Author Archives: Jon Butterworth

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About Jon Butterworth

UCL Physics prof, works on LHC, writes (books, Cosmic Shambles and elsewhere). Citizen of England, UK, Europe & Nowhere, apparently.

Scientific research and the European Union

Posted on 20/05/2013 by Jon Butterworth

What effect does European Union membership have on science and research? And what would it mean if the UK left? Read more at the Guardian. This also features the pear-shaped nuclei which I wrote about in Nature.

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Is there any such thing as “nothing”?

Posted on 12/05/2013 by Jon Butterworth

That’s a question I got on twitter just now after the Feynman gig from @elainepixie. I said (broken down into 140 character chunks): One definition of “nothing” is “vacuum”, by which physicists mean “lowest energy state”. That exists. But in … Continue reading →

Posted in Particle Physics, Philosophy, Physics, Science | Tagged | 1 Comment

Feynman: his birthday, his diagrams and his lectures

Posted on 12/05/2013 by Jon Butterworth

Yesterday was the 95th anniversary of the birth of Richard Feynman, one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. An excuse for an unusual party At the Guardian. See also Chapter 8.3 of Smashing Physics.

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There is no alternative!

Posted on 04/05/2013 by Jon Butterworth

By Michael Krämer at the Guardian.

Posted in Philosophy, Science | Comments Off on There is no alternative!