Physics
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Photos, and Information about Physics
Copyright with respective archives. Shared for educational purposes.
Copyright with respective archives. Shared for educational purposes.
Erdős's friend bet him he couldn't quit amphetamines. In 1979 Ronald Graham bet him $500 he couldn't stop for a month. Erdős went cold turkey for a full month, then complained he'd gotten no work done, accused Graham of setting mathematics back a month, and immediately resumed.
October 20, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Erdős's friend bet him he couldn't quit amphetamines. In 1979 Ronald Graham bet him $500 he couldn't stop for a month. Erdős went cold turkey for a full month, then complained he'd gotten no work done, accused Graham of setting mathematics back a month, and immediately resumed.
The first electronic general-purpose computer was programmed by six women. ENIAC, unveiled in 1946, had its hardware celebrated through engineers Eckert and Mauchly, but the six who programmed it were recruited from the ranks of human "computers" and were not invited to the celebratory dinner.
October 20, 2026 at 3:31 PM
The first electronic general-purpose computer was programmed by six women. ENIAC, unveiled in 1946, had its hardware celebrated through engineers Eckert and Mauchly, but the six who programmed it were recruited from the ranks of human "computers" and were not invited to the celebratory dinner.
So the universe is not quite as you thought it was. You'd better rearrange your beliefs, then.
Because you certainly can't rearrange the universe.
- Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)
Because you certainly can't rearrange the universe.
- Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)
October 20, 2026 at 12:41 PM
So the universe is not quite as you thought it was. You'd better rearrange your beliefs, then.
Because you certainly can't rearrange the universe.
- Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)
Because you certainly can't rearrange the universe.
- Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)
There probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful.
-- Stephen Hawking (1942 - 2018)
-- Stephen Hawking (1942 - 2018)
October 20, 2026 at 12:29 AM
There probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful.
-- Stephen Hawking (1942 - 2018)
-- Stephen Hawking (1942 - 2018)
“Not only the Universe is stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think.”
-- Werner Heisenberg (1901 - 1976)
-- Werner Heisenberg (1901 - 1976)
October 19, 2026 at 8:53 PM
“Not only the Universe is stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think.”
-- Werner Heisenberg (1901 - 1976)
-- Werner Heisenberg (1901 - 1976)
It was long believed that neutrinos had no mass. The discovery of neutrino oscillation, awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics to Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald, requires that they have a non-zero mass. The exact masses of the neutrino flavors are still unknown.
October 19, 2026 at 3:51 PM
It was long believed that neutrinos had no mass. The discovery of neutrino oscillation, awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics to Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald, requires that they have a non-zero mass. The exact masses of the neutrino flavors are still unknown.
According to Einstein's theory of relativity, time passes slower for an object in motion compared to one at rest, which is a concept known as time dilation.
October 19, 2026 at 1:30 PM
According to Einstein's theory of relativity, time passes slower for an object in motion compared to one at rest, which is a concept known as time dilation.
The theory of quantum electrodynamics describes Nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense. And it agrees fully with experiment. So I hope you accept Nature as She is — absurd.
-- Feynman, as mentioned in QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (1985)
-- Feynman, as mentioned in QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (1985)
October 19, 2026 at 1:40 AM
The theory of quantum electrodynamics describes Nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense. And it agrees fully with experiment. So I hope you accept Nature as She is — absurd.
-- Feynman, as mentioned in QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (1985)
-- Feynman, as mentioned in QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (1985)
John Archibald Wheeler proposed a thought experiment that illustrates the counterintuitive nature of quantum mechanics: changing the conditions of a test after a particle passes through a double-slit apparatus but before it is detected. How you measure can retroactively change how it behaved.
October 18, 2026 at 10:31 PM
John Archibald Wheeler proposed a thought experiment that illustrates the counterintuitive nature of quantum mechanics: changing the conditions of a test after a particle passes through a double-slit apparatus but before it is detected. How you measure can retroactively change how it behaved.
"If you're not having fun, you're not learning. There's a pleasure in finding things out."
- Richard Feynman
- Richard Feynman
October 18, 2026 at 7:41 PM
"If you're not having fun, you're not learning. There's a pleasure in finding things out."
- Richard Feynman
- Richard Feynman
Henry Cavendish measured the density of the Earth in his 1798 torsion-balance experiment. Much of his electrical research went unpublished and was only rediscovered when Maxwell edited his papers nearly a century later.
October 18, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Henry Cavendish measured the density of the Earth in his 1798 torsion-balance experiment. Much of his electrical research went unpublished and was only rediscovered when Maxwell edited his papers nearly a century later.
The "ultraviolet catastrophe" is an anachronism. Planck introduced the quantum in 1900 in what he later called "an act of desperation" and resisted treating h as physically real for years. The phrase was coined by Paul Ehrenfest in 1911, so the story of Planck setting out to slay it is a retrofit.
October 18, 2026 at 12:54 AM
The "ultraviolet catastrophe" is an anachronism. Planck introduced the quantum in 1900 in what he later called "an act of desperation" and resisted treating h as physically real for years. The phrase was coined by Paul Ehrenfest in 1911, so the story of Planck setting out to slay it is a retrofit.
The cannabis experience has greatly improved my appreciation for art, a subject which I had never much appreciated before. The understanding of the intent of the artist which I can achieve when high sometimes carries over to when I'm down.
-- Dr. Carl Sagan, as "Mr. X" (1969)
-- Dr. Carl Sagan, as "Mr. X" (1969)
October 17, 2026 at 9:10 PM
The cannabis experience has greatly improved my appreciation for art, a subject which I had never much appreciated before. The understanding of the intent of the artist which I can achieve when high sometimes carries over to when I'm down.
-- Dr. Carl Sagan, as "Mr. X" (1969)
-- Dr. Carl Sagan, as "Mr. X" (1969)
A neutron star, the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, has a density of about 3.7 × 10¹⁷ kg/m³. Just a teaspoon of neutron star material would weigh about as much as Mount Everest. Neutron stars represent some of the densest matter in the universe that we can directly observe.
October 17, 2026 at 4:37 PM
A neutron star, the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, has a density of about 3.7 × 10¹⁷ kg/m³. Just a teaspoon of neutron star material would weigh about as much as Mount Everest. Neutron stars represent some of the densest matter in the universe that we can directly observe.
The laws of nature are constructed in such a way as to make the universe as interesting as possible.
- Freeman Dyson
- Freeman Dyson
October 17, 2026 at 1:07 PM
The laws of nature are constructed in such a way as to make the universe as interesting as possible.
- Freeman Dyson
- Freeman Dyson
Newton's English is recognisably different from our own, but his maths - building on work done by Rene Descartes - is exactly the same as what mathematicians use today. Here, he describes the curve of a mathematical function.
October 17, 2026 at 2:17 AM
Newton's English is recognisably different from our own, but his maths - building on work done by Rene Descartes - is exactly the same as what mathematicians use today. Here, he describes the curve of a mathematical function.
"Progress in science is often built on wrong theories that are later corrected. It is better to be wrong than to be vague."
- Freeman Dyson
- Freeman Dyson
October 16, 2026 at 9:41 PM
"Progress in science is often built on wrong theories that are later corrected. It is better to be wrong than to be vague."
- Freeman Dyson
- Freeman Dyson
The Fibonacci sequence isn’t just a math trick—it’s everywhere in nature. From sunflower seeds to galaxies, the universe has a secret love affair with spirals.
October 16, 2026 at 5:21 PM
The Fibonacci sequence isn’t just a math trick—it’s everywhere in nature. From sunflower seeds to galaxies, the universe has a secret love affair with spirals.
Lagrange points are positions where the gravitation of two large masses, such as the Sun and the Earth, balances out, so a satellite can orbit there with minimal fuel. There are five, L1 to L5. Euler identified the three collinear ones around 1750, about a decade before Lagrange found the other two.
October 16, 2026 at 1:24 PM
Lagrange points are positions where the gravitation of two large masses, such as the Sun and the Earth, balances out, so a satellite can orbit there with minimal fuel. There are five, L1 to L5. Euler identified the three collinear ones around 1750, about a decade before Lagrange found the other two.
The average woman will be as well educated as the average man, and then better educated, for the dormant faculties of her brain will be stimulated to an activity that will be all the more intense and powerful because of centuries of repose.
-- Nikola Tesla, Colliers Mag (1926)
-- Nikola Tesla, Colliers Mag (1926)
October 16, 2026 at 1:56 AM
The average woman will be as well educated as the average man, and then better educated, for the dormant faculties of her brain will be stimulated to an activity that will be all the more intense and powerful because of centuries of repose.
-- Nikola Tesla, Colliers Mag (1926)
-- Nikola Tesla, Colliers Mag (1926)
Alan Turing's famous 1936 paper "On Computable Numbers" was written to solve a problem in pure logic (Hilbert's Entscheidungsproblem) — the "universal machine" was a thought experiment, not a blueprint. The engineering came later.
October 15, 2026 at 11:33 PM
Alan Turing's famous 1936 paper "On Computable Numbers" was written to solve a problem in pure logic (Hilbert's Entscheidungsproblem) — the "universal machine" was a thought experiment, not a blueprint. The engineering came later.
He drove 150 miles to a math conference at Yale University. When it was over, he forgot he came by car and returned home by bus. The next morning he went to his garage, discovered the car was missing, and complained to the police that someone had stolen it.
-- On Norbert Wiener
-- On Norbert Wiener
October 15, 2026 at 6:41 PM
He drove 150 miles to a math conference at Yale University. When it was over, he forgot he came by car and returned home by bus. The next morning he went to his garage, discovered the car was missing, and complained to the police that someone had stolen it.
-- On Norbert Wiener
-- On Norbert Wiener
William Brobeck with cans used as radiation shielding 60-inch cyclotron at the radiation laboratory, October 12, 1940.
October 15, 2026 at 4:14 PM
William Brobeck with cans used as radiation shielding 60-inch cyclotron at the radiation laboratory, October 12, 1940.
"Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things."
- Sir Isaac Newton
- Sir Isaac Newton
October 14, 2026 at 11:29 PM
"Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things."
- Sir Isaac Newton
- Sir Isaac Newton
Physics offers clues to how the pyramids of Giza were built. In 2014 a team at the University of Amsterdam showed that wetting sand to just the right degree cuts the force needed to drag heavy stone blocks on sleds by up to 50%, a method the Egyptians may have used to move blocks from the Nile.
October 14, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Physics offers clues to how the pyramids of Giza were built. In 2014 a team at the University of Amsterdam showed that wetting sand to just the right degree cuts the force needed to drag heavy stone blocks on sleds by up to 50%, a method the Egyptians may have used to move blocks from the Nile.