John Dudley

Very sad to hear that the great soliton pioneer Akira Hasegawa has died on June 22. His work truly was revolutionary in so many ways and impacted so many different fields. An obituary from Columbia is below. www.apam.columbia.edu/memoriam-pro...

Over in the other place, Grok actually gets it right ...

I got a different result !!

Anyone with a library endowment fund who doesn't know what to do with it? First edition of Opticks for sale!

Setup to measure potential drop from a plasma ball. Showing glowing ball and antenna and oscilloscope.

I just had some fun verifing the 1/r potential drop from a plasma ball. The idea is from @simonpoliakoff.bsky.social
and his video is here: youtube.com/watch?v=crW7... To get close to the ball (5 mm) I used a 10kOhm feedthrough terminator which yields around 25 V peak-peak !

Just been too busy lately but starting to get back to social media again. Hope you've managed somewhere nice to cycle around this summer!

YouTube video by The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel Tom Lehrer - The Elements - LIVE FILM From Copenhagen in 1967

RIP the great Tom Lehrer ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcS3...

RIP Tom Lehrer

No comment needed really ...

YouTube video by Les' Lab A DIY Pockels cell!

This is incredible from Les Wright ! It has everything: lasers, home grown nonlinear optics crystals, and a home made Arduino-driven diamond saw. If you're planning to colonize Mars to avoid an apocalypse, include Les in your passenger list! youtu.be/RxjqMh3gkx8?...

Great to see you celebrating! Congratulations!

And now ... ?

Is this planned or completed? 15 years ago it was very possible to do this without major disruption ... Today I'm not so sure!

Impact factors certainly do not tell the whole story, but in what is more or less an annual tradition, I have compiled a list for some physics/optics journals. Note that there are truly excellent articles in all of these journals and different journals play very different roles in the community.

Changes to the 2026 and 2027 Work Programmes With the launch of the competitions for grants under ERC Work Programme 2026 in July of this year, several changes to the submission of applications and the evaluation of proposals will apply. The mai...

Planning to apply for #research #funding from the ERC?

From the next application rounds, expect changes to the:

• proposal structure
• evaluation process
• extra funding you can request
• eligibility for Starting & Consolidator #Grants (from 2027)

More 👇 europa.eu/!RPHWvv

Changes to the 2026 and 2027 Work Programmes With the launch of the competitions for grants under ERC Work Programme 2026 in July of this year, several changes to the submission of applications and the evaluation of proposals will apply. The mai...

Big changes to the ERC funding schemes!
Note the new eligibility criteria from 2027 on:
📌 Starting Grant: 0-10 y post-PhD
📌 Consolidator Grant: 5-15 y post-PhD
erc.europa.eu/news-events/...

Am guessing that @seamus.bsky.social has known about this for 40 years 😀

Images of the Wii "sensor bar" showing IR emission (top) and a picture of a TV with the bar replaced by two candles (bottom).

Just learned that the Wii remote triangulates position via IR sources in the bar you place on the TV. Most phone cameras allow you to see the emitters (top) but in fact you don't need them. You can replace the bar by two candles and it works just fine! Am sure most people knew this already ...

Il n'y a pas "trop" de deux musées scientifiques à Paris! (surtout comparé au nombre de musées d'art 😅)

Et surtout quand ceux ci apportent des choses différentes (tellement de souvenirs! ⚡👩‍🦱).
NE LAISSONS PAS LE PALAIS DISPARAITRE! signez la pétition et partagez 🙏
⬇️
www.change.org/p/sauvons-le...

Tagging @pverschu.bsky.social ...

Page images from Proceedings of 1911 Solvay Conference

Page images from Proceedings of 1911 Solvay Conference with insert from a reader showing tables of French verb conjugaisons

Our library holds a rare copy of the proceedings of the 1911 Solvay Conference on physics, and I enjoyed looking through it (very carefully) today. As well as the amazing discussions and pictures (these are from Perrin) it seems a previous reader had been practicing their French at the same time!

Good morning everyone! Just the seasons doing their thing!

Exciting news! Congratulations!

Abardoned sounds Shakespearian 😊

Tenure-track Junior Professor Chair at Université Marie et Louis Pasteur & FEMTO-ST in micro/nanotech for healthcare. Top-tier research environment & amazing quality of life in Besançon. Details (FR/EN): www.femto-st.fr/sites/defaul...
Deadline June 16 but make informal contact first!

Lighting up a handheld He-Ne tube in the field of a plasma globe #pintofscience Thanks to Andrei Ermolaev for the photo!

#PintofScience tonight! Slightly more of a logistical challenge than in a lecture theatre but still it all works out!

Today is the International Day of Light and the International Day of Peace! At DarkSky, we believe that thoughtful lighting can lead to a better and more peaceful tomorrow for all.

📷 By Clearsky Astrofoto / Jakob Arthur Andersen in Anholt, Denmark—An International Dark Sky Park.

This is fantastic!