Tag archives: Facebook poll

By James Dacey

Artist’s concept of NASA’s Voyager spacecraft. (Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

“It is the consensus of the Voyager science team that Voyager 1 has not yet left the solar system or reached interstellar space.”

That is what Voyager scientist Edward Stone had to say on the matter back in March following reports that NASA’s most intrepid explorer had finally passed beyond the edge of our solar system. Today, three new papers published in Science back up this statement, asserting that the Voyager 1 had instead entered a distinct section at the edge of the solar system.

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By Hamish Johnston

Earlier this week my colleague James Dacey was filming in Grenoble, which is home to two major facilities used by condensed-matter physicists: the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL). His trip has inspired this week’s poll question, which pits coherent photons against thermal neutrons.

The ESRF and other synchrotron facilities produce coherent beams of synchrotron radiation. These have proven particularly useful to physicists studying soft and biological materials as well as the electronic, atomic and molecular structures of hard materials such as crystals. Although I don’t think that any Nobel prizes have been awarded for condensed-matter physics done at a synchrotron, the 2009 chemistry Nobel was shared by Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, who used synchrotron radiation to work out the structure of ribosomes.

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By Hamish Johnston

German words in the physicist’s lexicon. (Image by Mathew Ward)

Like many disciplines, physics incorporates words from a number of different languages – and this can often leave a physicist tongue-tied.

How should a native English speaker pronounce Einstein, for example? Should it be the Germanic “Ein-shtein” or the anglicized “Ein-stein”? How should one say De Broglie, Raman or Bernoulli? Should a native English speaker even attempt zitterbewegung, or translate it to “trembling motion”?

I’m sure that some physics terms of English origin are tricky for native speakers of other languages, and their pronunciations are sometimes adjusted accordingly.

Some believe that making an effort to use the original pronunciation shows respect and knowledge of the origin of a word. Others are happy to use the pronunciation they are most comfortable with.

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By James Dacey

Do you agree with the principle of academic boycotts?

Yes
No

Have your say by taking part in this week’s Facebook poll. As always, please feel free to explain your answer by posting a comment on Facebook or below this article.

This question has arisen after it was revealed yesterday that Stephen Hawking will be boycotting a prominent conference in Jerusalem in protest against the policies of the Israeli government. The British cosmologist and science communicator had been set to talk at the Israeli Presidential Conference: Facing Tomorrow, which will take place in June and which will feature a string of high-profile speakers, including Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. But the University of Cambridge has confirmed that Hawking, who is director of research at its Centre for Theoretical Cosmology, has pulled out of the conference for political reasons. Physics World has spoken to a university spokesperson who confirmed that Hawking has sent a letter to the conference organizers to explain his decision not to take part. The UK newspaper the Guardian has today published what it says is the full text of this letter, dated 3 May.

“I accepted the invitation to the Presidential Conference with the intention that this would not only allow me to express my opinion on the prospects for a peace settlement but also because it would allow me to lecture on the West Bank. However, I have received a number of e-mails from Palestinian academics. They are unanimous that I should respect the boycott. In view of this, I must withdraw from the conference. Had I attended, I would have stated my opinion that the policy of the present Israeli government is likely to lead to disaster.”

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By James Dacey

Physics World film shoot at MIT Media Lab.

The proliferation of online video in recent years has triggered tidal waves of content across the globe. As well as all the dancing cats and piano-playing dogs, it has brought new opportunities for journalists to tell stories in more visual and personal ways.

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By James Dacey

Comparing apples and oranges. (Courtesy: iStockphoto/Raymond Gregory)

In an opinion article just published on this website, the historian and philosopher Robert Crease discusses the pitfalls when trying to measure the “value” of artefacts in culture and society. The article was inspired by an appearance Crease made at a group debate at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. The panel were trying to identify ways to measure the museum’s impact on culture and the wider economy.

Crease refers to something known as Goodhart’s law, which he explains as follows.

“Named after the British economist Charles Goodhart, who devised it in 1975, the law essentially says that once a measure is chosen for making policy decisions, it begins to lose value as a measure. Goodhart applied it to banking policy, but in other fields, too, measurement can distort not only the practice being measured, but also perception of the goal.”

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