Category: Cosmos
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“I believe in evidence.”
– Isaac Asimov, The Roving Mind (1997), (2 January 2 1920 – 6 April 1992) Scientist and science fiction author Asimov’s output of novels and books popularising and explaining science was prodigious. As a rationalist he often railed against superstitious and pseudoscientific beliefs that tried to pass themselves off as genuine science and had this…
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What is a light-year?
A light-year is a measure of distance – not time (or anything to do with Disney’s Toy Story). It’s used to indicate the distance to stars and galaxies. It’s the distance light travels in one year in a vacuum, which is about: – 4.2465 light-years OR 5.88 trillion miles OR 9.46 trillion kilometres Light travels…
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How far is that star?
Basically, far! The Sun is the closest (and brightest) star. It is about: – 93 million miles – 150 million kilometres The next closest star (Proxima Centauri) is invisible to the unaided human eye and you need to be in the Southern Hemisphere to see it with a telescope (it’s too dim to see with…
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“Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.”
– Maria Salomea Skłodowska Curie (Marie Curie) (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) She was a was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist. The first woman to win a Nobel Prize. The first person to win a Nobel Prize twice. The only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields.…
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You Can Still Read NASA’s Deleted “First Woman” Graphic Novels
With thanks to Keith Cowing of NASAWatch.com Credit: https://nasawatch.com/education/you-can-still-read-nasas-deleted-first-woman-graphic-novels/ ____________________________________________________________________ The following is mainly taken from NASAWatch.com‘s page about this story. In 2021 NASA issued the first of two interactive comic books/graphic novels (“First Woman: Dream to Reality”) depicting young women dreaming of – and then training for – a future that would comprise the…
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“A poet once said, “The whole universe is in a glass of wine.” We will probably never know in what sense he meant that, for poets do not write to be understood.” (This is a year of Feynman – week 34 of 52)
– Richard P. Feynman (11 May 1918 – 15 Feb 1988) From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” Today, the world is awash in lousy ideas — so maybe it’s time to get some more Feynman in our…
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“Incidentally, psychoanalysis is not a science: it is at best a medical process, and perhaps even more like witch-doctoring.” (This is a year of Feynman – week 33 of 52)
– Richard P. Feynman (11 May 1918 – 15 Feb 1988) From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” Today, the world is awash in lousy ideas — so maybe it’s time to get some more Feynman in our…
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“Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars — mere globs of gas atoms. Nothing is ‘mere’. I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them.” (This is a year of Feynman – week 32 of 52)
– Richard P. Feynman (11 May 1918 – 15 Feb 1988) From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” Today, the world is awash in lousy ideas — so maybe it’s time to get some more Feynman in our…
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“What do we mean by “understanding” something?” (This is a year of Feynman – week 31 of 52)
– Richard P. Feynman (11 May 1918 – 15 Feb 1988) From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” Today, the world is awash in lousy ideas — so maybe it’s time to get some more Feynman in our…
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“If an apple is magnified to the size of the earth, then the atoms in the apple are approximately the size of the original apple.” (This is a year of Feynman – week 30 of 52)
– Richard P. Feynman (11 May 1918 – 15 Feb 1988) From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” Today, the world is awash in lousy ideas — so maybe it’s time to get some more Feynman in our…
Stargazing Guy 