Grant Jacobs • Dec 22, 2016 •
20 years ago today a brilliant science communicator died. Over the last few months I’ve been seeing Carl Sagan’s words in my tiny corner of the internet, particularly his warnings of where we’d go if we ignorance and pseudo-science reigns. Sagan was a scientist, an author and a presenter. He was a huge figure … Read More
Peter Griffin • Mar 12, 2014 •
The reviews are in for Neil de Grasse Tyson’s reboot of the classic Carl Sagan TV series Cosmos and the reception has been overwhelmingly positive. The first episode of the series, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey debuted on Sunday night in the US with an estimated 8.5 million people tuning in to watch it across Fox … Read More
Ken Perrott • Feb 20, 2012 •
I love these Matryoshka dolls: Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Sagan and Hawking Matryoshka dolls are great ornaments – and kids, especially the very young ones, love to play with them. I have been aware that the whole idea of these traditional … Continue reading → … Read More
Michael Edmonds • Feb 05, 2012 •
I think this clip from Symphony of Science identifies one of the things that motivates scientists – pushing our existing knowledge to (and beyond) the edge of what is known. And it is just as relevant to chemistry, biology, physics or psychology, as it is for astronomy or astrophysics. In chemistry, we push beyond the edge by discovering and creating … Read More
Elf Eldridge • Nov 23, 2011 •
In preparation for giving one of the talks I am required to give to complete my PhD, I’ve been reviewing some of the greatest physics stories. Given that my particular field of research is nanotechnology, it’s little wonder that my favourite at the moment is Richard Feynman’s “There’s plenty of room at the bottom” speech that he first gave on … Read More
Michael Edmonds • Sep 27, 2011 •
Today I received a copy of Cosmos in the mail. 740 minutes of Carl Sagan describing the universe in his inimitable style! Unfortunately I don’t have time to watch it all in one sitting but the small amount I have watched so far is fascinating. I have just recently read Dr Sagan’s biography by Ray Spangenburg and Kit Moser. Read More
Michael Edmonds • Sep 18, 2011 •
Photo Source: Creative Commons About 13.5 billion years ago our universe exploded into existence, in what is described by most cosmologists as the Big Bang. Within the first few minutes of this explosion a myriad of processes occurred as the new born universe expanded and cooled. Out of this early universe, hydrogen … Read More
Michael Edmonds • Sep 08, 2011 •
I’ve just been reading a biography about Carl Sagan by Ray Spangenburg and Kit Moser. It is a fascinating story and gives some insight into his fantastic ability to communicate science. In my opinion, Dr Sagan was the most powerful science communicator of the 20th century (though David Attenborough would be a close second). There was something about … Read More
Elf Eldridge • Jul 22, 2011 •
This week I was fortunate enough to stumble onto this gorgeous image taken by the Voyager 1 satellite in 1990. By the request of physicist Carl Sagan, the camera were turned around for one last shot of Earth before the rest of Voyager’s epic journey which, as of 2011, has bought it to the heliopause, the … Read More