If you are afflicted with math anxiety, you may not like what I’m about to say.
Articles with 1992
Image by athree23 from Pixabay
W. W. Denslow illustration from "The Wonderful WIzard of Oz" (1900)
To light the fire of science, start with some fantasy and wonder
Every year about this time I am asked by friends and colleagues to recommend good science books for kids, to fill the remaining hollows in Santa’s pack.
American eel • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (CC BY 2.0)
The incredible journey of Walden’s white eel
This is the story of the white eel of Walden. It is a story that seems appropriate for this season of miracles.
Jonathan, a giant tortoise hatched in c. 1832 • Photo by Kevstan (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Of mayflies, turtles, and a ripe old age
Life is ephemeral. Especially if you belong to that order of insects called Ephemeroptera, the mayflies. An adult mayfly lives for minutes or hours.
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
The danger of underplaying world’s weightiest problem
The books we read as children stay with us all our lives. Among the books in my parents’ library were the popular works of Hendrick Willem van Loon, published in the years between the World Wars. Those books made an indelible impression on my mind.
Photo by Uwe Conrad on Unsplash
Taking stock of cold fusion
A guy walks up to me at a party. A business type. I think his name was McGuire. “I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.”
"Eppur si muove" – Galileo at his trial
In the church-science split, both sides have suffered
On June 22, 1633, Galileo Galilei was condemned by a tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church for teaching that the Earth revolves about the sun, rather than the other way round.
Photo by Cody Nottingham on Unsplash
The farm was his livelihood, but his passion was the sky
Comet Swift-Tuttle is back, plunging toward its closest approach to the sun early next month [in December 1992].
The Trinity test at the moment of detonation
In the New Mexico desert, the test was of physics itself
It was the most fateful physics experiment of all time. The experiment was called Trinity, and it took place in the New Mexico desert on the morning of July 16, 1945.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Look around, Noah, the clouds are darkening
Dear Noah, Forgive this informal way of communicating, but I have a bad case of laryngitis and must curtail my thundering from on high. I have good news and bad news.