Condensed concepts

Since we are surrounded by scientific knowledge. We are so used to it that we can take science for granted and not reflect on how amazing science truly is. And how amazing the universe is that science reveals. Things that we know, learn, and do today in science would have been inconceivable decades ago, let alone centuries ago. What specific things do you think are particularly awesome? This question was stimulated by Frank Wilczek's recent book, Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality.  In writing the book, he says "what began as an exposition grew into a contemplation."  My answer to the question has some significant overlap with Wilczek's ten.  Below I list some of the things that I find awesome. I consider two classes: what science can do and what we learn about the universe from science. Science works! It is amazing what science can do. We can understand the material world. Einstein said,  "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensib

The publication of my book has been delayed a couple of months. It is now due for release in February in the UK and May in the USA. It is available for pre-order. If you are teaching a course for which the book could potentially be one of the texts you can request a free inspection copy. OUP has produced a nice flyer to promote the book.

The comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) getting a lot of attention , pointed out to me by my friend Alexey. Why is it green? This basic question turns out to be scientifically rich and has only recently been answered. The green glow comes from a triplet excited state of  diatomic carbon , C2. This got my interest because a decade ago I blogged on  debates by quantum chemists about whether C2 involves a quadruple bond.  Back in 1995, Roald Hoffmann wrote an interesting column in The American Scientist (and reproduced in his beautiful book Same and Not the Same ) about the molecule and how it is present in various organometallic compounds and inorganic crystals. Recent advances in understanding the photophysics of C2 were reported in 2021 in this paper. Photodissociation of dicarbon: How nature breaks an unusual multiple bond Jasmin Borsovszky, Klaas Nauta, Jun Jiang, Christopher S. Hansen, Laura K. McKemmish, Robert W. Field, John F. Stanton, Scott H. Kable, and Timothy W. Schmidt  Here is a summary

 This post takes off from the following Einstein quotes. "The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible" from "Physics and Reality"(1936), in Ideas and Opinions, trans. Sonja Bargmann (New York: Bonanza, 1954), p292. "...I consider the comprehensibility of the world (to the extent that we are authorized to speak of such a comprehensibility) as a miracle or as an eternal mystery. Well, a priori, one should expect a chaotic world, which cannot be grasped by the mind in any way .. the kind of order created by Newton's theory of gravitation, for example, is wholly different."  Letters to Solovine, New York, Philosophical Library, 1987, p 131. There are several dimensions to the comprehensibility of the universe. The dimension highlighted by Einstein is that there is order in the world , reflected in laws that can be succinctly stated and mathematically encoded. These laws seem to hold for all time and everywhere in the uni

Best wishes for the New Year! Over the holidays my son introduced me to the humorous wonders of Philomena Cunk. Here is a short sample.