Dear Physics Community,
I recently learned from Deepto that torpedo initially referred to an electric eel through the word torpor. A few things have raised me from my torpor to send out this week.
Mainly, I’d like to welcome Prof. Julien Tailleur to the Department. Julien was a senior researcher and Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris and started at MIT on July 1. He will begin faculty duties on Sept. 1 and join our Biophysics and Condensed Matter Theory groups, soon co-located in Building 6/6C. Julien works on non-equilibrium thermodynamics and frequently collaborates with Mehran Kardar. I’m very excited to have Julien with us – his email is jgt@mit.edu.
Peter
Above the Fold
- First images from COSPAR 2021-130A (JWST) here (from Globe, here from NASA). That JWST will start carrying out science constitutes a technical, bureaucratic, and organizational miracle.
- Congratulations to Tracy Slatyer and Jesse Thaler, new Simons Investigators
Physics
- From Quanta, “Controversy Continues Over Whether Hot Water Freezes Faster Than Cold,” here.
- Airbus Zephyr breaks the record of the longest unpersoned flight – 26 days!
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