What is 2026's biggest quantum centenary? I'd vote for the statistical interpretation of the wavefunction, signalling definitive end of classical physics. Born won the 1954 Nobel prize for stating it most explicitly, though it was apparently no surprise in Copenhagen www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

From Weinberg’s “Gravitation and Cosmology” 🤓

Nuclear weapons are now ESG compliant 💥 www.ft.com/content/f789...

Yesterday we started #kakapo artificial insemination for the season. We do this to help maintain genetic diversity, with a potential additional benefit of improving fertility. We inseminated Esperance, who mated naturally a few nights ago. #conservation #parrots #birds

Finally, after much delay from the BBC, Marnie Chesterton's "What Is Quantum?" is being broadcast at 9.30 am on Radio 4 on Tues 30th Dec. Recorded on Helgoland in the summer, with input from the leading figures in quantum mechanics (and me). www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

I have what must be a VERY STUPID USS pension question. Back in March 2024 the defined benefit part of the scheme would pay me an annual income of £13,432.22. Today it shows £7,878. I thought these amounts are index-linked and inflation isn't negative so... how can they fall?

who decided to call it Secret Santa when Nondisclosure Claus was right there

Accidentally opened the comments on a New Yorker IG post

As long as I don’t click this link I can keep imagining it’s Ebeneezer Goode

From Norman Lewis' "Voices of the Old Sea". Sadly I can't find any online reference to this Geoffrey of Ipswich dude

TIL Dirac has a cone in Bristol. That is all www.about-bristol.co.uk/fam-12.php

Quahog clams can live to an age of 500 years! en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_(c...

Agree that “screentime” is a useless notion. We need a snappy name for media with tight feedback loops designed to strip you of agency. The reason why TV is better than TikTok in this regard is that the former learns slowly and in aggregate what you like, not instantly and individually

We're swimming a 12 hour open air swim relay in the Jesus Green Lido in Cambridge! We're raising money for Level Water, an incredible charity that provides 1-to-1 swimming lessons for children with disabilities. Send us a few pounds if you can! www.justgiving.com/page/wild-wets

Enjoying all the updates from #Helgoland2025

I did @pintofscience.uk last week. My talk was about Heisenberg's abandonment of Newton's classical orbits 100 years ago on Helgoland. Around the time I found myself describing Kepler's Mysterium Cosmographicum as his pre-breakbout concept album I realised I might be a massive ham. Loved it

Incredible work from everyone involved here

The whole discourse about LLMs to write / review / read science (or anything else)never seems to engage with the key question about what should replace the paper

With thanks @thamesandhudson.bsky.social, we have a copy of REPAST by @jennylinford.bsky.social to give away with one of our 9" sauteuse prospector casseroles, worth £118. Follow us, share this post and then find entry details here www.netherton-foundry.co.uk/competitions

Spotted in Cambridge: a sleek BMW with the number plate UKRI. Brilliant

The new bane of my existence is being emailed for feedback after visiting a restaurant. What is the best way of avoiding this pox?

It smells of rejection, grading, and committee work

🎬… and cut. We are done recording lectures for my course “Quantum Computational Physics”. Tune in if you want to do “quantum on quantum”: concepts, algorithms, and practical computational skills to simulate quantum many-body systems on digital quantum computing platforms. vimeo.com/showcase/Qua...

We'll be celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Theory of Condensed Matter group in Cambridge on 25th July! Here's the booking page if you are interesting in attending. Reposts appreciated Hoping to see many alumni and friends of the group there! www.alumni.cam.ac.uk/events/theor...

Posted without (performative) comment

A wonderful letter from a neigbour of Dirac's in Cambridge grahamfarmelo.com/dirac-family...

LOVE IT

New book tour poster, updated with events in UK with @nigelwarburton.bsky.social and Jessie Munton, and in Spain with @jordigraupera.bsky.social !

🚨 Outrage as 20 police officers break into Westminster Quaker Meeting House and arrest six. 🚨 This shocking violation of a place of worship is a direct result of crackdowns on protest and dissent - freedom of speech, assembly and democracy are at risk.🕊️ 👉 www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...

zoop, print ad (1995) archive.org/details/Comp...

Is it correct that one’s reward for using the YouTube mobile app is watching ads? I don’t see them on Chrome on my iPhone…

Happy holiday to those who celebrate en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_N...

To celebrate this, the birthday of our Lord and Saviour Isaac Newton, here is a video in which a maths youtuber ran a program I wrote and got confused by it www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7eH...

“the hawk tuah girl has been milkshake ducked by her memecoin” i say as the neurologist schedules me for an emergency MRI

J.J. Thomson was born #OTD in 1856. He discovered the electron, developed experimental techniques that led to mass spectroscopy, and trained physicists like Rutherford and Bohr. He was later BETRAYED by his own son, in the ultimate act of 20th century filial physics rebellion. (1/n) 🧪 ⚛️ 🎢

Cambridge residents & wild swimmers take especial note of this 👇 "The highest numbers of chemicals... were seen in samples taken from the River Nidd in Yorkshire, & the Sheep’s Green on the River Cam in Cambridge. Sheep’s Green was also the site with the highest level of chemical pollutants."

Annie Ernaux, the best Nobel laureate

“Surprisingly, it will take me less time to explain this than to explain this cartoon”

People dunking: write a better caption and MAKE IT FUNNY

I've been really enjoying this biography of Coxeter, from 2006, just recently republished.

Love Actually is a great film actually, love

I remember reading a Boris Johnson interview many years ago when he was still a novelty young fogey which contained the line "I don't snack between meals: just a couple of pain au chocolat to keep the wolf from the door." Same energy

This whimsical little number “J. J.” from the old Cavendish lab is traditionally sung to the tune of “Still D.R.E”

Bro is manifesting his book sales

Christmas movie with the fam

Been thinking a lot on future of linear (tensor) algebra programming and, should C++ fall in demise, there don't seem to exist good statically typed alternatives with overloading, no gc and no dynamic dispatch 1/

Vibe

ok but now I’m interested in raccoon harsh noise open.spotify.com/album/7lmRsl...

I guess the point here, if there is one, is that Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical,” which admonished the listener to “get physical,” was a forceful restatement of her grandfather’s objection to Einstein’s reticence over the probabilistic interpretation of quantum mechanics. (5/n)