Wikipedia:WikiProject Physics/Did you know

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... that the ethical dilemma of killing baby Hitler has been compared to the trolley problem? (2024-04-13)
... that the charm quark made physicists eat hats? (2024-04-01)
... that in addition to his work as a scientist, Robert Hooke was an architect who designed the Monument to the Great Fire of London so that it could also have a practical value as a scientific instrument? (2024-03-27)
... that lenses for telescopes are being designed using optics inspired by lobster eyes? (2024-03-07)
... that being in the chain-melted state makes some metals behave as a liquid and solid at the same time? (2024-01-12)
... that the toroidal solenoid was the first fusion-power device to be patented? (2023-07-28)
... that the weather forecast for HD 189733 b (pictured) is "Westerly winds at 2000 m/s, with molten glass showers"? (2023-07-26)
... that scientists shooting lasers at a mirror on the Moon (pictured) discovered that their telescope was not where it should be? (2023-07-21)
... that hiding power can be measured? (2023-06-10)
... that Louise Willingale is developing ZEUS, which is projected to be the most powerful laser in the United States? (2023-06-04)

... that electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is used to characterise polycrystalline materials at the micro and nano-scale (example pictured)? (2023-03-20)
... that physicist Sabine Hossenfelder's book Existential Physics discusses whether free will, the multiverse, the existence of God, and the meaning of life are topics that science can answer? (2023-03-18)
... that the search for a lost radioactive capsule along a 1,400-kilometre (870 mi) stretch of road in Western Australia was likened to looking for a needle in a haystack? (2023-02-20)
... that the neutron has a magnetic moment even though it lacks an electric charge? (2023-01-08)
... that the axial parallelism (diagram pictured) of the Earth's tilted axis is the reason we have winter, spring, summer and fall? (2022-12-21)
... that aerospace engineer Sabrina Thompson (pictured) founded a streetwear brand after she felt the "artist inside of me was internally starving", despite being satisfied with her career? (2022-12-13)
... that astrophysicist Suzanna Randall (pictured) continued her research at the European Southern Observatory while training for the spaceflight programme Die Astronautin? (2022-11-23)
... that Nicole Lloyd-Ronning returned to astrophysics research after a ten-year hiatus, aided by an American Physical Society award for women with interrupted careers? (2022-11-11)
... that some scientists believe we may live in a "dark forest"? (2022-11-02)
... that William Penney, Baron Penney, was credited as the "father of the British bomb"? (2022-10-16)
... that ice XVII (structure shown) potentially has a use in green technology as a medium for storing hydrogen? (2022-10-16)
... that Liu Yunbin, the son of the second President of the People's Republic of China, was a graduate in radiochemistry and contributed to the development of China's first atomic bomb? (2022-09-17)
... that it was Caltech experimental physicist Rana X. Adhikari's idea to build a gravitational-wave observatory in India? (2022-08-25)
... that Russian scientist Dmitry Kolker was arrested on charges of espionage while being treated for terminal cancer at a hospital and flown to Moscow, dying two days later? (2022-07-30)
... that the quantum boomerang effect causes particles to turn around and return to their starting point? (2022-07-01)
... that Franziska Seidl, born 130 years ago today, finished school after her husband's death and then went on to research ultrasound (illustration pictured) at the University of Vienna? (2022-07-01)
... that in March 2020, there were nearly 1,500 medical cyclotrons (example pictured) in operation worldwide? (2022-06-26)
... that C. N. H. Lock was a British aerodynamicist, after whom the Lock number is named? (2022-05-29)
... that Thomas Hall made an electric train (pictured) that received power from the rails on which it travelled instead of onboard batteries, a new technology at the time? (2022-05-22)
... that Olga Ehrenhaft-Steindler, the first woman to earn a physics doctorate at the University of Vienna, co-founded the first Viennese commercial academy for girls? (2022-05-18)
... that magnetoreception in birds works by quantum effects in their eyes? (2022-04-27)
... that Henri Coutard, an early pioneer in radiation therapy, spent the last decade of his life conducting fanciful experiments that were rejected by his peers? (2022-04-12)
... that in a weeklong contest during World War II, trained farm girls (pictured) were found to produce more enriched uranium than professional physicists? (2022-03-19)
... that the Ciudad Juárez cobalt-60 contamination incident was caused when radioactive material ended up in a junkyard and was smelted to produce rebar? (2022-03-06)
... that although the Courant–Snyder parameters in accelerator physics are often referred to as "Twiss parameters", Richard Q. Twiss had no idea how his name came to be associated with them? (2022-02-11)
... that Louis W. Roberts was among the highest ranking African-American space program staff at NASA while the Apollo program was underway? (2021-12-14)
... that the first pendulum clock was invented in 1657 by Christiaan Huygens? (2021-11-12)
... that after men took all the 2021 Nobel Prizes for science, one of the selectors, Eva Olsson (pictured), said "we want to have more women nominated"? (2021-11-08)
... that method of moments is one of the most common simulation techniques in RF and microwave engineering (example pictured)? (2021-09-08)
... that the W71 nuclear warhead had a tamper made of gold? (2021-08-29)
... that particle physicist Arden Warner invented a magnetism-based method for cleaning up oil spills? (2021-08-28)
... that limonene, a compound found in orange peels, can cause balloon popping based on the "like dissolves like" principle? (2021-08-25)
... that Pierre Kaufmann helped install the first radio telescope in Brazil, which was later destroyed by cows? (2021-08-21)
... that unlike most other insects, dragonflies have direct flight, the muscles being attached directly to the wing bases (pictured)? (2021-08-07)
... that Donato Palumbo's leadership of Euratom's fusion-power organization led to him being known as the "founding father of the European fusion program"? (2021-06-14)
... that Sindee Simon studied ancient amber to show that glass does not flow? (2021-06-04)
... that Gretchen Campbell's research on Bose–Einstein condensates may provide insight into the expansion of the early universe? (2021-06-04)
... that Ken Bloom's real-life blog Quantum Diaries was a plot point on The Big Bang Theory? (2021-05-12)
... that the first commercially viable CT scanner was invented by Godfrey Hounsfield in 1972? (2021-04-27)
... that although John Foster long ago described heavy ion fusion as "the conservative approach" to a working fusion reactor, no large-scale system has ever been built? (2021-04-21)
... that the principles of quantum mechanics have been demonstrated to hold for complex molecules with thousands of atoms? (2021-04-13)
... that Len Fisher won the 1999 Ig Nobel Prize for physics for his research on the optimal way to dunk a biscuit? (2021-04-07)
... that physicist Joseph Gelders was kidnapped and beaten, probably by members of the Ku Klux Klan, for his civil rights and labor organizing activities? (2021-03-21)
... that Joel S. Levine led a team of 12 NASA scientists to investigate why the U.S. Constitution was deteriorating? (2021-03-05)
... that solar radio emission was first observed in 1942 during World War II by British radar operators? (2021-02-10)
... that the 2017 book Priest of Nature analyses theological writings of Isaac Newton (pictured) that were never published due to his heretical views? (2021-01-20)
... that the Lectures on Theoretical Physics are based on thirty years of lectures given by Arnold Sommerfeld, a man Wolfgang Pauli once described as "the epitome of the scholar and the teacher"? (2021-01-14)
... that according to his 2020 biography, Atomic Spy, Klaus Fuchs felt that passing secrets from his work on the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union was for "the betterment of mankind"? (2021-01-13)
... that contrary to popular belief, the biographies Uncertainty and Beyond Uncertainty show there is no evidence that Werner Heisenberg (pictured) impeded the German nuclear weapons program to prevent Hitler from obtaining a bomb? (2021-01-11)
... that in The Trouble With Gravity, Richard Panek suggests that our universe's gravity originates in a parallel universe and is leaking into our own? (2021-01-08)
... that according to a 2005 biography, Max Born (pictured), the author of the classic textbook Principles of Optics, felt dejected when he did not share in the 1932 Nobel Prize that was given to his assistant Werner Heisenberg? (2021-01-05)
... that Spanish physicist Teresa Rodrigo worked on the discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN and the discovery of the top quark at Fermilab? (2021-01-01)
... that in his book Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought: Kepler to Einstein, Gerald Holton argues that philosophy from Either/Or influenced Niels Bohr's concept of complementarity? (2020-12-21)
... that the 1921 book The Meaning of Relativity represents Albert Einstein's only attempt to provide an overview of general relativity that was both comprehensive and accessible to non-specialists? (2020-12-19)
... that Israeli physicist Shikma Bressler, a researcher at the CERN particle accelerator in Switzerland, is also an initiator of the "Black Flag" protests against Benjamin Netanyahu? (2020-12-14)
... that Abraham Pais's 1982 biography of Albert Einstein was the first to focus on Einstein's scientific contributions as opposed to his life as a popular figure? (2020-12-07)
... that, by choosing the content included in his classic 1953 introductory textbook on the subject, Charles Kittel helped define the field of solid-state physics? (2020-11-30)
... that the world's first fusion reactor was called the Diffusion Inhibitor so managers at NACA would not know what it was? (2020-11-19)
... that as part of a famous priority dispute, E. T. Whittaker's 1953 book claimed that Henri Poincaré and Hendrik Lorentz developed the theory of special relativity before Albert Einstein? (2020-11-14)
... that the synthetic compound carbonaceous sulfur hydride is the world's first room-temperature superconductor? (2020-11-02)
... that mercury pressure gauges as tall as 23 metres (75 ft) have been built to measure very high pressures? (2020-09-16)
... that Otto Hahn was the sole recipient of the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, awarded for the discovery of nuclear fission? (2020-08-30)
... that in 1948 and 1952, nuclear physicist Leslie Shepherd published scientific papers on the use of nuclear technology for interplanetary and interstellar space travel? (2020-07-26)
... that the Wells curve, which illustrates what happens to respiratory droplets once they are exhaled, helps explain the spread of respiratory infections? (2020-06-22)
... that in the 1993 textbook Quantum Theory, "uncertainty principle" appears only once in the index, and its entry points back to itself? (2020-05-12)
... that Silke Bühler-Paschen was the first woman to become a full professor of physics at TU Wien in 2005? (2020-04-23)
... that physicist John Bell published the theorem that now bears his name in a journal sometimes called by the unusual title Physics Physique Физика? (2020-02-18)
... that Salvatore Pais's design for an electromagnetic field generator to deflect asteroids away from the Earth has been patented by the U.S. Navy? (2020-01-11)
... that high mountains can remain standing on Jupiter's moon Io because of heat-pipe tectonics? (2020-01-11)
... that Xia Peisu (pictured), the "mother of computer science" in China, and her husband Yang Liming, who helped explain magic numbers, were elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences at the same time? (2019-11-06)
... that satellites in a geostationary orbit appear stationary in the sky to a ground observer? (2019-10-18)
... that research by Chinese professor Wang Buxuan resulted in the doubling of ammonia production at a major chemical plant in Sichuan province? (2019-09-14)
... that South African theoretical physicist Adriana Marais was one of 100 candidates chosen for Mars One? (2019-09-13)
... that at a young age, German TV personality Ranga Yogeshwar learned Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam in order to communicate with his housekeeper, teacher, and gardener, respectively? (2019-08-04)
... that Wu Ziliang developed the technology to separate uranium-235 for China's first nuclear bomb? (2019-07-19)
... that Tang Dingyuan co-invented the "split-diamond bomb"? (2019-07-08)
... that Qian Ji helped design China's first satellite and was the lead designer for its first three-in-one satellite launch? (2019-07-03)
... that Scanning Kelvin Probe, a technique based on Lord Kelvin's work, has been used to investigate fingerprints and meteorites? (2019-06-20)
... that Molniya orbits are used by Russian and American military satellites? (2019-06-09)
... that although Zhou Tongqing led the development of China's first X-ray tube, he was denounced as a "bourgeois intellectual" and persecuted during the Anti-Rightist Campaign and the Cultural Revolution? (2019-05-30)
... that during World War II, Wang Daheng quit his doctoral studies to help develop optical glass in the UK, and later became the "father of optical engineering" in China? (2019-05-23)
... that there may be an island of stability with so-called magic numbers of protons and neutrons? (2019-05-10)
... that former astrophysicist Alejandra Melfo now works on preserving microbial life from Venezuela's rapidly receding last glacier? (2019-04-28)
... that the European Commission's Joint Research Centre recommends using the spectral G-index rather than correlated color temperature to select streetlights that have low blue light content? (2019-04-08)
... that after scientist Qian Lingxi was denounced during the Cultural Revolution, China's nuclear submarine project sought the help of Premier Zhou Enlai to make him available for this strategic program? (2019-03-12)
... that Wang Yening helped establish China's first specialization in X-ray metal physics? (2019-03-08)
... that when the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, Gong Zutong abandoned his Ph.D. thesis defence in Germany and returned to China to join the war effort? (2019-03-06)
... that Zhong Wanxie pioneered computational mechanics in China? (2019-03-05)
... that Hou Xun was the chief scientist of a major research project on ultrafast phenomena? (2019-03-05)
... that Qian Linzhao's research on the Mohist Canon influenced Joseph Needham's treatment of physics in his Science and Civilisation in China? (2019-03-04)
... that Yan Jici, a founder of modern physics in China, has a minor planet named after him? (2019-03-03)
... that Freeman Dyson used a result by Marian Pour-El on the mathematical undecidability of the wave equation as evidence for the superiority of analog to digital forms of life? (2019-02-25)
... that the space climate discipline researches how solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field fluctuations can affect Earth over timescales ranging from a few weeks to more than 1,000 years? (2019-01-27)
... that tropical cyclones may have induced past climate changes and could still be causing El Niño type events today? (2019-01-25)
... that while raising two young children, Li Minhua (pictured) became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at MIT? (2018-12-10)
... that in 2008, a team led by French astrophysicist Anne-Marie Lagrange directly imaged Beta Pictoris b, an exoplanet, confirming predictions of a massive planet existing around the star Beta Pictoris? (2018-12-04)
... that the Hyperion proto-supercluster was discovered using astroinformatics? (2018-11-22)
... that while working for the predecessor of NASA, Chinese physicist Wu Zhonghua pioneered the three-dimensional flow theory, which has been used to design many aircraft engines? (2018-08-17)
... that Li Lin, her husband, and her father (pictured together with her mother) were all academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences? (2018-07-16)
... that Greek legends claim Pythagoras (pictured) had a golden thigh, could fly thanks to a magic arrow, was greeted by name by a river, and when bitten by a snake, bit it back and killed it? (2018-03-18)
... that the authors of the 1940 Frisch–Peierls memorandum were assigned to research nuclear weapons because, as enemy aliens, they could not work on secret military projects? (2018-01-27)
... that as president of Fisk University, James Raymond Lawson saw the donor base dwindle due to the students' involvement with the Black Power movement? (2018-01-13)
... that Rudolf Peierls was awarded the Medal of Freedom, but was later refused entry to the United States because he was suspected of being a spy? (2017-12-28)
... that Mars' gravity is affected by many negative free air gravity anomalies on its surface? (2017-12-21)
... that while working on the representations of the Lorentz group, an encounter with Dirac convinced Harish-Chandra that he did not have "the mysterious sixth sense which one needs in order to succeed in physics"? (2017-09-25)
... that personal dust monitors required for coal miners by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration are based on the tapered element oscillating microbalance? (2017-07-20)
... that Canadian theoretical physicist Helen Freedhoff was doctoral advisor to Schrödinger's grandson? (2017-07-16)
... that Deepak Kumar was one of the first Indian condensed matter physicists to predict the experimental consequences of spin clusters near the percolation threshold? (2017-06-16)
... that Muthusamy Lakshmanan, K. Murali, and Leon O. Chua developed a non-autonomous circuit based on chaotic behavior (pictured)? (2017-06-14)
... that Indian quantum physicist Shasanka Mohan Roy developed an exact integral equation, now known as "Roy's equations"? (2017-06-12)
... that Biswa Ranjan Nag has contributed to the development of a Monte Carlo method for the computation of the coefficient of velocity? (2017-06-09)
... that astronomer Sidney C. Wolff was the first woman to direct a major observatory in the United States? (2017-05-17)
... that the term elastance, the inverse of capacitance, was coined by Oliver Heaviside to promote an analogy of a capacitor as a spring rather than a container of charge? (2017-04-26)
... that Virendra Singh delivered the inaugural Homi Bhabha exchange lecture of the Institute of Physics and Indian Physics Association in 2000? (2017-04-21)
... that Schuyler Skaats Wheeler invented the first electric fan? (2017-04-03)
... that Edward Hutchinson Synge described a theory for a near-field scanning optical microscope in a letter to Albert Einstein fifty years before various corporations sought patents on the technology? (2017-03-24)
... that the physics of a bouncing ball (motion shown) can be used to understand supernovae and gravitational slingshot manoeuvres? (2017-03-10)
... that Alice Bowman, Mission Operations Manager of the New Horizons Pluto exploration mission, is also a bassist and clarinetist? (2017-03-08)
... that the particle physicist Jeff Forshaw works with data from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and appeared on television to explain the Higgs boson to children under 12? (2017-02-15)
... that John Clive Ward has been called "the father of the British H-bomb"? (2017-02-13)
... that Mary Jackson (pictured) became the first black female engineer at NASA after successfully petitioning the City of Hampton, Virginia, to allow her to attend required graduate courses at a whites-only school? (2017-02-02)
... that Ernest Ambler, a British-born, Oxford-educated physicist, became the director of the National Bureau of Standards in the United States? (2017-01-17)
... that mesoporous silica nanoparticles are prepared by the Stöber process and are used in preparing biosensors and delivering medications to within cellular structures? (2017-01-12)
... that Sir Joseph Rotblat, a Polish physicist who helped design atomic bombs for the Manhattan Project during World War II, won the Nobel Prize for Peace? (2016-12-21)
... that during the Second World War, Kenneth Le Couteur worked at Bletchley Park on Tunny? (2016-11-07)
... that Ernest Titterton performed the countdown for the American Operation Crossroads nuclear tests, and witnessed British nuclear tests at Maralinga in Australia? (2016-11-06)
... that tsunamis build up their height according to Green's law, as they travel from the ocean towards the coast? (2016-11-03)
... that different measurements of the size of the hydrogen atom nucleus when a muon replaces an electron is an unsolved problem in physics known as the proton radius puzzle? (2016-10-06)
... that Richard Feynman's work The Feynman Lectures on Physics was co-authored by Matthew Sands and Robert B. Leighton? (2016-08-31)
... that physicists Justin Khoury and Amanda Weltman proposed an explanation for the existence of dark energy when the latter was 24 years old? (2016-08-02)
... that Jane Hamilton Hall oversaw the construction of the Clementine, the world's first fast reactor, the first to be fueled by plutonium and the first to use a liquid metal coolant? (2016-07-22)
... that a one megaton nuclear weapon can create a radar-opaque nuclear blackout disk hundreds of kilometers across? (2016-07-07)
... that during World War II, the Ames Project produced over 1,000 short tons (910 t) of uranium metal for the Manhattan Project? (2016-06-15)
... that John von Neumann (pictured) once wrote that "anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin"? (2016-06-09)
... that there are "moderately aromatic" arsoles? (2016-06-07)
... that Bernice Weldon Sargent's work was used by Enrico Fermi in developing his theory of beta decay? (2016-06-04)
... that the Montreal Laboratory was initially located in a house where bathrooms were used for offices, with papers and books stacked in the bathtubs? (2016-05-27)
... that the minimum mass of an exoplanet can be calculated with the binary mass function using the velocity of its host star? (2016-04-29)
... that physicist Kurt Gottfried worked on behalf of Russian dissident Yuri Orlov to obtain his release from Siberia and employment at Cornell University? (2016-04-04)
... that Yue Qi was a winner of the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology as a graduate student, and then went on to do research for General Motors? (2016-03-30)
... that the DU spectrophotometer was used for secret World War II research on the development of penicillin? (2016-03-30)
... that Charles V. Shank co-invented the distributed feedback laser? (2016-02-03)
... that Paul I. Richards published one of the earliest theoretical models of traffic waves? (2016-01-27)
... that physicist Ronald Mickens was a member of the founding council of the Edward Bouchet Abdus Salam Institute, which supports collaboration among African and American physicists? (2016-01-22)
... that in Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, Lisa Randall offers a credible but "far from compelling" hypothesis for why dinosaurs became extinct? (2016-01-09)
... that Japanese physicist Toshiko Yuasa studied in Paris under Frédéric Joliot-Curie and developed her own beta-ray spectrometer in Berlin? (2015-12-11)
... that German astrophysicist Hanna von Hoerner designed the cosmic dust analyser onboard Rosetta? (2015-12-05)
... that theoretical physicist Mariangela Lisanti was named on MIT Technology Review's TR35 list of innovators when she was 18 years old? (2015-11-21)
... that the Fizeau experiment (setup pictured) was one of the key experimental results that shaped Einstein's thinking about relativity? (2015-10-26)
... that the Manhattan Project's calutrons used 14,700 short tons (13,300 t) of silver? (2015-10-12)
... that the Routhian of analytical mechanics is a hybrid of the Lagrangian and the Hamiltonian? (2015-08-30)
... that on hearing of being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, Eugene Wigner confessed that he had "never expected to get my name in the newspapers without doing something wicked"? (2015-08-23)
... that Aage Bohr is one of four pairs of fathers and sons who have won the Nobel Prize in Physics? (2015-08-22)
... that Franklin's electrostatic machine (pictured) led to the invention of the lightning rod? (2015-08-09)
... that the electrical principles of an electrostatic machine invented by a Shaker doctor in 1810 for medical treatment were later used by Thomas Edison? (2015-07-22)
... that Experiments and Observations on Electricity is Benjamin Franklin's only scientific book? (2015-07-21)
... that Chien-Shiung Wu conducted the Wu experiment, which contradicted the hypothetical law of conservation of parity? (2015-07-13)
... that during World War II, James Franck's gold Nobel Prize medal was dissolved in aqua regia and stored in a bottle on a shelf to prevent it from falling into German hands? (2015-07-05)
... that according to Enrico Fermi, George B. Pegram was "the man who could carry out magic around the University"? (2015-06-25)
... that Val Logsdon Fitch found "the answer to the physicist's 'Why do we exist?'"? (2015-06-17)
... that Leó Szilárd teamed up with Albert Einstein to build a refrigerator? (2015-06-10)
... that Lawrence Livermore canceled its LIFE fusion power plant design work when the National Ignition Facility failed to live up to its name and produce fusion ignition? (2015-05-19)
... that an interdisciplinary team of scientists is working with NASA to search for life on exoplanets? (2015-05-05)
... that Elda Emma Anderson prepared the first sample of pure uranium-235 at the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory? (2015-04-29)
... that the Nobel laureate James Rainwater collapsed after a lecture but a student revived him via CPR? (2015-04-26)
... that Frederick Reines used an 8,000 ton Cerenkov detector in a salt mine near Cleveland to detect neutrinos from supernova SN1987A (pictured)? (2015-03-19)
... that high school dropout Alex Cable collaborated on work that led to the Nobel Prize in Physics and founded Thorlabs, a company with US$200 million of annual sales? (2015-03-15)
... that physicist Warren Elliot Henry learned quantum mechanics from Arthur Compton, nuclear theory from Wolfgang Pauli, and molecular spectra from Robert Millikan‍—‌and played tennis with Enrico Fermi? (2015-03-05)
... that the Westinghouse Atom Smasher (pictured), a 65-foot (20 m) Van de Graaff generator built near Pittsburgh in 1937, was instrumental in the development of practical applications of nuclear science for energy production? (2015-02-27)
... that Elaine Surick Oran's techniques for simulating dynamic fluid flows have been applied to phenomena as varied as the movements of fish and the explosions of supernovae? (2015-01-09)
... that the book The 4 Percent Universe discusses how visible matter makes up only four percent of the matter in the universe? (2014-12-16)
... that, when complete, the PandaX dark matter detection experiment will be one hundred times as sensitive as the current most-sensitive detector? (2014-11-22)
... that a theoretical problem in the mobility analogy led to the inerter being proposed as a new theoretical element of mechanical networks and later fabricated as a real component in Formula One? (2014-11-17)
... that physicists Wallace Leland and Harold Agnew put a shark in the bed of Marshall Holloway, director of the Ivy Mike thermonuclear test? (2014-11-10)
... that when Walter Zinn attempted to demonstrate the safety of the boiling water reactor in the BORAX Experiments, things did not go according to plan? (2014-11-02)
... that Alvin C. Graves was badly injured in the 1946 laboratory criticality accident at Los Alamos that killed Louis Slotin? (2014-10-25)
... that the physicist Edward Creutz published a paper on a rare flower (pictured) found only on the island of Raiatea in French Polynesia? (2014-10-10)
... that at least six people turned down the job of Director of Research at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory before Alvin M. Weinberg accepted it in March 1948? (2014-10-10)
... that M. Stanley Livingston and Hans Bethe were the first to demonstrate that the neutron has a magnetic moment? (2014-10-09)
... that before the Trinity nuclear test (pictured), Enrico Fermi offered to take bets on whether the atmosphere would ignite, and if so whether the entire planet would be destroyed? (2014-10-07)
... that solar activity and related events (solar flare pictured) have been recorded since the time of the Babylonians in the 8th century BCE? (2014-09-21)
... that a 1921 paper by Étienne Biéler and James Chadwick was praised as "marking the birth of the strong interactions"? (2014-08-31)
... that protogalaxies (pictured) are thought to have been formed by matter falling onto denser regions of dark matter formed by quantum fluctuations in the early universe? (2014-08-08)
... that Vantablack, a material made from carbon nanotubes, is the blackest substance known? (2014-07-20)
... that John R. Huizenga discovered the elements einsteinium and fermium in debris from a nuclear test of a fusion device, but considered cold fusion "the scientific fiasco of the century"? (2014-05-19)
... that E. Gail de Planque was the first woman and first health physicist to become a Commissioner at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission? (2014-04-26)
... that Ada Hitchins's measurements of atomic mass from uranium ores (pictured) provided the first experimental evidence for the existence of isotopes? (2014-04-21)
... that Robert F. Christy used knowledge gained designing atomic bombs to explain Cepheid variable stars (RS Puppis pictured)? (2014-03-03)
... that although physicist Ernest Wollan pioneered neutron diffraction, he did not share in the Nobel Prize that was awarded for the technology? (2014-03-02)
... that an experimental musical instrument based on Savart's wheel is said to make "the most obtrusive, obnoxious and irritating sound ever known"? (2014-02-28)
... that Philip Morrison (pictured) transported the core of the Trinity test gadget to the test site in the back seat of a Dodge sedan? (2014-02-27)
... that although Monsanto's Charles A. Thomas promised to return the Runnymede Playhouse intact, it became so contaminated with radioactivity from the Manhattan Project it was demolished and buried? (2014-02-25)
... that physicist Robert R. Wilson provided the Fermilab with a small herd of American Bison to roam its restored prairie? (2014-02-20)
... that the trick to the inexhaustible bottle (illustrated) was so widely known that it became part of a common hydrostatics demonstration for physics students? (2014-02-18)
... that early work on Bell's theorem appeared in an "underground" physics newsletter, Epistemological Letters (1973–1984), because mainstream journals were reluctant to publish it? (2014-01-02)
... that as President of the American Physical Society, James A. Krumhansl advocated for more visas and immigration opportunities for Chinese scholars following the Tiananmen square massacre? (2013-12-14)
... that 47 terrawatts of heat emerges from the interior of the Earth compared to 173,000 terrawatts received from the sun? (2013-11-20)
... that female physicist Elizabeth Laird came out of retirement during WWII to research radar? (2013-10-29)
... that the chemical element lawrencium is named after Ernest Lawrence, the inventor of the cyclotron (pictured, with his 60-inch cyclotron)? (2013-10-05)
... that John Wheatley died of a heart attack whilst on a bike ride? (2013-09-20)
... that Lawrence H. Johnston was the only man to witness the Trinity nuclear test, the bombing of Hiroshima, and the bombing of Nagasaki? (2013-09-16)
... that the Manhattan Project's George T. Reynolds accurately measured the size of the Port Chicago disaster explosion? (2013-09-14)
... that physicist M. Brian Maple presided over the "Woodstock of physics" in 1987? (2013-08-27)
... that in 965 AD, King Edgar decreed "that only one weight and one measure should pass throughout the King's dominion"? (2013-07-23)
... that as Chairman of the Department of Physics at Cornell University, Roswell Clifton Gibbs hired Hans Bethe, who later won the Nobel Prize in Physics? (2013-07-05)
... that James Chadwick (pictured), who was later to win the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the neutron, experimented with radioactive toothpaste during World War I? (2013-05-24)
... that each frame in the world's smallest film is only 45 nanometers wide? (2013-05-06)
... that nuclear physicist Katharine Way co-edited a 1946 bestseller which included essays by Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer, and sold over 100,000 copies? (2013-04-26)
... that Leona Woods was the only woman present when the world's first nuclear reactor went critical? (2013-04-22)
... that Norris Bradbury replaced Robert Oppenheimer as director of the Los Alamos Laboratory? (2013-04-13)
... that during the Manhattan Project, physicist Robert Bacher served on the Cowpuncher Committee? (2013-04-07)
... that astrophysicist Joan Feynman (pictured), sister of noted physicist Richard Feynman, discovered that auroras are caused by the solar wind's magnetic field interacting with Earth's magnetosphere? (2013-04-04)
... that the Star of Caledonia is designed to be lit up by using light emitting diodes? (2013-03-16)
... that Hilde Levi helped develop the radiocarbon dating equipment used to date the Grauballe Man? (2013-03-05)
... that highly charged HZE ions make up just 1% of galactic cosmic rays, but they cause as much biological damage to astronauts as protons, which make up 85%? (2013-01-14)
... that extreme mass ratio inspirals are one of the most promising detectable sources of gravitational waves for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA/eLISA/NGO)? (2012-12-05)
... that the Lanczos tensor of general relativity exists only in four dimensions, suggesting our universe of four spacetime dimensions is special? (2012-10-28)
... that Indiana's only nuclear reactor (pictured) has the energy output of a toaster? (2012-10-10)
... that it took 120 years before it was discovered that deep-water Stokes waves, named after George Gabriel Stokes, are unstable? (2012-09-16)
... that Harrison Brown led the Manhattan Project team that first successfully isolated gram quantities of plutonium? (2012-09-02)
... that the book The Black Hole War, by theoretical physicist Leonard Susskind, covers the scientific debate between Susskind and Stephen Hawking on the black hole information paradox? (2012-08-13)
... that in 2008, an Australian girls' school defeated an American boys' school for the United States Invitational Young Physicists Tournament championship? (2012-08-12)
... that science educator Goéry Delacôte became interested in theoretical physics because being moved up two years at school meant he "wasn't mature enough to really appreciate the literature and poetry"? (2012-07-29)
... that light can elastically scatter other light (Feynman diagram pictured) if the electric field strength exceeds the Schwinger limit? (2012-07-01)
... that triple-resonance NMR spectroscopy (spectrum pictured) is an integral part of determining the structure of proteins? (2012-06-28)
... that Nobel Prize for Physics-winner Isidor Isaac Rabi (pictured) gave a speech about how an electric light works for his Bar Mitzvah? (2012-06-27)
... that quantum mechanics can be formulated entirely in phase space if a quantum system is represented by a quasi-probability distribution? (2012-06-20)
... that inventor John Browning provided the first electric lights in London, for the occasion of the visit of the Shah of Persia to Queen Victoria? (2012-04-28)
... that ice XI, one of the fifteen known phases of ice, may be present on Pluto and Charon? (2012-04-24)
... that Guido Dessauer (pictured), a German executive and art collector, registered more than 30 patents in paper technology and started the career of Horst Janssen as a lithographer? (2012-01-23)
... that according to the Russian edition of Esquire magazine, Russian physicist and TU Delft professor Yaroslav Blanter deleted thousands of pages from Wikipedia? (2012-01-20)
... that Newton's second law is not valid for variable-mass systems, such as rockets? (2012-01-04)
... that Kenneth Stewart Cole, an organizer of the Biophysical Society's first meeting, said that the meeting had "the ulterior motive of finding out if there was such a thing as biophysics"? (2011-12-16)
... that ultrahigh energy gamma-rays can be detected by MAGIC? (2011-12-06)
... that while normally associated with rockets and jet engines, shock diamonds can also be produced by artillery, volcanoes, and quasars? (2011-12-04)
... that Allen Shenstone was the only Canadian among the 400 undergraduates who entered Princeton University in 1910? (2011-11-25)
... that a world map by Gerardus Mercator attributes the Earth's magnetic field to a magnetic mountain (pictured) above the Arctic Circle? (2011-11-22)
... that Nicholas Christofilos designed the Astron fusion power machine while selling elevators? (2011-11-13)
... that Henry DeWolf Smyth was the sole member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission to vote against revoking J. Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance? (2011-11-08)
... that physicists running the OPERA experiment detected neutrino particles apparently moving faster than light? (2011-10-19)
... that the North geomagnetic pole is not the same as the magnetic North Pole, and that a compass points at neither? (2011-10-09)
... that Leonard Reiffel helped Enrico Fermi build a cyclotron, studied launching a missile at the Moon, and won a Peabody Award for his radio show? (2011-10-07)
... that, after going bankrupt as Receiver General of Finances for Paris, Pierre Perrault developed the theory of the hydrologic cycle? (2011-10-03)
... that geophysical methods have been used to look for the palace of Cleopatra? (2011-09-30)
... that John Marburger, President George W. Bush's science advisor, publicly stated his belief that intelligent design is not a scientific theory? (2011-08-16)
... that nearly half of all known RNA structures were determined through nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of nucleic acids? (2011-07-26)
... that Fay Ajzenberg-Selove had to fight a discrimination case against the University of Pennsylvania to be hired as a tenured professor of physics? (2011-07-12)
... that Shigeo Satomura pioneered non-invasive monitoring of blood flow in the human body using ultrasonic Doppler techniques in the 1950s? (2011-07-03)
... that phonon noise is a major source of noise in cryogenically cooled superconducting transition edge sensors? (2011-06-06)
... that Salter's duck is a wave-powered generator that uses gyroscopes to convert up to 90% of wave power into electricity? (2011-05-29)
... that steam devils can be more important than convection in vertically transporting moisture during cold air outbreaks? (2011-05-17)
... that the POLYGON experiment, conducted in the 1970s, was the first experiment to establish the existence of so-called "mesoscale eddies", giving rise to the "mesoscale revolution" in oceanography? (2011-05-14)
... that a frog battery can decompose potassium iodide? (2011-05-08)
... that liquid crystal lasers can emit several wavelengths from a single device? (2011-05-04)
... that addition of sulfur increases refractive index of polymers? (2011-04-21)
... that the Natural Bridges National Monument Solar Power System in Utah was the world's largest solar cell power plant when it opened in 1980? (2011-04-16)
... that nuclear magnetic resonance crystallography can be used to explore features of microcrystalline formation too fine to be seen through X-ray, neutron, or electron diffraction? (2011-04-02)
... that Soviet astronomer Pavel Petrovich Parenago was the first to teach a course on galactic astronomy in the Soviet Union? (2011-03-23)
... that transmission electron microscopy DNA sequencing is a promising new technology which allows sequencing of individual DNA molecules? (2011-03-07)
... that the magnetochemistry of gadolinium compounds makes them the most suitable contrast agents for MRI scans? (2011-02-23)
... that Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman began the last of three lectures collected in The Meaning of It All by saying, "I have completely run out of organized ideas"? (2011-02-18)
... that the Hubble Bubble was a mysterious Local Void sphere, centered on Earth, predicted from redshift velocities of Type Ia Supernovae (pictured at lower left of NGC 4526)? (2011-02-10)
... that block cellular automata, invented by Norman Margolus, can be used to simulate lattice gases, sand piles, and billiard-ball computers? (2011-02-09)
... that the spherical tokamak fusion power concept (typical plasma pictured) was initially tested in the START reactor on a shoestring budget using bits of older experiments? (2011-02-01)
... that Vikings may have navigated using a light-polarizing mineral they called a sunstone to locate the sun in cloudy skies? (2010-12-31)
... that the world's first quantum machine "literally vibrated a little and a lot at the same time" and was named "Breakthrough of the Year" by Science in 2010? (2010-12-25)
... that although it was originally designed as a test machine, Sceptre was turned into a fusion reactor when ZETA apparently produced fusion? (2010-12-15)
... that the historical novel Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist, about the rise of modern physics, inspired a lecture by Steven Weinberg called "Night Thoughts of a Quantum Physicist"? (2010-12-12)
... that physicist Gunnar Nordström's early death may have been caused by his passion for radioactivity and consequent use of water containing radioactive matter for sauna baths? (2010-11-28)
... that a spheromak is a stable ring of hot plasma that's been described as the electrical equivalent of a smoke ring? (2010-11-19)
... that the most massive known neutron star is approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) in diameter, but has a mass twice that of the Sun? (2010-11-06)
... that the phonomotor, patented by Thomas Edison in 1878, could drill a hole in a board, powered only by the human voice? (2010-11-05)
... that Steven Girvin's group has successfully implemented quantum algorithms on a two-qubit quantum processor? (2010-10-30)
... that the Earth's shadow (pictured) can be observed during twilight hours? (2010-10-26)
... that in May 1958, eight months after John Cockroft had announced with great fanfare that the British-designed ZETA device (pictured) had achieved nuclear fusion, he was forced to retract this claim? (2010-10-17)
... that Jim Tuck named his pioneering fusion power system the Perhapsatron, reflecting his skepticism that it would actually work? (2010-10-15)
... that The Cosmic Landscape by Leonard Susskind is mainly about "the scientific explanations of the apparent miracles of physics and cosmology and its philosophical implications"? (2010-10-05)
... that the Sun and Pluto are only 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) apart on the Somerset Space Walk? (2010-10-01)
... that American nuclear physicist Leonardo Mascheroni has attempted to lobby U.S. Congress to fund his idea of using hydrogen fluoride lasers to generate nuclear fusion? (2010-09-29)
... that the JPL Science Division's research areas include studying Mars' surface, causes and mitigation of ozone depletion and global warming, search for life in and nature and evolution of the universe? (2010-09-24)
... that the new Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey lays out a roadmap for exploring extrasolar planetary systems and investigating the nature of dark energy? (2010-09-19)
... that Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow argue in their new book The Grand Design, that without God "the universe can and will create itself from nothing"? (2010-09-13)
... that the K2K experiment was the first experiment to directly measure neutrino oscillations using a laboratory source of neutrinos? (2010-09-12)
... that the crystal structure of boron-rich metal borides may contain extended atomic units shaped as "superpolyhedra" and "tubes" (pictured)? (2010-09-07)
... that Linnaeus once named a plant after fellow Swedish botanist Johannis Browall, but later changed the name after discovering Browall courted his fiancée Sara Lisa while Linnaeus was working abroad? (2010-09-05)
... that a geomagnetic storm in 1882 resulted in unusual phenomena reported in various parts of the world as an "auroral beam", a "blood red" sky, and a "luminous mass, shaped somewhat like a torpedo"? (2010-08-18)
... that Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy can be used to characterize artistic materials in old-master paintings? (2010-08-14)
... that Maxwell's thermodynamic surface was sculpted in 1874 by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell to visualise the ideas of American scientist Josiah Willard Gibbs? (2010-08-13)
... that metadynamics has been used to study, among other things, protein folding, chemical reactions, molecular docking and phase transitions? (2010-08-12)
... that research by Gerson Goldhaber on supernovae provided evidence that the rate of the expansion of the universe was increasing due to what was termed "dark energy"? (2010-08-08)
... that light front holographic methods were originally found by mapping the spatial quark distribution in a proton to a higher dimensional warped space (example pictured)? (2010-07-31)
... that though critically injured in a 1944 blast that was "perhaps then the largest release in history of radioactive materials", Arnold Kramish credited his survival to his mother's chicken soup? (2010-07-26)
... that the quantum rotor model can be used to describe superconducting Josephson junction arrays? (2010-07-24)
... that in 1962, biophysicist Jerome Wolken proposed sending cockroaches into space as part of an effort to detect signs of extraterrestrial life? (2010-07-13)
... that deuterium burning acts as a thermostat in newly forming stars? (2010-07-13)
... that an enthalpy–entropy chart shows enthalpy in terms of internal energy, pressure and volume, so that the work done in vapor cycles can be directly measured as a length? (2010-07-01)
... that the Bumblebee model, first used by Alan Kostelecký, is the simplest case of a theory with spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking? (2010-06-27)
... that Foster's reactance theorem ensures that plots on a Smith chart of an electrical network impedance function always travel around the chart in a clockwise direction with increasing frequency? (2010-06-10)
... that Ole Jacob Broch founded Scandinavia's first life insurance company? (2010-05-28)
... that Yevgeny Zavoisky discovered electron paramagnetic resonance in 1944, but missed nuclear magnetic resonance three years earlier? (2010-05-15)
... that acoustic paramagnetic resonance was independently predicted by Semen Altshuler and Alfred Kastler in 1952? (2010-05-15)
... that one of the founders of laser physics and Nobel Prize winner Alexander Prokhorov has also described an antiferromagnetic transition in the organic material DPPH? (2010-05-04)
... that Karl-Otto Kiepenheuer founded an institute to explore solar energy, today known as the Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics? (2010-04-28)
... that from his studies of the ionosphere during World War II, Walter Dieminger forecasted optimal shortwave communication for the military and police? (2010-04-27)
... that distant objects that are observed from the same place may appear to look elevated, lowered, stretched, or shortened depending on atmospheric refraction? (2010-04-24)
... that James E. Boyd started nuclear research at the Georgia Institute of Technology while leading the Georgia Tech Research Institute? (2010-04-09)
... that frost flowers are ice crystals commonly found growing on young sea ice and thin lake ice in cold, calm condition? (2010-04-06)
... that one possible explanation of the origin of the Flying Dutchman legend is a Fata Morgana (illustrated)? (2010-04-06)
... that the aureole effect is an optical phenomenon seen in rippling water that creates sparkling light and dark rays radiating from the shadow of the viewer's head? (2010-03-26)
... that the physicist Stefan Meyer led the Institute for Radium Research in Vienna before and after the Nazi regime? (2010-03-19)
... that the Codex Arundel, which contains notes and sketches by Leonardo da Vinci, was reunited online with the similar Codex Leicester? (2010-03-18)
... that infragravity waves generated along the Pacific coast of North America propagate across the oceans and contribute to the breakup on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica? (2010-02-28)
... that recombination refers to the formation of the first electrically neutral hydrogen atoms in the universe? (2010-02-26)
... that rotating radio transients are among the brightest astronomical sources of radio waves, yet are generally detectable for less than one second a day? (2009-12-01)
... that a mechanical filter of phonograph parts (pictured) was designed by Edward Norton as a Butterworth filter prior to Stephen Butterworth publishing his electronic design? (2009-11-26)
... that Robert Stewart Hyer was the first president of Southern Methodist University? (2009-11-20)
... that Terrestrial Physics is a sculpture made out of a 1 million volt (low energy) particle accelerator? (2009-10-30)
... that physical chemists Isabella Karle and her Nobel Prize-winning husband Jerome Karle retired in July 2009 after a combined 127 years of employment at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory? (2009-09-27)
... that one of the public address applications of parabolic loudspeakers is to project sound waves in a 10° cone pattern 300 feet (90 m) away? (2009-08-31)
... that Japanese theoretical physicist Kazuhiko Nishijima is well-known for developing the concept of strangeness in particle physics? (2009-08-30)
... that the mass-luminosity relation, first derived by Arthur Eddington in 1924, helps astronomers find the distances to binary star systems? (2009-08-27)
... that metamaterials with a negative refractive index cause light to bend in unusual ways (pictured) and offer the possibility of making an object undetectable to incident radiation (that is, invisible)? (2009-08-15)
... that Polish pilot Władysław Turowicz moved to Pakistan, became a citizen, and has since become known as the "Rocket-Missile Man of Pakistan"? (2009-08-13)
... that Marcia McNutt, nominee for director of the United States Geological Survey, studied underwater demolition and explosives handling with the U.S. Navy UDT and Seal Team? (2009-08-07)
... that in physics, a Trojan wave packet (animation pictured) is a type of wave packet that is nonstationary and nonspreading? (2009-07-28)
... that the first pulsar was discovered as a result of an experiment designed to study interplanetary scintillation? (2009-07-25)
... that if a supermassive black hole is ejected from a galaxy, it can carry a dense cluster of stars called a hypercompact stellar system? (2009-07-23)
... that according to Big Bang cosmology, neutrinos, a type of elementary particle, ceased to interact significantly with the other constituents of the Universe about one second after the Big Bang? (2009-07-11)
... that in 2005, researchers at the Spanish National Research Council wrote the first ten lines of Don Quixote on a few square microns of silicon, using local oxidation nanolithography (process pictured)? (2009-07-10)
... that Frank J. Low, an infrared astronomy pioneer, used data from an infrared telescope flown on a Learjet to show that planets Jupiter and Saturn generate and emit internal energy into space? (2009-07-01)
... that SN 2002cx was classified as a type Ia supernova, but does not have some features that define a type Ia supernova? (2009-06-30)
... that a neutron monitor detects the number of high-energy charged subatomic particles impacting the Earth's atmosphere from outer space? (2009-06-22)
... that camber thrust contributes to the ability of bicycles and motorcycles to negotiate a turn with the same radius as automobiles but with a smaller steering angle? (2009-06-18)
... that Norwegian physicist Gabriel Gabrielsen Holtsmark had two brothers who were Norwegian Parliament members? (2009-06-06)
... that optics began with the development of lenses by the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians (dispersive prism pictured)? (2009-06-05)
... that modern radars use frequency agility to reduce the effects of intentional interference, or jamming? (2009-06-04)
... that the giant pulses of PSR B1937+21, the first discovered millisecond pulsar, are the brightest radio emission ever observed? (2009-05-25)
... that fizz keepers, which are claimed to pump air into bottles of fizzy drink and thereby stop them going flat, do not actually work in this way according to Henry's Law and Dalton's Law? (2009-05-24)
... that while the electrical conductivity of pure water is very low, the conductivity of drinking water can be thousands of times greater? (2009-05-19)
... that cnoidal wave solutions can be used to describe ion acoustic waves in plasma physics? (2009-04-25)
... that in 1934, the Soviet high-altitude balloon Osoaviakhim-1 set a flight altitude record during its maiden flight but crashed during the descent? (2009-04-19)
... that for security reasons, the findings relating to uranium in John Holt's 1941 PhD thesis on artificial radioactivity were not released? (2009-04-11)
... that Wikipedia now has an article about everything? (2009-04-01)
... that the equipment designed by the physicist Gwyn Jones to liquefy small amounts of helium for work at temperatures near absolute zero was made from parts of a motorcycle engine? (2009-03-14)
... that the Morison equation, an equation in fluid dynamics introduced in 1950, is used in the design of oil platforms and other offshore structures? (2009-02-20)
... that Victor Vacquier escaped Russia by sleigh across the frozen Gulf of Finland and went on to pioneer the use of submarine detectors for investigating plate tectonics? (2009-02-03)
... that bridge scour is the most common cause of highway bridge failure (example pictured) in the United States? (2009-01-11)
... that in 1926, Albert Einstein solved the tea leaf paradox, which states that if the tea in a teacup is stirred, the tea leaves will collect in the middle rather than at the edges? (2009-01-03)
... that the 1774 Schiehallion experiment to calculate the density of the Earth also made the first use of contour lines to represent height? (2009-01-03)
... that gemstone irradiation processes enable the creation of certain gemstone colors that do not exist or are extremely rare in nature? (2008-12-05)
... that due to the subtly non-local nature of quantum reality, apparent telepathy can be achieved in games between separated players (example pictured)? (2008-12-04)
... that ATIC, a balloon-borne detector flying over Antarctica, recently found excess cosmic ray electrons that might provide evidence for dark matter consisting of Kaluza-Klein particles? (2008-11-27)
... that validation of ocean surface wave models through hindcasts and forecasts is important to the shipping industry, which relies on them for tactical seakeeping? (2008-11-25)
... that William Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor, also helped calculate the solar cell's Shockley-Queisser limit? (2008-11-09)
... that the green flash (pictured) is a by-product of a corresponding mirage of an astronomical object? (2008-11-07)
... that Cavallo's multiplier was an 18th-century electrostatic influence machine used to amplify electric charge? (2008-11-07)
... that carotene can be used to alter the optical properties of carbon nanotubes? (2008-10-18)
... that ripple can cause wavy lines on television pictures? (2008-10-17)
... that the dumbbell-shaped devices commonly seen on overhead power lines are Stockbridge dampers, used to suppress wind-induced vibrations? (2008-10-16)
... that conductor gallop, the wind-induced 1 Hz oscillation of overhead transmission lines, is also known as "dancing"? (2008-10-03)
... that the Sołtan argument as outlined in 1982 suggests that the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy was once a quasar? (2008-09-30)
... that J. Clarence Karcher invented the reflection seismograph and founded Geophysical Service Incorporated, which became Texas Instruments? (2008-09-27)
... that cosmologists C. B. Collins and Stephen Hawking proposed an infinite number of universes to explain the Flatness problem in the curvature of spacetime (three possibilities pictured)? (2008-09-14)
... that although Harold McCarter Taylor was a theoretical physicist and mathematician who worked with Ernest Rutherford, he is best known for a three-volume work on Anglo-Saxon architecture? (2008-08-10)
... that although the first type of wind turbine, the panemone, is one of the least efficient designs it is also one of the most commonly reinvented and patented? (2008-08-07)
... that Silas D. Alben proposed a model for more efficient turbine blades based on the bumpy flippers of humpback whales? (2008-07-03)
... that in optics and acoustics, the transfer-matrix method is used to analyze the propagation of electromagnetic or acoustic waves through a layered medium? (2008-06-09)
... that American physicist Hugh Bradner developed the first neoprene wetsuit but was unable to patent it? (2008-05-28)
... that the British MI6 tried to hire the Austrian-German physicist Josef Schintlmeister as a spy in the Soviet Union, where he had worked for ten years? (2008-05-26)
... that in addition to ballistics, the ballistic pendulum (pictured) was also used by physicists to evaluate the elasticity and flight of golf balls? (2008-05-22)
... that by using the Bevatron and nuclear emulsion technique, Sulamith Goldhaber was the first person to observe nuclear interactions of the antiproton? (2008-05-01)
... that Kikuchi lines, formed in diffraction patterns by diffusely scattered electrons, are useful tools in electron microscopy of crystalline and nanocrystalline materials? (2008-04-28)
... that Emmy Noether (pictured) was called "the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began" by Albert Einstein? (2008-04-21)
... that the sound of fingernails scraping chalkboard may not be the world's most unpleasant sound? (2008-04-16)
... that Abraham Esau was the head of the physics section of the Reich Research Council, Nazi Germany's centralized planning institution for almost all basic and applied research? (2008-04-16)
... that the utility of heavy water as a moderator in a nuclear reactor was demonstrated by Klara Döpel and her husband Robert in the 1940s? (2008-04-03)
... that physicist Siegfried Flügge collaborated with Fritz Houtermans, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, and others in an effort to create an atomic weapon for Nazi Germany? (2008-04-01)
... that Carl Størmer, "the acknowledged authority" on aurorae and the motion of charged particles in the magnetosphere, began his academic career inventing formulae for π? (2008-03-28)
... that television pioneer Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. became the inventor of the video game when he took out a video game patent in 1948? (2008-03-19)
... that physicists Herbert Anderson, Eugene Booth, G. N. Glasoe, John Dunning, Francis Slack and Enrico Fermi worked on splitting atoms in the basement of Pupin Hall, Columbia University in 1939? (2008-03-17)
... that two 79th Academy Award Best Visual Effects nominees employed mathematician Ronald Fedkiw's model for their special effects? (2008-02-18)
... that in recent years the alcoholic beverage ouzo has been subject of intense scientific study? (2008-02-02)
... that for a pure wave motion in fluid dynamics, the Stokes drift velocity is the average velocity when following a specific fluid parcel as it travels with the fluid flow? (2008-01-25)
... that after years of studying airflow at supersonic speeds, Adolf Busemann suggested that aerodynamicists, who had forgotten his swept wing work until they got together again during Operation Paperclip, need to become 'pipe fitters'? (2008-01-12)
... that Italian aerodynamicist Antonio Ferri took to the hills in 1943 with a trunk load of scientific documents to turn over to the Allies? (2007-12-10)
... that surface plasmons are the basis of a spectrography technique known as surface plasmon resonance? (2007-12-09)
... that surface science studies show that Stranski-Krastanov growth is one of three primary ways in which thin films grow on crystals? (2007-12-09)
... that the free surface of a free liquid in zero-g forms a perfect sphere? (2007-12-07)
... that the spintronic manipulation of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond crystals may facilitate the creation and functioning of quantum computers? (2007-12-04)
... that the clapotis (illustrated) is a standing wave pattern formed at a vertical shoreline? (2007-12-02)
... that scientists have used microbaroms for inverse remote sensing of the upper atmosphere? (2007-11-27)
... that water absorption is responsible for most of the incoming sunlight and outgoing thermal radiation absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere? (2007-11-05)
... that the astronomical observatory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica is named after physicist Martin A. Pomerantz? (2007-11-04)
... that from 1955 to 1973, the United States conducted a scientific initiative aimed at producing gravity-manipulation technology? (2007-10-28)
... that German nuclear physicist Heinz Barwich had illegal contacts to the Soviet secret police NKVD during Nazi rule, and then spied on the Soviet Union for the West while working in the East? (2007-10-24)
... that sky anchors combine a gas balloon for buoyancy and a superpressure balloon for ballast? (2007-10-20)
... that in 1956, The New York Times ran a front-page story featuring Winston H. Bostick's "plasma gun"? (2007-10-16)
... that one of the first discoveries of atmospheric neutrinos was made at India's Kolar Gold Fields? (2007-10-16)
... that gamma ray burst progenitors include massive, rapidly rotating stars that may explode as hypernovae (Eta Carinae pictured)? (2007-10-14)
... that least-squares spectral analysis is a method for estimating a frequency spectrum, based on a least squares fit between data and trigonometric functions? (2007-10-13)
... that Dutch 19th century scientist Cornelis Rudolphus Theodorus Krayenhoff was his country's War Minister for 10 months? (2007-10-09)
... that the planetary nebula luminosity function is an accurate standard candle (luminosity measurement) outside Earth's home galaxy, the Milky Way, despite an average error factor of two for distance estimates to planetary nebulae within this galaxy? (2007-09-18)
... that German physicist Walter Gerlach helped prove the fact that electrons spin? (2007-09-14)
... that Alexander Eugen Conrady abandoned his native Germany in disgust, settled in England, and there designed optical instruments used by the British in World War I? (2007-08-12)
... that Étienne-Gaspard Robert terrified audiences with his pioneering phantasmagoria shows and greatly influenced others with his ballooning feats? (2007-08-04)
... that auto racing icon Dan Gurney tricked competitors into installing his Gurney flap upside down? (2007-07-11)
... that stellar magnetic fields create loops of plasma that arc over the surface of a star? (2007-06-27)
... that 12th-century Muslim scientist Al-Khazini, who proposed a theory of gravitation long before Isaac Newton, was, in his early life, a slave of the Seljuq Turks? (2007-06-15)
... that Gasparo Berti's experiment in atmospheric pressure and vacuums led to the invention of the barometer? (2007-06-10)
... that wind gradient causes sounds to appear to carry farther downwind, not the wind itself? (2007-06-03)
... that stars must have at least 9 times the mass of the Sun in order to undergo a core collapse and become a Type II supernova (example pictured)? (2007-05-06)
... that Doppler spectroscopy was used to discover the first extrasolar planet in 1995 and has since been used to identify more than one hundred exoplanet candidates? (2007-05-03)
... that US physicist Gaylord Harnwell was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh? (2007-04-13)
... that Louis-Sébastien Lenormand invented what is now known as BASE jumping by parachuting from the tower of the Montpellier observatory in 1783 (jump illustrated), and also coined the word parachute? (2007-04-07)
... that giant diffuse galaxies, located in the centre of galaxy clusters (pictured), often possess a halo of devoured star matter extending as far out as 3 million light years? (2007-04-04)
... that German physicist Max von Laue wrote an article for Acta Crystallographica, which dealt with the absorption of x-rays under interference conditions, while in French military incarceration in 1945? (2007-04-02)
... that Aristotle's ideas of physics held that because an object could not move without an immediate source of energy, arrows created a vacuum behind them that pushed them through the air? (2007-03-31)
... that Australian physicist, Sir Kerr Grant studied with Nobel Prize winning chemist and physicist, Irving Langmuir at the University of Gottingen? (2007-03-29)
... that the F-111 fighter, the B-1 bomber, the Space Shuttle, and the Boeing fleet of commercial airliners were all tested at the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel? (2007-03-18)
... that the Woodstock of physics refers to the marathon session of the American Physical Society’s March 1987 meeting that featured 51 presentations on superconductors and lasted until 3:15 AM? (2007-03-11)
... that fast neutron therapy utilizes neutrons, typically with more than twenty megaelectronvolts, to treat diseases like cancer? (2007-02-26)
... that Professor Józef Łukaszewicz took part in a failed attempt to assassinate Tsar Alexander III of Russia? (2007-02-22)
... that grid fins (pictured) are used on the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (MOAB) so it can fit inside a C-130 aircraft? (2007-02-14)
... that on February 1, the National Weather Service began using the Enhanced Fujita Scale to assess tornado damage, replacing the Fujita scale? (2007-02-08)
... that in his satirical 1827 pamphlet Grand Erratum, French physicist Jean-Baptiste Pérès argued that Napoleon never existed, but was just another expression of an ancient myth? (2007-01-21)
... that the German physicist Otto Laporte discovered what is known in spectroscopy as the Laporte rule? (2007-01-16)
... that a protoplanetary nebula is a short-lived phase of stellar evolution? (2007-01-12)
... that the University of Cambridge denied Edward A. Irving a PhD when he submitted evidence supporting continental drift? (2007-01-09)
... that approximately one-third of nearby galaxies contain low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions? (2007-01-06)
... that the dust storms raised by the Shamal wind bring most travel in Iraq to a halt for several days? (2006-12-13)
... that Bulgarian physicist Stefan Marinov claimed to have created a perpetual motion machine using only two ballraces and a car battery? (2006-12-02)
... that many subatomic particles are constantly decaying into more stable lower-mass particles? (2006-12-01)
... that despite projections of producing four times as much power as it used in heating, the Riggatron fusion reactor was never built due to a lack of funding? (2006-11-22)
... that instead of simply heating particles, the Migma fusion reactor uses small particle accelerators to initiate a fusion reaction? (2006-11-21)
... that line source is a mathematical construct used to analyze roadway air and noise pollution, but was not developed as a meaningful tool until 1970 when major U.S. laws spurred extensive environmental modelling? (2006-09-10)
... that many people enjoy singing in the shower because the bathroom acts as an echo chamber to enrich the sound of the singer's voice? (2006-09-04)
... that Claudia Alexander was the last project manager of NASA's Galileo mission to Jupiter? (2006-08-06)
... that by using measurements of the flux of solar neutrinos within the framework of the Standard Solar Model physicists have estimated the temperature of the core of the sun to within 1%? (2006-07-12)
... that the Swedish term yrast, meaning "dizziest", is used in nuclear physics to refer to nuclear states of high angular momentum? (2006-06-23)
... that ANTARES, a neutrino telescope under construction in the Mediterranean Sea, will find neutrinos from outer space by looking downward, into the Earth? (2006-06-11)
... that KATRIN is an experiment to determine the mass of the neutrino by measuring the energies of electrons given off from the beta decay of tritium? (2006-06-04)
... that Rodney J. Baxter, known for the Yang-Baxter equation in statistical mechanics, was the first doctoral graduate in theoretical physics from the Australian National University? (2006-05-18)
... that the critical behaviour of the spherical model in statistical mechanics has been solved for arbitrary real positive dimensions, and is the same for dimensions greater than four? (2006-05-16)
... that ship tracks (pictured) are clouds that form around the exhaust released by ships and appear as long strings over the ocean? (2006-05-15)
... that the boojum phenomenon in superfluidity physics is named after an imaginary monster in a poem by Lewis Carroll? (2006-03-20)
... that in 1876, Edward Bouchet became the first black American to earn a Ph.D. from an American university? (2006-02-07)
... that you can find the acceleration and the displacement of a moving object by analyzing its velocity vs. time graph? (2005-12-15)
... that the North Pacific Gyre was responsible for depositing hundreds of lost Nike sneakers on the western shores of North America in 1991? (2005-11-28)
... that amorphous ice is a solid form of water that, like glass, has no crystal structure? (2005-10-09)
... that the Teller-Ulam design is considered "the secret of the hydrogen bomb"? (2005-07-25)
... that the principles of bird flight are the same as used in aircraft, with lift being provided by an aerofoil? (2005-05-07)
... that a physical paradox is thought to be either an artifact of error or incompleteness because reality is assumed to be completely consistent? (2005-04-12)
... that a congressional reporter mistranscribed testimony about a U.S. nuclear test from 1962 named Sedan nuclear test, leading to fears that a nuclear weapon had actually been tested in the Sudan? (2005-03-16)
... that in the ionization chamber of a smoke detector, ions strike smoke particles and are neutralized, and this drop in current triggers the alarm? (2005-02-06)
... that a rod sagging under the weight of clothes on coat hangers is an example of a beam experiencing bending? (2004-12-11)
... that the Smyth Report was the first official administrative history written on the development of the first atomic weapons? (2004-12-01)
... that with a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope (TIRFM) specimen regions of less than 200 nm can be observed? (2004-11-20)
... that the Z machine, operated by Sandia National Laboratories, is the most powerful x-ray generator in the world? (2004-10-26)
... that the trans-Planckian problem refers to the appearance of unlikely quantities beyond the Planck scale in black-hole physics and inflationary cosmology? (2004-10-12)
... that in high energy physics experiments, wire chambers are used to detect the path of particles emitted from the collisions in particle accelerators? (2004-10-07)
... that the discovery of the J/Ψ particle in 1974 earned two physicists the Nobel prize as it confirmed the idea that baryonic matter (such as the nuclei of atoms) is made out of quarks? (2004-09-29)
... that most contemporary robotic telescopes are in the hands of amateur astronomers? (2004-09-10)
... that a kammback is an aerodynamic drag-reducing car body style? (2004-06-24)
... that the edge of space is about 100 kilometers above mean sea level? (2004-06-23)
... that there are 14 gases which are lighter than air? (2004-06-04)
... that in physics, a Landau pole is the energy scale where a coupling constant of a quantum field theory becomes infinite? (2004-06-04)
... that the Brazil nut effect, a law of physics, dictates that when a mixture of granular material is shaken the biggest particles end up on the top? (2004-06-02)
... that freak waves are common near Cape Algulhas off the southern tip of Africa? (2004-05-27)
... that rapid single flux quantum is an electronics technology that relies on quantum effects in superconducting materials rather than the present-day transistor standard? (2004-05-21)
... that quantum optics is a field of research in physics, dealing with the application of quantum mechanics to phenomena of light? (2004-05-18)
... that the history of the periodic table records at least two pre-Mendeleevian attempts to organize the elements? (2004-04-27)
... that gravitational collapse is a leading cause of star death? (2004-04-27)
... that the viscosity of a ferrofluid can be controlled with electromagnets? (2004-03-19)
... that scientists are testing Einstein's theory of general relativity with Gravity Probe B, an artificial satellite? (2004-03-17)
... that the Hubble Ultra Deep Field is a Hubble Space Telescope image that contains roughly 10,000 galaxies? (2004-03-15)
... that the Friction coefficient is very important in determining the friction between two objects? (2004-02-28)