Tag Archives: ASP

True Beauty Resides in Fundamentals

As I had mentioned, here is my write-up on the Archway Publishing Blog, on communicating complex scientific ideas. I was excited to bring in the Riemann Hypothesis to point out a elaborate mathematical complexity that is just as visionary and captivating:

Translating Complex Science for a General Audience

The last few posts were dedicated to gear us on the total solar eclipse that is approaching in our sight. The excitement among the educators, eclipse chasers, and anticipators is palpable. I had mentioned the veritable organizations and devoted scientists/educators (1, 2, 3, 4) that remain in full swing in disseminating the information and advice to spur on the audience from all backgrounds. The sight of a total solar eclipse is phenomenal. (I am told by those having savored it first-hand, I haven’t seen it myself. So despite my truly appreciating the fundamentals behind this cosmic display, I am looking forward to it as any other enthusiast.)

Although the cosmic and worldly wonders captivate us, it is the peek into the fundamentals that ticks enthusiasm, and keeps it alive. ASP (Astronomical Society of the Pacific) annual meeting presentations are uploaded, and you can find mine on fundamentals by the window of total solar eclipse there (the video of the same). Whether talking of gravitational waves, Einstein’s theories of relativity, hidden black holes, the origins and the acceleration of universe, the enigma of dark matter and energy, or the spectacle of total solar eclipse, at surface they all stir up wonder, but the real lure lies in the fundamentals that help us visualize how things shape up—and appreciate the true beauty.

When it comes to methodic delineation even beauty has fundamentals behind it. How much we have figured that out is a different issue. This brings up a narrative book A Beautiful Question compiled by a renowned physicist Franck Wilczek on the conception of beauty and the forces it embodies. (I am just finishing reading it.) With big chunks of basic facts, and on laws governing the universe, the text unfolds the cast of beauty that seeps the natural world, and how reality and beauty can be seen synonymously. Written with ethereal tone, it is informative and enjoyable read for audience from all backgrounds.

Disseminating deep-seated scientific formulations and complex theories to all audience isn’t very straightforward, mainly for the fact that it’s in these very intricate renderings that the true sense of beauty can be sniffed. It is where an educator enthralls, and a scientist draws in. The play of symmetry in quantum mechanical enactment or deep views of mathematical physics is one such example. Simplifying beyond a point would necessarily dampen down on beauty, and in a way mutilate the truth.

I have been in touch with friendly staff of Archway publishing with the hope of writing a post on their Writer’s Blog. The post had to be on the process of writing and publishing. Disseminating scientific advancements to general audience seemed an appropriate topic, and I recited some of my thoughts on communicating intricate concepts of physics and mathematics without taming the aesthetics—A demanding thing. The post should be out soon, and I will let you know.

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Whether abysmal structure of the universe, the abstractly play of quantum field, the order of nature, or the subliminal sense of aesthetics, in the core of all resides the commonality of mathematical voice. And I am always looking for opportunities to communicate on this very aspect of mathematical truth. To that end I have just started writing on Science Blog site, under the title Mathematical Correlations. Take a look and let me know your views.

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Scientific, educational, pedagogic, and creative aspects of mathematics blend in MAA (Mathematical Association of America) annual meetings. This year it is held in Chicago, and I am hoping to speak on how to entice non-mathematicians into mathematics, especially those that are apprehensive of the subject.

I am happy to see Facebook visitors, and appreciate their stopping by for scientific nuggets.

See you all soon.

Neeti.

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Total Solar Eclipse and the Picture of the Universe

Few are aware of the imminent cosmic phenomenon that sweeps all across USA in its splendor and rarity—the wonder of total solar eclipse. August 21st of this year will mark its occurrence after a void of almost 100 years, when it had painted the entire nation in the year 1918 (In the year 1979 it touched a tiny spot in the northern USA before veering off northbound). The whole effort of this year’s annual ASP (Astronomical Society of the Pacific) meeting was to spread out the word, engage as many science followers as possible into the majesty of this celestial display; urge them on into once in a lifetime kind of show.

There were stimulating talks disseminating the scientific background, and the enormous efforts that have been put in to popularize, educate, and incite on the appearance and experience of a total solar eclipse itself. And the ASP plans to upload all the talks on their website, in the hope to spur on a wider enthusiasm and interest.  Here is some useful set of information to help you prepare and indulge if you feel interested: NASA (1), Being in the Shadow (2), Great American Eclipse (3).

I being an ardent proponent of the physical sciences indeed tuned in, and pitched my own take on the subject of total solar eclipse, and how this phenomenon has played a vital role in revealing the basic principles of how the universe structures and continues. So here is my talk—The Eclipse that Changed the Picture of the Universe—at the meeting, in case you feel inspired.

Total solar eclipse takes place when the earth, moon and sun together strike a perfect alignment such that the moon situated in the middle fully blocks out the sun for a brief moment in space and time, leaving out the halo of corona—the usually invisible sun’s outer atmosphere—a brilliant ring that glows from behind. For that brief period we remain under the shadow of the moon while the radiating corona flags the sun’s only identity in the sky. It is the only instance in time when although the sun is present in our view of the sky, its intense glare remains occluded. Albert Einstein around the year 1915 realized that this relatively rare instance gives us an astonishing window into the nature of reality. How? In the year 1915 Einstein had proposed—by his theory of general relativity—that spacetime conforms to the force of gravity. Simply, gravity gives geometry to the universe. And if this is true then matter bends light.

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An event of a total solar eclipse extends us a perfect window into which we can verify such bending of the light. The ultra bending of the light reaches a detection level only when caused by a massive cosmic body, such as sun. The bending of the light by the sun is ascertained by measuring the shifts in the positions of the background stars—the deflections of stars as the sun passes through (Picture 1). Measured in arcseconds—an extraordinarily miniscule amount—this deflection, however, would be impossible to pin down due the intense glare of sun on a usual day. The event of a total solar eclipse thus gives us a perfect window for studying sun’s gravitational field without being bedazzled by the blinding glow.

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The total solar eclipse of May 29, 1919, became a legendary eclipse (Picture 2) that attested the bending of light by matter, theorized by Einstein. The discovery of spacetime curvation by the force of gravity led us to a bigger and finer picture of the universe: From the way the universe might have begun to the existence of black holes to theory of wormhole to the pulsation of gravitational waves, recently detected by LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory).

The new picture emerged, and Einstein celebrated, by the mechanics of the natural grandeur.

Neeti.

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