Writers’ Gallery
Our Writers' Gallery features short pieces about physics by authors who are both renowned physicists and prize-winning writers. Some of these are original contributions and others are excerpts from longer works. Many are linked to more information about the authors and their work.
How To Teach Relativity to Your Dog
Everyone’s heard of Einstein, and most know of E=mc2; but did you know that gravity bends light? Do you understand how energy can be transformed to matter? And can you explain why clocks run slower the faster they move? A century after Einstein proved these facts and more, they continue to boggle the mind. In his book, Orzel explains one of the cornerstones of modern physics in everyday language and down-to-Earth imagery, through a series of imaginary conversations with his lovable mutt, Emmy.
Feynman
Richard Feynman is one of the most brilliant and fascinating physicists of the twentieth century. He picked locks for fun at the Manhattan Project, reinvented quantum physics and investigated the space shuttle Challenger tragedy. Author Jim Ottaviani and artist Leland Myrick collaborated to create the graphic novel "Feynman" about his life. In this excerpt, Feynman shares the groundwork of quantum electrodynamics with students in New Zealand. Excerpted with permission from the publisher, First Second Books.
The Fifth Postulate
Many mathematicians since the time of Euclid attempted to solve a seemingly simple problem about parallel lines without success. Yet the success of their failures would reveal a whole new geometry and description of space and time.
Odds Are Stacked When Science Tries to Debate Pseudoscience
I agreed to participate in a debate for a Florida radio program that specialized in alien visits and U.F.O. sightings. . . I should have known better.
String Training
String theory’s view of the fundamental nature of matter differs significantly from that of traditional particle physics.
The Cosmic Landscape
It is gradually becoming accepted, by many theoretical physicists, that the Laws of Physics may not only be variable but are almost always deadly.
