Dear Physics Community,

On Monday, we had an 8 am phone call discussing reduced COVID-19 protocols, slides here. On Thursday, we learned of reduced COVID restrictions on campus (here) — particularly that we can now serve food (grab-and-go style), and instructors can remove masks in classrooms.  I will take the progress, but I know things remain difficult for many.

I saw this article about an artist who created a fake traffic jam on Google maps by pulling a wagon of 99 cell phones down a street in BVerlin, making Google Maps think this was a jam of cars moving slowly down a street.  I found this a) pretty funny, b) just horrifying, and c) just deserts for Google’s intrusive surveillance of us all.  I would love to hear of similar pranks that show how creepy surveillance technology can be.

Peter

Announcements

• Postdoc opportunity at Stanford with Giorgio Gratta here

• Now Accepting 2022 APS Innovation Fund Pre-Proposals here

• Well bearing webinar series here
• National Medal of Science Nominations here
• Seeking participation in a study of STEM Faculty Experiences with Work and Relationships here.

Physics

• Fusion records: Joint European Torus here, National Ignition facility here
• Neighbors: our nearest star seems to have an Earth-like planet

Dear Physics Community,

Spring term is underway, and so far, so good. I want to thank everyone for their patience with the continued COVID restrictions. I believe MIT will relax our protocols a little soon. By the end of the month, I hope we can have food, probably of the pre-prepared kind. Here is the most recent information from MIT about where we are in the pandemic.

I keep track of a lot of Course 8 alumni. One of them, David Wargo, BS 1980, works in media finance in New York and makes documentaries. He bought the rights to a biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, “American Prometheus,” and has set about getting a movie made. We talk every few months about navigating Hollywood. He has lined up Christopher Nolan (Inception) to direct and put together a cast that includes Matt Damon, interestingly cast as Gen. Leslie Groves. Here is a pre-trailer and a newspaper article on the film. I’m going to try to convince David to give us a pre-screening. He did this before with his documentary on radar. Watch the trailer, if only to see how creepy Oppenheimer was.

It began to sleet while finishing this (Friday, 1:45 pm). Be careful; things are a mess outside.

Peter

PS I post links to physics news as I find them. If you see something exciting or write a cool paper, let me know.

Above the Fold

• Congratulations to David Shoemaker for election as an AAAS Fellow
• Welcome to this year’s cohort of Pappalardo Fellows!

Announcements

• Lab Director for Undergraduate Laboratory in Quantum Science at University of Chicago here
• Fellowship Opportunities with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency here
• Threat Detection Technology Postdoctoral Research Scientist positions here
• ASU Thesis: Seeking Research Participants here
• Michigan Tech. Univ. Physics Graduate Program here

Physics

• Discovery of the Higgs Boson public lectures by Frank Taylor