Now on ScienceBlogs: The Galaxy's Biggest Valentine
Thoughts on physics, politics, and pop culture, by a physics professor at a small liberal arts college, plus occasional conversations with his dog.
You've read the blog, now try the books! How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is published by Scribner, and available wherever books are sold. How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog is published by Basic Books and will be available 2/28/2012, as foretold by the Maya.
"Uncertain Principles" features the miscellaneous ramblings of a physicist at a small liberal arts college. Physics, politics, pop culture, and occasional conversations with his dog.
"Prof. Orzel gives the impression of an everyday guy who just happens to have a vast but hidden knowledge of physics." (anonymous student evaluation comment)
Emmy is a German Shepherd mix, and the Queen of Niskayuna. She likes treats, walks, chasing bunnies, and quantum physics.
Category: Academia
(Note: This was not prompted by any particular comment. Just a slow accumulation of stuff, that turned into a blog post on this morning's dog walk.) It's been a couple of years now that I've been working on writing and...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 1:42 PM • 17 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Academia
I recently participated in a survey of higher education professionals about various aspects of the job. It was very clearly designed by and aimed at scholars in the humanities and social sciences, to the point where answering questions honestly made...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 10:47 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Two Cultures
I was initially puzzled by the headline "Research-Assignment Handouts Give Students Meager Guidance, Survey Finds," and the opening sentences didn't help much: Most research-assignment handouts given to undergraduates fail to guide the students toward a comprehensive strategy for completing the...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 12:56 PM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Academia
Back in one of the communications skills threads, Karen comments about science and humanities: It's easy enough for a humanities major to avoid doing much science in school. The converse is not true. It strikes me that for those earlier...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 10:59 AM • 32 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Two Cultures
I hate to keep highlighting silly articles in Inside Higher Ed, but they keep publishing silly articles, like Jeffrey DiLeo's argument that humanities journals cannot be ranked because they're all unique and precious flowers too specialized: Another reason for the...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 8:43 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Academia
A great clip from his World Science Festival appearance the other night, especially the bit toward the end: "One thing I think that as a nation we should be embarrassed by is that the scientists-- you can do this experiment...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 11:22 PM • 20 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Academia
Over at Inside Higher Ed they have a news report on complaints about the content of required reading for students entering college. This comes from the National Association of Scholars, a group dedicated to complaining that multiculturalism is corrupting our...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 10:52 AM • 19 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Academia
Back when I was in grad school, and paper copies of journals were delivered to the lab by a happy mailman riding a brontosaurus, I used to play a little game when the new copy of Physical Review Letters arrived:...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 9:17 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Two Cultures
Like every other media outlet, Slate has a Best Books of 2009 list, in this case featuring one book chosen by each of their 22 editors. Editor in chief Jacob Weisberg chose Richard Holmes's The Age of Wonder, and writes:...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 9:32 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Two Cultures
The New York Times list of "Notable Books for 2009" has been released, which means it's time for my annual rant about how they've slighted science books. So, how did they do this year? Here are the science books on...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 10:12 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
casaubon's book 02.13.2012
denialism blog 02.13.2012
respectful insolence 02.13.2012
evolutionblog 02.12.2012
starts with a bang! 02.11.2012
