Who’d have thunk it?

by | Feb 26, 2021 | Science

Rounding out ‘Science February,’ I’d like to raise a glass of pinot noir to some of the great science fiction writers whose works anticipated actual science. Imagination—the well-spring of creative writing—was, in these cases, also the mother of invention. Who’d have...

Famous Last Words

by | Feb 19, 2021 | Science

My third science blog: From time to time scientists have written words of grandeur, modesty, mystery and self-depreciation. Here are a few of my favorites: Words of Mystery—Fermat’s Last Theorem The French mathematician Pierre de Fermat (1607 to 1665) was...

The Pace of Change

by | Feb 12, 2021 | Science

My grandchildren find it hard to believe that I grew up in a world without color television, when most aircraft had propellers, when you literally dialed someone on the telephone, when almost all cars had manual transmissions, etc., etc. Looking back, it’s hard to...

Of the Big Bang, Pigeon Poop, and Other Matters

by | Feb 5, 2021 | Science

Technology and science constantly change our lives, and, as I describe in the Breaking Point series, wars are competitions between competing technologies and well as competing enemies. I’m devoting my February blogs to the history of science and technology. In this...