In case you were putting the kettle on to make tea for watching the live cast…. Or putting on your boots to head out to see it in person, my public talk at the Perimeter Institute has been postponed to tomorrow! It’ll be just as graphic! Here’s a link to the event’s details.
Oh, look what I found! It is my talk “Black Holes and Time Travel in your Everyday Life”, which I gave as the Klopsteg Award lecture at AAPT back in July. Someone put it on YouTube. I hope you enjoy it!
Two warnings: (1) Skip to about 6 minutes to start, to avoid all the embarrassing handshaking and awarding and stuff. (2) There’s a bit of early morning slowness + jet lag in my delivery here and there, so sorry about that. 🙂
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Abstract: […] Click to continue reading this post
As a reminder, today I’ll be at the natural history museum (LA) as part of the “Night of Ideas” event! I’ll have a number of physics demos with me and will be at a booth/table (in the Black Market of Ideas section) talking about physics ideas underlying our energy future as a species. I’ll sign some books too! Come along!
Here’s link to the event: https://nhm.org/site/activities-programs/night-of-ideas
Well, hello to you and to 2019!
It has been a little while since I wrote here and not since last month when it was also last year, so let’s break that stretch. It was not a stretch of entire quiet, as those of you who follow on social media know (twitter, instagram, Facebook… see the sidebar for links), but I do know some of you don’t directly on social media, so I apologise for the neglect.
The fact is that I’ve been rather swamped with several things, including various duties that were time consuming. Many of them I can’t talk about, since they are not for public consumption (this ranges from being a science advisor on various things – some of which will be coming at you later in the year, to research projects that I’d rather not talk about yet, to sitting on various committees doing the service work that most academics do that helps the whole enterprise keep afloat). The most time-consuming of the ones I can talk about is probably being on the search committee for an astrophysics job for which we have an opening here at USC. This is exciting since it means that we’ll have a new colleague soon, doing exciting things in one of a variety of exciting areas in astrophysics. Which area still is to be determined, since we’ve to finish the search yet. But it did involve reading through a very large number of applications (CVs, cover letters, statements of research plans, teaching philosophies, letters of recommendation, etc), and meeting several times with colleagues to narrow things down to a (remarkable) short list… then hosting visitors/interviewees, arrangement meetings, and so forth. It is rather draining, while at the same time being very exciting since it marks a new beginning! It has been a while since we hired in this area in the department, and there’s optimism that this marks a beginning of a re-invigoration for certain research areas here.
Physics research projects have been on my mind a lot, of course. I remain very excited abut the results that I reported on in a post back in June, and I’ve been working on new ways of building on them. (Actually, I did already do a followup paper that I did not write about here. For those who are interested, it is a whole new way of defining a new generalisation of something called the RĂ©nyi entropy, that may be of interest to people in many fields, from quantum information to string theory. I ought to do a post, since it is a rather nice construction that could be useful in ways I’ve not thought of!) I’ve been doing some new explorations of how to exploit the central results in useful ways: Finding a direct link between the Second Law of Thermodynamics and properties of RG flow in quantum field theory ought to have several consequences beyond the key one I spelled out in the paper with Rosso (that Zamolodchikov’s C-theorem follows). Im particular, I want to sharpen it even further in terms of something following from heat engine constraints, as I’ve been aiming to do for a while. (See the post for links to earlier posts about the ‘holographic heat engines” and their role.)
You might be wondering how the garden is doing, since that’s something I post about here from time to time. Well, right now there is an on-going deluge of rain (third day in a row) that is a pleasure to see. The photo at the top of the page is one I took a few days ago when the sky was threatening the downpours we’re seeing now. The rain and the low temperatures for a while will certainly help to renew and refresh things out there for the (early) Spring planting I’ll do soon. There’ll be fewer bugs and bug eggs that will […] Click to continue reading this post
After a conversation over coffee with one of the event planners over at the Natural History Museum, I had an idea and wandered over to talk to Angella Johnson (no relation), our head of demo labs. Within seconds we were looking at some possible props I might use in an event at the NHM in February. Will tell you more about it later!
I’m late to the party. Yes, I use the word party, because the outpouring of commentary noting the passing of Stan Lee has been, rightly, marked with a sense of celebration of his contributions to our culture. Celebration of a life full of activity. In the spirit of a few of the “what were you doing when you heard…” stories I’ve heard, involving nice coincidences and ironies, I’ve got one of my own. I’m not exactly sure when I heard the announcement on Monday, but I noticed today that it was also on Monday that I got an email giving me some news* about the piece I wrote about the Black Panther earlier this year for the publication The Conversation. The piece is about the (then) pending big splash the movie about the character (co-created by Stan Lee in the 60s) was about to make in the larger culture, the reasons for that, and why it was also a tremendous opportunity for science. For science? Yes, because, as I said there:
Vast audiences will see black heroes of both genders using their scientific ability to solve problems and make their way in the world, at an unrivaled level.
and
Improving science education for all is a core endeavor in a nation’s competitiveness and overall health, but outcomes are limited if people aren’t inspired to take an interest in science in the first place. There simply are not enough images of black scientists – male or female – in our media and entertainment to help inspire. Many people from underrepresented groups end up genuinely believing that scientific investigation is not a career path open to them.
Moreover, many people still see the dedication and study needed to excel in science as “nerdy.” A cultural injection of Black Panther heroics could help continue to erode the crumbling tropes that science is only for white men or reserved for people with a special “science gene.”
And here we are many months later, and I was delighted to see that people did get a massive dose of science inspiration from T’Challa and his sister Shuri, and the whole of the Wakanda nation, not just in Black Panther, but also in the Avengers: Infinity War movie a short while after.
But my larger point here is that so much of this goes back to Stan Lee’s work with collaborators in not just making “relatable” superheroes, as you’ve heard said so many times — showing their flawed human side so much more than the dominant superhero trope (represented by Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, etc.,) allowed for at the time — but making science and scientists be at the forefront of much of it. So many of the characters either were scientists (Banner (Hulk), Richards (Mr.Fantastic), T’Challa (BlackPanther), Pym (Ant Man), Stark (Ironman), etc) or used science actively to solve problems (e.g. Parker/Spiderman).
This was hugely influential on young minds, I have no doubt. This is not a small number of […] Click to continue reading this post
Maybe a decade or so ago* I made a Halloween costume which featured this simple mask decorated with symbols. “The scary face of science” I called it, mostly referring to people’s irrational fear of mathematics. I think I was being ironic. In retrospect, I don’t think it was funny at all.
(Originally posted on Instagram here.)
-cvj
(*I’ve since found the link. Seems it was actually 7 years ago.) Click to continue reading this post
And then two come along at once… Following on yesterday, another of the longer interviews I’ve done recently has appeared. This one was for Sean Carroll’s excellent Mindscape podcast. This interview/chat is all about string theory, including some of the core ideas, its history, what that “quantum gravity” thing is anyway, and why it isn’t actually a theory of (just) strings. Here’s a direct link to the audio, and here’s a link to the page about it on Sean’s blog.
The whole Mindscape podcast has had some fantastic conversations, by the way, so do check it out on iTunes or your favourite podcast supplier!
I hope you enjoy it!!
For your listening pleasure: I’ve been asked to do a number of longer interviews recently. One of these was for the “Futuristic Podcast of Mark Gerlach”, who interviews all sorts of people from the arts (normally) over to the sciences (well, he hopes to do more of that starting with me). Go and check out his show on iTunes. The particular episode with me can be found as episode 31. We talk about a lot of things, from how people get into science (including my take on the nature vs nurture discussion), through the changes in how people get information about science to the development of string theory, to black holes and quantum entanglement – and a host of things in between. We even talked about The Dialogues, you’ll be happy to hear. I hope you enjoy listening!
(The picture? Not immediately relevant, except for the fact that I did cycle to the place the recording took place. I mostly put it there because I was fixing my bike not long ago and it is good to have a photo in a post. That is all.)
I was asked by editors of the magazine Physics World’s 30th anniversary edition to do a drawing that somehow captures changes in physics over the last 30 years, and looks forward to 30 years from now. This was an interesting challenge. There was not anything like the freedom to use space that I had in other works I’ve done, like my graphic book about science “The Dialogues”, or my glimpse of the near future in my SF story “Resolution” in the Twelve Tomorrows anthology. I had over 230 pages for the former, and 20 pages for the latter. Here, I had one page. Well, actually a little over 2/3 of a page (once you take into account the introductory text, etc).
So I thought about it a lot. The editors wanted to show an active working environment, and so I thought about the interiors of labs for some time, looked up lots of physics breakthroughs over the years, and reflected on what might come. I eventually realized that the most important single change in the science that can be visually depicted (and arguably the single most important change of any kind) is the change that’s happened to the scientists. Most importantly, we’ve become more diverse in various ways (not uniformly across all fields though), much more collaborative, and the means by which we communicate in order to do science have expanded greatly. All of this has benefited the science greatly, and I think that if you were to get a time machine and visit a lab 30 years ago, or 30 years from now, it will be the changes in the people that will most strike you, if you’re paying attention. So I decided to focus on the break/discussion area of the lab, and imagined that someone stood in the same spot each year and took a snapshot. What we’re seeing is those photos tacked to a noticeboard somewhere, and that’s our time machine. Have a look, and keep an eye out for various details I put in to reflect the different periods. Enjoy! (Direct link here, and below I’ve embedded the image itself that’s from the magazine. I recommend reading the whole issue, as it is a great survey of the last 30 years.)
If you’ve been following on instagram you’ll know that I spent some time over the last weeks working on an illustration that was commissioned by a physics magazine. (Feels odd saying that, commissioned, but that’s exactly what happened. Apparently I’m able to add professional illustrator to my CV now. Huh.) Anyway, the illustration will show the interior of a lab. I’ll let you know more about it closer to publication. Much of the focus was on the people, and for reasons that will become clear, I did a bit of a throwback to the 80s, and so tried to reflect that period somewhat, old computers and ghastly sweaters and all. Here’s a sequence of stages of a corner of the work (click on it for a larger view):
Don’t forget, today live on Science Friday we (that’s SciFri presenter Ira Flatow, producer Christie Taylor, Astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan, and myself) will be talking about Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time” once more, and also discussing some of the physics discoveries that have happened since he wrote that book. We’ll be taking (I think) caller’s questions too! Also we’ve made recommendations for further reading to learn more about the topics discussed in Hawking’s book.
Join us!
-cvj
(P.S. The picture above was one I took when we recorded for the launch of the book club, back in July. I used the studios at Aspen Public Radio.) Click to continue reading this post
It’s that time of year again! The new academic year’s classes begin here at USC today. I’m already snowed under with tasks I must get done, several with hard deadlines, and so am feeling a bit bogged down already, I must admit. Usually I wander around the campus a bit and soak up the buzz of the new year that you can pick up in all the campus activity swarming around. But instead I sit at my desk, prepping my syllabus, planning important dates, adjusting my calendar, exchanging emails, (updating my blog), and so forth. I hope that after class I can do the wander.
What will I be teaching this semester? The second part of graduate electromagnetism, as I often do. Yes, in a couple of hours, I’ll be again (following Maxwell) pointing out a flaw in one of the equations of electromagnetism (Ampere’s), introducing the displacement current term, and then presenting the full completed set of the equations – Maxwell’s equations, one of the most beautiful sets of equations ever to have been written down. (And if you wonder about the use of the word beautiful here, I can happily refer you to look at The Dialogues, starting at page 15, for a conversation about that very issue…!)
Speaking of books, if you’ve been part of the Science Friday Summer reading adventure, reading Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, you should know that I’ll be back on the show on Friday talking with Priyamvada Natarajan, producer Christie Taylor, and presenter Ira flatow about the book one more time. There may also be an opportunity to phone in with questions! And do look at their website for some of the extra material they’ve bene posting about the book, including extracts from last week’s live tweet Q&A.
Anyway, I’d better get back to prepping my class. I’ll be posting more about the semester (and many other matters) soon, so do come back.
Between 3 and 4 pm Eastern time today (very shortly, as I type!) I’ll be answering questions about Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time” as part of a Live twitter event for Science Friday’s Book Club. See below. Come join in! Hey SciFri Book Clubbers! Do you have had any … Click to continue reading this post
I’m in Washington DC for a very short time. 16 hours or so. I’d have come for longer, but I’ve got some parenting to get back to. It feels a bit rude to come to the American Association of Physics Teachers annual meeting for such a short time, especially because the whole mission of teaching physics in all the myriad ways is very dear to my heart, and here is a massive group of people devoted to gathering about it.
It also feels a bit rude because I’m here to pick up an award. (Here’s the announcement that I forgot to post some months back.)
I meant what I said in the press release: It certainly is an honour to be recognised with the Klopsteg Memorial Lecture Award (for my work in science outreach/engagemnet), and it’ll be a delight to speak to the assembled audience tomorrow and accept the award.
Speaking in an unvarnished way for a moment, I and many others who do a lot of work to engage the public with science have, over the years, had to deal with not being taken seriously by many of our colleagues. Indeed, suffering being dismissed as not being “serious enough” about our other […] Click to continue reading this post
