Simple but neat atypical calculation of energy released in fission (from Glasstone and Sesonske, “Nuclear Reactor Engineering”). It’s a nice illustration of guesstimating based on empirical data."The amount of energy released when a nucleus undergoes fission can be calculated by determining the net decrease in mass, from the known isotopic masses, and...

It may seem hard to believe now, but in 1865, by the time the Civil War ended, Russia was America's best friend in Europe. The two countries enjoyed a healthy diplomatic relationship, buoyed by trade and a mutual distrust of Great Britain; Russia was the only European nation to support the Union during the war. America sent formal condolences when Tsar...

Every once in a while there is a person of consummate achievement in a field, a person who while widely known to workers in that field is virtually unknown outside it and whose achievements should be known much better. One such person in the field of chemistry was Jack Dunitz. Over his long life of 98 years Dunitz inspired chemists across varied branches...

  In Niels Bohr's original 1913 formulation of the quantum atom, the Bohr radius r was proportional to n^2, n being the principal quantum number. Highly excited states would correspond to very large values of n and Bohr predicted these "giant" atoms would exist. Since the volume scales as r^3 or n^6, for n=33 you should see a "hydrogenic" atom a billion...

As someone who loved collecting vintage books, I was stoked to acquire a first American edition of Francis Galton's pioneering book “Hereditary Genius” for the bizarrely low price of $25 - most copies in good condition like this one sell for an unaffordable few hundred dollars at the minimum. First published in 1869, “Hereditary Genius” is an important...

A book I have been enjoying recently is John Polkinghorne's "Belief in God in an Age of Science." Polkinghorne who died recently was a noted theoretical physicist who was also a theologian. Unlike Polkinghorne I am an atheist, but he makes a good case for why religion, science, poetry, art, literature should all be welcomed as sources for truth about...