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Understanding Nature’s Secrets: Insights and Reflections
‘There are no secrets about the world of nature. There are secrets about the thoughts and intentions of men.‘― Robert Oppenheimer
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Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age, Patricia Rife (ISBN 978-0817637323, Birkhäuser)
A very nice biography about one of the ‘forgotten’ women of science. I came across a reference to this book somewhere and decided to read it as part of my ‘atomic’ theme. It also fits nicely into a series of books I am reading about women scientists. I had read the excellent ‘The making of the atomic bomb’ of Richard Rhodes before and this also covers the discovery of fission. In that discovery Lise Meitner played an important role. It is surprising that so few people know the name Lise Meitner. I studied physics myself and had not really heard…
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Exploring Vulcan: From Star Trek to Mercury’s Orbit
In Star Trek 3 : The Search for Spock, the resurrected Spock is found on the Genisis planet. But where can we find the planet Vulcan ? Vulcan is the god of fire and in the 19th century peculiarities were observed in the orbit of the planet Mercury. This anomaly in Mercury’s orbit could was tentatively attributed by Urbain Le Verrier to an unknown planet in an orbit closer to the sun than Mercury. Because of its proximity to the sun this planet was called Vulcan.
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Geheugensteuntje om de planeten van het zonnestelsel te onthouden
Sta je ook soms met de mond vol tanden als ze je vragen om de planenten van het zonnestelsel op te noemen in volgorde ? Daar is een handig trukje voor. Maak (Mercurius) Van (Venus) Acht (Aarde) Meter (Mars) Japanse (Jupiter) Stof (Saturnus) Uw (Uranus) Nachtjapon (Neptunus). Of, als Pluto ook nog erbij moet : Maak Van Acht Meter Japanse Stof Uw Nieuwe Pyjama’s
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Understanding Gell-Mann: Giants versus Dwarfs
‘If I have seen further than others, it is because I am surrounded by dwarfs.‘― Murray Gell-Mann
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Remembering Solar System Planets: Easy Mnemonics
Also have trouble remembering the planets of our solar system and their sequence according to distance from the sun ? Fortunately some good mnenomics have been invented for this. Like this one : My Very Elegant Mother Just Served Us Nachos. Or if you are from the old guard when Pluto was still a planet : My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. The corresponding planet sequence being : Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
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Vienna ahead of the curve
‘By the end of the century, Vienna had given birth to Viktor Adler’s socialism and Theodor Herzl’s Zionism. It was the home Sigmund Freud loved to hate and the political base for Karl Lueger, the city’s longtime mayor, whose heady mix of pupulism and anti-Semitism drew the rapt attention of the young Adolf Hitler. If the nineteenth century came late to this society, the twentieth arrived early.‘― Ruth Lewin Sime
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