Eric Betzig
1.2K posts
@Eric_Betzig
An engineering physicist sometimes masquerading as a biologist or, on one occasion, a chemist. Aspiring astronaut. Nuclear is the way.
One giant leap for mankind History was made on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first to set foot on the Moon. For more than 5 decades, the total number of moonwalkers has remained at 12. NASA will change that with Artemis IV.
One of the great commandments of science is, Mistrust arguments from authority.
🚨 Sec. Marco Rubio just NAILED IT: "One of the criticisms you sometimes hear of communism is that it 'sounds good in theory, but it never works in practice.'" "That's actually NOT TRUE. Communism does NOT sound good in theory. The world that envisions for all of us is small, flat, gray, leveled of all exception, drained of all that is good and noble in the human soul." "The world that envisions is a world without courage, a world without creativity, or ambition, a world without heroes, or glory, or great causes to strive towards, without a world without miracles, without men who rise above the rest to do incredible and extraordinary things." "And the world communism envisions is a world without God." "For these architects of revolutionary violence, the towering achievement of our civilization, for them, it's an unbearable humiliation, a reminder of what they cannot do and a reminder of what they cannot be. So they choose instead to destroy." 💯
Mating dance of the male red-capped manakin.
A Chinese researcher told me the trick to getting big research funding in China: say the U.S. is way ahead and China will never catch up without more investment. I said the trick in the U.S. is to say China is already ahead and we're falling behind. Apparently this keeps money flowing on both sides. Whether it keeps the science flowing is another question.
The path to launch is filled with obstacles and success is only possible through the tireless efforts of many working together towards a common goal. “Critical Path” continues the ongoing Starship series, following SpaceX engineers through the final days before launch of the first Starship V3 and the challenges that come with development of the world’s most powerful and fully reusable rocket.
No cuts full flight video of the CZ-10B/1st stage from launching to landing. via CCTV
> Be Richard Feynman > Teaches himself advanced calculus at age 15 > Fixes neighborhood radios for fun during the Great Depression > Recruited to work on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos in his 20s > Gets bored while building the atomic bomb and starts picking locks > Breaks into his colleagues' top-secret safes just to leave them mocking notes > Completely breaks down the government's security system for fun > Loses his wife to tuberculosis and uses the grief to dive deeper into physics > Reinvents quantum mechanics by drawing simple sketches (Feynman Diagrams) > Wins the Nobel Prize in Physics for his breakthroughs > Refuses to take himself seriously or act like a stuffy academic > Spends his free time playing the bongo drums in a Brazilian samba band > Learns how to paint at age 44 and sells his art under a pseudonym > Travels to remote regions to decode ancient Mayan hieroglyphics > Investigates the tragic Challenger Space Shuttle disaster on live TV > Drops a piece of rubber into a glass of ice water in front of Congress > Instantly proves the O-rings failed due to the cold, cracking the case single-handedly > And Richard Feynman is still the most brilliant, chaotic mind to ever live who proved geniuses can have fun. > Feynman is badass.
On July 4 2012 in San Diego, California, 7,000 fireworks accidentally went off all at the same time. What was supposed to be a 17 min show, lasted just 30 seconds, thanks to a computer glitch It is one of the greatest firework shows of all time Happy 250th birthday, America 🇺🇸
