Tom Levenson has another excellent piece in his series on the writing of his forthcoming book on Newton, this one on hitting a wall: The one bit of history specific to the Newton and the Counterfeiter project came when I hit a wall. I had written about a quarter of the manuscript by the autumn… Continue reading Writing Is Easy, Except When It Isn’t
Category: History of Science
Sciences vs. Humanities, Primary vs. Secondary
Thoreau offers without qualification some observations about the different approach to books taken by sciences vs. humanities. Specifically, he notes that despite frequent claims that it is the Most Important Book Ever, nobody actually reads Newton’s Principia Mathematica This is totally different from humanities. In humanities, people make a point of reading the original thinkers.… Continue reading Sciences vs. Humanities, Primary vs. Secondary
Physics vs. Chemistry
The Experimental Error blog considers the difference between disciplines (via Tom): I often contemplate the differences between these two areas of study. Also, I hear fellow undergrads argue for one or the other, usually divided along the lines of their respective major. Anymore, I think they’re so interrelated that I find it hard to find… Continue reading Physics vs. Chemistry
Beware of Undead Astronomers
My bedtime reading last night was an old pop-science book by Isaac Asimov, about black holes and astronomy generally. He talks at some length about the size and age of the universe, and just before I stopped and went to sleep last night, I reached his discussion of Cepheid variables, which begins thus: In 1784… Continue reading Beware of Undead Astronomers
Obligatory Freeman Dyson Link
As a scientist with a blog, I am apparently contractually obligated to link to the New York Times Magazine profile of Freeman Dyson. If I don’t, they’ll take away my privileges as a scientist. (Of course, since those consist mostly of the right to review grant applications for the NSF, maybe it’d be worth the… Continue reading Obligatory Freeman Dyson Link
Numbers of Order Unity
Over at Unqualified Offerings, Thoreau is bemused by his students’ reaction to unusual numbers: [I]t is fascinating how we condition people to be used to numbers in a certain range, and as soon as a number is either very big or very small it becomes disconcerting. On one level, I’m glad that they are able… Continue reading Numbers of Order Unity
Heads Talking About Quantum History
I’m running a little behind this week, but I wouldn’t want this week’s Science Saturday bloggingheads to slip by without a mention. It’s a conversation between George Johnson and Louisa Gilder about The Age of Entanglement, which I liked quite a bit: The conversation is primarily about her book, the story it tells, and how… Continue reading Heads Talking About Quantum History
Course Report: Historical Quantum Mechanics
In the last report from my modern physics course, we wrapped up Relativity, and started into quantum mechanics, talking about black-body radiation and Planck’s quantum hypothesis. The next few classes continue the historical theme
Course Report: General Relativity and Black-Body Radiation
The last course report covered the first six classes of the relativity unit. This week, we had the final two relativity lectures, and today was the start of quantum mechanics.
Half-Baked Course Idea: Great Experiments
A couple years ago, we revised the General Education requirements at the college to require all students to take a “Sophomore Research Seminar” in their second year. These classes are supposed to be writing-intensive, and introduce students to the basics of academic research. The specified course components are pretty heavily slanted toward the humanities– library… Continue reading Half-Baked Course Idea: Great Experiments