“Daddy, I wanna play with the robot dog!” “It’s not a dog, honey, it’s an Imperial walker. An AT-AT. A fearsome armored assault transport used to overwhelm the Rebel defenses in the battle of Hoth.” “…” “…” “…” “OK, fine, you can play with the robot dog.” We came down to my parents’ for Thanksgiving… Continue reading Nostalgia and the Next Generation
Month: November 2013
Missing the Eureka Moment
Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendeleev hit on the idea of the Periodic Table as an organizing theme for a textbook he began writing in 1868. He did some work on refining the idea, and in 1870 presented a paper on it to a meeting of the Russian Chemical Society. Well, actually, that’s not quite true– Mendeleev did… Continue reading Missing the Eureka Moment
The Extensive Banality of Evil
We had a very late colloquium talk on Monday– on the next-to-last day of our fall term exam period, so student turnout was a little disappointing– by the science historian Dieter Hoffmann from the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, who was in town visiting a colleague in our history department. He told… Continue reading The Extensive Banality of Evil
The Pip, Balance Expert
Since SteelyKid got her own cute-photo post last night, it’s only fair to give equal time to The Pip. This morning, for reasons that passeth adult understanding, the kids decided to balance teddy bears on their heads, SteelyKid using Bertha the Big Bear (who is just a little smaller than The Pip), while the Little… Continue reading The Pip, Balance Expert
SteelyKid, Scientist
One of SteelyKid’s classmates came over for a couple hours today. After a bit, they got into the Magic School Bus science kit she got for her birthday, and decided to invent “new kinds of water.” The “featured image” above shows her reinventing stock images… And doing a better job of it than this clown.… Continue reading SteelyKid, Scientist
“Up to Their Tricks Again”: My New Favorite Physicist Story
From The Fly in the Cathedral, Brian Cathcart’s history of the experiments that led up to the splitting of lithium nuclei by accelerated protons in the Cavendish Laboratory in 1932. One of the incidents along the way was the discovery of the neutron by James Chadwick, also in 1932. In describing Chadwick, who was Ernest… Continue reading “Up to Their Tricks Again”: My New Favorite Physicist Story
“Eureka!” and the Problems Thereof
I’m not talking about the tv show Eureka here, which was mostly silly fluff but not especially problematic. I’m talking about the famous anecdote about Archimedes of Syracuse, who supposedly realized the principle that bears his name when slipping into a bath, distracted by a problem he had been assigned by his king. On realizing… Continue reading “Eureka!” and the Problems Thereof
Work-Life Juggling, Then and Now
A couple of Mondays ago, I was at work and got the dreaded phone call from day care. “[The Pip]’s got conjunctivitis again. It’s really bad, and he needs to go home right away.” Admittedly, this isn’t the very worst phone call a parent could receive, but it’s very much Not Good. Conjunctivitis means a… Continue reading Work-Life Juggling, Then and Now
Visiting Faculty Position at Union College
My trip into the office today was for the express purpose of posting this job ad: We invite applications for Visiting Assistant Professor starting in September 2014. This position is available for up to three years, contingent on satisfactory performance. Applicants should have some teaching experience and a strong commitment to undergraduate education. Union is… Continue reading Visiting Faculty Position at Union College
Time Management, or A Day in the Life
In comments to the Sagan post, Niall asked about how I spend my time. This is about to change, as today is the last day of my class for the fall term, then we have an extended break, but it’s probably interesting in a life-in-academia way to put up my schedule at the moment: Monday,… Continue reading Time Management, or A Day in the Life