Category: In the Media

Clocks, Microwaves, and the Limits of Fermi Problems

I don’t have anything all that new to say about last night’s Cosmos reboot, and I’m leaving for scenic Madison, WI today to attend DAMOP, so I don’t have a great deal of time. Kate did mention something over dinner last night, though, that’s a good topic for a quick blog post. Kate’s a big… Continue reading Clocks, Microwaves, and the Limits of Fermi Problems

Millikan, Einstein, and Planck: The Experiment io9 Forgot

Schematic of the apparatus Millikan used to determine Planck's constant from the photoelectric effect. Image from the March paper discussed below.

A couple of weeks ago, io9 ran a piece about the old accusations that Robert Millikan manipulated his data for the electron charge with the headlineDid a Case of Scientific Misconduct Win the Nobel Prize for Physics? that got a lot of attention. I wasn’t as impressed with this as a lot of other people,… Continue reading Millikan, Einstein, and Planck: The Experiment io9 Forgot

Cosmos and the Sideburns

Michael Faraday, image from wikimedia.

Last night’s episode of the Cosmos reboot focused on one of the three physicists whose pictures Einstein kept in his office: Michael Faraday. I’m a big fan of Faraday, who famously started his career as a bookbinder’s apprentice reading the books brought into the shop, and ended as one of the greatest experimental physicists of… Continue reading Cosmos and the Sideburns

Cosmos, Just-So Stories, and Hindsight

I have a couple of things in the mental queue for this week, but I’m still playing catch-up from my trip to Texas, so instead you get a really quick comment on last night’s Cosmos. This one was all about the history of the Earth– continents moving, climate changing, mass extinctions– stuff that I know… Continue reading Cosmos, Just-So Stories, and Hindsight

Space Travel, Einstein, and GPS

Slide from my talk at Space Center Houston.

Below you’ll find the slides from my Physics Day presentations at Space Center Houston, embedded via SlideShare. I was doing the TED-style minimal text thing, so they’re probably not all that comprehensible on their own. The event was supposed to have a pop-culture connection, so I decided to use space travel and extrasolar planets as… Continue reading Space Travel, Einstein, and GPS

Cosmos and the Women

Cartoon people form the cosmos reboot, from http://www.trueanomalies.com/taking-no-snark-to-the-next-level/

Back when the first episode of the Cosmos reboot aired, somebody put together a composite of the cartoon people who flashed on screen, and we played a guessing game on Twitter. The image above is from a blog post by Meg at True Anomalies, and I think it was probably her, but the ephemeral nature… Continue reading Cosmos and the Women

Flame Challenge Finalists 2014: What Is Color?

The finalists for the 2014 “Flame Challenge” have been selected, three written entries and three visual entries. None of these is my entry, alas, but it was worth a shot. I watched the videos last night, and it was sort of interesting to compare what ended up working well with the test audience of 11-year-olds… Continue reading Flame Challenge Finalists 2014: What Is Color?

Superheros are Anti-Science

Still from the first Captain American movie showing him being made super via science.

I’m not really a comic-book guy, but I’ve watched a bunch of comic-book movies recently. Kate was really fired up for the new Captain America movie, so I finally got around to watching the first one as background for that, then when I was sleep-deprived last week I watched the second Thor movie via on-demand… Continue reading Superheros are Anti-Science