October 4, 2011
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Saul Perlmutter is one of three scientists awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics this morning. This news is exciting enough, but Perlmutter is no ordinary Nobel Laureate. I learned from Eva Amsen that Perlmutter is also a violinist and teaches a course at UC Berkeley titled Physics and Music. From the course description:
Does the Campanile sound out of tune to you? What does this have to do with our understanding of the Big Bang? And how would thinking about this help me to write a better English essay, defend an innocent person accused of murder, save the world from the next plague, or at least understand why my friend can’t carry a tune?
Physics and Music is a course designed to help students think about how to approach the world with the eyes, ears, and mind of a scientist. We will use the domain of music and sound to ask what we can learn about the nature of reality and the methods that we humans have developed to discover how the world works.
Glad to see a musician, educator, and scientist becoming a Nobel Laureate. Congratulations to Perlmuttter!
About the Author: Princess Ojiaku is a graduate student of Neuroscience. She is also a student of life, exuberant nerd, and musician. She often tweets her daily links of interest and digital personal mutterings. Follow on Twitter @artfulaction.
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Cosmic Egg on Our Face
By
Robert Castleton Wormus
Georges’s Brain Storm, “A Primeval Atom Spawned All”
Prompted Fred to Quip, “The Big Bang” on his radio Call
“It’s Inconceivable its Conceivable”, Was Einstein’s Reply
“I’ll find a Unified Field Theory, If it takes till I Die!”
Max’s quantum Mathematics is irrefutably precise
Just as Feynman’s diagrams are both exact and concise
Werner’s Uncertainty is certain, in Collider Machines
Showing Atoms Act like ‘Neutrinos on Amphetamines’
Robert and Arno’s serendipitous pigeon defecation
Turned out to be Gamow’s Cosmic Microwave Radiation
Satellites Cobe and Spitzer offered stunning Affirmation
Making the Big Bang our Standard model of Creation!
But before we could finish our Toasts and our Boasts
Edwin’s red-shifting superclusters rocked our boats
Alan, in denial, refused to accept this implication
Tweaking the Big Bang Theory, by adding Inflation
All was well with Cosmology; at least that was the Chatter
But tests after tests still showed far too little Matter
Clueless, we dubbed it dark matter and dark energy
Positing an invisible, infinitely powerful Synergy
Saul’s Nobel Prize has just torn Physics Asunder
Albeit validated expansion by vindicating ‘Al’s Blunder’
Dark Energy’s receding faster than Superluminal speed
No Big Bounce, No Big Crunch, just the Big Recede!
The End!
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