Putting the fizz back into physics
The fascination of physics, for me, lies in its supremely exotic nature. Although it is a subject grounded in experimental test and rigorous verification, it nonetheless spans an awesome range of weir...
In brief: Yuri Gagarin and Gregory Benford
Starman: Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin by Piers Bizony and Jamie Doran Bloomsbury p256 £12.59 On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first human in history to leave the Earth’s...
Measuring up to advanced materials
Physics, chemistry and physical chemistry have undergone tremendous changes over the course of this century. In physics, the focus has shifted from atoms to subatomic particles, namely nuclear physics...
New money, new physics
The government plans to invest an extra £400m in new projects through the research councils, £300m in universities through a new Infrastructure Fund and another £300m for research in un...
Return to Doomsday
Some 200 Indian scientists have been brave enough to defy the widespread approval and enthusiasm for the tests inside the country by expressing their “deep dismay and unhappiness at this action ...
Science pushed to the limit
What are the limits of science? Will the pursuit of knowledge lead to a never-ending source of intellectual (and perhaps even monetary) riches? Or are scientists misleading the public on this score, i...
Selling physics to unwilling buyers: physics fact and fiction
We’ve all had the following experience. You meet someone at a party, and they ask you what you do. You tell them you are a physicist. Quickly, they change the topic. But if you ask them if they ...
Review: An evening with the Bohrs
It is also brilliant theatre. The three characters – Bohr, Heisenberg and Bohr’s wife Margrethe – are on stage nearly all of the time. Notionally, they are in the Bohrs’ house,...
An evening with the Bohrs
It is also brilliant theatre. The three characters – Bohr, Heisenberg and Bohr’s wife Margrethe – are on stage nearly all of the time. Notionally, they are in the Bohrs’ house,...
Predicting the impact of science
At the beginning of this century, before the advent of quantum mechanics, who could have foreseen molecular biology? And in the 1940s, before the discovery of DNA and the development of computers, who...
