Reginald L. Goodwin's Posts

3-D Eta Carinae...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 16, 2015 at 8:55am

Source: Technology Review

Topics: 3D Printing, Astrophysics, Computational Physics, NASA

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: In 1843, a relatively unknown star in the constellation of Carina in the southern hemisphere suddenly erupted becoming the second brightest star in the sky after Sirius. This object, called Eta Carinae, gradually decreased in brightness until it faded from view entirely some 40 years later. Since then, it has varied in brightness in a rough a five-year cycle.

Eta Carinae is curious because this variation in brightness occurs over a wide range of wavelengths and timescales. In 1998, for example, it suddenly flared up and doubled in brightness.

The explosion in the 1840s left Eta Carinae surrounded by a spectacular cloud of dust known as the Homunculus Nebula. Astronomers have long known that this eruption did not destroy the star involved, which they thought must sit at the center of this cloud.

About 10 years ago, however, they discovered that this cloud contains two stars in a highly elliptical five-year orbit. This orbit, they decided, must be the cause of the periodic changes in brightness.

But exactly why Eta Carinae is so variable over such a wide range of wavelengths is something of a mystery. Today, Thomas Madura from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, and a few pals provide a detailed insight into the nature of the star system using supercomputer simulations of the way they interact.

Physics arXiv:
3D Printing Meets Computational Astrophysics: Deciphering the Structure of Eta Carinae's Inner Colliding Winds
Thomas I. Madura, Nicola Clementel, Theodore R. Gull, Chael J.H. Kruip, Jan-Pieter Paardekooper

Open Letter to S.A.E...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 15, 2015 at 11:00am

© 13 March 2015, the Griot Poet

Dear Sigma Alpha Epsilon (founded in the Deep South; University of Alabama; “true gentlemen”):

Some history: a mystery to you, I’m sure.

The “Divine Nine”: Alpha Phi Alpha (1906), Alpha Kappa Alpha (1908), Kappa Alpha Psi (1911), Omega Psi Phi (1911), Delta Sigma Theta (1913), Phi Beta Sigma (1914), Zeta Phi Beta (1920), Sigma Gamma Rho (1922) and Iota Phi Theta (1963)

Each were founded in the 20th Century,
Spanning the breath of Civil Rights history
From the lynching era, through Jim Crow to right before the Civil Rights (1964) and Voting Rights (1965) acts,
I know you lack the knowledge
As you and your kind spent your time in college
You had, and have had privileges, not frustrations
Without the threat of your rights being stretched at the neck
By a long noose,
Nor your women raped;
Nor your men burned and castrated;
Except by faux boogie men you created
In blockbuster “Birth of a Nation” silent movies
That shouted volumes of disdain at the freest labor
This nation has ever had
That would bankrupt it and the whole world system
If they ever tried to pay reparations

Many like my noble founders in Kappa Alpha Psi
Were the servants in your frat houses that waited your
Tables;
Scrubbed your bathrooms;
And cleaned your floors;
All the while planning their own version
Of Pan-Hellenism
Our founders knew
Education was our key
To uplift and prosperity

Our leaders were trained
In Robert’s Rules of Order
And parliamentary procedures
To eventually elevate some
To the front of the bus
And the front of movements
Like Rosa Parks (AKA); Dr. Maya Angelou (AKA); Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Alpha); Ralph Abernathy (Kappa); Jesse Jackson (Omega)
That would and still is changing America for the better…
Your little chant: you had decades of practice with that,
Rap music didn’t fuel the venom we all heard,
You’re sorry: because before I-phones and YouTube
You would have never been caught
Big brother isn’t just watching you,
That video came from a disgusted brother
Of Sigma Alpha Epsilon
That whatever “ideals” you once taught
You completely jettisoned
In a fortnight of utter error
For the pleasure
Of slapping every African American
Across the face,
Just like 47 senators sending punk letters to Iranian Mullahs
To openly disrespect and deplore a sitting president
In support of perpetual war
Please counter now with “you use it too!”
We’re aware of that,
But yet, when our founders formed,
Their Pan-Hellenic
Respectability wasn’t just “politics,”
It was survival,
So, we have no songs to rival
The casual poison you at least had
For an impressive instance

ON BEAT

So, I repeat:
The “Divine Nine”: Alpha Phi Alpha (1906), Alpha Kappa Alpha (1908), Kappa Alpha Psi (1911), Omega Psi Phi (1911), Delta Sigma Theta (1913), Phi Beta Sigma (1914), Zeta Phi Beta (1920), Sigma Gamma Rho (1922) and Iota Phi Theta (1963)

Each were founded in the 20th Century,
Spanning the breath of Civil Rights history
From the lynching era, through Jim Crow to right before the Civil Rights (1964) and Voting Rights (1965) acts,
I already know you’re “lawyered up,” and will likely escape
The fate that canned a broadcaster at Univision
For daring to reference our lovely “let’s move” FLOTUS and “Planet of the Apes,”
You’ll be careful; measure your words;
And hope to God you’ve never again have to publically recant
And, no other turncoat brother of yours
Is present at your next racist chant!

An ironic motto...

S.W.E...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 15, 2015 at 10:55am

Society of Women's Engineers - About

Topics: Diversity in Science, Engineering, Science, Women in Science

The Society of Women's Engineers was established in 1950, and has over 30,000 members. For more than six decades, SWE has given women engineers a unique place and voice within the engineering industry. Our organization is centered around a passion for our members' success and continues to evolve with the challenges and opportunities reflected in today's exciting engineering and technology specialties.

We invite you to explore the values, principles, and priorities that guide our initiatives and learn how together, WE can continue to make a lasting impact on the future.

Site: Society of Women's Engineers: Aspire - Advance - Achieve

One Plus One Equals Three...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 15, 2015 at 10:52am

Guest blog post by Paul R. Zielinski, MS, MBA, Director, Technology Partnerships Office, National Institute of Standards and Technology & Chair, Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer

Topics: Economy, Industry, Investment, Jobs, NIST, Science, STEM

When you want a plant to grow, you provide water, light, and fertilizer. When you want an economy to grow you provide capital, labor, and innovation.

In today’s global markets, companies that don’t innovate generally don’t survive for long. To keep your current customers and earn new ones, you must continually look for ways to be faster, cheaper, better . . . or all three.

At the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) we specialize in helping industry find those “Wow!” innovation ideas that create jobs and raise everyone’s standard of living.

Commerce.gov: Lab to Market: When One Plus One Equals Three

Dr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 14, 2015 at 8:52am

Image Source: NobelPrize.org

Topics: Biology, HIV, HPV, Nobel Prize, Physiology, Medicine. Women in Science

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008

Born: 30 July 1947, Paris, France

Affiliation at the time of the award: Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit, Virology Department, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

Prize motivation: "for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus"

Field: disease transmission, immunity, virology

Prize share: Harald zur Hausen and Luc Montagnier

awarded to Harald zur Hausen "for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer" (HPV), the other half jointly to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier "for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus" (HIV).

Nobel Lecture

HIV: a Discovery Opening the Road to Novel Scientific Achievements and Global Health Improvement

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi - Interview

"Françoise Barré-Sinoussi - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 14 Mar 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2008/barre-sinoussi-facts.html

Pi Day and Einstein...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 14, 2015 at 8:48am

We're wearing them!

Topics: Blerd, Circle, Circumference, Geek, Geometry, Math, Nerd, Pi Day

...and yes as you can see, we have our official T-shirts!

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159.

Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. As an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. While only a handful of digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.

Ultimate nerd out: It's Albert Einstein's birthday! It's also the 100th anniversary of the General Theory of Relativity, that led to the discovery of Black Holes. Trivia: Black Holes was a subject - like quantum mechanics he couldn't bring himself to believe in, though his work contributed to both.

Info from Celebration Site: PiDay.org
Biography.com: Fascinating Facts About Pi Day & Birthday Boy Albert Einstein
NBC News Weird Science: Pi Day Hits a Milestone, Alan Boyle

Hypatia Revisited...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 13, 2015 at 7:39am

Topics: Cosmos, Diversity in Science, History, Hypatia, Women in Science

This is Women's History Month and a re-post year-to-day with some edits and updated commentary. Hypatia also appears on the link 17 Game Changers (you'd have to click the link at the bottom, and scroll down).

I dedicate this to all the young women, in math, martial arts and physics I've had the honor of teaching...hold fast to your dreams!

Source: http://wizewomon.blogspot.com/2011/12/hypatia-womon-of-note.html

Hypatia (pronounced "hi-pay-see-a"): I read her name in the book Cosmos that I downloaded to my Kindle. I looked at the "old school" Cosmos show where Carl Sagan mentions her (starts at 3:25), and her sad fate. She's described as mathematician, astronomer, physicist, philosopher, quite lovely apparently and driver of her own chariot! She was a beloved teacher and by social practice a celibate, no doubt frustrating potential suitors of her day.

Interestingly as I had predicted to some casually offline at the time, Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey had its detractors of the "young Earth" - humans with dinosaurs (think "The Flintstones") - faux debate between Evolution and so-called Intelligent Design variety. The odd and breathtaking display of hypocrisy in most of the trolls taking to the Internet - notably in 140 misspelled characters or less - created by the very science and modern physics they rail against; supporting pseudoscience in their destructive wake. As constituents, they are played by opportunistic politicians preying on their fears (science, climate change) for votes; the same who apparently have no inkling of how diplomacy is accomplished in the modern era. The backlash to their latest stunt comes from a usually friendly source. Through now quite obvious, overt bigotry, we are a living cartoon; a byword, a caricature of a former democratic republic: a reliable punchline on The Daily Show.

A certain part of the regressive reptilian portion of our minds attacks instinctively that which we think challenges our belief systems - and thus "us". Time and again, we've seen the razing of cities, the flaying of martyrs, the murder of not only the person, but new ideas that would take the species forward. This of course, all for adherence to a dogma. Supposedly through evangelism, it is meant as a "sell," and thus adherence is voluntary - zealotry and fanaticism turns it involuntary; totalitarian. Authoritarianism becomes our governance and its dogmatic ruling class the thought police. Sadly, I can't help but think if part of the mob that set upon Hypatia and ended her life so tragically were peopled by members of her own gender, suffering from what would in the 20th century gain the name "Stockholm Syndrome."

I often fear intolerance will rear its ugly head again and plunge us all over the abyss with it, as it did Alexandria, Egypt (this time, we won't just lose a library). They executed Hypatia...for the "crime" of thinking critically and independently of the lordship of patriarchal society. The saying goes "teach a woman and you teach a generation." The library, like Hypatia, soon expired after her forced passing. As Dr. Sagan states above, we "must not let it happen again."

For the sake of civilization's continuance, and the so-called "weaker sex" that nature favors to outlive men in a pompous, male-centered society: can we?

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, also known as George Santayana

On The Dot...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 13, 2015 at 7:35am

Physicists in Finland and Russia have shown how graphene quantum dots can be used to split Cooper pairs. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/Mopic)

Topics: Cooper Pairs, Graphene, Modern Physics, Superconductivity, Quantum Computers, Quantum Mechanics

Superconducting "Cooper pairs" of electrons have been split to create entangled pairs of electrons in a new device built by physicists in Finland and Russia. The device employs two quantum dots made of graphene. Although other types of quantum dots have been used for this purpose, the latest research suggests that graphene quantum dots should deliver long-lived entangled electron pairs that could be used in quantum computers.

Entanglement is a quantum-mechanical phenomenon in which properties of fundamental particles are correlated so that making a measurement on one particle can instantaneously affect another particle – even across very large distances. In principle, a quantum computer can use this connectedness to perform certain calculations much faster than a conventional computer. Although practical quantum computers do not exist today, some potential designs involve using the intrinsic angular momenta, or "spin", of electrons as quantum bits (qubits) of information that can be entangled.

Superconductors provide a ready source of entangled electrons because the Cooper pairs that allow these materials to conduct electricity with little or no resistance are in fact entangled pairs of electrons with opposite spin. Splitting the pairs while preserving the electrons' entanglement can be done simply by connecting ordinary metal wires to either end of the superconductor. If the set-up is just right, each wire will carry away one electron from a pair. However, it is more often the case that both electrons will end up going down the same wire.

Physics World: Graphene quantum dots split Cooper pairs, Edwin Cartlidge

Dr. Ada E. Yonath...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 12, 2015 at 6:57am

Source: NobelPrize.org

Topics: Biology, Chemistry, Nobel Prize, Research, STEM, Women in Science

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome".

Born: 22 June 1939, Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel)

Affiliation at the time of the award: Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

Field: biochemistry, structural chemistry

I shared a rented, four-room apartment with two additional families and their children. My memories from my childhood are centered on my father's medical conditions alongside my constant desire to understand the principles of the nature around me. The hard conditions didn't dampen my curiosity. Already at five, I was already investigating the world. In one of my experiments, I tried to measure the height of our tiny balcony using the furniture from inside the apartment. I put a table on another table, and then a chair and a stool on top, but I did not reach the ceiling. Hence, I climbed up on my construct, fell down to the back yard on the ground floor and broke my arm ... Incidentally, the results of this experiment are still unknown, since the current tenants in the apartment have remodeled the ceiling.

Dr. Ada E. Yonath - Interview

"Ada E. Yonath - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 12 Mar 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2009/yonath-facts.html

A Tougher Quantum Computer...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 12, 2015 at 6:53am

This photograph of the quantum-computing device shows the nine superconducting qubits arranged in a row. The qubits interact with their nearest neighbours to detect and correct errors. (Courtesy: Julian Kelly)

Topics: Modern Physics, Nanotechnology, Quantum Computer, Quantum Mechanics

A system of nine quantum bits (qubits) that is robust to errors that would normally destroy a quantum computation has been created by researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and Google. The device relies on a quantum error-correction protocol, which the team says could be deployed in practical quantum computers of the future.

In principle, powerful quantum computers can be built from a collection of qubits. For a qubit based on an electron, for example, these states would be "spin up" and "spin down", with one state representing a logical "1" and the other "0". Each qubit can be in a superposition of two quantum states at the same time and N qubits could be quantum-mechanically entangled to represent 2N values simultaneously. This would lead to the parallel processing of information on a massive scale not possible with conventional computers.

However, quantum computers are extremely fragile, and a computation can be easily destroyed by "bit errors" that occur when external noise in the environment affects the values of the qubits. While it is proving very difficult to create practical qubits that are robust enough to eliminate such errors, an alternative approach is to accept that errors will occur and to try to correct for them as the quantum calculation progresses.

Now, UCSB's John Martinis and colleagues have taken an important step forward by demonstrating repetitive error correction in an integrated quantum device that consists of nine superconducting qubits. Each qubit is a small circuit consisting of a capacitor and a Josephson junction, and is made from an aluminium film evaporated onto a sapphire substrate. The qubit can be thought of as an artificial atom with information stored in its quantum states.

Physics World: How to make a tougher quantum computer, Belle Dumé, nanotechweb.org

17 Game Changers...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 11, 2015 at 7:49am

Topics: Astrophysics, Dark Matter, Diversity in Science, Nobel Prize, Women in Science

Two who advanced what we know about astrophysics:

And, one so familiar and deep cover, she was literally "hidden in plain sight":

From discovering pulsars to correcting the optics of the fuzzy Hubble Space Telescope, here are 17 stories of women who made undeniably vital contributions to astronomy and physics.

Popist: These 17 Women Changed The Face Of Physics, Mika McKinnon

In 180 Days...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 11, 2015 at 7:45am

Topics: Aeronautical Engineering, Flight, Green Energy, Green Tech, Solar Power

A pioneering flight around the world will use nothing but sunshine for fuel. In the dusty peach dawn of a desert day, the Solar Impulse 2 airplane took flight at 11:12 PM Eastern time on March 8 from Abu Dhabi on the first leg of a bid to fly around the world exclusively powered by electricity generated from sunlight.

The primary structural component is carbon-fiber sheets that weigh just 25 grams per square meter, or roughly three times lighter than a similar sized piece of paper. That carbon fiber is used sparingly in structural spots where forces push on the airplane. But the interior of the wings, the fuselage and other areas are empty to save even that tiny bit of weight, co-pilot Bertrand Piccard explained to Scientific American.

Atop those wings, as well as the body and even the tail of the plane, are 17,248 solar cells as thin as a human hair that generate electricity as the plane flies, some of which is stored in four lithium polymer batteries. Those batteries take over powering the plane’s four electric motors at night, which spin the two propellers under each wing. All told the plane weighs 2,300 kilograms and the four batteries are the heaviest passengers, weighing in at 633 kilograms. Making the plane required 12 years of calculations, computer simulations, building and testing, according to Piccard, and some $140 million.

Scientific American:
Solar Plane Takes Flight to Circle Globe in 180 Days [in Photos], David Biello
Site: Solar Impulse
You Tube: Solar Impulse Channel

Dr. Carol W. Greider...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 11, 2015 at 7:41am

Image Source: NobelPrize.org

An admitted repeat, but I didn't want to just list her as a mere name during Women's History Month. I am grateful for her and subsequent research by Dr. Blackburn's regarding telomere length and aging in African American men.

Topics: Biology, Genetics, Nobel Prize, Research, STEM, Women in Science

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009

Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase".

This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to three scientists who have solved a major problem in biology: how the chromosomes can be copied in a complete way during cell divisions and how they are protected against degradation. The Nobel Laureates have shown that the solution is to be found in the ends of the chromosomes – the telomeres – and in an enzyme that forms them – telomerase.

The long, thread-like DNA molecules that carry our genes are packed into chromosomes, the telomeres being the caps on their ends. Elizabeth Blackburn and Jack Szostak discovered that a unique DNA sequence in the telomeres protects the chromosomes from degradation. Carol Greider and Elizabeth Blackburn identified telomerase, the enzyme that makes telomere DNA. These discoveries explained how the ends of the chromosomes are protected by the telomeres and that they are built by telomerase.

If the telomeres are shortened, cells age. Conversely, if telomerase activity is high, telomere length is maintained, and cellular senescence is delayed. This is the case in cancer cells, which can be considered to have eternal life. Certain inherited diseases, in contrast, are characterized by a defective telomerase, resulting in damaged cells. The award of the Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of a fundamental mechanism in the cell, a discovery that has stimulated the development of new therapeutic strategies.

"The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 7 Mar 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2009/

National Institute of Health:
Discrimination, racial bias, and telomere length in African-American men.
Chae DH1, Nuru-Jeter AM2, Adler NE3, Brody GH4, Lin J5, Blackburn EH5, Epel ES3.

The Limit as it Approaches...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 9, 2015 at 7:48am

Topics: Bias, Diversity in Science, Education, STEM, Women in Science

This is a re-post from 2012 whose title I didn't quite explain: "the limit as it approaches" is a term in Calculus - helped to co-develop by Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz to define The Derivative; Leibniz's impact was Integration. The point of the article in Physics Today I think is still three years hence quite relevant, as well as PT's own Calculus social reference.

South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement

Harvard Theoretical Physicist Dr. Lisa Randall

PHYSICS TODAY: Of all the sciences in the US, physics continues to have the lowest representation of women. Currently, women earn just 21% of bachelor’s degrees and 17% of PhDs in the field. Discourse about women in physics often centers on representation, and the unspoken assumption seems to be that if the representation of women were to increase to some higher level, all would be well. However, the focus on representation obscures important issues and ignores the day-to-day experiences of women physicists.

In fact, women physicists could be the majority in some hypothetical future yet still in their careers experience problems that stem from often unconscious bias. After all, science, and especially physical science, is seen by many cultures as a primarily male domain. But do women actually experience problems in their day-to-day work as physicists? Do they have equal access to opportunities and resources? If not, how does that inequity affect their careers? If harmful, sex-based differences of access exist, then those of us who care about the situation of women in physics need to come up with a solution that encompasses more than just increasing female representation.

I had the pleasure of being educated by Dr. Elvira Williams at North Carolina A and T State University. She was the fourth African American female awarded a PhD in physics in the United States, specifically Condensed Matter-Diffusion Physics, from Howard University (she's third from the bottom of this list). She last taught at Shaw University.

Dr. Elvira Williams: Cambridge Who's Who

I'm proud and honored to have studied General Physics II and Electromagnetic Field Theory from her.

Physics Today: Women in Physics: A Tale of Limits

Dr. Elizabeth H. Blackburn...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 8, 2015 at 10:58am

Image Source: NobelPrize.org

Topics: Biology, Genetics, Nobel Prize, Research, STEM, Women in Science

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009

Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase".

This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to three scientists who have solved a major problem in biology: how the chromosomes can be copied in a complete way during cell divisions and how they are protected against degradation. The Nobel Laureates have shown that the solution is to be found in the ends of the chromosomes – the telomeres – and in an enzyme that forms them – telomerase.

The long, thread-like DNA molecules that carry our genes are packed into chromosomes, the telomeres being the caps on their ends. Elizabeth Blackburn and Jack Szostak discovered that a unique DNA sequence in the telomeres protects the chromosomes from degradation. Carol Greider and Elizabeth Blackburn identified telomerase, the enzyme that makes telomere DNA. These discoveries explained how the ends of the chromosomes are protected by the telomeres and that they are built by telomerase.

If the telomeres are shortened, cells age. Conversely, if telomerase activity is high, telomere length is maintained, and cellular senescence is delayed. This is the case in cancer cells, which can be considered to have eternal life. Certain inherited diseases, in contrast, are characterized by a defective telomerase, resulting in damaged cells. The award of the Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of a fundamental mechanism in the cell, a discovery that has stimulated the development of new therapeutic strategies.

"The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 7 Mar 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2009/

National Institute of Health:
Discrimination, racial bias, and telomere length in African-American men.
Chae DH1, Nuru-Jeter AM2, Adler NE3, Brody GH4, Lin J5, Blackburn EH5, Epel ES3.

Amelia Boynton...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 7, 2015 at 9:40am

Source: Biography.com

Dicebat Bernardus Carnotensis nos esse quasi nanos gigantium humeris insidentes, ut possimus plura eis et remotiora videre, non utique proprii visus acumine, aut eminentia corporis, sed quia in altum subvehimur et extollimur magnitudine gigantea.

Translation: Bernard of Chartres used to say that we were like dwarfs seated on the shoulders of giants. If we see more and further than they, it is not due to our own clear eyes or tall bodies, but because we are raised on high and upborne by their gigantic bigness. John of Salisbury, Wikiquote

Topics: Bloody Sunday, Civil Rights, Soldier, Voting Rights, Women's Rights

I knew I wanted to talk about this hero on the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. The president will speak today in Alabama, and I would presume some part of his commentary will mention her particular shoulders (like my sister's) that stood up for one like me when I was just learning to walk. Going backwards, as I've stated, violates causality and the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. It is better to go forward, together, lifted on shoulders that pushed us all here. She and many others, made our foray on astronautics at NASA; education and engineering; sports and politics up to and now inclusive of the presidency possible. The conditions were not as ubiquitous nor taken for granted as they are today. Thus, we have a generation that believes in magic; that neglecting the sacrifices of the past will have no impact on the present; that their rights taken for granted will always be there if they don't act upon them. There wouldn't be an effort at Voter ID for a non-problem, if your voice made no difference; had no impact.

Civil rights activist Amelia Boynton helped Martin Luther King Jr. plan the Selma to Montgomery March on Bloody Sunday, which led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Amelia Boynton was born on August 18, 1911, in Savannah, Georgia. Her early activism included holding black voter registration drives in Selma, Alabama, from the 1930s through the '50s. In 1964, she became both the first African-American woman and the first female Democratic candidate to run for a seat in Congress from Alabama. The following year, she marched on Bloody Sunday. In 1990, Boynton won the Martin Luther King Jr. Medal of Freedom. Today, she tours on behalf of the Schiller Institute.

Also in 1964, Boynton and fellow civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. teamed up toward their common goals. At the time, Boynton figured largely as an activist in Selma. Still dedicated to securing suffrage for African Americans, she asked Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to come to Selma and help promote the cause. King eagerly accepted. Soon after, he and the SCLC set up their headquarters at Boynton's Selma home. There, they planned the Selma to Montgomery March of March 7, 1965.

Some 600 protesters arrived to participate in the event, which would come to be known as "Bloody Sunday." On the Edmund Pettus Bridge, over the Alabama River in Selma, marchers were attacked by policemen with tear gas and billy clubs. Seventeen protesters were sent to the hospital, including Boynton, who had been beaten unconscious. A newspaper photo of Boynton lying bloody and beaten drew national attention to the cause. Bloody Sunday prompted President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965, with Boynton attending as the landmark event's guest of honor.

Biography.com: Amelia Boynton, Civil Rights Activist

Dr. May-Britt Moser...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 6, 2015 at 8:01am

Image Source: Nobel Prize link below

Topics: Biology, Diversity in Science, Medicine, Nobel Prize, STEM, Women in Science

Born: 4 January 1963, Fosnavåg, Norway

Affiliation at the time of the award: Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

Prize motivation: "for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain"

Field: physiology, spatial behavior

"May-Britt Moser - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 3 Mar 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2014/may-britt-moser-facts.html

Dr. Nadya Mason...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 5, 2015 at 7:27am

Mayer Mason

Topics: Carbon Nanotubes, Diversity in Science, Nanotechnology, Women in Science

Dr. Nadya Mason

University of Illinois, repost: 2012 Maria Goeppert Mayer Prize recipient

Citation:

"For innovative experiments that elucidate the electronic interactions and correlations in low-dimensional systems, in particular the use of local gates and tunnel probes to control and measure the electronic states in carbon nanotubes and graphene."

Additional note: The first photograph of a Maria Goeppert Mayor Prize recipient seems to be in 1996 with Dr. Majorie Ann Olmstead, most likely made a part of the site as society got comfortable with the Internet, advances in tools and what could be posted. The prize has been awarded by APS since 1986: "To recognize and enhance outstanding achievement by a woman physicist in the early years of her career, and to provide opportunities for her to present these achievements to others through public lectures in the spirit of Maria Goeppert Mayer." Dr. Mason seems to be - at first brush of the site - the first African American woman awarded this honor.

I attended her talk at the NSBP conference in Austin, Texas. Nobel Prize next, Dr. Mason!

NobelPrize.org: Maria Goeppert Mayer Biography

Dr. Maria Goeppert Mayer....

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 4, 2015 at 6:39am

Dr. Maria Goeppert Mayer, Nobel Laureate

Topics: Diversity, Nobel Prize, Nuclear Physics, Women in Science

Born: 28 June 1906, Kattowitz (now Katowice), Germany (now Poland)

Died: 20 February 1972, San Diego, CA, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: University of California, La Jolla, CA, USA

Prize motivation: "for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure"

Maria Goeppert Mayer was born on June 28, 1906, in Kattowitz, Upper Silesia, then Germany, the only child of Friedrich Goeppert and his wife Maria, nee Wolff. On her father's side, she is the seventh straight generation of university professors.

She went to private and public schools in Göttingen and had the great fortune to have very good teachers. It somehow was never discussed, but taken for granted by her parents as well as by herself that she would go to the University. Yet, at that time it was not trivially easy for a woman to do so. In Göttingen there was only a privately endowed school which prepared girls for the "abitur", the entrance examination for the university. This school closed its doors during the inflation, but the teachers continued to give instructions to the pupils. Maria Goeppert finally took the abitur examination in Hannover, in 1924, being examined by teachers she had never seen in her life.

Maria Goeppert Mayer - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 3 Mar 2015. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1963/mayer-facts.html

Maria Goeppert Mayer Award

To recognize and enhance outstanding achievement by a woman physicist in the early years of her career, and to provide opportunities for her to present these achievements to others through public lectures in the spirit of Maria Goeppert Mayer. The award consists of $2,500 plus a $4,000 travel allowance to provide opportunities for the recipient to give lectures in her field of physics at four institutions and at the meeting of the Society at which the award is bestowed and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient. The award will be presented annually.

American Physical Society: Maria Goeppert Mayer Award

Karen Torrejon...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 3, 2015 at 7:06am

Still from You Tube

Not sure where she is in the process, but hopefully she's close to completion if not already a PhD. There is no reason at all that there aren't more women in STEM fields except for bias and discouragement along their matriculation K-12 and post secondary. See last month's post: STEM and Other Biases. There are certain things we should discourage, as in our current obsession with living the lives of "reality TV stars," and encourage more of this. Otherwise, as I said in the post, we're shooting ourselves collectively in the foot, and wondering how the hole got there!

CNSE: College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering