iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

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

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The little-known story of how two of history’s greatest physicists waged a war over the existence of the atom and the nature of reality itself THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE Preorder now at www.amazon.com/dp/1541607228/ www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-great-... bookshop.org/p/books/the-... #BookSky #Books

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Scientists with their cats:* Edwin Hubble Rachel Carson George Gamow Joy Adamson *Schrödinger had a collie, not a cat! #Science #Cats #ScienceSky

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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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'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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'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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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

'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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In the golden age of Vienna, two brilliant thinkers vied to shape the future of physics. Their passionate struggle led directly to the quantum and relativity revolutions. History of science at its most gripping! THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE Preorder now www.amazon.com/gp/product/1... greatatomdebate.com

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Yes, named "Burschie (Laddie)." I dug up that piece of information from an archived interview with his daughter Ruth Braunizer. So you may have read something I wrote about that.

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Funny! I used to enjoy selecting in on jukeboxes in diners when those were a thing, and watching customers' reactions.

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Delighted that accomplished science writer Marcus Chown @marcuschown.bsky.social has praised THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE, calling it "impressively researched and elegantly written" Preorder now www.amazon.com/gp/product/1... www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-great-... bookshop.org/p/books/the-... #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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Max (well) is a wonderful name for a dog, given that James Clerk Maxwell was a dog lover!

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As in Max Planck? Max Born? Mine is named after Maryam Mirzakhani, first woman to win the Fields Medal in Mathematics.

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Shelley Green @barkingsheltie.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

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Ooooh, very excited to grab this!! Love the cover as well.

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Honored that THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE is today's book pick from Damn History! Very cool! greatatomdebate.com #BookSky #science

greatatom.debate

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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

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

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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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Paul Halpern @phalpern.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

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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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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

'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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Sam Weller @samwellerauthor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This is the most remarkable story Ray Bradbury ever shared with me. He told it to me late one night, sitting in his den of antiquities and mementos. Take five minutes to read this. It’s pure magic. #Writing #Living #Creativity #RayBradbury #BookSky

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Jim Baggott @jimbaggott.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Manuscript submitted. The book is now officially ‘in press’. Stay tuned for a publication date. @yalebooks.bsky.social

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Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I almost agree with my fellow Villanova alum. Rather than an ontological difference, I would emphasize an etiological one: the history by which an artifact is produced can matter as much as its current configuration. It matters to us whether a creation came about through a person's thought process.

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Matthew Buckley @physicsmatt.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The fact that there are multiple Tolkien, Star Wars, and Star Trek properties out there that I have no interest in and I’m taking the side of the Pope against the AI geeks is strong circumstantial evidence that we’re living in an ironic hell built specifically for 14-year-old me.

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David Blanchflower BSc @davidbflower.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I'm at Newcastle's ground photographing the Moon. 🔭 🧪 #astrophotography

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The Knight Who Says Ni! @chiefwit.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Aiming for the most dramatic opening paragraph of a physics textbook. #boltzmann

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SellaTheChemist @sellathechemist.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/05/2026

Lovely exhibition inspired by The Second Law by the Japanese artist Reijiro Wada. The man does things to titanium that will make you marvel. At the Anglo Japanese Davies Foundation in Regent’s Park. #free #microstates #entropy #Boltzmann #titanium

A titanium plate coloured by heat treatment using a blowtorch

Thousand of heat treated titanium cubes laid out in a rectangle with multicoloured surfaces.

The poster for the exhibition with a portrait of Wada-san and his rectangle of titanium cubes.

A closeup of the multicoloured titanium cubes one removed to show the structure

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Acid Rain @bearysweet.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

Curiosity calls for science. Making sense of spaghetti physics: "Why does the strand break like that?" 🍝 #science #physics #pasta #interesting

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Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 31/12/2023

Real smbc-comics.com/comic/real-3 (click for full comic) #smbc #hiveworks #comics #physics #philosophy

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Marcus Chown @marcuschown.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

"Hydrogen is a light, odourless gas which, given enough time, changes into people." - Edward Harrison www.hive.co.uk/Product/Marc... #universe #space #nature #astronomy #physics

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

#OTD in 1967, Jocelyn Bell discovered pulsars & changed our view of the universe. 𝘉𝘶𝘵... The #Nobel Prize in #Physics for their discovery went to to her thesis supervisor Antony Hewish & to astronomer Martin Ryle. theconversation.com/fifty-years-... #WomenInSTEM #astrophysics #MatildaEffect

Split image: Main photo — black-and-white portrait of young Jocelyn Bell Burnell in the 1960s, smiling broadly in front of the large lattice structure at Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory (SW of Cambridge in the UK). Inset (left) — color portrait of Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell today, short graying hair, glasses, and a warm smile, wearing a blue jacket.

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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

#OTD in 2018, optical physicist Dr. Donna Strickland became the third woman to win the #Nobel Prize in Physics and the first in 55 years. Strickland (+Drs. Ashkin & Mourou) won for advancing the science of lasers & creating extremely useful tools out of laser beams. 🧵 #WomenInSTEM #physics

A color portrait of the optical physicist and Nobel laureate Dr. Donna Strickland smiling warmly at the camera. Born in 1959, her historical significance is cemented as the third woman to ever win the Nobel Prize in Physics, which she achieved in 2018 for her revolutionary breakthroughs in laser technology. She has shoulder-length greying hair with straight bangs, black rectangular-framed glasses, and an authentic, open-mouthed expression showing a prominent smile. She is posed leaning forward slightly, wearing a crisp white blouse underneath a structured, dark grey textured blazer. Pinned meticulously to her left lapel is the distinctive, circular gold Nobel Prize medal lapel pin, a visual anchor highlighting her monumental achievements. The setting is a brightly lit, modern office environment with a clean, softly blurred background featuring a touch of green foliage. The composition is clean and centered, emphasizing a brilliant, highly approachable, and celebrated pioneer in science.

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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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Terrific! Thanks so much. I hope you enjoy it. On November 1, 2026 I'll reach out for where to send the prize(s) to you. I'll be sending you a free autographed bookplate. You are also entered for a chance to receive a free book.

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