physics

Here was a HUGE problem for Albert Einstein, although physicists of today have no excuse:

Commercial radio stations did not exist until 1920.

Thus Michelson-Morley, for Einstein, was a problem of LIGHT, not of RADIO.

For physicists of today, who have no excuse, Michelson-Morley continues to be spoken of as a problem of LIGHT, and light has an OBSERVER.

I studied Electrical Engineering, not physics. To me, M-M is a problem of RADIO.

The solution is radio waves have inertia.

#physics

Rotational symmetry in physics.

- from Guido Tonelli's 'Genesis: the Story of How Everything Began'

#physics #science #humor

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French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer Blaise Pascal was born #OTD in 1623.

One of his most famous contributions in Mathematics is the Pascal's Theorem. Along with Pierre de Fermat, Pascal is credited with founding probability theory. He also made significant contributions to the study of binomial coefficients, which led to the formation of Pascal's Triangle.

Books by Blaise Pascal at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/7913

#books #literature #mathematics #physics

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I can tell you where I saw this, but not how fast I was going.

#physics #science #humour

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Things you find in barns, part 4.
A #klystron #oscillator anyone?
#physics #electronics #radio #uhf #microwave #particleAccelerator #diy

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#StarTrek #Physics #ZE

German physicist Albert Einstein was born #OTD in 1879.

Best known for developing the theory of relativity, he also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for his explanation of the photoelectric effect, which contributed significantly to the foundation of quantum theory. He was also a prominent public figure & advocate for pacifism, civil rights, and social justice.

Albert Einstein at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=einstein&submit_search=Go%21

#books #physics

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"Geometry does not teach us to draw these lines, but requires them to be drawn; for it requires that the learner should first be taught to describe these accurately, before he enters upon geometry; then it shows how by these operations problems may be solved."

Preface. Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687)

~Isaac Newton born #OTD in 1643.

Newton at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/6288

#books #physics #mathematics #astronomy

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French physicist Pierre Curie died #OTD in 1906.

He and Marie Curie, along with Henri Becquerel, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for their joint research on radiation phenomena. In 1898, he isolated the radioactive elements polonium and radium from pitchblende ore, a significant achievement that helped expand the understanding of the nature of radioactive decay. He tragically died in a street accident.

Books by Pierre Curie at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69635

#books #physics

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#OTD in 1818.

French physicist Augustin Fresnel signs his preliminary "Note on the Theory of Diffraction" (deposited on the following day). The document ends with what we now call the Fresnel integrals.

The Fresnel integrals have various applications in optics, such as in the calculation of the diffraction pattern produced by a single slit or a circular aperture, as well as in the study of the propagation of light through various optical systems.

#books #science #physics #optics

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English electrical engineer and physicist John Ambrose Fleming died #OTD in 1945.

He is best known for his invention of the vacuum tube diode, which he patented in 1904. The vacuum tube diode, also known as the Fleming valve, was the first practical vacuum tube and allowed for the detection & amplification of electrical signals. It was a crucial component in early radio receivers and telecommunications systems, laying the foundation for the development of modern electronics.

#science #physics

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Died #OTD in 1989. Emilio Segrè was an Italian and naturalized-American physicist who discovered the elements technetium and astatine, & the antiproton, a subatomic antiparticle, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1959 along with Owen Chamberlain.

Together with Glenn T. Seaborg, he discovered technetium-99m—the first artificially produced element (1937). Tc99m is first element found to have no stable isotopes, filling a missing spot on the periodic table.

#science #physics

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Swedish astronomer, physicist, and mathematician Anders Celsius died #OTD in 1744.

In 1742, Celsius introduced the temperature scale that bears his name. His original scale was actually the reverse of what we use today: it set the boiling point of water at 0 degrees & the freezing point at 100 degrees. However, shortly after his death, the scale was reversed by Carl Linnaeus, resulting in the 0 degrees for freezing & 100 degrees for boiling that we are familiar with.

#books #science #physics

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German physicist Max Planck was born #OTD in 1858.

Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical physics, specially as the originator of quantum theory, which revolutionized understanding of atomic and subatomic processes. He is known for Planck's constant, which is of foundational importance for quantum physics, and which he used to derive a set of units (Planck units) expressed only in terms of fundamental physical constants.

#books #physics

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American mathematical physicist J. Willard Gibbs died #OTD in 1903.

Gibbs' most celebrated contributions were in the field of thermodynamics, particularly concerning the phase rule, chemical potential, and Gibbs free energy—a concept named after him. The Gibbs free energy is particularly critical in predicting the direction of chemical reactions and phase changes. His book, "Elementary Principles in Statistical Mechanics," laid the foundation for modern statistical mechanics.

#books #physics

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German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld died #OTD in 1951.

In 1916, he introduced the idea of elliptical orbits for electrons, and he also introduced additional quantum numbers which included the azimuthal quantum number and magnetic quantum number. He also introduced a dimensionless physical constant known as the fine-structure constant. This constant characterizes the strength of the electromagnetic interaction between elementary charged particles.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16264

#books #physics

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#OTD in 1897.

J. J. Thomson of the Cavendish Laboratory announces his discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1,800 times smaller than a proton (in the atomic nucleus), at a lecture at the Royal Institution in London.

Thomson showed that cathode rays were composed of previously unknown negatively charged particles (now called electrons), which he calculated must have bodies much smaller than atoms and a very large charge-to-mass ratio.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/38322

#books #physics

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#OTD in 1905. Albert Einstein completes his doctoral thesis at the University of Zurich.

Titled "Eine neue Bestimmung der Moleküldimensionen", he calculated the size of sugar molecules in solution and from this a value for the Avogadro constant. It is related to his work on Brownian motion, published in the same year, and supported the atomic hypothesis, which was still controversial among leading physicists at the time.

Books by Albert Einstein at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1630

#books #physics

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A mind-blower for a Friday evening:

This deceptively simple-looking graph is a spectrum of *gravitational waves* ringing through the Milky Way.

The waves may be caused by a chorus of supermassive black holes colliding all across the universe. Whoa!

https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.16227 #science #space #physics #astronomy

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It's 1967 & she's 24 years old. It had taken her 3 months to go through the chart-recorder paper manually. She had helped build the radio #telescope that picked up the waves. There was a pulsating signal, regular; it turned out to be a #pulsar.
Her supervisor didn't believe her. She insisted it's real.

It was. But the press would ask her about boyfriends. Her male colleagues were asked about science.

7 years later, Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell
would be excluded from the #Nobel Prize of #Physics.

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American physicist Richard Feynman was born #OTD in 1918.

He developed the Feynman diagrams, a pictorial representation of the mathematical expressions governing the behavior of subatomic particles, which provided a powerful tool for calculating complex interactions among particles. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 jointly with Julian Schwinger and Shin'ichirō Tomonaga for their fundamental contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics (QED).

#books #physics
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English self-taught mathematician and physicist Oliver Heaviside was born #OTD in 1850.

He invented a new technique for solving differential equations, independently developed vector calculus, and rewrote Maxwell's equations in the form commonly used today. He significantly shaped the way Maxwell's equations are understood and applied in the decades following Maxwell's death. His practical experience in telegraphy provided a foundation for his later theoretical work.

#books #science #physics

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Nobel prizes you’ve never heard of: how an obscure version of colour photography beat quantum theory to the most prestigious prize in physics

by Margaret Harris

https://physicsworld.com/a/nobel-prizes-youve-never-heard-of-how-an-obscure-version-of-colour-photography-beat-quantum-theory-to-the-most-prestigious-prize-in-physics/

Qunatum theory at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/20207

#books #physics #nobelprize

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#OTD in 1743.

French physicist Jean-Pierre Christin published the design of a mercury thermometer using the centigrade scale with 0 representing the melting point of water and 100 its boiling point.

Available at : Annales des sciences physiques et naturelles, d'agriculture et d'industrie
By Société d'agriculture, sciences et industrie de Lyon. via @googlebooks

#books #science #physics #thermometry

"One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done."

~Maria Skłodowska-Curie (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934)

The first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, in 1903, for Physics, Marie Curie became the first person to win two with the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She founded the Curie Institute.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie

Books by Marie Curie at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/39174

#science #physics

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