Thursday, May 14, 2009

Big day for humanity


My blog is about stuttering, but I can't help blogging about my excitement on the launch of two revolutionary satellites that will change our understanding of the universe, especially its origin, structure and future. If all goes according to plan, of course! I am talking about Herschel and Planck from the European Space Agency. Herschel is the biggest ever telescope sent into orbit and will exceed Hubble's capacities, which have already awed us with amazing pictures and the age of the universe (13.7 billion years). (Hubble is currently being repaired, and will provide even more detailed pictures.) Planck is even more exciting as it studies the remnants of the big bang, the micro-wave background radition from 380'000 years after the inflation of the universe started. By its unprecedingly precise measurements, candidate models for the unification of all laws of physics will fall or survive. A great day for European science. And we should not forget that the Large Hardon Collider is going on-line in a few months giving us an even finer view on the structure of matter.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We may very well be living in the golden age of physics and cosmology. The Planck satellite is really exciting. It will give unprecedented resolution of the CMB anisotropies, which will improve our understanding of the make up of the universe, and also give us a better understanding of the nature of the inflation period (if it really happened) by detecting primordial gravitational waves.
When the LHC re-starts later this year, it might eventually find Higgs, WIMPs, and maybe some little unforeseen surprises.
All these experiments may well cause a paradigm shift in the way we see our universe. Now, if only a paradigm shift can occur in the world of stuttering research.

MJ said...

Hey Anon,

What paradigm shift are you talking about? What do you want stuttering researchers to do?

I think someone should try to give the curse/gift of stuttering to Bill Gates' kids....so he and his wife will give $$$$$ to stuttering research. How, I don't know? Stuttering is not contagious...is it?

Anonymous said...

Rex,

Which blog is better: http://
science-professor.blogspot.com/

or this one?

(this is the situation with stuttering researchers vs. Big time, big Mondy, real Science researchers)

No Stuttering Scientists in the National Academy of Sciences....