In the Dark

Fascinating footage of famous physicists…

..including Einstein and Bohr, seen in 1927.

If you want to see extremely rare footage of some of the participants leaving the fifth Solvay conference held in Brussels in October 1927, its available here. Shot by the American Irving Langmuir, its just under 3 minutes long and shows Einstein, Bohr, Schrodinger, Heisenberg, Pauli, Born, de Broglie, Dirac and others after a day discussing quantum mechanics. The commentary is provided by Nancy Thorndike Greenspan, the author of an excellent bio … Read More

via Manjit Kumar’s Random Walks

A look inside the madness of the scientific method…

I came across a student online who was wondering: What do scientists do? What is being a scientist like? In pondering possible responses I started to think about what science and research is actually like, versus what it is portrayed as in popular culture. I actually find myself thinking about this topic quite a bit. I realize I am a scientist, but even when I am just trying to enjoy some TV shows or movies and I see a scene that involves a bit o … Read More

via Electron Café

Well, dear readers, I’m going on a spot of holidays until term resumes on 9th May and have made a conscious decision not to take my blogging machine with me on my journey to distant lands. So, until then, there will follow a short intermission…

This sort of thing doesn’t usually work with my wonky eyes, but this one is pretty spectacular even for me. Click on the image to get the full size version

First, if you enjoy the Friday Puzzle, I have just posted 101 of them here. Second, I now can't figure out who kindly sent this to me, but I love it (to get the full effect, it might be good to click on the image and open it up full size)….. Does it work for you? … Read More

via Richard Wiseman's Blog

I recently purchased, and placed in my possession, a remote control device for a Canon digital camera. Last night I got it out with the intention of playing with it – the camera, I mean – and was forced to read the instructions that came with the remote controller. I decided to pass them on verbatim via this blog in case any of my readers is wondering how to operate this sort of gadget. I quote:

When the use group racket function, need transmitter’s digit code switch to establish completely only as 1234, then all receivers implements the active control to the region, realizes to camera focusing, the shutter and the B mode control.

I hope that’s clear. Any questions?

I agree wholeheartedly with Andy Lawrence on this, and since this is the first time this has ever happened I thought I’d mark the occasion by reblogging his post…

Bit of a Twitter Buzz this morning about Martin Rees winning the Templeton Prize. For those who don't know, the Templeton Foundation is an organisation founded by billionaire John Templeton, to encourage open minded and progressive thinking in religion. In the 1980s they also started funding science, where they felt there was some philosophical (not necessarily directly religious) interest. Most interestingly, in 2006 they gave nine million dolla … Read More

via The e-Astronomer