2 posts published by David D. Nolte during April 2024| Galileo Unbound
The magic of conformal maps transforms "impossible" physics problems into simple algebra exercises. Conformal maps also let us navigate across the surface of the Earth.| Galileo Unbound
Anant K. Ramdas, distinguished physicist and scholar, exemplifies the quintessential gentleman scientist, pursuing semiconductors and engaging in discussions on the heart of physics. His career spanned the Golden Age of Physics, the years from 1960 - 2015.| Galileo Unbound
Education equips us to adapt and thrive in a fast-changing world. Resources like PBS and NPR are essential for that personal growth and awareness.| Galileo Unbound
The story of the light ray bending in an accelerating elevator is quintessential Einstein. But it took him nearly a quarter century before settling on this analogy.| Galileo Unbound
Gerardus Mercator warped the world to flatten it. He created a conformal map that helped early navigators hold courses of constant bearing across vast oceans.| Galileo Unbound
Attacking research at universities and national laboratories could lead to the collapse of American science and the loss of future GDP.| Galileo Unbound
The displacement current was Maxwell's stroke of genius that led ultimately to the completion of his equations. Yet he envisioned it as a displacement effected by cogs and gears of the ether in the grand mechanical tradition of Victorian science.| Galileo Unbound
A century of neural network science has brought us to the precipice of a new age of artificial intelligence.| Galileo Unbound
Most of the universe may not be what we think it is.| Galileo Unbound
In December 1924, Wolfgang Pauli introduced a crucial quantum number, leading to the formulation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle and connecting atomic models to the periodic table’s structure.| Galileo Unbound
Mines over matter: Neutrinos are the final frontier of high-energy physics. They have the strangest properties and are the hardest particles to detect (within the Standard Model). A deep underground mine in South Dakota, the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) hosts a host of experiments that are pushing the limits on what we know about our universe.| Galileo Unbound
The ancient Babylonians used a sexagesimal numeral system with innovative multiplication techniques to manage complex calculations for land ownership, allowing them to effectively handle large numbers with fewer memorized values.| Galileo Unbound
In the early years of physics research, a major discovery could be made with neither funding nor labspace ... conjured out of thin air by curiosity, tenacity, and a love of physics.| Galileo Unbound
Libraries are facing a dire fate, as budget cuts and digitalization lead to the loss of valuable books and knowledge. With decreasing funds and predatory publishers, librarians are forced to prioritize digital content and study spaces over traditional books, leading to the demise of irreplaceable collections. This shift undermines the intrinsic value of deep knowledge and threatens its extinction.| Galileo Unbound
The Virial Theorem is a top physics principle. This post highlights its importance as a bridge between classical mechanics, thermodynamics, and quantum physics. It also touches on Rudolph Clausius’s foundational contributions, such as defining entropy and his work on thermodynamics laws.| Galileo Unbound
IT is a house of cards that takes only one bad line of code to bring the whole thing crashing down across the world.| Galileo Unbound
One hundred years ago, in July of 1924, a brilliant Indian physicist changed the way that scientists count.| Galileo Unbound
Write a decimal fraction, sit down at a tuned piano, reach for a dime, and you are benefiting from the genius of Simon Stevin of Bruges.| Galileo Unbound
There are sometimes individuals who seem always to find themselves at the focal points of their times. The physicist George Uhlenbeck was one of these individuals.| Galileo Unbound
…chaos theory tames the chaos, and we no longer need to blame the gods or the fates for our lot.| Galileo Unbound
Blogs inspired by the book Galileo Unbound (Oxford, 2018)| Galileo Unbound
One of the simplest models for bistability, bifurcation and hysteresis is the one-dimensional double-well potential biased by a changing linear potential.| Galileo Unbound