Veritasium

 

* picture from dftba.com

Derek Muller's Veritasium is a very popular YouTube channel that gives audiences quick insights into science and engineering issues.  Whether he talks about fantastic new materials, black holes, flight trajectories, light, math equations--the subject matter becomes interesting and easy to understand.  I've always been a proponent of idea simplification as a means to stimulate learning with younger audiences, and I think Muller's channel is doing a fine job!

 

Sir Roger Penrose

 

(* photo from wikipedia.com)

I was very pleased to learn that Sir Roger Penrose received half of the 2020 Nobel prize for his 1964 paper showing that black holes are a natural and inescapable consequence of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.  This Oxford mathematician is such a accomplished intellectual, and if you view him on YouTube, you will simply admire his down-to-earth and humble attitude in life.

I find myself in agreement with his views on cosmology.  In college, I could never understand why infinity was treated with such disdain by mathematicians and physicists.  Something was wrong with your calculations if infinity came into the picture.  That was the textbook response which I was never comfortable with.

Listening to his ideas gave me much clarity.   If you see him give lectures with his very colorful hand-drawn presentations, you will find that the explanations are very easy to grasp, and his arguments are very logical.

His contributions to geometry include the discovery of visually challenging Penrose triangles and lovely patterns of Penrose tiles.  And while I don't even begin to understand his ideas on Twistor theory, I know that this is a possible tool to understand quantum gravity.  His ideas on consciousness and the how biology has a quantum side has influenced my own thinking of how "I am" taps into infinite possibilities of a non-linear, non-causal moment.

Thank you, Sir Roger, for re-energizing my understand of the way things work!

Prof. Jim Al-Khalili

* photo from the University of Surrey

Despite my interest in theoretical physics and cosmology, I've always been too much of couch potato to complete the mathematical equations.  Reading through the Feynman lectures in college was a completely exhausting task--I had no time for the rigors of the degree; I wanted the answers immediately.  The extended quarantine has left me with plenty of time to watch the learning videos of Professor Jim Al-Khalili, and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed every one of them!  He takes apart each concept and explains things in a very straightforward manner.  Exactly what I've been looking for; kudos and more power!

Dr. Anthony Fauci

*photo from ph.yahoo.com

At 79, the man of the hour is living proof that compassion, wisdom and heroism comes with a humble and gentle soothing voice (I know of younger man who can rattle on with a self-serving monologue, but let's not get into that).  There is daylight at the end of the tunnel.  I salute you!

Brian May

* photo from AFP News

With the millenials going gaga over the recently released Freddie Mercury biopic, I've come to reminisce over the good old days when the first release of Bohemian Rhapsody went on the air locally.  Made me smile!  Interestingly enough, I just read a news article that Queen lead guitarist Dr. Brian May, who holds a doctorate in astrophysics, will release a guitar track on New Year's Day to commemorate the flyby of the mysterious cosmic object Ultima Thule.  The New Horizon space ship of NASA will "zip" by the object, which is a billion (yes you heard that right) miles away from Pluto.  Such a wonderful way to reconcile the two ends of the spectrum (rock music and astrophysics; artist and scientist) of a truly gifted man!

Stephen Hawking

Photo from theguardian.com

English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking passed away mid-month, and while I don't pretend to understand his cosmological equations, I admire him for his numerous achievements despite being confined to a wheelchair.  Stricken with Lou Gehrig's disease, his body muscles withered away but his mind remained sharp as ever.  Said to be the most influential scientific mind since Einstein, his indomitable will to contribute to the body of human knowledge despite great odds remains the best lesson for us all.

The Last Question

* Rowena Morrill's portrait of Dr. Isaac Asimov, from Wikipedia

Dr. Isaac Asimov, one of the leading science-fiction writers in the sixties, wrote the short story "The Last Question" as a treatment on the subject of entropy.  What happens if everything is used up?  Everything in the cosmos, that is.  What is usually referred to by engineers as a "boring lecture on thermodynamics" has become a very intriguing subject; it is, by all norms, a thought-provoking and smile-rendering story.  It was one of the author's favorites, in fact.  Monique recently pointed out the essay to me; it was required reading in her Literature class.  I'm glad she is appreciating these kinds of short stories; I too was a science fiction geek back in the day!