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Author: G V Pavan Kumar
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Planck replies to Sommerfeld
Gamow, George. 1966. Thirty Years That Shook Physics: The Story of Quantum Theory.
An excerpt from the book mentioned above:
“Planck was a typical German professor of his time, serious and probably pedantic, but not without a warm human feeling, which is evidenced in his correspondence with Arnold Sommerfeld who, following the work of Niels Bohr, was applying the Quantum Theory to the structure of the atom. Referring to the quantum as Planck’s notion, Sommerfeld in a letter to him wrote:
You cultivate the virgin soil,
Where picking flowers was my only toil.and to this answered Planck:
You picked flowers—well, so have I.
Let them be, then, combined;
Let us exchange our flowers fair,
And in the brightest wreath them bind.”Who thought these scientists were so poetic!
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Conversation with Nirmal Raj
Nirmal is an astroparticle theoretical physicist actively searching for dark matter and its constituents. He is also very passionate about communicating physics to a broad audience.
He is an Assistant Professor at IISc, Bengaluru: http://nirmalraj.wikidot.com/
This episode discusses his intellectual journey from Engineering Physics at IIT to optics, condensed matter physics, particle physics, and dark matter. Through this journey, we learn how he developed an interest in this field and his experience communicating physics via newspaper articles.
Listen…as we humanize science…
Youtube (audio) :
Spotify :
References:
- “Nirmal Raj @ CHEP.” n.d. Accessed November 29, 2023. https://sites.google.com/view/nirmal-raj.
- “RESEARCH – Nirmal Raj.” n.d. Accessed December 1, 2023. http://nirmalraj.wikidot.com/physics.
- “Popular Publications – Nirmal Raj.” n.d. Accessed November 29, 2023. http://nirmalraj.wikidot.com/physics:popularpublications.
- “What Ho! – Nirmal Raj.” n.d. Accessed November 29, 2023. http://nirmalraj.wikidot.com/.
- “Nirmal Raj (@PhysicsNirmal) / X.” 2023. X (Formerly Twitter). January 20, 2023. https://twitter.com/PhysicsNirmal.
- Bramante, Joseph, Bradley J. Kavanagh, and Nirmal Raj. 2022. “Scattering Searches for Dark Matter in Subhalos: Neutron Stars, Cosmic Rays, and Old Rocks.” Physical Review Letters 128 (23): 231801. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.231801.
- “Daksha.” n.d. Accessed December 1, 2023. https://www.dakshasat.in/.
- “DEAP-3600 – Dark Matter Experiment Using Argon Pulse-Shape Discrimination.” n.d. Accessed December 1, 2023. https://deap3600.ca/.
- “Nature Unsolved – Nirmal Raj.” n.d. Accessed November 29, 2023. http://nirmalraj.wikidot.com/physics:unsolved.
- Raj, Nirmal. 2022. “Names from Greek Myth in Fundamental Physics.” arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2210.10623.
- Weinberg, Steven. 2003. “Four Golden Lessons.” Nature 426 (6965): 389–389. https://doi.org/10.1038/426389a.
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John Michell and ‘dark stars’
November 1783,
John Michell published a paper on ‘dark stars’.
This was kind of a preamble to the concept of black holes & interestingly, was based on Newton’s corpuscular theory of light and the slowing down of light due to gravity!See this article for details:
Part of the original paper (the beginning) is reproduced below :
The first few lines of Michell’s 24-page paper elaborate on his idea. As you may observe, he makes a remarkable connection between the velocity of light and the measures related to stars (distance, magnitude, etc.)
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Conversation with Angshuman Nag
Angshuman Nag is an experimentalist who combines physical and material chemistry to prepare advanced materials such as doped quantum dots and perovskite nanocrystals.
He is an Associate Professor at IISER Pune:
https://angshumaniiserpune.wixsite.com/grouppage/current-members
This episode discusses his intellectual journey from Silchar-IIT-Gauhati-IISc/JNCASR Bengaluru-U Chicago- IISER-Pune. Through this journey, we learn how he developed an interest and expertise in material chemistry and his emerging work on perovskite semiconducting nanocrystals and their use in cutting-edge technology.
Listen…as we humanize science…
Youtube (audio):
spotify :
References:
- “Current Members.” n.d. Grouppage. Accessed November 28, 2023. https://angshumaniiserpune.wixsite.com/grouppage/current-members.
- “Angshuman Nag – Google Scholar.” n.d. Accessed November 28, 2023. https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=fAwle2oAAAAJ&hl=en.
- “Angshuman Nag (@AngshumanNag4) / X.” 2023. X (Formerly Twitter). November 6, 2023. https://twitter.com/AngshumanNag4.
- “HOME.” n.d. Grouppage. Accessed November 28, 2023. https://angshumaniiserpune.wixsite.com/grouppage.
- “Dipankar Das Sarma.” 2023. In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dipankar_Das_Sarma&oldid=1169361872.
- “C. N. R. Rao.” 2023. In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=C._N._R._Rao&oldid=1184106736.
- “Nag.” talk American Chemical Society. Accessed November 28, 2023. https://www.acs.org/international/india/events/india-science-talk-recordings/nag.html.
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Podcast and metrics
I am sceptical about ranks/metrics.
Someone informed me that my podcast was rated highly in a database of science-related podcasts from India. It seems perplexity AI also shows similar results (see images)
My learning: Open-source, non-commercial, individual ventures can have some impact
Let me reiterate :
Value of knowledge cannot be captured entirely using metrics, ranks, views, likes and number of subscribers on social media platforms.
The quality & depth of engagement are hard to measure & the world is nonlinear
I have done zero adverts./marketing 😀
But I must thank
a) ppl who have been guests on the podcast. They have been very generous with their time & knowledge.
b) listeners who engage with long-form content (even when I talk solo😆)
They deserve more credit.Science zindabad!