I’m going to be in Boston all day, visiting MIT with a bunch of students, so here’s a Dorky Poll to keep you entertained while I’m gone: Which E-name mathematician do you prefer: Leonhard Euler or Paul Erdös? They’re both famous, they both have Numbers, and they’re both dead. You almost literally can’t do physics… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Euler or Erdos?
Month: October 2007
DonorsChoose: Cruise the Forest
We’re one week into the DonorsChoose challenge for this year, and readers of this blog have already contributed over $2,000 to help school teachers and students. Those of you who have contributed, thank you very much for your generosity. We’ve still got $4,000 to go to reach the goal for the challenge, though, so there… Continue reading DonorsChoose: Cruise the Forest
Physics Nobel: Giant Magnetoresistance
Having gotten that silly Medicine business out of the way, the Swedish Academy has moved on to the important Award, with the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics going to Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg for the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance. This is one that people have been calling for for a while, now. I’ll try… Continue reading Physics Nobel: Giant Magnetoresistance
links for 2007-10-09
The Booze News Because the world needs another web site dedicated to drunk college students (tags: academia stupid) Jobs, News and Views for All of Higher Education – Inside Higher Ed :: The Educrats’ Attack on Teaching Hugo Schwyzer goes to a workshop on “improving student learning outcomes,” then gets snarky about it. (tags: academia… Continue reading links for 2007-10-09
Many Worlds, Many Blinking Lights
In the “You Learn Something New Every Day” file, I was double-checking some dates for the Many Worlds chapter, when I ran across the following at the end of the Wikipedia page for Hugh Everett III: Everett’s son, Mark Oliver Everett, is also known as “E”, the lead singer and songwriter for the band Eels.… Continue reading Many Worlds, Many Blinking Lights
Columbus Day Poll: Favorite “Discoverer” of America
It’s a public holiday here in the US, which means it’s an Open House day on campus, as Admissions brings in a whole herd of high-schoolers to try to convince them to apply and enroll. This messes up the parking even more than usual, and also requires a bit of extra faculty effort to chat… Continue reading Columbus Day Poll: Favorite “Discoverer” of America
Politics of the Professoriate, Again
There are a great many reasons to hate David Horowitz, but near the top of the list has to be the fact that his constant harping on “liberal bias” in academia has spawned a thousand studies of the politics of academics, complete with chin-stroking analysis peices about What It All Means. The latest, from Neil… Continue reading Politics of the Professoriate, Again
Guess the Nobel, Win a Prize
I somehow managed to lose track of time for a bit, and forgot that it was Nobel season until I saw this morning’s announcement that the 2007 Nobel Prize in Medicine hase just been announced, going to Mario R. Capecchi, Sir Martin J. Evans, and Oliver Smithies, for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific… Continue reading Guess the Nobel, Win a Prize
links for 2007-10-08
BBC SPORT | Rugby Union | Laws & Equipment | Rugby union positions guide A guide to accompany the World Cup (tags: sports rugby) Particle-physics detector warms to forest fires – Physics World – physicsworld.com New spin-off technology from CERN. Clearly, we must build the ILC! (tags: physics experiment gadgets science) Tom Baker Says… Via… Continue reading links for 2007-10-08
Book Report
“Books? I like books!” Here’s the next occasional book progress update: