Built on Facts
An exploration of physics and the quest to understand our world.
Profile
Matt Springer is a graduate student of physics at Texas A&M university. He is also an occasional writer and tinkerer, and he is probably too curious for his own good.
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Recent Posts
- Spherical Waves and the Hairy Ball Theorem
- Sunday Function
- Popular Science and Time Travel Shenanigans
- Inventing Relativity, 1860s style
- The Philosophy of Science of Lord of the Rings
- Sunday Function
- Maru the Cat does dimensional analysis
- Gauss' Law PROVED WRONG!
- Thoughts on Osama
- Enforcing the Cosmic Speed Limit
Recent Comments
- loan on Clearing the air on the Airy fuction
- Peter L.Griffiths on Ringing in Kepler's Year
- pop on Super Bowl Coin Toss, Mathematically
- uk writing service on Sunday Function
- Sesli Chat on Sunday Function
- afrika mangosu on Greatest Physicists #1 - Isaac Newton
- Arkand on Power from the Earth's Magnetic Field
- Anonymous on Greatest Physicists #1 - Isaac Newton
- Anonymous on Greatest Physicists #1 - Isaac Newton
- David Essiam on Spherical Waves and the Hairy Ball Theorem
Archives
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
Physics/Math Blogs
- Cocktail Party Physics
- Cosmic Variance
- Mass
- Physicality of Words
- Swans on Tea
- The Mind of Dr. Pion
- Uncertain Principles
- Shores of the Dirac Sea
- Arcsecond
My Other-Than-Physics Reading (variable, very incomplete)
About
This site takes its name from a quotation by the great physicist James Clerk Maxwell:
In every branch of knowledge the progress is proportional to the amount of facts on which to build, and therefore to the facility of obtaining data.
But data’s hardly the only interesting thing in physics. There’s the experiments that produce the data, the theories that describe what we see, the beautiful results of those theories, and the promise of further exploration and discovery stretching out before us.
As for me personally: I'm Matt Springer, I’m a graduate student of physics at Texas A&M University. With a bit of luck and a lot of work, this will result in a Ph.D. in a few years. But this site’s here for you, so feel free to email or comment any time with your suggestions.

