Tevong

@martinmbauer For physicists now in industry in the UK, please sign and share this open letter of support: industry-openletter-stfc.github.io/index.html

As a consequence of the UK physics funding cuts: "Group at Cambridge’s world-famous Cavendish Laboratory may be 'unable to continue to operate'" researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-uni…

@edwardfhughes @martinmbauer Would you mind if @LucienHeurtier and I quote you on this? We set up this open letter of support from physicists in industry, would be great if you could sign and share: industry-openletter-stfc.github.io/index.html

Like many AI researchers, I cut my teeth as a fundamental physicist. If the UK wants to power growth via AI, the government should not be cutting fundamental science funding. The current plan is an absolute own goal. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

@WKCosmo *is not put into question

@WKCosmo Last I checked LIGO was not considered a failure for "merely" confirming GR and the existence of standard, expected astrophysical objects like neutron stars and BH. The future of GW observatories is put into question by the absence of modified gravity or exotic compact objects

This is a losing argument, guys.

@WKCosmo So yes, in no other field of science is the promise of revolutionary discovery the only standard by which a future proposal is judged.

@WKCosmo Yet somehow, particle physics is considered dying because the honest science of pushing measurements to new regimes is not enough; it must *guarantee* a discovery of something beyond the SM to be worthwhile. Meanwhile, LISA is exciting on the basis of pushing to new regimes alone

‘The Higgs boson was the last missing piece… and part of so many of nature’s mysteries’🌌 @Tevong chats with @ProfBrianCox and @robinince about the 'God particle', theorised by the late Peter Higgs, at CERN and its impact on the world @themonkeycage ⚛️ loom.ly/VOU1seU

I think it's great that in the old days you wouldn't know about an eclipse until you suddenly see it and tremble that the gods have cursed you but now we can know ahead of time which regions will be cursed by the gods and the curse potency percentage

Quotes from: Ilaria Brivio inspirehep.net/authors/1268271 Pierre-Hugues Beauchemin inspirehep.net/authors/1035175 Tevong You inspirehep.net/authors/1087415 What is the electroweak force? | symmetry magazine symmetrymagazine.org/article/what-i…

Niels Bohr's 1944 letter to Winston Churchill explaining him the scale of the Manhattan Project ✉️ 22nd May 1944 The Rt. Hon. Winston S. Churchill, C.H., M.P. Sir, In accordance with your kind permission, I have the honour to send you a brief report about my impressions of the great Anglo-American enterprise, in the scientific aspects of which I have been given the opportunity to participate together with my British colleagues. The principles on which the enormous energy stored in the nuclei of atoms may be released for practical purposes were, as a result of international scientific collaboration, already perceived in outline before the war and are, therefore, common knowledge to physicists all over the world. It was, however, by no means certain whether the task would surpass human resources, and it was therefore a revelation to me, on my arrival in England last October, to learn with what courage and foresight the effort had been undertaken and what an advanced stage the work had already reached. In fact, what until a few years ago might be considered as a fantastic dream is at present being realized within great laboratories and huge production plants secretly erected in some of the most solitary regions of the United States. There a larger group of physicists than ever before collected for a single purpose, working hand in hand with a whole army of engineers and technicians, are preparing new materials capable of an immense energy release, and are developing ingenious devices for the most effective use of these materials. To everyone who is given the opportunity to see for himself the refined laboratory equipment and the gigantic production machinery, it is an unforgettable experience, of which words can only give a poor impression. Moreover it was to me a special pleasure to witness the most harmonious and enthusiastic cooperation between the British and American colleagues, and on my departure I was expressly asked by the leaders of the American organization to convey their genuine appreciation of the help they are receiving, on an ever increasing scale, from their British collaborators. I will not tire you with any technical details, but one cannot help comparing the situation with that of the alchemists of former days, groping in the dark in their vain efforts to make gold. To-day physicists and engineers are, on the basis of firmly established knowledge, controlling and directing violent reactions by which new materials far more precious than gold are built up, atom by atom. These processes are in fact similar to those which took place in the early stages of development of the universe and still go on in the turbulent and flaming interior of the stars. The whole undertaking constitutes, indeed, a far deeper interference with the natural course of events than anything ever before attempted, and it must be realized that the success of the endeavours has created a quite new situation as regards human resources. The revolution in industrial development which may result in coming years cannot at present be surveyed, but the fact of immediate preponderance is, that a weapon of devastating power far beyond any previous possibilities and imagination will soon become available. The lead in the efforts to master such mighty forces of nature, hitherto beyond human reach, which by good fortune has been achieved by the two great free nations, entails the greatest promises for the future. The responsibility for handling the situation rests, of course, with the statesmen alone. The scientists who are brought into confidence can only offer the statesmen all such information about technical matters as may be of importance for their decisions. In this connection it is significant that the enterprise, immense as it is, has still proved to demand a much smaller effort than might have been anticipated, and that the development of the work has continually revealed unsuspected possibilities for facilitating the production of the materials and for intensifying their effects. These circumstances obviously have an important bearing on the question of an eventual competition about the formidable weapon, and on the problem of establishing an effective control, and might therefore perhaps influence the judgment of the statesmen as to how the present favourable situation can best be turned to lasting advantage for the cause of freedom and world security. I hope you will permit me to say that I am afraid that, at the personal interview with which you honoured me, I may not have given you the right impression of the confidential conversation in Washington on which I reported. It was, indeed, far from my mind to venture any comment about the way in which the great joint enterprise has been so happily arranged by the statesmen; I wished rather to give expression to the profound conviction I have met everywhere on my journey that the hope for the future lies above all in the most brotherly friendship between the British Commonwealth and the United States. It was just this spirit of co-operation that the President’s friend [Felix Frankfurter], believing the matter to be of the highest importance for the two countries, and knowing that, at the Chancellor’s request, I was coming to England for technical consultations, entrusted me, in strictest confidence, to convey to you, that the President is deeply occupied in his own mind with the stupendous consequences of the project, in which he sees grave dangers, but also unique opportunities, and that he hopes together with you to find ways of handling the situation to the greatest benefit of all mankind. Most respectfully, Niels Bohr [Letter source: Atomic Heritage Foundation, ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/key-docume…] [Image courtesy: unknown; source: Wikimedia commons]

Momentum cancellation: a ball fired at 50 mph out of a cannon from a truck going exactly at 50 mph in the opposite direction, has its velocity (and therefore momentum) cancelled [full video, MythBusters: buff.ly/2FB7PoC]

I can’t get over these images from the James Webb Space Telescope! They’re igniting curiosity and wonder in a whole new generation.

If this describes the competence of the @wef with regard to energy, I would be concerned for very different reasons... This is the stuff that makes engineers cry:

Today wraps up The 2023 Tri-Institute Summer School on Elementary Particles (TRISEP) at Perimeter - which featured lectures by leading experts in the field of particle physics in its broadest sense. You can access full recordings of the talks here: hubs.ly/Q01Wq0vZ0

Tevong You summarizing BSM physics from a great starting point.

as a weekend hack i built a very simple agent which lets large language models ground their mathematical reasoning using a software proof assistant (coq) i've had this idea for some time, and finally had a bit of time to build it