• Dec. 6, 1778 - French physicist & chemist Joseph Luis Gay-Lussac is born. Gay-Lussac is best known for the Gay-Lussac Law of gases, which says that pressure and temperature are proportional. He also published Charles' Law, based on previously unpublished work by Jacques Charles.
• Dec. 5, 1901 - Physicist and Nobel laureate Werner Heisenberg is born. Heisenberg was key in the development of quantum physics, with the development of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. During World War II, he led German research in nuclear science.
• Dec. 5, 1932 - Albert Einstein is granted an American visa.
• Dec. 2, 1942 - Enrico Fermi's team on the Manhattan Project successfully initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
• Dec. 7, 1972 - The last Apollo ship, Apollo 17, launches.
• Dec. 7, 1993 - German physicist and Nobel Prize laureate, Wolfgang Paul, dies. Paul was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physics for his co-discovery of the ion trap. (He should not be confused - as I did last year - with Wolfgang Pauli.)
• Dec. 3, 1999 - The Mars Polar Lander radio signal is lost by NASA as it entered the Martian atmosphere.

Dr. Stephen Hawking
NASA

The Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics was founded in the summer of 1999, when Mike Lazaridis - founder and CEO of Research in Motion, maker of the Blackberry (the cell phone, not the fruit) - decided to help foster physics research in Canada. The Perimeter Institute currently hosts 60 resident researchers, including their current Executive Director, cosmologist Neil Turok (appointed in May 2008).

In the announcement of Hawking's acceptance, Dr. Turok mentions that this is the first of a projected 40 such visiting research chair appointments, representing a new phase for the Perimeter Institute. It is hoped that this will help expand their growing interdisciplinary collaboration, by making the Perimeter Institute one of the research centers for some of the top minds in theoretical physics ... of which, Dr. Hawking most certainly qualifies.

Related Articles

• Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics (press release) - Stephen Hawking to Regularly Visit Perimeter Institute as Distinguished Research Chair
• PhysicsWorld.com - Hawking accepts post in Canada
• What Is Hawking Radiation?
• Book Review - Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang by Neil Turok and Paul J. Steinhardt

• Nov. 27, 1701 - Anders Celsius is born. The Swedish inventor and astronomer is best known for the Celsius temperature scale that he devised.
• Nov. 29, 1803 - Christian Doppler is born. The Austrian physicist is best known for the explanation of the Doppler effect in waves.
• Nov. 25, 1814 - German physicist and physician Julius Robert von Mayer is born. von Mayer is known as a founder of thermodynamics, especially for his early formulation of the law of conservation of energy in 1841.
• Nov. 29, 1849 - English electrical engineer and physicist John Ambrose Fleming is born. Fleming invented the diode for use in electronics. He also invented the right hand rule, used in mathematics when taking the cross product of two vectors.
• Nov. 25, 1867 - Swedish chemist, engineer, and inventor Alfred Nobel patents dynamite.
• Nov. 30, 1869 - Swedish industrialist Gustaf Dalen is born. Dalen was awarded the 1912 Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of automatic valves, used in lights called the Dalen light. The valves had a darkened metal rod which expanded when sunlight came up, causing the valve to close. This cut off the flow of gas into the light, turning the light off during the day. It was used in lighthouses and buoys.
• Nov. 27, 1871 - Italian electrical engineer Giovanni Giorgi was born. He invented system of measurement called the Giorgi system, which was a precursor to our the SI unit system.
• Nov. 28, 1950 - American physicist Russell Alan Hulse is born. Hulse received the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics for work in discovering the binary pulsar. He shared the prize with his doctoral thesis advisor, Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr.
• Nov. 28, 1954 - Enrico Fermi dies. The Italian physicist won the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on induced radioactivity, based on his work in the development of quantum physics. He is also known for his work in developing controlled nuclear reactions, which ultimately led to the construction of nuclear reactors. Fermilab, one of the most important centers for sub-atomic quantum research, is named after Enrico Fermi.
• Nov. 27, 2001 - The Hubble Space Telescope detects a hydrogen atmosphere on the planet Osiris, in the constellation Pegasus (approximately 150 light-years from Earth's solar system). This is the first atmosphere detected on an extrasolar planet.

The team, using some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, has computed the masses for protons and neutrons, applying the principles of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) - the quantum theory governing the behavior of these particles.

Performing these calculations in the context of QCD has proven extremely difficult, taking the team over a year of computing to arrive at the determined masses. The new study calculates these masses from QCD directly, which involved (from Science News):

In their calculations, Hoelbling and collaborators approximated the continuum of spacetime with a four-dimensional crystal lattice composed of discrete points spaced along columns and rows. The researchers solved the equations of QCD on finer and finer lattices, and then extrapolated the results to the continuum, painstakingly accounting and measuring every approximation and uncertainty along the way.

Under the standard model of particle physics, both protons and neutrons are comprised of smaller particles called quarks which are bound together by other particles called gluons. The gluons act as the "glue" that binds these quarks together with what is called the strong nuclear force (or sometimes strong nuclear interaction).

The gluons, however, have no mass whatsoever and the quarks only account for about 5% of the mass of the protons or neutrons, so where is the other 95% of the mass located? The answer, according to Einstein's equation E = mc² is that the mass is in the form of the energy from the strong nuclear interactions between the quarks and gluons ... a prediction which appears to be confirmed by the new computations, which determined a theoretical mass within a 4% uncertainty of that obtained experimentally.

Related Articles:

• Science News - Standard Model Gets Right Answer for Proton, Neutron Masses
• ScienceNOW - At Long Last, Physicists Calculate the Proton's Mass
• Agence France-Press - E=mc2: 103 years later, Einstein's proven right
• Discover Magazine - Confirmed: Scientists Understand Where Mass Comes From

Here's the point that is often lost in Galileo's case: he was actually a devoutly religious Catholic.

In fact, historically, most of the major scientific minds have been deeply concerned with religious and philosophical issues, save for the last century or so. Today, the schism between the two is so serious that the late biologist Stephen Jay Gould considered them nonoverlapping magisterium, meaning that the two areas should never touch each other (a solution that really didn't strike anyone as very satisfactory).

There are two problems with religion and science. The first is the case where religion attempts to stifle scientific inquiry, claiming that rationale inquiry into a certain area cannot be allowed if it conflicts with religious dogma. This is the basis for Galileo's house arrest, resistance to lightning rods (honestly - certain religious groups felt they were blasphemous, attempting to control the divine actions of God), the banning of evolution education, neuroscience, and so on.

The second problem, I would argue, came later and is now almost as severe, where science attempts to stifle religious inquiry, believing that questions which cannot be broken down into a scientific context are not only unscientific, but meaningless. This is the basis for Richard Dawkin's compelling book The God Delusion and scores of others (the "secular progressives" that Bill O'Reilly rails against, for example).

Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnell, recently-named President of the Institute of Physics, would not agree with either of these camps. She is a practicing Quaker who says that she sees no conflict between practicing both religion and science. In the article, Burnell says "In Quakerism, your understanding of God is revised in light of your own experience, while in research science you revise your model in light of data from experiments."

Nor is Dr. Burnell alone in this view of religion and science's fundamental compatibility. Physicist John Polkinghorne is a retired physicist and current Anglican priest who wrote the book Quantum Physics and Theology: An Unexpected Kinship, where he makes much the same case - that the study of quantum physics and the study of theology utilize much the same rational methods of analysis, often in ways that are unexpected.

Polkinghorne's effort far exceeds (in my opinion) Frank Tipler's work in The Physics of Christianity, mainly because Polkinghorne isn't making an attempt to persuade anyone that he's got the answers like Tipler does. He is not trying to use science to explain miracles! Instead, he's trying to outline the similarities in the method of inquiry. In this task, I think, he succeeds admirably.

Reading Polkinghorne's book certainly didn't change my life, but it did give me a glimpse into how a truly rational religious man views Christ's life and finds meaning in it that shapes his own life, and reasons to believe that it has literally instead of merely symbolic meaning. If every religious person were like Polkinghorne, I wish I could say that there'd be no conflict between religion and science ...

...but then, there'd still be the scientists that cause the "second problem."

Related Articles:

• Book Review: Quantum Physics and Theology: An Unexpected Kinship by John Polkinghorne
• Einstein's God
• Book Review: The Physics of Christianity by Frank J. Tipler
• About.com Atheism
• About.com Christianity

• Nov. 23, 1837 - Dutch scientist and physicist Johannes Diderik van der Waals is born. The van der Waals' forces are named after him, and he is known for extensive work in thermodynamics, which resulted in his 1910 Nobel Prize in physics.
• Nov. 18, 1897 - English experimental physicist Patrick Blackett (Baron Blackett) is born. Blackett did work with cloud chambers and designed a variant called the counter-controlled cloud chamber, which could be used to explore cosmic rays. It was for this work that he received the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physics.
• Nov. 17, 1902 - Hungarian physicist Eugene Paul Wigner is born. He went on to become a key contributor to quantum theory, specifically with regards to atomic nuclei and the development of symmetry theory, though he never gained the same popularity as Einstein, Bohr, and others. Because of his intellectual ability, which many placed on par with Einstein, he gained the nickname "the Silent Genius." He was awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics.
• Nov. 22, 1904 - French physicist Louis Eugene Felix Neel is born. Neel receive the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics for pioneering work in the magnetic properties of solids. Among this work, he provided the explanation of weak magnetic fields in certain rocks, making possible the study of geomagnetism.
• Nov. 21, 1905 - Albert Einstein's paper, "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", is published in the science journal Annalen der Physik. In this paper, he uses his work from earlier in the year on special relativity to expand into a theory of mass-energy equivalent, denoted by the famous equation E = mc². This is the fourth of Einstein's Annus Mirabilis Papers, or "Wonderful Year Papers," because he published four revolutionary papers in 1905, while an obscure patent clerk. The story of this discovery is related in the PBS NOVA documentary Einstein's Big Idea.
• Nov. 18, 1962 - Danish physicist Niels Bohr, who was probably the most important figure in understanding and explaining quantum physics in its early years, dies.
• Nov. 21, 1970 - Indian physicist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman dies. Raman received the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for work in molecular scattering of light, specifically the discovery of the Raman effect which bears his name.
• Nov. 17, 1990 - American physicist Robert Hofstadter dies. Hofstadter received the 1961 Nobel Prize in physics for his work in electron scattering, which helped determine the structures of atomic nuclei. He taught at Stanford University from 1950 to 1985. His book Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid received the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction.
• Nov. 21, 1996 - Pakistani theoretical physicist Abdul Salam dies. Salam was the first Muslim, and also the first Pakistani, to receive a Nobel Prize in science. The 1979 Nobel Prize in physics went to him for work in unifying two fundamental forces of physics, the electromagnetic and weak nuclear interactions.

Of course, the major problem in searching for dark matter is how to look for something when you can't see it. A new computer simulation may give a clue.

In the November 6 issue of the journal Nature, research from the Virgo Consortium (an international team of research scientists), are based on the idea that dark matter are supersymmetric partners of conventional matter particles. In this case, annihilation of dark matter (as it converts from supersymmetric particle to regular particle) would emit gamma rays which would be detectable. Their calculations suggest that this would be most visible in the direction of the Galactic halo, contradicting some previous conjectures of where this energy would be most visible.

This finding, if supported, will help astronomers figure out where to direct their telescopes to look for the signatures of this type of dark matter. Of course, it's possible that dark matter is made of some other exotic material ... in which case the search will continue in other areas, as well.

Related Articles:

• Nature Editorial Summary - Where to find dark matter
• Nature News & Views - Astrophysics: An Illuminating Dark Halo (subscription required)
• Nature - Prospects for detecting supersymmetric dark matter in the Galactic halo
• Space.com - Mysterious Dark Matter Might Actually Glow

Last night, I saw New York Times columnist Tom Friedmann on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, speaking about his new book Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America. Friedmann emphasized that the need for a coherent energy policy is the central issue of the twenty-first century. (Tonight's guest is apparently T. Boone Pickens, who will presumably raise a similar topic.)

I've addressed a number of different power sources before, but one of the most controversial is always nuclear power. Nuclear power is typically performed by harnessing the power of nuclear fission (though in Europe there are efforts to build a reactor that will harness the cleaner power of nuclear fusion) to heat up water. The steam of the water causes turbines to spin which, in turn, generate the electricity.

As you may guess, having this many steps in the process means that it's not the most efficient process in the world.

Research presented in March at the spring 2008 meeting of the Materials Research Society may help with this, though, as it suggests that new nanomaterials can be used to convert the radiation energy directly into electricity. Estimates indicate that this would extract 20 times more power than current thermoelectric materials (which turn heat directly to electricity, and are still more efficient than the turbine method).

Unfortunately, even the lead researcher working on the subject projects that it will be a decade before this technology is ready for implementation. Still, I think that this sort of work only proves to highlight Friedmann's point ... these are large-scale projects which need to be started now, when the crisis isn't completely imminent.

What other technologies are on the horizon, other than the ones always talked about, have the potential to help establish energy independence?

Related Articles:

• New Scientist - Nanomaterial turns radiation directly into electricity
• Sources of Power Production
• Comedy Central's The Daily Show - Tom Friedmann interview from 11/11/08 episode
• Energy from the Motion of the Ocean
• About.com Environment

In Chapter 19 of his 2007 book, The Trouble With Physics, theoretical physicist Lee Smolin says:

There is heated debate among physicists over why there are not more women or blacks in physics, compared with other fields just as challenging, such as mathematics or astronomy. I believe the answer is simple: blatant prejudice. Anyone who has served, as I have, on decades of hiring committees and hasn't seen naked prejudice in action is either blind to it or dishonest.

Smolin goes on to cite A Study on the Status of Women Faculty in Science at MIT, which was conducted from 1995 through 1999, which indicates that women feel more marginalized the more they progress through the structure. Presumably action has been taken to combat this trend, but it's disturbing that it's there at all.

According to an American Physical Society study in 1998, only 6.5% of the workforce and 13% of PhDs in physics are occupied by women. In science, we call that kind of a difference (compared to 50% of the population) "statistically significant." According to a recent article, 20% of British undergraduates are studying physics, which implies that the numbers may not have improved much over the last decade or so.

In October, though, Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnell was named President of the Institute of Physics, a position that she hopes will help her serve as a visible role model for potential women physicists.

One issue brought up in the MIT study is that women do feel that work-life balance makes it hard to pursue careers in the sciences, something which is certainly changing in all areas of academia and industry (in America, at least). Burnell mentions this, as well, pointing out that as younger men, whose wives also have careers, become heads of departments, they may be more understanding of the difficulties of balancing home life and work than past generations have been.

What's your opinion on this? Do you feel that the academic environment for women in physics has improved over the last few years? Or is it still an old boys' club?

• Nov. 15, 1630 - German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler dies. Kepler's laws defined the motion of planetary orbits about the sun, which were confirmed by the more detailed theoretical framework provided by Newton's law of gravity nearly a century later.
• Nov. 12, 1842 - British physicist John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, is born. His discovery of the element argon won him the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physics. His later work included the analysis of Rayleigh scattering, which explains why the sky is blue, and the discovery of surface waves known as Rayleigh waves, which is a rolling wave such as those in earthquakes, oceans, or other phenomena.
• Nov. 16, 1904 - The vacuum tube is invented by John Ambrose Fleming.
• Nov. 11, 1930 - American physicist Hugh Everett III is born. Everett is known for developing the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics. After earning his Ph.D., he left the field of research physics to become a defense analyst and consultant. He became a multi-millionaire before dying of a heart attack at age 51. Everett's work was the subject of the the documentary Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives.
• Nov. 15, 1959 - Scottish physicist Charles Thomson Rees Wilson dies. Wilson invented the cloud chamber, for which he was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics (which he shared with Arthur Compton, who was awarded it for discovery of the Compton effect).