Today makes two years since my grad-school adviser died and 100 years since the solar eclipse that provided the first big test of Einstein's theory of general relativity. Monday also made six years since Pedro died ( Read more... )

Topic: Jayus, "from Indonesian, meaning a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.”

Physics students and physicists tell jokes. I don't know why it took Hollywood and the television industry so many decades to figure this out.

Physics students get a special thrill out of telling preciously esoteric jokes that make no sense ( Read more... )

First, a couple of lolcats:


( Read more... )

Clever parody, that. More here.

Interesting piece on the physics of football tackles. Oof!

John Archibald Wheeler has died at age 96. Many consider him the last of the physics giants of the 20th century. This was the guy who debated Einstein and Bohr, who was Ph.D. thesis adviser to Feynman (who died 20 years ago), and who coined the term "black hole." Oh, yeah, he was also a Unitarian Universalist who was married for 72 years until his ( Read more... )

One last bit about Chet, this time from coverage of his funeral.

Yesterday I was really glad that a guy from UMass Medical School (and who's younger than I am) won half of the Nobel Prize for medicine/physiology. This article overlooks the 1993 physics Nobel for work done at UMass-Amherst, but this editorial gets closer to the proper message, IMHO ( Read more... )

From my former professor's Nobel banquet speech:

These dark days in Stockholm emphasize the importance of light in our lives. It is equally important in our literature. The word, "light", has vastly many meanings. Shakespeare, in Love's Labours Lost, has one of his cleverer characters make fun of that by speaking the line, "Light, seeking light, ( Read more... )

Interactive physics simulations from the folks at the University of Colorado. Cool.

Those of you who have known me for a long, long time might recall that I once took a night class at Harvard Extension School. I was considering going back to college to study physics, and I thought that I might want to stick my toe in the water before jumping into the deep end. Not too many colleges offer evening physics classes of any kind, let ( Read more... )

Good blog of multiple physicists "living the World Year of Physics": Quantum Diaries

Bit of physics humor regarding the "intelligent design" junk: New "Intelligent Falling" Theory

Now back to my own writing....