jlynch | September 29, 2007Events
1977 - The Apollo program’s ALSEP experiment packages left on the Moon are terminated.
2004 - The first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat are taken. PZ Myers is ecstatic.
Births
1530 - Geronimo Mercuriali, Italian philologist and physician
1870 - Jean Baptiste Perrin, French physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
1882 - Hans Geiger, German physicist
1905 - Nevill Francis Mott, English physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
1939 - Jean-Marie Lehn, French chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
1943 - Johann Deisenhofer, German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
1951 - Barry…
jlynch | September 29, 2007So let’s put this in perspective ...
ASU hadn’t won in California in fourteen games.
ASU hadn’t won in Stanford since 1997.
Nine of the top-25 teams lost over the weekend.
Colorado - whom ASU beat - went and won against #3 Oklahoma.
The Cal/Oregon game was a good one. Cal should rise through the ranks, particularly given losses by Florida and West Virginia and ineptitude by USC.
Speaking of which ... USC only beat unranked Washington by 3 points. It’s clear that there is no way that they can be considered the #1 team in the country - winning is not enough. But than again, the fanboys who…
jlynch | September 29, 2007Being a little quiet here ... combination of a looming Sunday deadline, grading, and the fact that I threw my back out on Thursday afternoon and am now in constant pain. Ah, the joys of life! There will, however, be some exciting news on Monday, so stay tuned.
Here’s your Today in Science ....
Births
1898 - Trofim Lysenko, Lamarkian biologist
1901 - Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
1920 - Peter D. Mitchell, English chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
1931 - James Watson Cronin, American nuclear physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1887 - Bernhard von Langenbeck,…
jlynch | September 28, 2007Births
1605 - Ismael Bullialdus, French astronomer
1852 - Henri Moissan, French chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
1939 - Stuart Kauffman, American biologist
Deaths
1694 - Gabriel Mouton, French scientist
1895 - Louis Pasteur, French scientist
1953 - Edwin Hubble, American astronomer
1979 - John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist
jlynch | September 28, 2007
Dark Haired Miriam Ran Away
On Raglan Road on an autumn day I met her first and knew That her dark hair would weave a snare that I might one day rue; I saw the danger, yet I walked along the enchanted way, And I said, let grief be a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day.
On Grafton Street in November we tripped lightly along the ledge Of the deep ravine where can be seen the worth of passion’s pledge, The Queen of Hearts still making tarts and I not making hay - O I loved too much and by such and such is happiness thrown away.
I gave her gifts of the mind I gave her the secret sign that’s…
jlynch | September 26, 2007
Events
1937 - Balinese Tiger (Panthera tigris balica) declared extinct after the last specimen was shot in 1925.
1956 - Milburn G. Apt becomes the first man to exceed Mach 3 while flying the Bell X-2. Shortly thereafter, the craft goes out of control and Apt is killed.
Births
1818 - Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe, German chemist
1842 - Alphonse Francois Renard, Belgian geologist
1913 - Albert Ellis, American psychologist
1918 - Martin Ryle, English radio astronomer and Nobel Prize laureate
1924 - Fred Singer, American scientist
1933 - Rodney Cotterill, Danish-English physicist
1948 - John…
jlynch | September 26, 2007In the past, he asked "Is our children learning?" Yesterday, when commenting on No Child Left Behind he said "As yesterday’s positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured" (source). No comment is necessary.
jlynch | September 26, 2007Just a quick note to point out that my colleague, Tom Martin, who occupies an office just down the corridor from me, has won the Second Annual Seed Science Writing Contest with his essay "Scientific Literacy and the Habit of Discourse." Take a look.
jlynch | September 26, 2007Births
1877- Ugo Cerletti, Italian neurologist
1887 - Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, British scientist, engineer and inventor
Deaths
1802 - Jurij Vega, Slovenian mathematician and physicist
1877 - Hermann Grassmann, German mathematician and physicist
1951 - Hans Cloos, German geologist
1976 - Lavoslav RužiÄka, Croatian chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
jlynch | September 25, 2007Births
1644 - Ole Rømer, Danish astronomer
1773 - Agostino Bassi, Italian entomologist
1798 - Jean-Baptiste Ãlie de Beaumont, French geologist
1839 - Karl Alfred von Zittel, German palaeontologist
1866 - Thomas Hunt Morgan, American geneticist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1986 - Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
jlynch | September 24, 2007The following is posted on behalf of Naomi Oreskes:
On September 3, I was contacted by Mr. Schulte, who asserted that statements made in my response - specifically that "The Schulte piece misrepresents the research question we posed," that "the piece misrepresents the results we obtained," and that the "piece misrepresents my own interpretation of the severity climate question" - inaccurately describe his paper. Mr. Schulte also contacted the Chancellor of my university, describing my work and behavior in highly unflattering terms.
My understanding of the contents of Mr. Shulte’s paper was…
jlynch | September 24, 2007September 24th is also the anniversary of the birth (in 1724) of Arthur Guinness, the real patron saint of Ireland. In 1759 he opened the St James’s Gate brewery in Dublin and by 1778 he was brewing the elixir than bears his name. In his honor, I give you "The Workman’s Friend" by Flann O’Brien:
When things go wrong and will not come right,Though you do the best you can,When life looks black as the hour of night -A pint of plain is your only man.
When money’s tight and hard to getAnd your horse has also ran,When all you have is a heap of debt -A pint of plain is your only man.
When…
jlynch | September 24, 2007Births
1801 - Mikhail Vasilievich Ostrogradsky, Ukrainian scientist
1802 - Adolphe d’Archaic, French paleontologist and geologist
1870 - Georges Claude, French chemist and inventor
1895 - André Frédéric Cournand, French physiologist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1541 - Paracelsus, Swiss alchemist
1742 - Johann Matthias Hase, German scientist
1904 - Niels Ryberg Finsen, Danish physician and Nobel Prize laureate
1945 - Hans Geiger, German physicist
1993 - Bruno Pontecorvo, Italian physicist
jlynch | September 23, 2007
Maybe our own little Aussie snowflake needs to change his image to this cantankerous little antipodean? Details here.
jlynch | September 23, 2007W00t! ASU are back among the ranked teams - #23 in the AP and #25 in the USA Today poll. That means four Pac-10 teams are currently ranked - USC (#1), Cal (#6), Oregon (#11) and ASU (with UCLA also receiving votes).
Week 3 of last season was our last time in the rankings (#22), so hopefully this is the mark of something good happening.
jlynch | September 22, 2007
My grandfather - now dead 28 years - and I used to coil up laughing to this.
jlynch | September 22, 2007Events
1846 - Discovery of Neptune by Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier and John Couch Adams
1884 - Herman Hollerith patents his mechanical tabulating machine.
1999 - NASA announces that it has lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.
Births
1791 - Johann Franz Encke, German astronomer
1819 - Hippolyte Fizeau, French physicist
1852 - William Stewart Halsted, American surgeon
1880 - John Boyd Orr, Scottish physician and Nobel Prize laureate
1915 - Clifford Shull, American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1873 - Jean Chacornac, French astronomer
1929 - Richard Adolf Zsigmondy,…
jlynch | September 22, 2007I spent Saturday night in Sun Devil Stadium watching ASU beat Oregon State 44-32, to go 4-0 for the season. This after spotting the Beavers 19 points in the first seven minutes and given that OSU had the second-rated run defense in the country. Five interceptions and a lot of big third-down plays (both on offence and defense) helped the Devils.
Next week sees us at Stanford (1-2, 0-2 Pac-10), a game that will be televised by Fox Sports AZ.
jlynch | September 22, 2007There’s a common misconception about academics. It sees us as spending perhaps six to nine hours a week actually working and then sitting on our asses for the rest of the working week absorbing money from the public. Wish it were so. This week, I had nine hours of in-class time, five hours of meetings with students regarding papers that are due next week, three hours of other meetings, and eight hours of class preparation (including three hours this afternoon).
And then there is the service ... Service is one of those things that academics have to deal with, and when you are part of a self-…