Union College Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Feb. 16, 2006 Speaker: Dr. Chad Orzel, Union College Title: “Counting Atoms for Astrophysics: Atom Traps, Neutrino Detectors, and Radioactive Background Measurements” Abstract: A new generation of neutrino and dark matter detectors is currently under development, using liquid neon or xenon as a detection medium. These detectors offer unprecedented […]
Month: February 2006
Top Eleven: Alain Aspect
The final and most recent of the Top Eleven is an experiment that goes right to the heart of the weirdness inherent in quantum mechanics. Who: Alain Aspect (1947-present), a French physicist. (Again, Wikipedia is a let-down, but CNRS has useful information.) When: Around 1982 (there are several experiments involved, but the 1982 one is […]
Son of “Notes Toward ‘Weird Quantum Phenomenon'”
A continuation of the lecture transcription/ working out of idea for Boskone that I started in the previous post. There’s a greater chance that I say something stupid about quantum measurement in this part, but you’ll have to look below the fold to find out…
Notes Toward “Weird Quantum Phenomenon”
I’m teaching our sophomore-level modern physics course this term, which goes by the title “Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, and Their Applications.” The first mid-term was a couple of weeks ago, on Relativity (special, not general), and the second mid-term is tomorrow, on Quantum Mechanics, and then we get three weeks of applications (basically, whatever topics out […]
Inordinately Fond of Beetles
In case you’ve ever found yourself longing for a math/physics version of J.B.S. Haldane, Scott Aaronson ponders the nature of God.
Top Eleven: Rudolf Moessbauer
The penultimate experiment in the Top Eleven brings us up to the first nominee who’s still with us.. Who: Rudolf Moessbauer (1929-present) (that’s Mössbauer with a heavy-metal ö), a German physicist. (The Wikipedia link is for consistency with the other posts, but contains very little information. A better bio is available from the Nobel Prize […]
Next Time, Hit It With a Rock
Like PZ, I wasn’t going to mention the whole “Cheney shoots another hunter” thing, because that is, after all, part of the sport of hunting. And while I don’t personally hunt (I prefer fishing), I went to a high school where classes were unofficially cancelled on the first day of deer season, so I have […]
Idle Thought
The New York Times this morning has a long article on the stolen paintings of Edvard Munch, most notably the iconic painting “The Scream.” Copies of “The Scream” (there are apparently four versions, which I didn’t know) have been stolen on two different occasions: in 1994, two thieves propped a ladder up against the wall […]
Half a Good Plan (Duke-UMD)
My Terrapins lost to the hated Dukies yesterday, 96-88. I’d be more down, but they actually played pretty well– they just aren’t that good a team this year, and Duke is better than they are. They gave a great effort, though, and might’ve had a chance if they’d had more than half of the right […]
Links Dump
Miscellaneous quick things that I’ve noticed this week that don’t quite rate a full post of their own: First, a couple of links from