Erwin Schrödinger and the Quantum Revolution by John Gribbin

Cover of John Gribbin's Schrodinger bio, from Barnes and Noble web site.

Erwin Schrödinger is one of the more colorful figures in physics history. He’s best known for Emmy’s favorite thought experiment, of course, which attempts to demonstrate the absurdity of quantum physics through locking a cat in a box. This overshadows the Schrödinger Equation, the central equation of non-relativistic quantum mechanics, which won him a Nobel… Continue reading Erwin Schrödinger and the Quantum Revolution by John Gribbin

Preschool Science

SteelyKid's worksheet from computer class.

SteelyKid takes a bunch of enrichment classes at her day care, none of which are explicitly science. I was, however, thrilled to discover that they were doing actual science in her computer class though. The “Featured Image” at the top of this post (sorry, RSS readers, you’ll need to click through) is a cell-phone picture… Continue reading Preschool Science

Time Is What You Measure With a Clock

Figure from How to teach Relativity to Your Dog, showing the inability of moving observers to synchronize their clocks.

Last year, Alan Alda posed a challenge to science communicators, to explain a flame in terms that an 11-year old could understand. this drew a lot of responses, and some very good winners. This year’s contest, though still called the “Flame Challenge,” asked for an answer to the question “What Is Time?” This is a… Continue reading Time Is What You Measure With a Clock

Explaining, Education, and Outreach

A couple of days ago, Alom Shaha posted on the new Physics Focus blog (by the way, there’s a new Physics Focus blog…) about his dissatisfaction with some popular books: I recently read a popular science book on a topic that I felt I needed to learn more about. The book was well written, ideas… Continue reading Explaining, Education, and Outreach

Real Scientists Have Families, Too

I was re-reading bits of James Gleick’s Feynman biography, and ran across a bit near the end (page 397 of my hardcover from 1992) talking about his relationship with his children, talking about how ordinary he seemed at home.I particularly liked the sentence “Belatedly it dawned on them that not all their friends could look… Continue reading Real Scientists Have Families, Too

Math and Science Are Not Cleanly Separable

One of the hot topics of the moment is the E. O. Wilson op-ed lamenting the way math scares students off from science, and downplaying the need for mathematical skill (this is not news, really– he said more or less the same thing a few years ago, but the Wall Street Journal published it to… Continue reading Math and Science Are Not Cleanly Separable