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Bobby Yaga Profile picture
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27 Oct, 4 tweets, 1 min read
An #OTD about two groups of people WHO WERE LITERALLY AT WAR WITH EACH OTHER but still recognized that political differences are no reason to disagree about *science*.
John Hancock, seeking permission for a team of US astronomers to observe an eclipse, wrote to a British commander:

"Though we are political enemies, yet with regard to Science it is presumable we shall not dissent from the practice of all civilized people in promoting it."
And the British commander was like, "Yes, of course, we're at war but that's no reason to be weird about SCIENCE. Of course they can observe the eclipse. Lol, can you even imagine, people being weird about science just because they were FIGHTING?"
I am just saying.

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More from @mcnees

Bobby Yaga Profile picture
29 Oct
The first message between two computers on ARPANET was sent #OTD in 1969. The “LO” of “LOGIN” was transmitted and then one of the systems crashed.

Charles Kline’s IMP Log: “Talked to SRI host to host.”
Image: UCLA Kleinrock Center for Internet Studies Image
They re-sent the “LOGIN” message an hour later, establishing a connection between UCLA and Stanford. So technically the first three characters transmitted over what would become the internet were “LOL.”
[12 hours after the first two computers connect on ARPANET]
xkcd.com/386/ Image
Read 4 tweets
Bobby Yaga Profile picture
15 Oct
The most energetic single particle ever detected, a cosmic ray dubbed the "Oh-My-God" particle, was observed by the Fly's Eye Cosmic Ray Detector #OTD in 1991. Its energy was about 3.2 x 10²⁰ eV ~ 51 J, equivalent to a baseball moving at almost 60 mph.
quantamagazine.org/ultrahigh-ener… Representation of a cosmic ray hitting the earth, with a sho
The "OMG Particle" should not to be confused with the “God Particle.” The latter is a terrible name that you should not use under any circumstances, while the former is a great name and all physicists are obligated to high-five whoever came up with it.
Also, the "OMG Particle" should not be confused with the "0mg particle," which is another name for a photon.
Read 21 tweets
Bobby Yaga Profile picture
13 Oct
The first collisions between protons and anti-protons took place in the @Fermilab @Tevatron #OTD in 1985. The collisions had a center-of-momentum energy of 1.6 TeV. They were observed in the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF), where the top quark was discovered ten years later. Image
See if you can spot the Tevatron in this google maps satellite image of the area around Batavia. Image
Despite being a physicist in the Chicago area I have somehow never visited @Fermilab. However, my interest is now piqued. Image
Read 4 tweets
Bobby Yaga Profile picture
7 Oct
Halloween music thread, share your suggestions in the replies. I’ll keep adding until the 31st.

“MOTHMAN” by @jonessoruthless

soundcloud.com/richjonesmusic…
“The Stars,” composed by Bernard Herrmann and conducted by Joel McNeely.

“The Great Pumpkin Waltz,” the Vince Guaraldi Trio

Read 21 tweets
Bobby Yaga Profile picture
17 Sep
Mathematician Bernhard Riemann was born #OTD in 1826. He made deep contributions to complex analysis and number theory, but is best remembered by physicists for his work on the foundations of geometry that would one day provide the mathematical framework for general relativity. A black and white photo of mathematician Bernard Riemann. He
Riemann was the star pupil of Gauss, who described Riemann's PhD thesis on complex variables as the work of someone with “a gloriously fertile originality.” I try to use this phrase in every rec letter that I write.
A few years later, when Riemann was up for a faculty position, Gauss set him the task of reformulating the foundations of geometry.

Nbd, just the greatest mathematician of the age asking him to reformulate the foundations of a subject spelled out by Euclid 2,000 years earlier.
Read 13 tweets
Bobby Yaga Profile picture
15 Sep
Astronomer Judith Sharn Young was born #OTD in 1952. Recipient of the Maria Goeppert-Mayer award for physics and the Annie Jump Cannon prize in astronomy, she was known for her work mapping galactic distributions of carbon monoxide and other gases associated with star formation. Image
Judith Sharn Young seemed to be headed for a career in biochemistry until her mother gave a presentation on black holes to Judith's high school science class.
You have probably heard of her mother, Vera Rubin.
Read 6 tweets

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