Over the past couple of weeks (and more) I have found a number of things to read that I wanted to pass on. First, if you'd like a break from the seemingly continual stream of bad news in the world and enjoy good "think like a physicist"/dimensional analysis/order of magnitude estimate/Fermi problem discussions, I suggest:
- This paper (jstor link here) by Weisskopf, which does a great job at explaining quite a bit about matter, like the heights of mountains, e.g. I had previously recommended this back in 2018.
- That led me to a collection of Weisskopf's series of articles in the American Journal of Physics from back in the day, all under the name "Search for Simplicity". Here is a link to a pdf file from the Minot Lab at Oregon State, and they have a bunch of other content along those lines.
- The famed Edward Purcell also wrote a bunch of content for AJP about similar estimates; a page with links to those is here from the AAPT.
- The amazingly versatile and articulate Anthony Zee has written a wonderful textbook in this vein, called Fly By Night Physics. It's great - highly recommended.
On a much more sobering note, I was saddened to learn of the grave illness of Prof. Jan Zaanen, who has terminal cancer. A colleague brought my attention to an essay (link here) that Prof. Zaanen has written in the hopes that it will be widely read, and I pass it along.
More soon.
4 comments:
Very sad to hear the news about Prof. Zaanen. We have never interacted in any way, and indeed my research is only tangentially related to his subject, but I have read more of his papers than necessary simply because they are always such a pleasure, combining originality, personality, and insight.
It is sad about Jan... I heard that as of a few weeks ago he was still doing physics. I hope he can continue to as long as he wishes. I met him as a student and was struck -- even then -- how unpretentious this colossus was. If I was willing to talk to him, he was was willing to talk to me.... which was struck me even then, 25 years ago, as completely upside down.
I met Jan Zaanen at a couple of conferences and always found him remarkably approachable for someone of his stature in the field. I'm very sad to hear of his illness, and hope that his remaining time will be peaceful.
Sad to see so many condensed matter pioneers passing away.
On the forward looking side, I'm really interested to see how new generations of physicists will treat the high Tc cuprates. Now that the old guard are moving on (Anderson, Pines, etc.). Maybe fresh approaches could do the trick in cracking the puzzle? Or possibly the exact opposite where no one wants to work on the topic anymore....
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