Meet Lynda Williams – ‘the physics chanteuse’
Originally inspired by the astronomer and science popularizer Carl Sagan, Lynda Williams began singing about her favourite subject – physics – in 1995. At the time she was a graduate physi...
Behind closed doors
One of the challenges facing any physics magazine is to adequately cover the activities and interests of physicists working in industry. For a long time Physics World has followed a policy that the be...
Solving a knotty problem
Publishers seem to have hit on a winning formula for non-fiction books in recent years. Take a seemingly esoteric subject, mix in lots of history, add plenty of anecdotes, keep it short, and print the...
Read article: Solving a knotty problem
Practical hints for classy demos
One of my initial goals when I enrolled on my teacher-training course at Warwick University in 1996 was to develop a portfolio of demonstrations that would entertain, interest and also educate a class...
Physics gets dark and exotic
Two of the outstanding challenges in physics identified in our millennium survey last month were the nature of “dark matter” and a proper understanding of nuclear structure. This month we ...
Multiple choices for graduates
As a physicist, you have the advantage of a three-way choice when it comes to developing a career. You can become a scientist, opt for work that involves science outside the laboratory, or consider of...
Good teaching for good research
For as long as I can remember, the major research universities in the US have repeated the mantra that “good research makes good teaching”. When challenged about the need for investment in...
Visionary glimpse into the 21st century
A more detailed review by Phil Anderson of Princeton University, US is in the November issue of Physics World magazine. This delightfully written little book is full of typically Dysonian intellectual...
Celebrating women of talent
The difficulties faced by women in science come brilliantly to life in this hugely enjoyable book of cartoons by Jim Ottaviani. The strips include a fascinating account of Rosalind Franklin’s sc...
Three cheers for 100 triumphant years
In mid-December 1900 Max Planck presented a series of papers to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin that were, eventually, to revolutionize not only physics as a discipline, but our entire conc...
