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'Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.' - Albert Einstein #Einstein #science

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'You must not blame us scientists for the use which war technicians have put our discoveries.' -Lise Meitner #Meitner #science #physics

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'Don’t despair of standard dull textbooks. Just close the book once in a while and think what they just said in your own terms as a revelation of the spirit and wonder of nature.' -Richard Feynman #Feynman #science #physics

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

'The non-mathematician is seized by a mysterious shuddering when he hears of “four-dimensional” things, by a feeling not unlike that awakened by thoughts of the occult. And yet there is no more commonplace statement than that the world in which we live is a 4D space-time continuum.' -Albert Einstein

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Max (well) is a wonderful name for a dog, given that James Clerk Maxwell was a dog lover!

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

'You know I am in disagreement with most of my colleagues on the quantum theory. They are not facing the facts [and] have abandoned reason! Bohr's thinking is clear but when he begins to write he becomes very obscure and he thinks of himself as a prophet.' -Albert Einstein #science #quantum

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Thank you very much Shelley! My dog Mirza, a Hungarian Pumi, sends her greetings to your Shelties!

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Forbes Review of THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE "The Great Atom Debate by Paul Halpern is a truly fun dual biography about two eminent 19th-century scientists who had a long-running, almost cutthroat rivalry centered on the question of whether atoms exist." www.forbes.com/sites/rebecc... #science #BookSky

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Art, music, and writing are some of the highest expressions of human creativity. While machines can replicate and combine what others have done, the essence of creative endeavours is personal expression, which is nuanced, original, and often unexpected in its brilliance. #ArtIsHuman #MusicIsHuman

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Yes they do. We hosted Brother Guy Consolmagno, then the head of the Vatican Observatory, for a public talk 3 years ago.

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Win a free autographed book or bookplate! Follow @phalpern.bsky.social Preorder The Great Atom Debate greatatomdebate.com Post proof of preorder with hashtag #GreatAtomDebate First 20 entries get free autographed bookplate On Nov 1, five winners randomly chosen to get free autographed book #booksky

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

'There is no worldly truth but mathematical truth. In politics, history, and diplomacy, truth changes from day to day and people get different concepts of right. But mathematics never lies.' -Erwin Schrödinger tinyurl.com/tcxueg9 #science #physics #mathematics

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Historic plaque in Helgoland, Germany honoring the site where young Werner Heisenberg, on holiday to relieve his seasonal allergies, achieved a major breakthrough in quantum mechanics, which Max Born and Pascual Jordan would help further develop. (Photo courtesy of H. Albert) #Science #Physics

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Celebrate Machtoberfest by entering a book contest Follow @phalpern.bsky.social Preorder The Great Atom Debate greatatomdebate.com Post proof with #GreatAtomDebate First 20 entries get free autographed bookplate On November 1, five winners randomly chosen to get free autographed books #BookSky

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

'I have never belonged wholeheartedly to a country, a state, nor to a circle of friends, nor even to my own family.' -Albert Einstein www.commentary.org/articles/c-s... #Einstein #science #physics

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

In 1954, Albert Einstein was so upset by the Oppenheimer hearing and the McCarthy era attacks on the loyalty of scientists, that he said that if he were just starting out he'd become a plumber or peddler, instead of a physicist. He soon got an invitation to join a plumbing firm! #Einstein #science

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

'We live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.' -John Archibald Wheeler #science #physics #JohnWheeler

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'It is nothing short of a miracle that modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.' -Albert Einstein #Einstein #science #physics

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The eight "makers of universes" according to renowned Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw: Pythagoras Aristotle Ptolemy Copernicus Galileo Kepler Newton Einstein nytimes.com/1930/11/02/a... #science #physics #astronomy

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'What fire there was in his playing!' Hans Byland, Albert Einstein's musical classmate at the Aarau school in Switzerland, recalling Einstein's gorgeous renditions of Mozart and others on the violin. (from Einstein: A Life, by Denis Brian) #Einstein

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

A revolutionary thinker and his aperiodic tiles Nobel laureate Roger Penrose, photographed standing on his eponymously tiled entrance to the University of Oxford's Mathematical Institute, 2021 (Royal Society)

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"May the spirit of Newton’s method give us the power to restore unison between physical reality and the profoundest characteristic of Newton’s teaching—strict causality." -Albert Einstein (Speech on the 200th anniversary of Newton’s death, 1927) #Einstein #Newton #science #physics

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

On his 84th birthday, inventor Thomas Edison was interviewed by his friend Harvey Firestone, founder of Firestone tires Firestone asked Edison "What do you think of Einstein's theory?" Edison responded, "I don't think anything of Einstein's theory because I can't understand it" #Einstein #Edison

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Remarkable letter from Thomas Jefferson to scientist David Rittenhouse dated Sept 18, 1787 (the final day of the US Constitutional Convention) listed for sale by the Raab Collection. Jefferson told Rittenhouse that he sent him a chemistry book by Fourcroy. www.raabcollection.com/presidential...

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Albert Einstein, before, during, and after reading all of the books, magazines, and research articles in his extensive library 🤔 #Einstein #science #physics

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A good science book can spark so many interests and galvanize enthusiasm for the wonders of the natural world! Photo: Nikola Tesla reading in his laboratory, 1899 (Getty Images) #science #NikolaTesla #physics

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'About your cat, Mr. Schrödinger — I have good news and bad news.' (Benjamin Schwartz, New Yorker)

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Quantum Harmonies: Modern Physics and Music: From Pythagoras to string theory, explore the surprising connections between music and physics: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ar...

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The combined insights of English chemist Michael Faraday and Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell helped illuminate the world, by showing that light is an electromagnetic wave.🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧💡 #physics #chemistry #science

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We have to admire in humility the beautiful harmony of the structure of this world—as far as we can grasp it. And that is all. -Albert Einstein

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Francisca Nneka Okeke, Professor of Physics at the University of Nigeria, received the L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Award for her significant contributions to the understanding of the ion currents in the upper atmosphere: web.archive.org/web/20170425... #NigerianScientists 🇳🇬

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Statue of brilliant Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell on George Street in Edinburgh. It features his beloved Irish terrier Toby, with whom he used to discuss scientific ideas. Toby seems to have been a loyal friend and good listener 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧 edinburghnews.scotsman.com/whats-on/art... #Maxwell

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Albert Einstein's connections to Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿: Einstein was inspired by work of Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell. Relativity has deep links with Maxwell's electromagnetism. In 1933, University of Glasgow awarded him an honorary degree and he spoke about general relativity. #physics #science

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Albert Einstein's final research assistant, Israeli physicist Dr. Bruria Kaufman, reported the results of their joint calculations on a unified field theory at an international conference in Bern, Switzerland several months after his death. #WomenInSTEM #IsraeliScience #Einstein #physics

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Palestinian neuroscientist Thabat Al-Khatib works tirelessly at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, researching possible medications to treat Alzheimer's disease, while serving as a role model for young Palestinian scientists: aaup.edu/Alumni-Affai... \ #WomenInSTEM #PalestinianScience #Science

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Acclaimed physicists Fred Hoyle and Richard Feynman converse in Ripponden, Yorkshire, England. Feynman's wife Gweneth was originally from that region. From "Take the World from Another Point of View," Yorkshire Television. archives-dc.library.caltech.edu/islandora/ob... #histSTM #Feynman #Hoyle

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Quantum physicist Paul Dirac as a pensive child in Bristol, England #Dirac #quantum #physics #science

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Albert Einstein's landing card, when he travelled by ferry from Ostend, Belgium to Dover, England in May 1933 to escape Nazi threats. The card was stored for 80 years at the UK Border Agency at Heathrow Airport before historians discovered it: migrationmuseum.org/einstein-lan... #Einstein

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Albert Einstein's lonely road to unifying the forces of nature. By rejecting quantum 'dice-rolling,' and essentially ignoring the nuclear and particle physics discoveries of the mid-20th century, he ventured down his own isolated path. #Einstein #science #physics #quantum

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Young Olivia Newton-John in 1971, holding a copy of her latest record, "If Not For You," and a photo of her famous grandfather, Nobel laureate Max Born, a friend of Einstein and one of the founders of quantum mechanics #quantum #physics #science

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Maria Goeppert Mayer worked incredibly hard on her groundbreaking, Nobel-prize winning research in nuclear physics. Yet, because of sexist employment rules for academic couples, for most of her career she hardly got paid for her work. It would be enough to drive anyone batty. #science #physics

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During World War I, Nobel laureate scientist Marie Skłodowska Curie had a Renault car converted into a medical radiology unit, which she would drive from hospital to hospital and treat wounded soldiers (Getty Images) #histSTM #science #physics

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Thrilled that Nobel laureate astrophysicist Jim Peebles has endorsed THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE, calling it "a fascinating account of the roles Ernst Mach and Ludwig Boltzmann played in the establishment of modern physics." Preorder now: www.amazon.com/Great-Atom-D... bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

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'To be a perfect member of a flock of sheep, first of all you need to be a sheep.' -Albert Einstein #science #einstein #physics

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Publishers Weekly praises THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE: "Halpern... delivers a solid account of two Austrian physicists who famously debated the existence of atoms... [I]ntriguing intellectual history... [and] an accessible look at a critical scientific era." www.publishersweekly.com/9781541607224

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