Nobel predictions for 2013
Predicting who will be awarded a Nobel Prize is difficult—at least it has been for me. In the 16 years since I joined the editorial staff of Physics Today, I’ve guessed right just twice: The 1998...
View ArticleA Czech prime minister and a Welsh wizard
The New York Times recently reported on the resignation of Czech prime minister Petr Nečas amid a corruption scandal. Hints of a romantic affair between Nečas and his glamorous and imperious chief of...
View ArticleScenes from Married Life: A novel by a physicist about a physicist
I’ve just finished reading two novels by William Cooper, the pen name of Harry Hoff. Born in Northern England in 1910, Cooper studied physics at Cambridge University, where his academic adviser was...
View ArticleCosmic lobsters and electric bees
Like other science editors I scan a lot of press releases. Some of the titles catch my eye, either because their writers opted for something witty or cute (“Sweeping the dust from a cosmic lobster”) or...
View ArticleChina’s new president is a scientist
Yesterday Xi Jinping officially took over as China’s president, general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, and chairman of the central military commission. In other words, he became China’s new...
View ArticleFive hundred small details
Among aficionados of men’s fashion, Cary Grant is as revered for his meticulous style as for his acting. His most celebrated suit—the lightweight woolen one he wore throughout North by Northwest—was...
View ArticleEdward Condon’s reflections on the first 60 years of quantum physics
On 2 December 1960 Edward Condon stood in the auditorium of the Natural History Museum in Washington, DC, to address the 1500th meeting of the Philosophical Society of Washington. The topic of his talk...
View ArticleAtomic rockets, space colonies, and x-ray binaries
There are at least three award-winning science fiction writers who do or did research in astrophysics. Gregory Benford studies space plasma at the department of physics and astronomy at the University...
View ArticlePrince Charles and me
The Prince of Wales and I have some things in common besides our first names. We favor double-breasted suits, we studied Welsh, we went to Cambridge University, we enjoy grass-fed beef, and we like the...
View ArticleMay the force be with you!
Happy Star Wars Day! Because “May the fourth” sounds like “may the force,” fans of the movie series have picked the day to celebrate and talk about the exploits of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and...
View ArticleCrumple zones
The bespectacled man in the photo below is the automobile engineer Bèla Barènyi. In 1937, when he was 30, Barènyi came up with the idea of crumple zones for cars. To protect occupants in the event of...
View ArticleAtmospheric railways
One of the joys of the internet in general and Wikipedia in particular is that your curiosity can take you along a chain of links to discover new and interesting things. Last week, for a reason I’ve...
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