What most people don’t picture when they think of scientists is a sports team, yet the similarities are striking. Most scientists don’t work alone, but rather in research groups. Just like a sports team these groups have their superstars, their solid supporting members, and their rookies. Just as a baseball team competes for prestige and ticket sales, research groups compete for status and research grants.
Dying of the Light
Part 6 in the equations series. Boltzmann opens our eyes to a world where the warmth of our morning coffee forces us to confront our own mortality.
Memory Hole
Part 5 of the equations series. Got something to hide? Toss your secrets into a black hole, and no one will ever know. Or will they?
Unity
Part 4 of the equations series. Flying kites in a thunderstorm leads us to a single elegant theory describing lightning, magnets and light. Don’t try this at home.
Time After Time
Part 3 in the equations series. How a beam of light overturned 300 years of physics, and changed our view of the universe.
Mutual Attraction
Part 2 in the equations series. How Newton united physics and astronomy, and brought us face to face with one of the most mysterious and terrifying objects in the universe.
A Muse of Fire
Part 1 in the equations series: It’s Einstein’s most famous equation. It changed the political landscape of the world, and it gave us a true understanding of the stars.
Proven World
In Medieval Europe, the physical universe could be divided into two parts: the Earth and earthly events (chaotic and temporary) and the heavens (structured and eternal). Two things changed this view. The first was rise of accurate astronomical measurements. The second was the rise of the physical sciences.
Primeval Atom
The origin of the universe is often portrayed in popular science as a vast sea of darkness. Centered in this darkness is a bright point of light, which suddenly expands, filling your view with light, fading into a dance of galaxies. Of course this raises all sorts of questions: What did the universe expand into? What triggered the initial explosion? Where did all that matter and energy come from? The problem is, this isn’t how cosmologists see the big bang at all.