Tag Archives: Albert Einstein
Using 10,000 atoms and 1 to probe the Bohr-Einstein debate
The double-slit experiment has often been described as the most beautiful demonstration in physics. In one striking image, it shows the strange dual character of matter and light. When particles such as electrons or photons are sent through two narrow … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm, Science
Tagged Albert Einstein, Bohr-Einstein debate, complementarity, Debye-Waller factor, double-slit experiment, hidden variables, lasers, Niels Bohr, optical lattice, optical tweezer, Pan Jianwei, quantum entanglement, Quantum mechanics, rubidium atoms, scattered light, uncertainty principle, wavepacket, Wolfgang Ketterle
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When cooling down really means slowing down
Consider this post the latest in a loosely defined series about atomic cooling techniques that I’ve been writing since June 2018. Atoms can’t run a temperature, but things made up of atoms, like a chair or table, can become hotter … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged Albert Einstein, atomic cooling, atomic trap, Bose-Einstein condensate, Bose-Einstein statistics, Carl Wieman, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, collisional cooling, diatomic molecules, Eric Cornell, Harvard University, laser cooling, Massachusetts Institute of Technoogy, NaLi, niobium nitride, quantum chemistry, quantum computing, S Pancharatnam, Satyendra Nath Bose, Shivaramakrishnan Pancharatnam, Sisyphus cooling, spin polarization, superconductors, superfluids, University of Waterloo, Wolfgang Ketterle
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Why are the Nobel Prizes still relevant?
Note: A condensed version of this post has been published in The Wire. Around this time last week, the world had nine new Nobel Prize winners in the sciences (physics, chemistry and medicine), all but one of whom were white … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Op-eds, Science
Tagged Abhijit Banerjee, Albert Einstein, Appa Rao Podile, Booker Prize, Brian Keating, Caltech, Chien-Shiung Wu, CV Raman, Esther Duflo, Fermilab, gender-based discrimination, Göran Hansson, Hindutva, Hugo Award, impact factor, Isaac Asimov, John B Goodenough, late capitalism, Lise Meitner, Margaret Atwood, nationalism, Nature journal, Nobel laureates, Nobel Prize, prestige bias, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sexism, The Big Bang Theory, Vera Rubin
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Disentangling entanglement
There has been considerable speculation if the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize for physics, due to be announced at 2.30 pm IST on October 8, will include Alain Aspect and Anton Zeilinger. They’ve both made significant experimental contributions related … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged Alain Aspect, Albert Einstein, Anton Zeilinger, Boris Podolsky, communication loophole, detection loophole, EPR paradox, John Clauser, John Stewart Bell, Nathan Rosen, Niels Bohr, Nobel Prize for physics, quantum entanglement, Rober Hanson, spooky action at a distance, Wolf Prize
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Can gravitational waves be waylaid by gravity?
Yesterday, I learnt the answer is ‘yes’. Gravitational waves can be gravitationally lensed. It seems obvious once you think about it, but not something that strikes you (assuming you’re not a physicist) right away. When physicists solve problems relating to … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged Albert Einstein, Einstein Telescope, general theory of relativity, gravitational energy, gravitational lensing, gravitational waves, Hendrik Lorentz, Hermann Minkowski, LIGO, quadrupole momentum, spacetime continuum
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The science in Netflix’s ‘Spectral’
It’s fun to think about the implications of a film’s antagonists being modelled after a phenomenon I’ve often read/written about but never thought about that way. Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Albert Einstein, BCS theory, Bose-Einstein condensate, ceramics, Cooper pair, DARPA, electromagnetic radiation, M1 Abrams tank, Netflix, Quantum mechanics, refractive index, SN Bose, Spectral, superconductivity, superfluidity, UV light, warcraft, wavefunction
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Parsing Ajay Sharma v. E = mc2
An Indian scientist’s disputes with Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence betray a misreading of how one of history’s most famous equations came to be. Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Ajay Sharma, Albert Einstein, Cockcroft-Walton experiment, FitzGerald-Lorentz contraction hypothesis, Fritz Hasenhörl, general theory of relativity, Henri Poincare, mass-energy equivalence, mass-energy-momentum equivalence, Ricci tensor, special theory of relativity
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Feeling the pulse of the space-time continuum
Humans have known about the force of gravity since ancient times. Yet, we are still exploring its true nature, how it works, and why it works the way it does. Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Albert Einstein, binary pulsars, classical physics, general theory of relativity, gravitational waves, IndIGO, interferometry, Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, LIGO India, wave physics
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The non-Nobel for Satyen Bose
Last week, as the Nobel Prizes were announced and Peter Higgs and Francois Englert won the highly coveted physics prize, dust was kicked up in India – just as it was in July and then in September 2012 – about … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Albert Einstein, bosons, Francois Englert, Nobel Prize for physics 2013, Peter Higgs, post-colonialism, recognition, Satyendra Nath Bose
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