color film was very rare in 1927, which is partly what makes this silent color film of london so great! the film was created by Claude Friese-Greene who gives written commentary on the many common landmarks of london he shows. the one that made me laugh starts at minute 1:40 when he shows the greenwich observatory, and describes who astronomers are and what they like to tell you!
also, i wish more people wore hats on a regular basis today.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
earthquake in chile, telescopes seem undamaged
during the wee hours of the morning, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit chile southwest of santiago. there are several major observatories in chile which house some of the largest telescopes on earth. the gemini-south telescope lives at the southern-most observatory, which is about a 7 hour drive north of santiago. a friend has reported that he could feel a rumble at the telescope, but no damage occurred as a result of the earthquake and observations will carry on as normal tonight! i havent heard news from the other observatories, but they all live several hours farther north of the earthquake epicenter.
the earthquake generated a tsunami that is currently propogating across the pacific ocean. it is set to hit hawaii at 11 am local time. i have several friends using telescopes on mauna kea right now, and some in airplanes traveling there, so i'm sending positive thoughts their way! i'll keep you posted on any news as i hear it.
the big picture has an early set of photos from chile.
UPDATE: aside from some power outages and lack of communication soon after the earthquake, no major telescope facilities have suffered damage. the ESO facility in santiago reports no damage. the university in concepcion is another story... news from colleagues is that people they know working in concepcion have relocated to stay with friends in other cities (mainly santiago) until the infrastructure is fixed a bit. read more at SarahAskew.
the earthquake generated a tsunami that is currently propogating across the pacific ocean. it is set to hit hawaii at 11 am local time. i have several friends using telescopes on mauna kea right now, and some in airplanes traveling there, so i'm sending positive thoughts their way! i'll keep you posted on any news as i hear it.
the big picture has an early set of photos from chile.
UPDATE: aside from some power outages and lack of communication soon after the earthquake, no major telescope facilities have suffered damage. the ESO facility in santiago reports no damage. the university in concepcion is another story... news from colleagues is that people they know working in concepcion have relocated to stay with friends in other cities (mainly santiago) until the infrastructure is fixed a bit. read more at SarahAskew.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
facebook friends
i just received the strangest and best facebook friendship request from a complete stranger that i could imagine. ever.
i accepted.
So here's the story... All of our dogs (Bernese Mountain Dogs) are named after astronomers... First was Tycho, then Zoey had "Galileo" in her registered name. Next was Ptolemy, shortened to Ptolli. Then Jago was registered with "Bernoulli" as her name is Welsh for Jacob... Then we took in a rescue whose name was Brandy. Giving Brandy a new start in life, we transitioned her name to Mandy and then 'Manda and then Amanda... After Amanda, came Tosca, named for Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli. So, just thought you might like to know that "somewhere out there" is a dog named after you! ;-).
i accepted.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
mental calculation
the looks on the faces of the students in this 1895 painting by n. bogdanov-belsky are wonderful. i love moments when everyone is really focused on trying to figure something out. they are counting in their heads and feeling hopeful and confident that they can solve the puzzle shown on the board if they just think a little more...
try it - no calculating aids allowed!
via dark roasted blend
ps. the answer is discussed in the comments, so have a go at solving it before you peak!
try it - no calculating aids allowed!
via dark roasted blend
ps. the answer is discussed in the comments, so have a go at solving it before you peak!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
rockin' electron microscope
scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) were developed in the 1950s and are widely used in medical science. SEMs have the power to magnify objects hundreds of times more than regular optical microscopes because they monitor the way electrons react with a surface instead of focusing photons of light through lenses to form an image.
below is an image created by chris supranowitz using an SEM. can you guess what the long path is?
its the groove in a vinyl record. awesome!
in an SEM, an electron beam is carefully focused down to the sample. when the beam hits the sample surface, various electrons bounce back in different directions and x-rays are produced. these data are converted into a signal that maps the sample surface, and we see an image as a result.
you can also put your 3D glasses to use and check out the anaglyphs of many different objects featured in the study mentioned above!
below is an image created by chris supranowitz using an SEM. can you guess what the long path is?
its the groove in a vinyl record. awesome!
in an SEM, an electron beam is carefully focused down to the sample. when the beam hits the sample surface, various electrons bounce back in different directions and x-rays are produced. these data are converted into a signal that maps the sample surface, and we see an image as a result.
you can also put your 3D glasses to use and check out the anaglyphs of many different objects featured in the study mentioned above!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
the three types of knowledge
i was in school for a long time. essentially, i never left, its just that now instead of taking tests, i have to create new knowledge, convince my "peers" that the new information is interesting, and struggle to find jobs every couple of years.
as i really began to focus on one field during my phd studies, i realized one particularly fascinating and frustrating fact: the more i learned, the more questions i had! the more knowledge i gained, the more i realized i *didnt* know! and i became acutely aware during the build-up to my PhD defense that there were lots of things i learned in classes that i'd already forgotten, and all sorts of topics that i should review before defending because i felt i didnt know them well enough... overwhelming.
BUT, considering that i am in such a specialized field, i realized just how much potential information existed in the universe that i didn't even know i didn't know!! ... daunting.
according to the blog of steve schwartz, these are the three types of knowledge: (1) the things you know, (2) the things you know you don't know, and (3) the things you don't know you don't know.
the interesting twist is that the ratio of these categories of information changes throughout one's life, and i dont think there exists a "perfect" combination. certainly there is no universal combination that we can all strive for, because we're each so different!
the entire article i mentioned above is hilarious and well worth the read, but i want to share the pie charts here, because they are a nice and clever summary of the possible evolution of the ratio of these three types of knowledge.
this is what we start out with:
and as he points out "this chart is not to scale; the red slice is unimaginably large."
then we move on to the goals of education. learning more should mean there is less you don't know, right?
but in reality...
hilarious!
in my opinion, the real goal is to be curious... to be aware of what's going on, to question why, to investigate the things that interest you, to recognize things that don't work, and to do what you can to make those things "better" in your local community, or in the world if you can reach that far.
"the cure for boredom is curiosity. there is no cure for curiosity."
-- dorothy parker
as i really began to focus on one field during my phd studies, i realized one particularly fascinating and frustrating fact: the more i learned, the more questions i had! the more knowledge i gained, the more i realized i *didnt* know! and i became acutely aware during the build-up to my PhD defense that there were lots of things i learned in classes that i'd already forgotten, and all sorts of topics that i should review before defending because i felt i didnt know them well enough... overwhelming.
BUT, considering that i am in such a specialized field, i realized just how much potential information existed in the universe that i didn't even know i didn't know!! ... daunting.
according to the blog of steve schwartz, these are the three types of knowledge: (1) the things you know, (2) the things you know you don't know, and (3) the things you don't know you don't know.
the interesting twist is that the ratio of these categories of information changes throughout one's life, and i dont think there exists a "perfect" combination. certainly there is no universal combination that we can all strive for, because we're each so different!
the entire article i mentioned above is hilarious and well worth the read, but i want to share the pie charts here, because they are a nice and clever summary of the possible evolution of the ratio of these three types of knowledge.
this is what we start out with:
and as he points out "this chart is not to scale; the red slice is unimaginably large."
then we move on to the goals of education. learning more should mean there is less you don't know, right?
but in reality...
hilarious!
in my opinion, the real goal is to be curious... to be aware of what's going on, to question why, to investigate the things that interest you, to recognize things that don't work, and to do what you can to make those things "better" in your local community, or in the world if you can reach that far.
"the cure for boredom is curiosity. there is no cure for curiosity."
-- dorothy parker
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