There was a mix-up in textbook ordering for this term (entirely my fault), and the books for my modern physics course were not in the bookstore when the term started. I made a spare copy available in the interim, and also half-jokingly suggested buying it from Amazon rather than waiting for the bookstore to get… Continue reading Textbook Prices: Highway Robbery, or High-Seas Piracy?
Category: Science
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
Applications of Quantum Mechanics
Over at the theoretical physics beach party, Moshe is talking about teaching quantum mechanics, specifically an elective course for upper-level undergraduates. He’s looking for some suggestions of special topics: The course it titled “Applications of quantum mechanics”, and is covering the second half of the text by David Griffiths, whose textbooks I find to be… Continue reading Applications of Quantum Mechanics
Reasonably Comfortable Questions: Modern Physics
In the “uncomfortable questions” comment thread, Thony C. suggests: You say you’re teaching “modern physics” so how about a running commentary on the stuff your teaching? That’s a good suggestion, and I’ll start posting some sketchy reports soon. First, though, Bora asks: What is un-modern physics? Roughly speaking, physics gets divided into “Classical Physics” and… Continue reading Reasonably Comfortable Questions: Modern Physics
The Fine Line Between Plagiarism and Necessary Repetition
My senior thesis student this year came to my office today to ask a question as he’s starting to work on writing his thesis. I’ve given him copies of the theses of the last couple of students to work in my lab, and asked him to start on a draft of the background sections. He… Continue reading The Fine Line Between Plagiarism and Necessary Repetition
Relatively Comfortable Question: Big Bang
In response to the call for uncomfortable questions, Jason Failes asks: What’s the best evidence for the Big Bang theory? The more I read about it (25 years ago to present), the more contrived, ad hoc, and retro-dictive it seems. At this point, what would falsify the Big Bang theory? What would falsify the Big… Continue reading Relatively Comfortable Question: Big Bang
Bloggers and Journalists and Editors, Oh My!
The posts selected for the 2009 edition of The Open Laboratory, collecting the best writing on science blogs for the year, have been announced. My We Are Science post made the list, which is nice. Amusingly, this showed up in my inbox at the same time that the ScienceBlogs front page is featuring this Bloggingheads… Continue reading Bloggers and Journalists and Editors, Oh My!
Freezing Coherent Field Growth in a Cavity by the Quantum Zeno Effect
When I saw ZapperZ’s post about this paper (arxiv version, expensive journal version) from the group of Serge Haroche in Paris, I thought it might be something I would need to incorporate into Chapter 5 of the book-in-progress. Happily, it’s much too technical to require extensive re-writing. Having taken the time to read it, though,… Continue reading Freezing Coherent Field Growth in a Cavity by the Quantum Zeno Effect
The Law of Burger Attraction
I’m sitting at the dining room table eating lunch, when I get the feeling of being watched. I look around, and see the dog across the room, curled up on her pillows staring at me. She’s quietly chanting to herself “I get stuff. I get stuff. I get stuff.” “You’re not trying that hypnosis thing… Continue reading The Law of Burger Attraction
What to Do About Science and the Public
In comments to last week’s rant about the low esteem in which science is held, taffe writes: Ok then, what should scientists be doing, individually or as a community? Maybe the masses just plain find political info more interesting. I mean hell, you had to use dog fans as a hook for your popular book,… Continue reading What to Do About Science and the Public