Posts Tagged 'Relativity'

Cornelius Lanczos – Inspired by Hamilton’s Quaternions

Published July 16, 2020 Irish Times Leave a Comment
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Lanczos240In May 1954, Cornelius Lanczos took up a position as senior professor in the School of Theoretical Physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS). The institute had been established in 1940 by Eamon de Valera, with a School of Theoretical Physics and a School of Celtic Studies, reflecting de Valera’s keen interest in mathematics and in the Irish language. Later, a School of Cosmic Physics was added. DIAS remains a significant international centre of research today [TM191 or search for “thatsmaths” at irishtimes.com].

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Gravitational Waves & Ringing Teacups

Published November 22, 2018 Occasional Leave a Comment
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Newton’s law of gravitation describes how two celestial bodies orbit one another, each tracing out an elliptical path. But this is imprecise: the theory of general relativity shows that two such bodies radiate energy away in the form of gravitational waves (GWs), and spiral inwards until they eventually collide.

GW-Warning-Sign

Warning sign, described by Thomas Moore as a “geeky insider GR joke” [image from Moore, 2013].

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A New Window on the World

Published November 3, 2016 Irish Times Leave a Comment
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The motto of the Pythagoreans was “All is Number” and Pythagoras may have been the first person to imagine that the workings of the world might be understood in mathematical terms. This idea has now brought us to the point where, at a fundamental level, mathematics is the primary means of describing the physical world. Galileo put it this way: the book of nature is written in the language of mathematics [TM102, or search for “thatsmaths” at irishtimes.com].

gravitational-waves-3d

Visualization of gravitational waves. Image credit MPI/Gravitational Physics/ITP Frankfurt/ZI Berlin.

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Where in the World?

Published November 15, 2012 Irish Times Leave a Comment
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Here’s a conundrum: You buy a watch in Anchorage, Alaska (61°N). It keeps excellent time. Then you move to Singapore, on the Equator. Does the watch go fast or slow? For the answer to this puzzle, read on. Continue reading ‘Where in the World?’

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