Author Archives: tkflor

First anniversary – what I learned from a year of blogging

Posted on August 21, 2015 by tkflor

Sometime in August last year, I clicked on Publish for my very first post, a tantalizingly (or so I thought) worded question – “What is The Hungry Boson?” In retrospect, throwing a question about something that no one has heard … Continue reading →

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Waiting for a muse in a cafe…

Posted on July 3, 2015 by tkflor

The golden age of Prague café society was at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when making an appearance at one of the elegant cafés was simply a social necessity. Surrounded by the aroma of good coffee and … Continue reading →

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The Perfect Theory – Physicists’ Battles for Muggles

Posted on June 28, 2015 by tkflor

After the ceremony, as the audience and speakers milled around, ready to escape into the London evening, a Polish physicist named Ludwik Silberstein ambled over to Eddington. Silberstein had already written a book about Einstein’s more restricted “special theory of … Continue reading →

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Forty-two

Posted on June 20, 2015 by tkflor

“Tell us!” “All right,” said Deep Thought. “The Answer to the Great Question…” “Yes..!” “Of Life, the Universe and Everything…” said Deep Thought. “Yes…!” “Is…” said Deep Thought, and paused. “Yes…!” “Is…” “Yes…!!!…?” “Forty-two,” said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty … Continue reading →

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Raisin cake and the expanding universe

Posted on June 12, 2015 by tkflor

“Put a raisin cake in the oven, and it’s very small. Then you let it go, and the distance between the raisins is like the distance between the galaxies – it gets larger and larger with time.” Neta Bahacall, in … Continue reading →

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Women in science: whom to ask for advice?

Posted on June 4, 2015 by tkflor

Through copse and spinney marched Bear; down open slopes of gorse and heather, over rocky beds of streams, up steep banks of sandstone into the heather again; and so at last, tired and hungry, to the Hundred Acre Wood. For … Continue reading →

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Old science-fiction and new research agree – paper is mightier than computer

Posted on May 31, 2015 by tkflor

“A paper computer?” said the general. He looked pained. “No, sir,” said Shuman patiently. “Not a paper computer. Simply a sheet of paper. General, would you be so kind to suggest a number?” “Seventeen,” said the general. “And you, Congressman?” … Continue reading →

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Fictional choices

Posted on May 23, 2015 by tkflor

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” From conversation between Dumbledore and Harry, at the last chapter of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J. K. Rowling I recalled … Continue reading →

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CP Violation: what is it and when does it matter?

Posted on May 17, 2015 by tkflor

“Suppose the TV-news suddenly reported one evening that visitors from outer space were planning to land on Earth; that the space travellers have radioed a demand for immediate information about the composition of the Earth. Does it consist of Matter … Continue reading →

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Inge Lehmann: Discoverer of the Earth’s Inner Core

Posted on May 13, 2015 by tkflor

“You should know how many incompetent men I had to compete with — in vain” Inge Lehmann. Quips aside, Inge Lehmann was a pioneering seismologist who discovered that the Earth has both an inner and an outer core.

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