Thinking about Thinking

After this shot, I told Seb we should have had him looking at me and pondering my looking at the Thinker while thinking...
Still...

It's a small world

In physics class, we've been talking about the Standard Model, Quantum Field Theory, and the Higgs Boson.  I found a Nova episode that seemed to tie it all together.  I didn't preview it but luckily it was pretty spot-on content-wise and the class and I were having a fun time watching it and engaging in some light banter in just how over-dramatic Nova was being and how funny some of the scenes were when, towards the end, they were interviewing Dr. S. J. Gates, Jr. on his supersymmetry ideas on the MIT campus when (for no apparent reason) they continued the interview in the iconic MIT Chapel. 

As they had Dr. Gates strumming on the abstract metal sculpture for no apparent recent, I announced to the class casually "that's where I was married".  They looked at me incredulously expecting some kind of joke.  I said "Seriously, no regular church would let Irene marry me!".

2018 Prom

Astro Field Trip

Haystack Observatory

42 WHS seniors + Mr. Froberg + myself visiting the famous radio telescope!

A play about astronomy, women, and the joy of discovery

Although nominally covering old ground for some of us (women in science not getting their due credit:  Silent Sky, COSMOS, Hidden Figures) as well as having a shaky start and being purposefully vague about its own timeline, I would up finding this new play at the Central Square Theater profoundly affecting:

Not only was its unpacking of the challenges (historical and contemporary) of being a female scientist surprisingly eloquent and personal, but I was blown away by its unabashed enthusiasm for the thrill of a scientific discovery.  The play literally showed Cecelia Payne sitting at a desk doing math and having a joyous epiphany as she became the first human being to know that the stars are mostly made of hydrogen. I mean this play had a scene about constructing a graph while showing the graph being constructed on the backdrop of the stage.  No idea how it struck the non science people in the audience, but I thought 'right on!' while I was sitting next to my twelve year old daughter who is (in the words of the play) standing on the shoulders of Payne, Leavitt, Canon, Fleming, Maury when she looks out at the stars and knows how far away they are and what they are made of.
Catch it if you can!

Pleasantly Surprised

Sometime cool things happen that you would never predict.  On the last day before spring break I wanted to give one of my physics classes a fun, boost-your-grade "quiz".  As I was making up questions, I ended with this one:

If Physics were a food, what food would it be?

In this particular class (designed for students who are having trouble with the mainstream physics curriculum), open ended questions tend to be met with blanks or minimal effort.  However, look at some of these really interesting, creative answers I got:

I'm already looking forward to reading this post years from now and hearing these particular students' voices in my head!

5000 meters

A couple of months ago, my bro gives me a call: "Hey - I just started running.  You used to run, right?  How about we run a 5k together in March?  I'll fly out."

I hang up and think, oh no - what have I done?  I last ran a 5k 14 years and 25 lbs ago...

Well, I did meet my goals:  Finish the race (a) alive, (b) still able to move, and (c) without stopping (and, I'm not gonna lie here, (d) not in last place).

It was super-cold but that probably affected my brother more as he lives in California and had never run in the cold before (he still smoked me, of course!).

We chose this particular race (Maynard Boys and Girls Club) because of the timing and the fact that you get one free beer after the run:

(yes, those are the Lehmans in the background!)

(Note Seb in the foreground.  When he smelled the beer he said it smelled like it was still fermenting...)