#physics department

[ridingonroses]

My physics department... lol someone put this beauty in the head of the department’s office as a joke, and he proceeded to bring it into the lab, put it on an optics table, and say “oh yes! It looks so nice there!” And then walked away... 😂

[oberlincollegelibraries]

Book Pocket Card Sleuthing Leads to a (tenuous) Oberlin-Einstein Connection

Once upon a time, libraries relied on paper cards to record circulation transactions.  At Oberlin College Libraries, these cards were tucked inside pockets glued to the inner back cover of each volume, hence the term pocket cards.  A patron could check-out a book by signing their name to the pocket card, and library staff would file the card away until the book’s safe return.  It’s been decades since we followed this procedure, but many of our older books (notably those from the old Physics Reading Room) still have the pocket cards, providing a glimpse of long-past scholars.

The pocket card for the book Light visible and invisible; a series of lectures delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, at Christmas, 1896, caught the attention of Science Library Associate Jennifer Schreiner, who noted that the signature of  “Prof. St. John” had only a check-out date with no year indicated.  Curious, she decided to learn more about C. E. St. John (as a later signature indicated) and when the book was borrowed.

A bit of searching lead to the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System  and an obituary for Charles Edward St. John in the December 1935 issue of Popular Astronomy.  The obituary was written by Alfred H. Joy.  Could this be “Alf Joy” - the very first signature on the same library pocket card? Yes, indeed. More research showed the two men each had extraordinary careers.

As noted in the obituary and confirmed in the Physics Department files in the Oberlin College Archives, St. John was the Chair of the Oberlin College Physics and Astronomy department from 1897-1908.  St. John also served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Chairman of the Oberlin College Athletic Committee, in which capacity he helped found the Ohio Athletic Conference, the second oldest collegiate athletic conference in the country.  He is credited with establishing the practice of individual laboratory work for physics students, and relished teaching upper level courses.  Much beloved by students, St. John was known for his intense concentration, to the point of being oblivious to his immediate surroundings.  Once, when riding his bicycle across campus, he bowled over College President Henry Churchill King, causing considerable damage to the president’s high silk hat.  

After leaving Oberlin College,  St. John began a research career at the Mount WIlson Observatory where he worked alongside both George Ellery Hale and Edwin Hubble.   Hale and St. John assisted Albert Einstein with calculations to help prove the theory of relativity.  St. John’s research career is impressive and vast, including publication of 80 research papers during a 30 year period that began when he was in his fifties.  His primary work involved spectroscopic investigations of the sun. The moon crater St. John?  Named after him!   Several years after St. John’s passing, the National Academy of Sciences published his biographical memoir.  Photos of St. John with Albert Einstein: http://access.cjh.org/928695 and http://access.cjh.org/875294

“Alf” Joy, the devoted student who wrote the wonderful tribute in Popular Astronomy and the first to borrow Light Visible and Invisible, came to Oberlin College in 1903-04 to earn his Master’s degree in Physics.  In 1910, Joy was the first astronomer to photograph Halley’s Comet.  He later worked with St. John at the Mount Wilson Observatory.  In his nearly 40 years at Mount Wilson, Joy and his colleagues ascertained the spectral type, absolute magnitude, and stellar distance of over 5,000 stars.  In 1950, Joy was awarded the prestigious Bruce Medal for his lifetime achievements in the field of astronomy.  Access the photo of Joy at http://photoarchive.lib.uchicago.edu/

--Thanks to Jennifer Schreiner for researching and writing this post, edited by Alison Ricker

[espacey]

Perceptional+Bases Huddy (Stienheader) - Load as Extended/Extra

Perceptional+Bases Huddy (Stienheader) – Load as Extended/Extra

Perceptional+Bases Huddy Library Catalogues [ Pickup ]:[+] Perceptional+Bases Huddy Librarians [ Pickup ]:[+] Perceptional+Bases Huddy Repositories [ Pickup ]:[+] Perceptional+Bases Huddy TRXAYE Public Key [ Click Here ]:[+] Perceptional+Bases Huddy Signature+Sign [ Pickup ]:[+] Perceptional+Bases Huddy Peering Networks [ Pickup ]:[+] Perceptional+Bases Huddy Pairing Networks [ Pickup ]:[+] Percep…

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[onceuponanaromantic]

so @a-blue-hoodie and I were just talking about the science departments at our school because i swear to fuck bio has to get the weirdest shit for practicals

chem: generic and understandable physics: generally understandable, occasionally odd bio: oddly specific and wildly inconvenient

Chem?? legit sounding chemicals aha yes of course chem it must be sure sure put in the hydrochloric acid and the sodium hydroxide

Physics: ok so you need the string alright we get it u can use it again next year too right and yes of course replacing a couple of magnets is no big deal it’s fine

Bio. *hauling 1000 of one very specific flower and 1256 quail eggs up 4 flights of stairs* NO WE NEED THESE WE SWEAR WE REALLY NEED THESE NO DON’T ASK WHY *fish flops out of crate on the way up* ‘WE NEED THAT FISH TOO. AND THAT OTHER FISH. AND THE OTHER ONE’ ‘YES WE REALLY NEED VERY SPECIFICALLY UNRIPE TOMATOES YES WE KNOW WE NEED TO CALL THIS SINGULAR FARM IN MALAYSIA FOR THEM WE NEED THOSE TOMATOES’

[scitechman]

MSU Scientists Have Grown Diamond Needle and Thread-like Forms and Examined Their Beneficial Properties

MSU Scientists Have Grown Diamond Needle and Thread-like Forms and Examined Their Beneficial Properties

Staff at the Physics Department of Moscow State University have described the structural features of micron diamond crystals needle-like or filamentous shape and their interaction with fluorescent characteristics and efficiency of field emission. The luminescent properties of such needle diamond crystals can be used in various types of sensors, quantum-optical devices can be used to create the…

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[davidrussellschilling]

Physics Lab Fits in Your Pocket

Physics Lab Fits in Your Pocket

See up to 10 related YouTube videos at end. C O N T E N T S: KEY TOPICS Students study in a physics lab on the Michigan Tech campus.(More…) “We take the familiar and make it unfamiliar,” said Chris DiScenza, host and co-director of the Physics Bus, a rolling science education lab designed to generate excitement among kids.(More…) It gets a tumbling laugh to rattle, stuffy, from her chest and…

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[lochnessbeastie]

You can tell my university is an important place of learning because they have a tank of liquid nitrogen specially labelled 'for food use only'. Yes, this expensive and scientifically interesting material, we mostly use that for making icecream.

[kepler-cant-game]

"Nice shot! I'm not sure if you made it. If you did, I'm not sarcastic and if you missed I totally am"

Fellow physics major