In the same basic vein as yesterday’s post about thermodynamics, the following poll contains a list of physicists who are not household names, but who made significant contributions to the science of optics. Which of them is the best? Which of these physicists from the field of optics was the best?(polls)
Category: Science
Macroscopic Quantum Behavior in SeedMagazine.com
The Corporate Masters have launched a “featured blogger” program, asking individual ScienceBloggers to comment on news articles from the main site, and publishing the responses with the magazine piece. I just did one on new quantum experiments, which was posted today. The news article is Supersizing Quantum Behavior by Veronique Greenwood. My piece is Reconciling… Continue reading Macroscopic Quantum Behavior in SeedMagazine.com
Thermodynamics Smackdown Explained
So, yesterday featured a silly poll about underappreciated old-timey physicists. Who are these people, and why should you know about them? Taking them in reverse order of the voting:
PNAS: Jon Moulton, Small Company Biologist
(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This… Continue reading PNAS: Jon Moulton, Small Company Biologist
Philosophy of Science Poll: Emotions
While I’m stealing post ideas from Twitter, here’s another poll question, thanks to Eric Weinstein, who wrote earlier: And @CameronNeylon, when you write “Good science means not having an (emotional) allegiance to any theory surely?” I must strongly disagree. This position results from the luxury of living on the far side of an adaptive valley… Continue reading Philosophy of Science Poll: Emotions
Historical Physicist Smackdown: Thermodynamics Edition
The question of who is the greatest physicist of the physicists who are household names– Newton, Einstein, Maxwell, etc.– has been debated thousands of times, and will undoubtedly be debated thousands of times in the future. What isn’t as often discussed is the ranking of physicists who aren’t in that rare group of household names–… Continue reading Historical Physicist Smackdown: Thermodynamics Edition
PNAS: Katherine Porter, Educational Content Editor
(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This… Continue reading PNAS: Katherine Porter, Educational Content Editor
PNAS: Tim Johnson, Software Engineer
(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This… Continue reading PNAS: Tim Johnson, Software Engineer
PNAS: Evie Marom, Aerospace Engineer
(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too often assumed as a default. This… Continue reading PNAS: Evie Marom, Aerospace Engineer
Half-Assed General Education Course Idea, continued
Timothy Burke notes a controversy about an NEH program that some philosophers feel tramples their discipline. In talking about a hypothetical program that would do the same for his field of history, Burke suggests something that caught my eye: f the NEH set up a course development grant called “Time and the Past” aimed at… Continue reading Half-Assed General Education Course Idea, continued