Jim Baggott

PS: quantum computing is a bit of a stretch. The Nobel was awarded for quantum tunnelling experiments performed in 1984/85, which arguably laid the foundations for superconducting qbits.

Physics Nobel: Three win prize for paving way for very powerful computers The announcement was made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.

Physics Nobel awarded to three scientists for work on quantum computing www.bbc.com/news/article...

The Cepheid found in Andromeda by Hubble had been discovered earlier by Milton Humason. But when he showed the marked image to Harlow Shapley - who had argued that the Milky Way *is* the entire universe - Shapley erased the marks.

Thanks. I’m already thinking my words could have been better written. 🤣

I remember a documentary featuring Keith Moon in the studio, explaining that this slider on the mixing desk made the guitar sound like a piano. Whereas this slider made the piano sound like a guitar. And I still listen to songs featuring Mama Cass.

I’m heading into a studio next week to record the audio version of my new book ‘Discordance: The Troubled History of the Hubble Constant’. This will be a new experience for me. Anyone have any tips?

Thunderbirds remembered on 60th anniversary of first TV series Gerry and Sylvia Anderson co-created the hit science-fiction puppet series, which ran from 1965.

… would be broadcast soon. The first episode of Thunderbirds was screened on 30 September 1965 - 60 years ago today! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Nostalgia attack! I remember reading this as a young kid (about 8 years old). It featured Fireball XL-5 and Stingray and a cartoon strip featuring Lady Penelope. When a reader wrote in to ask who she was, the editor explained that she was a character in a new show called Thunderbirds, which …

Alas, I didn’t cover Zwicky’s ‘tired light’ ideas because even 80,000 words is not an encyclopaedia.

Indeed. Hubble was sceptical of early cosmological theories. The last sentence of *The Realm of the Nebulae* reads: ‘Not until the empirical resources are exhausted, need we pass on to the dreamy realms of speculation’. This is discussed in *Discordance* (in which I had more words at my disposal.

😎

That’s quite amazing. Interesting that the graphic shows 2p orbitals for m(l)=1 and 0, but not -1 and not the combinations of 1 and -1 that project along the x and y axes.

Try to use words like ‘riffy’.

Well, they kind of did win it once. In 1920.

Who was Horst Wessel, and why are people comparing Charlie Kirk to him? After Charlie Kirk was fatally shot, some corners of the internet drew parallels with the murder of Horst Wessel, a Nazi martyr.

Not an original thought, obviously. forward.com/news/768607/...

Anyone watching the reactions to the murder of Charlie Kirk might want to Google ‘Horst Wessel’.

Why might the Big Bang theory be in crisis very soon? | Aeon Essays The current theory for the origin of the Universe is remarkably successful yet full of explanatory holes. Expect surprises

The Big Bang - is it a theory in crisis? @jimbaggott.bsky.social @aeon.co ‬⁩
aeon.co/essays/why-m...

Why might the Big Bang theory be in crisis very soon? | Aeon Essays The current theory for the origin of the Universe is remarkably successful yet full of explanatory holes. Expect surprises

What's up with the Big Bang theory? aeon.co/essays/why-m...

There's no single band - more a selection of favourites, many of which are mentioned in the essay.

Yes. All the time.

Why might the Big Bang theory be in crisis very soon? | Aeon Essays The current theory for the origin of the Universe is remarkably successful yet full of explanatory holes. Expect surprises

Although it tells a remarkable story, the current Big Bang theory leaves us with many unanswered questions, and recent astronomical observations threaten to undermine it completely. @jimbaggott.bsky.social

Well, certainly more plausible than an ‘apparently poetic unified field theory’. 😳

Matter–antimatter asymmetry is observed in baryon decay Previous detections of CP violation had been limited to the decay of quark–antiquark pairs. But it’s baryons—particles composed of three quarks—that make up the observable universe.

The Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) collaboration at CERN has made the first observation of asymmetry in the decay rate of a baryon—a subatomic particle made of three quarks—and that of its antibaryon counterpart. It partly explains why there is matter in the universe.

I’ll check it out.

Remembering the Reading Rock Festival 1975 Some indulgent prog rock reminiscences of my first (and only) music festival, 50 years ago.

Fifty years is a long time … open.substack.com/pub/jimbaggo...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Thanks Marc. I just couldn’t less this anniversary pass without comment. 😎

Remembering the Reading Rock Festival 1975 Some indulgent prog rock reminiscences of my first (and only) music festival, 50 years ago.

Fifty years ago today, I was heading home from the Reading Rock Festival. Here’s what I remember … open.substack.com/pub/jimbaggo...

Remembering the Reading Rock Festival 1975 Some indulgent prog rock reminiscences of my first (and only) music festival, 50 years ago.

Remembering the Reading Rock Festival 1975. I vaguely recall being there. Just posted earlier today. open.substack.com/pub/jimbaggo...

Well, there’s erratic and there’s … 😳

I kind of understand the sentiment, but as a long-standing West Brom fan (more follower now) I must say the thought of having to watch my team get utterly thrashed four times a season does not thrill me. That’s a cruel and unusual punishment. 🫣