R.I.P. John J Quenby, emeritus professor of Physics at Imperial College. John had a wide-ranging career at the intersection of particle physics and astrophysics, with interests from cosmic rays to dark matter and gravitational waves, and served as one of the first heads of Astrophysics at Imperial.
Month: June 2024
Remember, not everyone has the same cultural background: Today, I explained that I was going on “sabbatical” to my Chinese grad student. Which, of course, required discussing the sabbath, and then the Bible, the Abrahamic religions, the book of Genesis, and the 10 commandments…
An unanticipated downside of large British electrical plugs is that a slug can crawl up inside and electrocute itself, as I have just learned from experience. Do not ask about the sizzling and crackling noise.
It’s the summer solstice so time for my annual reminiscence of seeing Sun Ra and Don Cherry celebrate the rising sun from Battery Park in Manhattan with @disquiet in 1989.
I still haven’t made it to Stonehenge for the celebrations, but Lisa has (more on this later).
Just off the “phone” (well, zoom) with the Naked Scientists podcast/radio show (don’t worry — audio only) talking about cosmic topology.
Swan school (Barnes, London, UK)
The NY Times on the Simons Observatory: A New Search for Ripples in Space From the Beginning of Time
Am quite proud of myself for marking a bunch of undergraduate project reports from a campsite in Cornwall.
More topology, this time from Scientific American.