Corning, New York. I think we have all heard about fiber optics. Honestly, I did not know exactly how this worked. We got a great demo of how the fiber is made and how it transmits information. He explained how one fiber the size of a human hair can send huge amounts of information. To make the numbers clear, they have a copper bundle over six feet tall that would be required to send the same amount of information. As they say, I can see how this could change everything. This alone was worth the visit.

Even those of us not obsessed with glass can spend over three hours looking at the history and uses over such a long period of time. I would say it is a must see.

9 comments:

Travels with Emma said...

Whenever anyone visited me while I was living in Newark Valley, NY, we were sure to take them to the Corning Glass Museum. I've been there more times than I can count, but not in the last 20 years. :)

Gail Houle said...

Fiber optics are amazing. Almost mind boggling.
I no longer have any interest in the glass art form. We have no room for more stuff :)

Jim and Sandie said...

Loved visiting this museum and certainly learned a whole lot about glass. Didn't buy anything though because glass and RV's don't really mix well. Too much work to store them when moving.

Erin said...

Have no idea how fiber optics really work either, but I'm glad it was invented.

where's weaver said...

Gorgeous pictures. This looks like an awesome museum. Thanks for the tour. IF we get in that area, we WILL visit for sure.

Rick said...

Thanks for the tour of another great, interesting museum - and the pics too!

Fiber Optic technology has definitely changed the world of computer technology and has enabled us to enjoy a lot of high-speed bandwidth that would be impossible with it.

Sweet Meanderings said...

Looks like a fascinating museum. It's really amazing how someone could even imagine how to make such things. Thanks for the tour and the pictures.
Candy

Unknown said...

This looks like a great place to visit. Thanks for the heads up on it.

Phyllis said...

We were there a couple of months ago. Loved the white dress with shaw! The lineup for the fiber optics demo was crowded so we walked on by. Now kinda sorry we did that.