I recently saw this picture of a blackboard:
It was the blackboard of Richard Feynman, at the time of his death in 1988. On the upper right side there is a list of subjects, with the heading “To Learn”.
Richard Feynman was an inspiration to me as a young physics student long ago. He still is.
My annotated Gaeileoirí is now current, although it is a long way from being a full translation.
After a long pause I have been reading more in Julian Havil’s Gamma, which I mentioned a couple months ago.
On the bus going home tonight I worked through Euler’s original solution of the Basel problem. I was just stunned by how clever that was.
This original solution was somewhat lacking in mathematical rigor–more like the sort of thing a physicist would do :-)> So I appreciated it all the more. Euler later went back and produced a rigorous version.
Irish class, March 24, 2008
We spent most of the first hour on conversation.
Alessandra Celletti and Ettore Perozzi, Celestial Mechanics: The Waltz of the Planets. This is a semi-popular look at one of my old and persistent interests. Very little math, but a lot of graphs and terminology. It includes the traditional subjects, e.g. tidal forces, the discovery of Neptune, Delaunay’s lunar theory, and the stability of the solar system. but the emphasis is on modern developments, e.g.
A unifying theme is the importance of resonant orbits. For example, Neptune makes three orbits around the Sun in about the same number of years as Pluto makes two. This is not a coincidence.
Recommended for those with some general knowledge of astronomy.
(OK, I have a twisted mind)
THE CRUDDIEST MOMENT OF THE CRAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE ON EARTH happened as I found myself watching five televisions simultaneously, each containing a different political pundit opining on the same subject. When I looked down toward my computer screen to see what the bloggers were saying about it, I noticed that a button on my shirt had come undone.
The beginning of Cruel and Usual Punishment. Via the Inverse Square Blog
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 