My first official day back at work after a year-long sabbatical coincides with the first official day of a new Department of Physics at Maynooth University:
I knew this was happening, of course, and it should have happened years ago. Having two separate Physics Departments at Maynooth was not just an oddity. It required the relatively small number of academic staff across the Departments to undertake a huge amount of duplication in teaching thereby wasting resources and increasing workloads. Even combined together, the total complement of 15 academic staff means that we’re still a very small Department.
There are, therefore, potential benefits in this merger but they will take time to accrue. At the moment it only exists on paper, and staff in the two ex-Departments will have to work out what to do next in terms of coordinating teaching and research. In my opinion this all should have been planned and agreed before going ahead, but here we are. We just have to make the best of the situation presented to us by The Management.
For the time being the New Department is just the two Old Departments in a single wrapper. We were already located side-by-side in the same building, the Science Building so there are no large-scale relocations of staff, at least not yet. All existing courses remain the same as before, too. That’s just as well, really, as we start teaching in three weeks!
That’s not to say that nothing has changed. The number of postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers in the Department of Theoretical Physics has been growing and there was consequently a drastic shortage of office space. My return from sabbatical has involved me being granted an elevated status in the new Department: I’ve been moved upstairs out of the old Theoretical Physics Department to an office in the old Experimental Physics Department.
Here’s a question, though. My contract of employment says that I am employed in the Department of Theoretical Physics. Since that Department no longer exists, do I need a new contract or have I been made redundant?
I was obliged to take a taxi home from last week’s appointment. Taxi drivers don’t always make the best company, but this time I was lucky. The driver was a nice friendly chap with an infectious laugh, and when I had settled into my seat he asked me if he wanted him to turn the music down. I said no, it was fine. It wasn’t loud anyway. After a little while I realized that I really liked the music (which I hadn’t heard before) so I asked him to turn it up a bit. He smiled into the mirror, turned up the volume, and thereafter started humming and singing along. I made a note of the name of the band and the record in the hope that I could find it on YouTube, which I did.
Here we are then. This is Juju Music by Nigerian musician King Sunny Adé and his African Beats. Apparently it’s quite a famous record – it was released way back in 1982. I love the complex polyrhythms so typical of African music, and there’s some fine guitar playing on it too. I’ve been listening to it off and on over the whole weekend, so I thought I’d share it here. Enjoy!
Today is 31st August 2024, which is officially the last day of my year-long sabbatical – even if tomorrow is a Sunday, so I won’t be actually returning full-time to the office until Monday 2nd September. After that I have three whole weeks to prepare the new modules I’ll be teaching in the Autumn Semester. I suppose at some point I’ll have to write a report about what I did on my sabbatical, at least from the point of view of work. I’ll keep the rest to myself!
I was planning to cook myself dinner and a few glasses of wine this evening to mark the end of my year of travels. I’ll still be doing that but in the last few days I have been given something else to think about.
About 50 years ago, in September 1974, I was preparing for my first days at the Royal Grammar School (RGS) in Newcastle. I didn’t know anyone else there and had no idea what to expect. I’d won a scholarship under the Direct Grant system so my parents didn’t have to pay fees, which was just as well because they wouldn’t have been able to. The RGS was an all-boys school in those days and most of the boys were from much wealthier backgrounds than I was and their parents paid fees. Many had also been to the RGS Junior School (also fee-paying) whereas I had gone to a state school, so when I arrived for my first day there were quite a few that already knew each other and were much better prepared academically than I was.
The upshot of this was that I found it very difficult there for the first few weeks, both socially and academically. I just wasn’t used to the intensity of the teaching style, the extensive homework, and the fact that I had to try to make friends from scratch.
In the first year the teaching was arranged in “Houses” and the boys in each House had to wear a tie of a specific colour with their (blue) blazer. I was in Eldon House so wore a green tie and my first form was called 1E. Everyone took the same subjects in first and second form.
Among the friends I made in the first year was a boy who had been to the RGS Junior School where he had acquired the nickname “Titch” because of his diminutive stature; his real name was Alan Michael Hawdon although he never used Alan. When he wasn’t “Titch” he was Michael. I found it a bit awkward calling him “Titch” because I was scarcely any taller than he was, but he didn’t mind it at all. Despite not being very tall, he excelled at all sporting events, especially running and gymnastics. He was also very kind, friendly and gregarious. Although I wasn’t anything like as sporty as him, we became good friends. In fact he was the only boy whose home (in Tynemouth) I visited in the first year at RGS. I can’t remember what the occasion was, but we spent an enjoyable day at the coast. I also remember going to the annual school camp in Ryedale and spending quite a lot of time with Titch then. I also remember asking if I could take a picture of him with the old Box Brownie my dad had lent me. He agreed.
The system at RGS was that, after the second year, i.e. after 2E, classes began to diversify and there was some choice of subjects. Forms were no longer composed of students from the same House (though we continued to wear the house tie). When I returned to RGS to start the third year, I was in the “Three Languages” form as I had decided to do German (though I dropped it after one year to concentrate on sciences). I was dismayed to find that Titch was in a different form; since I no longer had any classes with him we drifted apart, though we remained on friendly terms until A-levels and departure for University in 1981 after which I lost contact entirely. All I knew until recently was that he got a Royal Navy Scholarship to do Mechanical Engineering at Nottingham University as a precursor for joining the Navy.
So why am I telling you all this?
Last week I heard that Michael Hawdon (aka “Titch”) passed away in December 2022. That news came as a shock because he was the fittest and healthiest lad in the class of ’81 and I would have given long odds against him dying at the age of just 59. The picture of him on the left was taken in 1979; the wonky tie was always a trademark.
I gather that, in 1982, before going to university, he had been enlisted to go to the Falklands. However, the ship he was on suffered a mechanical failure and he never got there; the war ended in June 1982 and he went to Nottingham in October that year. After that, he travelled extensively, including spending some time living in New Zealand.
Forty years had passed since we both left RGS and went our very different ways until, in 2021, out of the blue, he sent me an email (signed “Titch”). It seems he had come across my name in connection with some work he had been doing at the UK Space Agency and decided to look me up. He was probably bored during the Covid-19 lockdown but I was very happy that he remembered me at all. Whatever the reason, I was delighted. We exchanged a considerable number of messages sharing memories of RGS days. Then he stopped replying. I don’t know whether he was ill or merely busy, but just a year later he passed away.
I was only 11 when I met Michael Hawdon and so immature that I didn’t know what was going on in my own emotions, but looking back I can see now that I definitely had a crush on him. Maybe it was more than that. I never told him, of course. It wouldn’t have been appreciated let alone reciprocated. I was in any case more than happy just to be able to call him a friend.
I mentioned the photograph of Titch I took in Ryedale just to say that I carried that around with my in my blazer pocket for at least a year. I spent an hour or so today looking for it, but unfortunately it seems I must have lost it. I wish I had been able to find the words to thank him for his friendship all those years ago. The best I can do now is to drink to his memory.
For some we loved, the loveliest and the best That from his Vintage rolling Time hath prest, Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, And one by one crept silently to rest
I was reminded just now that 30 years ago today, on 25th August 1994, this review article by myself and George Ellis was published in Nature (volume 370, pp. 609–615).
Sorry for the somewhat scrappy scanned copy. The article is still behind a paywall. No open access for the open Universe!
Can this really have been 30 years ago?
Anyway, that was the day I officially became labelled a “crank”, by some, although others thought we were pushing at an open door. We were arguing against the then-standard cosmological model (based on the Einstein – de Sitter model), but the weight of evidence was already starting to shift. Although we didn’t predict the arrival of dark energy, the arguments we presented about the density of matter did turn out to be correct. A lot has changed since 1994, but we continue to live in a Universe with a density of matter much lower than the critical density and our best estimate of what that density is was spot on.
Looking back on this, I think valuable lessons would be learned if someone had the time and energy to go through precisely why so many papers at that time were consistent with a higher-density Universe that we have now settled on. Confirmation bias undoubtedly played a role, and who is to say that it isn’t relevant to this day?
It’s almost a year since I deactivated my Twitter account. Or should I call it X? Anyway, it doesn’t matter because I don’t use it any more. Over the past few weeks it seems quite a few more – especially in the UK – have had enough of the antics of Elon Musk (aka Space Karen), especially with his attempts to fan the flames of the recent Farage riots by spreading misinformation. The first thing I noticed was that my BlueSky account was suddenly getting quite a lot of new followers. I now have about 850, still a long way short of the over 7000 I used to have on Twitter, but the level of engagement is far higher. That’s because the algorithm Space Karen introduced on X makes it difficult for your own followers. let alone anyone else, to see your tweets. The one disadvantage of BlueSky is that it doesn’t have an API that allows me to post directly from this blog when I publish a post, so I have to copy the URL by hand.
I also have an account on Mastodon where I have over 1200 followers and similarly good engagement. When I first started there a couple of years ago it didn’t have a WordPress API but it does now, so everything I write here gets posted automatically on my feed. Not only that, this blog is now also now fully federated which means that there is an autonomous feed for the blog posts. Not just a link to each post, as the API produces, but the whole post. This is a nice feature because if I change a post on this WordPress platform it automatically gets changed on the Mastodon feed.
I also have a Facebook Page on which these
And now there’s Threads, which is like a version of Twitter bolted onto Instagram. When this first came out last year it wasn’t available in the EU for data protection issues so I didn’t bother with it. I only just found out at the weekend that has been available since December 2023 but I wasn’t paying much attention to social media then so didn’t catch the news. Anyway, since I already have a (very quiet) Instagram account so I set up a Threads account which you can find here if you like that sort of thing. My first impressions of Threads are not very favourable, but let’s see how it goes. At least it’s not as bad as Twitter. I still think it is indefensible that my employer, along with most other universities, has decided to maintain a presence on that site.
I’ve taken the liberty of reblogging this post from a blog that I follow, as it is a question that interests me. As far as I know I have never contracted Covid-19, but I think I’m a rare case. I know many people who have had it multiple times. The most I think is five. There was an outbreak at the Euclid Meeting in Rome too, which affected over sixty people. I am hearing through the grapevine that case numbers are rather high at the moment, both in Europe and the USA, but in the absence of any systematic testing it is difficult to know the precise situation.
A couple of months ago I had a nasty cough which I thought might have been Covid-19 but repeated tests came back negative.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am fully vaccinated and boosted. I suppose another booster will be available in the autumn and I’ll take that too.
Anyway, I’d be interested to hear through the comments from anyone who has never had Covid-19 if you feel like divulging such information.
I’ve managed to cross another one off the list of books I’ve had for ages but never read, in the form of biochemist Nick Lane‘s The Vital Question I bought this book several years ago and have no idea why I took so long to get around to it. Given how quickly things are moving in the biosciences these days, it may even be a bit out of date now, but as far as I’m concerned it’s better late than never.
I haven’t studied biology since O-level (1979) but did chemistry as one of four subjects in the first year year of Natural Sciences at Cambridge and I remember some organic chemistry. I wish I had done Biology of Cells then, though, not because I would have carried on with it but because it’s much more interesting than the subject I did take, Crystalline Materials. Probably much of what I would have learnt in 1982-3 is out of date now.
The Vital Question doesn’t ask a single big question but tackles a number of interrelated questions that together comprise a big mystery in the origin of life, basically the apparently sudden appearance of eukaryotic life (i.e. organisms with complex cells, including plants and animals) as distinct from simpler the forms, archaea and bacteria. Among the fascinating issues are how eukaryotes evolved, why there is no missing link, and why eukaryotic cells are all built on a similar model, what made reproductive sex the way it is, and why in the midst of life there has to be death.
One of the great advances in biosciences since the time I didn’t study it is a revolution in the understanding and practical application of genetics, especially through fast DNA sequencing, not only in biology but also in other fields such as medicine, archaeology and forensic science. One of the valuable points that Lane makes is that the success of genetics led to an emphasis on the role of information – because that’s what genes represent – to the detriment of other essential factors in living cells, especially energy. The book points to the relationship, familiar to physicists, that information relates to entropy, but makes it clear that entropy on its own is not sufficient to understand the thermodynamics of, e.g., respiration and reproduction.
This is a recurrent theme in the history of science, actually, that the success of one particular way of looking at phenomenon often seems to convince people that it provides the complete picture, when some subsequent study demonstrates that usually turns out not to be the case. None of this is to argue that genes are unimportant. They undoubtedly are, but so are other factors including reaction kinetics and environment.
Anyway, to address this big question, Lane gives us a tour of the processes involved at a significant level of complexity but the book is so well-written that it’s actually a bit of a page-turner. As I explained at the beginning I haven’t studies any biology for over 40 years so I struggled at first with some of the technical words, but there is a full glossary to help. The rather dreary pictures are less helpful, but altogether is a superb introduction.
One of the aspects of this book I enjoyed greatly is the number of digressions. That might put some people off, but I thought it helped to paint a true picture of the richness of life in all its forms as well the constraints imposed on it. I didn’t know for example that while most mammals (including humans) have X or Y chromosomes, birds are different: they have W and Z (note to physicists: not to be confused with the gauge bosons). Moreover, while the reproductive sex usually indicated by XX is female (homomorphic) and XY is male (heteromorphic), the opposite is true for birds and some reptiles: females are heteromorphic (ZW) and males are homomorphic (ZZ). Why this difference arose I have no idea, but Lane makes some interesting observations about how it may be behind how some male birds develop exaggerated pigmentation and plumage.
Another question that struck me reading this book is why the human genome is so small. Or rather, why so many other genomes are much bigger. For reasons I described in a post a few years ago, I actually have a CD with my own genome on it. Come to think of it, I no longer have a CD drive so have no way of reading it. Anyway, the human comprises about 3 billion base pairs. Some apparently much simpler organisms have genomes much larger than that. We humans are much simpler than we tend to think! Why is that?
Obviously it has been my turn to digress…
I thoroughly recommend this book for a number of reasons, including the excellent explanations of biochemical processes and the fact that it’s written with such obvious enthusiasm and desire to communicated. Above all, though, Lane does what a scientist should do, i.e. he’s honest about the huge gaps in our knowledge. He doesn’t pretend to answer all the questions he asks, but demonstrates the importance of tackling the big issues head on and acknowledging what is known, what is unknown, and what is speculation. That’s a lesson for all science communicators!
Today, Monday 5th August 2024, being the first Monday in August, is a Bank Holiday in Ireland. This holiday was created by the Bank Holiday Act of 1871 when Ireland was under British rule. While the August Bank holiday was subsequently moved to the end of August in England and Wales, it has remained at the start of August in Ireland. Today is also a Bank Holiday in Scotland, though the Scots have the best of both worlds and have a holiday at the end of August too.
The first day of August marks the old pagan festival of Lughnasadh, named after the God Lugh, on which is celebrated the beginning of the harvest season. This coincides with the English Lammas Day one of many Christian festivals with pagan origins. Traditionally this marks the start of the harvest season and is celebrated accordingly, with rites involving the first fruit and bread baked from flour obtained from the first corn. It is also one of the cross-quarter days, lying roughly half-way between the Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox (in the Northern Hemisphere).
It seems to be a tradition in Maynooth that the Bank Holidays in May and August are are adjacent to examinations. This year they start on Wednesday (7th August). I am, however, still on sabbatical so I don’t have any correcting duties. That doesn’t mean I can’t wish all the students taking repeat examinations all the best in their endeavours.
This month is the last of my sabbatical. I officially return to normal duties on 1st September, but that is a Sunday so I won’t return to the office until Monday 2nd September. That is if I have an office. There’s a lot of reorganization going on and currently I don’t know where I’ll be based. At least I know what I’ll be teaching in Semester 1 though: a fourth-year Mathematical physics course on Differential Equations and Complex Analysis and a second-year Engineering Mathematics course. These are not what I would have chosen if I had a free hand (I’d rather teach physics than mathematical methods) but I’ve had it excessively easy for the last year so can’t complain. With a bit of luck I might get a project student or two as well, if the students haven’t forgotten who I am!
As we enter a Bank Holiday long weekend here in Maynooth I thought I’d pass on a bit of news and a clarification about the swan(s). Some time ago I described the sad events that led to the death of one of the pair of swans that had nested on the Royal Canal for many years, along with all their cygnets. In that post I explained that one of the swans had died and the other had been taken away by the Kildare Wildlife Rescue (KWR) team. All I know is that both seemed to have been suffering from some sort of be “infection” which may or may not be the same thing that cause of death as the cygnets.
At the time I had been told that it was the female swan (the pen) that had died and the male that had been taken away to be treated. It turns out that this was the wrong way round: it was the male swan that had died and the female (the cob) that had been removed by Kildare Wildlife Rescue.
The good news, however, is that she has recovered and has now been returned to the Canal:
Picture Credit: Caroline Connolly of Kildare Wildlife Rescue
Of course she’s on her own now, having lost her partner and all her cygnets. I don’t know if she’ll find another and start breeding again. I do hope so. A lone juvenile male has been spotted on the canal recently. Might they get together?
The other day I slipped in the garden and fell into a flowerbed. It wasn’t serious as it was a raised bed so I didn’t fall far, though I did get a bit of a gash on my leg where I hit the little wall around it. It had been raining so everything was wet and I needed to clean myself up as well as clean my wound. I think it’s fair to say, though, that only my dignity really suffered (and a few plants got a bit squashed).
When I was safely back inside the house I got thinking about the difference between “to fall” and “to have a fall”. It seems to me that when someone is young you would say that they fell, but for an older person it would be that they “had a fall”. I’m not sure at what age the transition occurs, but I insist that I fell. I didn’t have a fall.
Thinking a bit more about it, perhaps it’s not the age of the person falling per se but the seriousness of the event. The likelihood of injury of course increases with age. If you fall you get up reasonably quickly afterwards. If you have a fall then you would probably be injured, possibly seriously, and might need assistance. If you have a great fall, of course, not even all the King’s horses and all the King’s men could help you.
All of which nonsense leads me to reflect on one of my phobias. I often say that I’m scared of heights, but it’s really not as simple as that. I have a fear of edges, i.e. sudden drops, even if they’re not particularly high. It gets worse with height – I had problems on my terrace in Barcelona, for example. This fear is irrational because I know I’m at no risk of falling, but there you go. Curiously, I don’t think I ever had this when I was a child.
Years ago when I was having therapy, this subject came up. The therapist guessed that it started when I got beaten up in Brighton back in the 1980s. During that event, I fell and, I think, hit my head on the edge of the pavement which knocked me out and scrambled my wits for some time afterwards. It’s possible being near a visible edge triggers some sort of flashback to this event.
I hope my more recent tumble doesn’t leave me with a fear of flower beds.
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In the Dark 