Tag: Physics

Science

Countdown to The Cold War: March 1945

The Manhattan Project boiled down to two enormous manufacturing problems: explosive materials and explosive devices. Each of these problems was eventually resolved in its own binary fashion. The explosive material, or, more appropriately, fissile material, came in two flavors: uranium and plutonium. Owing to their different physical properties, it was necessary to create an individual explosive device, or bomb, for each of the two radioactive … Continue reading Countdown to The Cold War: March 1945

Lofty AmbitionsLeave a comment
Science

Countdown to The Cold War: February 1945

In February 1945, the end of war in the European theatre of operations was still a few months off in the future. Nonetheless, Allied leaders felt that the war’s end was close enough that they could begin to anticipate the post-war era. To that end, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin met in Yalta—a city on the Crimean peninsula overlooking the Black Sea—on February 4-11 to discuss … Continue reading Countdown to The Cold War: February 1945

Lofty AmbitionsLeave a comment
Science, Space Exploration

On This (Holiday) Date: Celebrating Science & Space (Part 1)

It’s been a while since we wrote an “on this date” post to share a few reasons to celebrate science or space, right here, right now. The holidays seems a great time to toast to some perhaps hidden historical gems for nerds. December 24 1955 NORAD—the North American Aerospace Defense Command, made famous to us 40-somethings in the film War Games—began to track Santa’s annual … Continue reading On This (Holiday) Date: Celebrating Science & Space (Part 1)

Lofty AmbitionsLeave a comment
Science, Space Exploration

JPL Open House 2014 (Part 2)

On October 12th, Doug spent the day at the 2014 iteration of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) Open House. You can read the first Lofty installment HERE, but there’s more! It was a day full of space-nerd goodness, and one of the highpoints was Site 18: “Flying Saucers for Mars.” This particular site was dedicated to a project known to researchers by the acronym … Continue reading JPL Open House 2014 (Part 2)

Lofty AmbitionsLeave a comment
Science

Countdown to the Cold War: September 1944

In the last couple of posts, we’ve begun our Countdown to the Cold War by talking about the reorganized at Los Alamos in the fall of 1944 to develop a method known as implosion. You can read the last post in the series by clicking HERE. The next step on the Manhattan Project’s Countdown to the Cold War occurred on September 22, 1944, and was … Continue reading Countdown to the Cold War: September 1944

Lofty Ambitions2 Comments
Uncategorized

Countdown to The Cold War: August 1944

Over the last few years, your Lofty Duo has had an inordinate amount of interest in the Manhattan Project. If you were to draw a Venn diagram of our many overlapping interests in this historical event, it’s likely that somewhere in the shaded region at the center of the diagram would be a man named Henry Cullen. Henry was Anna’s grandfather. In his professional life, … Continue reading Countdown to The Cold War: August 1944

Lofty AmbitionsLeave a comment
Science, Writing

Santa Fe Retreat (2)

Recently, we spent eleven days in Santa Fe on our very own self-made writing retreat. Writing was our goal, but we also recommend Santa Fe as a great getaway even if getting away from your routine is your only goal. You can read about lodging, food, and shopping in our first Santa Fe Retreat post. But wait, there’s more! MUSEUMS & GALLERIES Santa Fe is a hub … Continue reading Santa Fe Retreat (2)

Lofty AmbitionsLeave a comment
Science, Space Exploration

Duck! It’s an Asteroid!

If you’re celebrating today, you’re probably celebrating Lincoln’s birthday, a welcome mid-winter holiday for us as children growing up in Illinois. Or maybe you’re celebrating the natal day of Charles Darwin, the renowned naturalist and geologist who was born on the same day as Abraham Lincoln in 1809. By mapping out his theory of natural selection, Darwin changed the way we think about ourselves, our … Continue reading Duck! It’s an Asteroid!

Lofty Ambitions2 Comments
Science, Writing

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013

We have perused science writing handbooks and anthologies before, and we’re at it again for the recently published anthology The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013. It’s the time of year for “best of” lists, and this book is chockfull of great articles on a wide array of subject matter from the past year. This year’s iteration is edited by Siddhartha Mukerjee, who is … Continue reading The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013

Lofty AmbitionsLeave a comment
Science

5 Women Who Should Have Won the Nobel Prize

It’s Nobel Prize season! The three big science categories—physiology or medicine, physics, and chemistry—were just announced on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Of the eight science winners, how many are women? Zero! That’s the usual number of women in the annual mix. No female scientist has been awarded a Nobel Prize since 2009. In “The Nobel Prize: Where are All the Women?” we wrote about the … Continue reading 5 Women Who Should Have Won the Nobel Prize

Lofty Ambitions2 Comments