Someone asked me about local broadcast of the radio program by the very astute Marian McPartland, who was 90 years old last week and still swings like mad. It's locally broadcast on Lansing Public Radio (a great jazz station), WNLZ at 89.7 MHz on your FM radio dial. Many of her programs are archived at NPR
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
3/31 Monday Movie is special!!
The biography of Marie Curie, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon in 1943. The science is well done and there will not be a dry eye in the house. Plus, there will be pizza (stay tuned for a count of who wants cheese and who wants peperoni). From rottentomatoes.com:
Runtime:
2 hrs 4 mins
Synopsis:
Mervyn LeRoy directed this excellent biography of the life of Madam Curie, the Polish woman who discovered radium. The film presents the scientific and romantic life of Curie with great authenticity, basing the story on the biography by Curie’s daughter, Eve. Greer Garson stars as a stunning woman too in love with science to have time for men. Walter Pidgeon plays her perfect complement, a man who thinks of an effective marriage as a form of chemical compound. He's right--the chemistry between the two stars is excellent, and the black-and-white photography by Joseph Ruttenberg is gorgeous. From the work in the lab to the honeymoon, the story line is treated with an integrity and intelligence that makes it as educational as it is intriguing.
grades to date, almost
This link takes you to a pdf of a summary of grades to this moment, with 2 caveats. 1) There is the dumb and dumber issue below and 2) the midterm is not yet added. Stay tuned for this to update as I become less dumb and get the midterms finished.
dumb and still dumber
I am afraid that I managed to hand back quiz 8 (the tennis racket) without entering it into my spreadsheet. This is unforgivable, but hopefully correctable. Would you please email me with the score that I gave you on that quiz? If you gave it to me as a redo...um, I've got that at least. Sorry.
Monday, March 24, 2008
websites for the SARV prevention program
Nice of you to let my son tell you of the program he's administering for next year's freshman class. He asked me to give you the web sites for:
the program:
and the application:
the program:
and the application:
Danielle, not.
Our TA, Danielle, is visiting graduate schools this thursday and next thursday and will not have her office hours these weeks. Chemistry Departments at Yale and Carnegie-Mellon (my alma mater) really want her badly!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
need to know:
a. what book(s) you are reading
and
b. what biography you are doing (Jack Lambert was a joke, right?).
One mail message from each of you...containing that information, okay? thanks.
and
b. what biography you are doing (Jack Lambert was a joke, right?).
One mail message from each of you...containing that information, okay? thanks.
Mercury: Don't try this at home.
There has been much speculation over the centuries about the peculiarities (oh, really?) of Newton's personality. I had forgotten about this, but just stumbled on this account of analysis of locks of his hair, searching for heavy element content. It looks pretty hard to ignore that maybe he inadvertently poisoned himself and that his strange traits, including the referred-to exchange with John Locke:
"The Principia immediately raised Newton to international prominence. In their continuing loyalty to the mechanical ideal, Continental scientists rejected the idea of action at a distance for a generation, but even in their rejection they could not withhold their admiration for the technical expertise revealed by the work. Young British scientists spontaneously recognized him as their model. Within a generation the limited number of salaried positions for scientists in England, such as the chairs at Oxford, Cambridge, and Gresham College, were monopolized by the young Newtonians of the next generation. Newton, whose only close contacts with women were his unfulfilled relationship with his mother, who had seemed to abandon him, and his later guardianship of a niece, found satisfaction in the role of patron to the circle of young scientists. His friendship with Fatio de Duillier, a Swiss-born mathematician resident in London who shared Newton's interests, was the most profound experience of his adult life...
Almost immediately following the Principia's publication, Newton, a fervent if unorthodox Protestant, helped to lead the resistance of Cambridge to James II's attempt to Catholicize it. As a consequence, he was elected to represent the university in the convention that arranged the revolutionary settlement. In this capacity, he made the acquaintance of a broader group, including the philosopher John Locke. Newton tasted the excitement of London life in the aftermath of the Principia. The great bulk of his creative work had been completed. He was never again satisfied with the academic cloister, and his desire to change was whetted by Fatio's suggestion that he find a position in London. Seek a place he did, especially through the agency of his friend, the rising politician Charles Montague, later Lord Halifax. Finally, in 1696, he was appointed warden of the mint. Although he did not resign his Cambridge appointments until 1701, he moved to London and henceforth centred his life there.
In the meantime, Newton's relations with Fatio had undergone a crisis. Fatio was taken seriously ill; then family and financial problems threatened to call him home to Switzerland. Newton's distress knew no limits. In 1693 he suggested that Fatio move to Cambridge, where Newton would support him, but nothing came of the proposal. Through early 1693 the intensity of Newton's letters built almost palpably, and then, without surviving explanation, both the close relationship and the correspondence [with broke off. Four months later, without prior notice, Samuel Pepys and John Locke, both personal friends of Newton, received wild, accusatory letters. Pepys was informed that Newton would see him no more; Locke was charged with trying to entangle him with women. Both men were alarmed for Newton's sanity; and, in fact, Newton had suffered at least his second nervous breakdown. The crisis passed, and Newton recovered his stability. Only briefly did he ever return to sustained scientific work, however, and the move to London was the effective conclusion of his creative activity." (http://www.class.uh.edu/phil/faculty/brown/leibniz/britannica_pages/newton/newton.html).
"The Principia immediately raised Newton to international prominence. In their continuing loyalty to the mechanical ideal, Continental scientists rejected the idea of action at a distance for a generation, but even in their rejection they could not withhold their admiration for the technical expertise revealed by the work. Young British scientists spontaneously recognized him as their model. Within a generation the limited number of salaried positions for scientists in England, such as the chairs at Oxford, Cambridge, and Gresham College, were monopolized by the young Newtonians of the next generation. Newton, whose only close contacts with women were his unfulfilled relationship with his mother, who had seemed to abandon him, and his later guardianship of a niece, found satisfaction in the role of patron to the circle of young scientists. His friendship with Fatio de Duillier, a Swiss-born mathematician resident in London who shared Newton's interests, was the most profound experience of his adult life...
Almost immediately following the Principia's publication, Newton, a fervent if unorthodox Protestant, helped to lead the resistance of Cambridge to James II's attempt to Catholicize it. As a consequence, he was elected to represent the university in the convention that arranged the revolutionary settlement. In this capacity, he made the acquaintance of a broader group, including the philosopher John Locke. Newton tasted the excitement of London life in the aftermath of the Principia. The great bulk of his creative work had been completed. He was never again satisfied with the academic cloister, and his desire to change was whetted by Fatio's suggestion that he find a position in London. Seek a place he did, especially through the agency of his friend, the rising politician Charles Montague, later Lord Halifax. Finally, in 1696, he was appointed warden of the mint. Although he did not resign his Cambridge appointments until 1701, he moved to London and henceforth centred his life there.
In the meantime, Newton's relations with Fatio had undergone a crisis. Fatio was taken seriously ill; then family and financial problems threatened to call him home to Switzerland. Newton's distress knew no limits. In 1693 he suggested that Fatio move to Cambridge, where Newton would support him, but nothing came of the proposal. Through early 1693 the intensity of Newton's letters built almost palpably, and then, without surviving explanation, both the close relationship and the correspondence [with broke off. Four months later, without prior notice, Samuel Pepys and John Locke, both personal friends of Newton, received wild, accusatory letters. Pepys was informed that Newton would see him no more; Locke was charged with trying to entangle him with women. Both men were alarmed for Newton's sanity; and, in fact, Newton had suffered at least his second nervous breakdown. The crisis passed, and Newton recovered his stability. Only briefly did he ever return to sustained scientific work, however, and the move to London was the effective conclusion of his creative activity." (http://www.class.uh.edu/phil/faculty/brown/leibniz/britannica_pages/newton/newton.html).
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Slides are up from last week.
Nominally...a journal is due on next monday. But, since I was so ridiculously busy, I left town without really performing due-dilligence on the site with the lectures. So. Now that I'm renewed, I've uploaded the slides. But, you may have until Wednesday next week to turn in your journal. You might have to hit "refresh" or "reload" on the home page...
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