Feeling the Past to Touch the Future
October 27, 2023
Henry Petroski— The bubonic epidemic known as the Great Plague broke out in London in 1665 and lasted for two years. During that time, citizens who could escape to the… READ MORE
Tag: physics
The Seven Measures of the World: A Conversation with Gregory Conti
July 6, 2023
The Seven Measures of the World by renowned Italian physicist Piero Martin eloquently shows how the entire universe can be measured and understood using just seven units. In this Q&A,… READ MORE
How I Got My Asteroid
June 15, 2021
Martin Elvis— Changing your line of work late in your career is a refreshing thing to do. I worked for decades helping to decipher the mysteries of how giant black… READ MORE
How Do You Make Electricity?
April 2, 2020
Ivo van Vulpen— One of the greatest threats to our prosperity and way of life is a shortage of energy. We don’t often pause to think about it, but our… READ MORE
Mechanics, Choreography, and Gender Roles
January 2, 2020
Emily Coates and Sarah Demers— The relationship between forces described in Newton’s 3rd Law enables us to perform all of our daily actions—sitting, standing, walking, running, skipping, jumping. Whereas physicists… READ MORE
Thermodynamics in Our Daily Lives
April 24, 2019
R. Stephen Berry— Thermodynamics is a beautiful illustration of how needs of very practical applications can lead to very basic, general concepts and relations, very much in contrast to the… READ MORE
Ghostcatching
April 10, 2019
Emily Coates and Sarah Demers — Physics and dance share the singular problem of our universe: time moves in one direction. Events that occur can never be repeated exactly. A… READ MORE
The Center of the Universe
December 28, 2018
Marcia Bartusiak— Walk into an open field on a clear, moonless night. Overhead, sparkling stars are sprinkled across the sky. All of them seem equidistant from you—and no one else—and you… READ MORE
The Physics of Nothing
October 9, 2017
James Owen Weatherall— Imagine a house with no furniture. Is it empty? Presumably I haven’t given enough information to answer the question. There may be other stuff in the house:… READ MORE
The Enigma of Gravitational Energy
May 22, 2017
Marcia Bartusiak— To the practiced eye, Einstein’s equations stand as the quintessence of mathematical beauty. When it was introduced in 1915, general relativity was hailed as a momentous conceptual achievement…. READ MORE
![Ed Ruscha, The Old Trade School Building, 2005. Acrylic on canvas, 54 x 120 in. (137.2 x 304.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, gift of The American Contemporary Art Foundation, Inc., Leonard A. Lauder, President. [P2005.01]. © Edward J. Ruscha IV/Gagosian Gallery. Photo provided by Ed Ruscha Studio.](https://dhjhkxawhe8q4.cloudfront.net/yup-wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/20135340/quickfig1172-copy-scaled.jpg)
The Pull of Design: Notes on the Exhibition Ed Ruscha/Now Then