alt Hacker News> The Schiehallion experiment wasn’t the state of the art for long. A more precise result was achieved in 1798 by Henry Cavendish, who was on the committee for the Schiehallion experiment. Cavendish’s experiment measured the gravity of large lead spheres using an extremely precise torsion pendulum, and cut the error from 20% down to 1.2%.
Cavendish was a peculiar fellow.
> At his death, Cavendish was the largest depositor in the Bank of England. He was a shy man who was uncomfortable in society and avoided it when he could. He could speak to only one person at a time, and only if the person were known to him and male. He conversed little, always dressed in an old-fashioned suit, and developed no known deep personal attachments outside his family. Cavendish was taciturn and solitary and regarded by many as eccentric. He communicated with his female servants only by notes. By one account, Cavendish had a back staircase added to his house to avoid encountering his housekeeper, because he was especially shy of women.
Who was saying that autism rates are increasing because more people have it now and not because we are better are recognizing it??