Now on ScienceBlogs: Open Lab PSA

Seed Media Group

Uncertain Principles

Physics, Politics, Pop Culture

Search

Profile

"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.

You've read the blog, now try the book: How to Teach Physics to Your Dog will be published December 22nd by Scribner.

Chad Orzel "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, the Queen of Niskayuna Emmy is a German Shepherd mix, and the Queen of Niskayuna. She likes treats, walks, chasing bunnies, and quantum physics.

Donors Choose challenge link

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Greatest Hits

Chateau Steelypips

Blogroll

Scientists

Academics

Interesting People

Books

Punditry

Categories

Archives

Quantum Optics:

Poll: The Computers of the Future

Category: Quantum Computing

Today's Quantum Optics lecture is about quantum computing experiments, and how different types of systems stack up. Quantum computing, as you probably know if you're reading this blog, is based on building a computer whose "bits" can not only take...

Read on »

Imagine Science Film Festival

Category: Pop Culture

Both Physics Buzz and the X-Change Files are noting the Imagine Science Film Festival starting tomorrow in New York City. As the Buzz notes: This is only the film festival's second year, but it's already attracted the attention of major...

Read on »

Adventures in OA

Category: Course Reports

The abbreviation here has a double meaning-- both "Open Access" and "Operator Algebra." In my Quantum Optics class yesterday, I was talking about how to describe "coherent states" in the photon number state formalism. Coherent states are the best quantum...

Read on »

Dorky Poll: Photon Operators

Category: Physics

Prompted by working on lecture notes for Quantum Optics last night, a Dorky Poll about the mathematical formalism of photon number states What's your favorite photon operator?(polls) I know it's hard to pick, but choose only one....

Read on »

A. O. Scott Is an Ignoramus

Category: Physics

Film critic A. O. Scott can't even be bothered to get the right names for the crucial scientific principles that he waves off as "complex and esoteric." This is a pretty sad showing, given that I can explain them to my dog.

Read on »

Swashbuckling Through Quantum Optics

Category: Physics

I'm teaching my Quantum Optics class again this term, out of a completely different textbook than last time around-- I'm using Mark Fox's Quantum Optics from the Oxford Master Series in AMO Physics, which is more of a regular textbook....

Read on »

Dorky Poll: State Manipulation

Category: Polls

What's your favorite method for shifting the energy levels of atoms?

Read on »

Schrödinger's Virus?

Category: Physics

A paper proposing a way to create quantum superposition of viruses is clever, and all, but I'm not sure it adds anything that you wouldn't get from non-biological objects of the same scale.

Read on »

Dorky Poll: Quantum Pictures

Category: Physics

How do you like your quantum mechanics: Schroedinger picture or Heisenberg picture?

Read on »

Physics for Dragons

Category: Physics with Emmy

One of our poetry contest winners has been reading his proof copy of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, and posted some comments. Actually, it was posted last week, but I was at Worldcon, and not dealing with much...

Read on »

ScienceBlogs

Search ScienceBlogs:

Go to:

Advertisement
Follow ScienceBlogs on Twitter
Visit the Collective Imagination blog
Advertisement

© 2006-2009 Seed Media Group LLC. ScienceBlogs is a registered trademark of Seed Media Group. All rights reserved.

Sites by Seed Media Group: Seed Media Group | ScienceBlogs | SEEDMAGAZINE.COM