Tag: astrophysics
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Field Notes: Rencontres de Blois 2016
This summer began, for me, with a little bit of travel. The first part was for relaxation; Jodi, her oldest younger sister, and I went to Paris for a week. After that, we headed to the conference “Rencontres de Blois” for which Jodi is an organizer. In these brief “field notes,” I report on things […]
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LIGO, VIRGO, and February 11, 2016
100 years ago, Albert Einstein published what is considered the foundational work of his theory of “General Relativity,” a scientific theory of space and time. Tomorrow, two large experiments and collaborations – LIGO and VIRGO – will present the status of their searches for one of the last undiscovered predictions of General Relativity: travelling distortions […]
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Messages from Blois
For the second time, I will be attending the Rencontres de Blois, a yearly conference that represents a convergence (perhaps even a conversation) between cosmology, astronomy, astrophysics, and particle physics. Held in the Chateau de Blois, a castle perched above the Loire River in Blois, France, this conference will bring the opportunity to discuss the […]
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Big Press for the Big Bang
It’s Nobel Prize season! I’m not a big fan of doing science for a prize, but I value the public impact that the prize has. For instance, today two American scientists, John C. Mather and George F. Smoot, were recognized with the prize for their tireless effort to realize the COBE satellite. COBE was the […]