Science bits

[vin_petrol]

I finished reading Genius, James Gleick's book about Richard Feynman this morning. It's an interesting read, although quantum physics is a bit hard for my monkey brain. I'll stick to astrophysics, which I find easier and the error bars are larger ;-) As Professor Woolfson once said in a lecture I attended at York, "my calculated mass of the star was out by 100%, but that's OK in astronomy." That was on a strange numerical analysis course I did there, compulsory for first year physicists and optional for third year computer scientists. It was assessed by the writing of a program, which all the drunken freshers hardly bothered with, as it was worth a tiny amount of their final degree marks, and all the "oh my $diety it's my final year I had better do some work" compscis worked really hard on, as it was worth far more to them. This lead to the compscis getting all the high marks...

Space Shuttle Discovery is due to land at 18:02 UTC today. You can watch it live from this page: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Richard Feynman worked on the Rogers Commission, which investigated the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger. I discovered today that a film is apparently going to be made of those events: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenger_%28film%29

Comments

[steer.livejournal.com]

I presume you've read his own two volumes of autobiography? I love the fact that Gleik essentially disregarded them as sources for a biography because he was too unreliable.

[vin_petrol]

Yeh, I read Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman! not long after arriving at York in 1987, borrowed from the University library. With hindsight, *perhaps* I should have been reading serious books more suited to the degree I was supposed to be studying :-) IIRC, Rod Chapman was a big fan of Feynman and it was he who pointed them out to me. I think Rod actually bought the second volume and lent it to me later.

Unreliable autobiographies are traditional though. Have you read Clive James's? Or David Niven's?

[steer.livejournal.com]

I far preferred the first volume of Autobiography I admit. I loved Clive James' but I've not read Niven's.

The main problem with RPF is that he led to a generation of Physicists being arrogant and sexist without having his intelligence or charisma.

[vin_petrol]

I far preferred the first volume of Autobiography I admit.

As the second volume was an insiders view of the Rogers Commission, I was very interested in reading that.

I actually remember his stunt with the piece of rubber in the iced water being shown on UK news, although I didn't know it was him till I read the book a few years later.

The main problem with RPF is that he led to a generation of Physicists being arrogant and sexist without having his intelligence or charisma.

I can safely say that when Rod Chapman and I tried some of his pick-up techniques ("if you buy me a drink you can sleep with me") we had no success whatsoever! :-)

Richard Feynman

[angryangeltoo.livejournal.com]

I am a huge fan of his pioneering work in Quantum Computing. I also love his books. I like the way he, like myself, wants everyone to understand and that Physics does not have to be a massive mystery if it is explained in a way that everyone can grasp. We have not really begun to explore his influence yet although we have touched on it several times. I look forward to studying his work more thoroughly. :)

Re: Richard Feynman

[vin_petrol]

I look forward to studying his work more thoroughly. :)

You have a big brain and I am in awe!

PS

[angryangeltoo.livejournal.com]

Love the icon :)