Author: Chad Orzel

Blast From the Past: Letter to and From Luis Alvarez

My letter to Luis Alvarez and his reply

I have mentioned before that when I was a kid, I wrote a letter to Luis Alvarez, the 1968 Nobel laureate in Physics, asking some questions about his theory that an asteroid impact killed the dinosaurs, which had been featured in a NOVA special. I got a very nice letter back from him, very graciously… Continue reading Blast From the Past: Letter to and From Luis Alvarez

Proving Bethe Wrong: On Theory Inspiring Experiment

As research for the work-in-progress, I recently read Luis Alvarez‘s autobiography, Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist, which contains a passage that I was reminded of last night while reading another book, that seems like an amusing follow-up to yesterday’s rant about theory and experiment. This is from the end of the chapter where he joined… Continue reading Proving Bethe Wrong: On Theory Inspiring Experiment

Experiments Are Not Afterthoughts

There’s been a bunch of talk recently about a poll on quantum interpretations that showed physicists badly divided between the various interpretations– Copenhagen, Many-Worlds, etc.– a result which isn’t actually very surprising. Sean Carroll declares that the summary plot is “The Most Embarrassing Graph in Modern Physics, which I think is a bit of an… Continue reading Experiments Are Not Afterthoughts

How Do You Make Negative Temperatures, Anyway?

Part of Figure 1 from the arxiv preprint of the paper discussed in the post.

Last week’s post talked about the general idea of negative temperature, with reference to this much-talked-about Science paper (which also comes in a free arxiv version from which the figures used here are taken). I didn’t go into the details of how they made a negative temperature gas, though, and as it’s both very clever… Continue reading How Do You Make Negative Temperatures, Anyway?

What Does “Negative Temperature” Mean, Anyway?

Part of Figure 1 from the arxiv preprint of the paper discussed in the post.

The most talked-about physics paper last week was probably Negative Absolute Temperature for Motional Degrees of Freedom (that link goes to the paywalled journal; there’s also a free arxiv preprint from which the above figure is taken). It’s a catchy but easily misinterpreted title– Negative absolute temperature! Below Absolute Zero! Thermodynamics is wrong!– that obscures… Continue reading What Does “Negative Temperature” Mean, Anyway?

The Psychology and Improbability of Shuffle Play

Kate and I went down to New York City (sans kids, as my parents were good enough to take SteelyKid and The Pip for the weekend) this weekend, because Kate had a case to argue this morning, and I needed a getaway before the start of classes today. We hit the Rubin Museum of Art,… Continue reading The Psychology and Improbability of Shuffle Play

Faitheist by Chris Stedman

I started following Chris Stedman on Twitter thanks to a recommendation from Josh Rosenau citing him as someone who promotes atheism without being contemptous of religious people. He was, indeed, a source of religion-and-politics material that I found congenial, and when I noticed he was flogging a forthcoming book, I picked up a copy, which… Continue reading Faitheist by Chris Stedman

The Physics of Wall Street by James Owen Weatherall

The Physics of Wall Street cover.

As I hinted obliquely a little while back, I don’t have a terribly high opinion of Wall Street or Wall Street traders. Given that, I’m not the most obvious audience for a book titled The Physics of Wall Street, and truth be told, I wouldn’t’ve picked it up on my own. The publisher sent me… Continue reading The Physics of Wall Street by James Owen Weatherall

Top Physics Breakthroughs of the 13th Baktun

We’re at that time of year where people publish lists of top stories of the year, but as many crazy people will be happy to remind you, this Friday marks the end of another calendrical period, in the Mayan calendar. So, I’m going to steal an idea from a college classmate on Facebook, who wrote:… Continue reading Top Physics Breakthroughs of the 13th Baktun