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"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.
"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.

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Science:
Category: Politics
Here's a partial list of Important Events from my lifetime that I've heard at least one person use in a "I remember where I was when ______" type essay or discussion. Which of them do you remember that way?
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Posted by Chad Orzel at 9:47 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
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...
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Posted by Chad Orzel at 8:50 AM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science
It's not getting as much press as the "X Prize" for private rocket launches, but NASA has quietly been running a contest for work toward a "space elevator," offering up to $2 million for a scheme to transmit power to...
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Posted by Chad Orzel at 8:45 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science
It's November now, which means we're edging into winter, and my morning ritual has been expanded to include scraping the frost off the cars when I get back from walking the dog. I've had to do this half a dozen...
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Posted by Chad Orzel at 9:58 AM • 30 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science
We're going to host the New York Section meeting of the American Physical Society next spring (joint with the New England Section, which will tax our resources), with the theme of the meeting being applications of nuclear physics. We've divided...
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Posted by Chad Orzel at 2:13 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Physics
One of my pet peeves about physics as perceived by the public and presented in the media is the way that everyone assumes that all physicists are theoretical particle physicists. Matt Springer points out another example of this, in this...
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Posted by Chad Orzel at 11:31 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science
Some time back, commenter HI won a guest post by predicting the Nobel laureates in Medicine. He sent me the text a little while ago, and I've finally gotten around to posting it (things have been crazy around here): Since...
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Posted by Chad Orzel at 12:52 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Polls
Here's an extremely dorky Dorky Poll topic. I can't believe I haven't used this one before: What sort of particles do you prefer?(poll) Choose only one....
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Posted by Chad Orzel at 8:56 AM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Academia
My panel on "Communicating Science in the 21st Century" was last night at the Quantum to Cosmos Festival at the Perimeter Institute. I haven't watched the video yet-- Canadian telecommunications technology hates me, and I'm lucky to get a wireless...
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Posted by Chad Orzel at 9:49 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogs
I'm heading to the airport right after my second class today (I'm doing two weeks of our first-year seminar class), to appear at the Quantum to Cosmos Festival at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo. This promises to be a good...
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Posted by Chad Orzel at 10:58 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks