Category Archives: Physics

A knighthood for science?

Posted on April 16, 2012 by

On 16th April 1705 Queen Anne surprised the audience at her visit to Cambridge University by knighting the ex-Lucasian Professor of Mathematics Isaac Newton. This dubbing was as much of a surprise to Newton as it was to everybody else. Now … Continue reading →

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AAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHH!!!!!

Posted on February 22, 2012 by

The title of this post is the sound of me screaming in a state of total frustration and despair. Who or what has reduced me to this state of mental despondency? You might well ask and the answer [can be … Continue reading →

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A Croatian Polymath

Posted on May 18, 2011 by

Join me in wishing the 18th century Jesuit polymath Roger Joseph Boscovich a happy 300th birthday

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A Gallic Newtonian

Posted on May 7, 2011 by

In the early 18th century the whole of France was in the grip of Cartesian physicists, the whole of France? No! A small centre of Newtonian resistance existed on the country estate, Cirey-sur-Blaise, of Gabrielle-Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet. … Continue reading →

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The blatherings of Mr Wrong

Posted on January 22, 2011 by

I stumbled across Chris Wright’s post “Measuring Hell” at the Boston Globe Website, via 3 Quarks Daily, more than a week ago and briefly considered blogging about it and then couldn’t be bothered. At the end of this week Darwin’s … Continue reading →

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The Problem of Human Missions to Mars

Posted on October 26, 2010 by

I just published a short piece in the Journal of Cosmology’s special issue Colonizing Mars: The Mission to the Red Planet. It argues that humans will not reach Mars on the power of peripheral arguments about science, national pride, or … Continue reading →

Posted in astronomy, History, Physics, Science, Space Exploration | 3 Comments

Mr X

Posted on October 16, 2010 by

There is a scholar, call him Mr X, who received his training within the academy, but who found it wasn’t enough. He wanted more: to move outside of his wonky circle of colleagues, to engage the public, to communicate ideas … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Early Scientific Printing, History, Mathematics, Physics, Science | 2 Comments

Martyr of Science

Posted on September 27, 2010 by

I wrote this introduction to David Brewster’s collected biography of Galileo, Tycho Brahe and Kepler, Martyrs of Science (1841), some time ago when there was a plan to republish it as part of a collected edition of popular 19th-century works on science and history … Continue reading →

Posted in astronomy, Book, History, Physics, Religion, Science | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Newton’s First and Second

Posted on September 8, 2010 by

As we usually learn it, Newton’s second law of motion is: F=ma If we try to interpret Newton’s first law of motion in terms of algebraic equations, it’s very natural to take it as simply describing the case where the … Continue reading →

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