esiegel

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Ethan Siegel

Ethan was born in New York City as the son of a Jewish postal worker. He did his undergrad at Northwestern, taught public school in Houston, Texas and Los Angeles, California, before moving to Florida, where he got his PhD in theoretical astrophysics at the University of Florida. After that, he moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where he taught at the University of Wisconsin, ate too much cheese, and also met his life partner, Jamie. After working in astrophysics research at the University of Arizona and starting the world-renowned science blog, Starts With A Bang, he moved from the hellish desert to rain-soaked Portland in 2008. Since then, he's been a professor at the University of Portland and Lewis & Clark College, grown a nationally renowned beard and mustache, got invited to join a circus and probably drank more beer than a healthy person should. He currently works as the head curator at Trapit, and can't wait to tell you a little bit more about the Universe.

Posts by this author

Weekend Diversion: The Best Falling Stars of the Year
"Stuff that's hidden and murky and ambiguous is scary because you don't know what it does." -Jerry Garcia Earlier this month, one of my favorite musical artist of all-time would have turned seventy. This weekend, I'm off at a fantastic music festival where they're celebrating the life of Jerry…
What does the Universe look like beyond our Galaxy?
"Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people." -Carl Sagan Our night sky, quite literally, is our window to the Universe. Image credit: Miloslav…
With All The Suffering in the World, Why Invest in Science?
"I am looking at the future with concern, but with good hope." -Albert Schweitzer As you all know, the most ambitious interplanetary mission ever attempted -- Mars Science Laboratory -- successfully landed its Curiosity rover on Mars earlier this week. Last night, I had the opportunity to go on my…
This is why we must invest in ourselves!
“We are much closer today to being able to send humans to Mars than we were to being able to send men to the moon in 1961, and we were there eight years later. Given the will, we could have humans on Mars within a decade.” -Robert Zubrin This is what we can accomplish when we invest in something…
Another Trip Around the Sun
"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?" -Satchel Paige Today marks another year and another trip around the Sun for me. For you, and me, and everything on Earth that makes it through another year on this world, there's a whole lot we get to experience. Image credit: NASA / ISS…
It's NEVER Night on the Moon!
"Ignignokt: Well well, I know that. I said that, but it's his nap time now. Err: 'Cause he like, sleeps during the day. Ignignokt: But at night he feeds. Err: And it's always night on the Moon! Ignignokt: Don't f*** with me, Err." -Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Moon Master Ahh,…
Where do Supermassive Black Holes Come From?
"Black holes, which have no memory, are said to contain the earliest memories of the universe, and the most recent, too, while at the same time obliterating all memory by obliterating all its embodiments. Such paradoxes characterize these strange galactic monsters, for whom creation is destruction…
Weekend Diversion: Triangles, a Puzzle, and Beauty
"Arithmetic! Algebra! Geometry! Grandiose trinity! Luminous triangle! Whoever has not known you is without sense!" -Comte de Lautréamont When you think about it, it's amazing that our physical Universe makes sense at all. The fact that we can observe what's happening, determine the laws that govern…
Empty space has more energy than everything in the Universe, combined
"Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is just opinion." -Democritus of Abdera When you take a look out at the Universe, past the objects in our own solar system, beyond the stars, dust and nebulae within our own galaxy, and out into the void of intergalactic space…
The one and only true "Space Needle"
"If you don't like what you're doing, you can always pick up your needle and move to another groove." -Timothy Leary Up in the night sky, shortly after sunset, the night sky holds some spectacular sights. Some are permanent, some are transient, some have been known for thousands of years, and some…
The Legacy of Sally Ride
"Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we've ever known." -Ronald Reagan Earlier today, Sally Ride, the first American woman ever to fly in outer space, passed away at the age…
43 years later, we're seven minutes away from a second giant leap forward.
"The achievements of Apollo were so bold and our subsequent efforts so timid that the energy of those years seems like a youthful dream." -Buzz Aldrin 43 years ago today, humanity took our first steps on another world, venturing nearly 400,000 kilometers from home and walking on the surface of the…
One does not simply "believe" in Dark Energy...
This is an enhanced version (with some upgraded images and text) of an article I first wrote over two years ago. It is just as valid today as it was back then, only today, I have a special offer to go with it. Next week, a bunch of cosmologists and myself are getting together and all writing about…
How Big is the Entire Universe?
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen Hawking The Universe is a vast, seemingly unending marvel of existence. Over the past century, we've learned that the Universe stretches out beyond the billions of stars in our Milky Way, out across…
Weekend Diversion: What English Sounds Like to Non-English Speakers
"So when the cat has got your tongue, there's no need for dismay! Just summon up this word and then you've got a lot to say! Pick out those eighteen consonants and sixteen vowels as well, And put them in an order which is very hard to spell..." -Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious, The Sherman…
The Biggest Storm Ever on a Small, Small World
"For most of the history of our species we were helpless to understand how nature works. We took every storm, drought, illness and comet personally. We created myths and spirits in an attempt to explain the patterns of nature." -Ann Druyan Here on Earth, we are well aware of how devastating storms…
A Super-Sized Sister Solar System!
"It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small." -Neil Armstrong Here on our little wet rock in our Solar System, we often remind ourselves…
I Know What You Did Last Winter
"You better lose yourself in the music, the moment You own it, you better never let it go You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo" -Eminem Here on Earth, a cold, frozen winter lasts three months, with the Sun's rays pointed a maximum…
Now that we've got the Higgs, what's next?
"Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?" -Stephen Hawking After a long search spanning more than my entire lifetime (so far), the Higgs boson has finally…
Explaining the Higgs: on TV last night!
"We knew that we had indeed done something that was very different and very exciting, but we still didn't expect it to have something to do with physical reality." -Gerald Guralnik, co-developer of the Higgs mechanism Might as well make this entire week "Higgs week" here on Starts With A Bang,…
How the Higgs gives Mass to the Universe
"This is evidently a discovery of a new particle. If anybody claims otherwise you can tell them they have lost connection with reality." -Tommaso Dorigo You've probably heard the news by now: the Higgs boson -- the last undiscovered fundamental particle of nature -- has been found. The fundamental…
The Biggest Firework of them all: The Higgs!
"Give me a coin. <Takes Coin.> All right. Uh... heads, I win, tails, you lose. Right? <Flips coin.> Tails, you lose." -Ralph Kramden All things being equal, you're well aware that if you flipped a completely fair coin, you'd have a 50% chance of it landing on heads, and a 50%…
Weekend Diversion: Painting Animals to look like other Animals
"Are we to paint what's on the face, what's inside the face, or what's behind it?" -Pablo Picasso As an animal lover, like others here on scienceblogs, as well as a big fan of Halloween costumes, it's probably unsurprising that a good, creative animal costume will crack me up. Three more turtle…
Whose world is it, anyway?
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." -Mark Twain So, you've been around a while, seen all sorts of things, and learned an awful lot about the world, solar system and Universe that we live in. But how well do you know it, really? Image…
The Strong Force for Beginners
"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way -- things I had no words for." -Georgia O'Keeffe When it comes to the Universe, it isn't just the stuff that's in it that's important. Image credit: 2MASS Extended Source Catalog (XSC). It's also how all that…
Discovering the Earth from Space: Top 10 Pictures from the ISS
"We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth." -Bill Anders, Apollo 8 astronaut From hundreds of miles up, the International Space Station speeds around the Earth, completing 18 orbits a day, looking down on us and returning some absolutely…
Weekend Diversion: The Best Secret of Oregon's Summer
"The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made." -Groucho Marx Now that the solstice is behind us and summer is officially here (for most of us), it's time to start enjoying the greatest fruits of the season. With the technical difficulties of the great…
It's hard to leave this world
"Some prophecies are self-fulfilling But I've had to work for all of mine Better times will come to me, God willing Cause I can't leave this world behind" -Josh Ritter You sure can't leave this world behind. At least, not very easily. The reason for it, of course, is gravity. Image Credit:…
Make the next school year amazing for your students!
“If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.” -Frank Zappa Inside of every student I've ever taught lives a passionate, curious mind that can either…
Measure the Tilt of the Earth on the Solstice! (This Wednesday!)
"Soon the earth will tilt on its axis and begin to dance to the reggae beat to the accompaniment of earthquake. And who can resist the dance of the earthquake, mon?" -Peter Tosh Every year, there are two special days where every place on Earth receives the same amount of sunlight -- 12 hours --…