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Hubble rap

By Hamish Johnston

If you’ve ever wondered what Edwin Hubble would be like if he was reincarnated as an English rapper, you are in luck.

The “science rapper” Zach Powers has made a video of his interpretation of how the great astronomer would rap about his discovery of the expanding universe.

Hubble was an American mid-westerner born and bred, but Zach portrays him with an English accent. Hubble had spent a few years at Oxford and was apparently a bit of an Anglophile – although I doubt he ever affected a south London drawl.

Zach, by the way, describes himself as “a native New Yorker and professional scientist”. Zach is working towards a PhD at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine where he studies the structure of chromatin proteins.

The rap and video are pretty good, and the physics is spot on. One of my favourite lines is:

“I’m stark raving mad for what do I see? The farther the star, the greater the velocity.”

If you enjoy the science rapper, you might want to check out “The PCR Rap” – that’s polymerase chain replication – which celebrates the work and lifestyle of Nobel laureate Kary Mullis. In this rap Powers sounds a bit like Lou Reed, just what you would expect from a native New Yorker.

Posted by Hamish Johnston on Jan 18, 2011 4:58 PM | Permalink