The astronomical unit (AU), which Nature News calls “the rough distance from the Earth to the Sun” and Wikipedia refers to as “the average distance between the Earth and the Sun (roughly speaking)”, has been defined as fixed at 149,597,870,700 metres. This standard was adopted by unanimous vote at the International Astronomical Union’s meeting in Beijing in August 2012.
You're reading: Posts By Peter Rowlett
- Bill Thurston has died
- A glider on an aperiodic cellular automaton exists! (and the alternative glider Tim Hutton posted on Google+)
- Knitty spiked icosahedron
- Puzzlebomb – September 2012
- Matt Parker needs help building a domino computer
Mathblogging.org ‘Mathematical Instruments’: interviews with mathematical bloggers
The Mathblogging.org blog has a new series of posts, ‘Mathematical Instruments’, highlighting mathematical bloggers. The posts take the form of an interview in which the subject answers questions about their blog and blogging in general. The first post explains that this will
let bloggers tell you a little bit about themselves. We call it “Mathematical Instruments” because we see blogging as a valuable addition to the toolbox for research and education. But it is still fairly new and sometimes gets overlooked or dismissed by people who don’t know what to use it for.
The idea of these short interviews is that we can learn a little more about how this instrument can be used, and meet some of the people who are already using it.
The first two are Igor Carron of Nuit Blanche and Izabella Laba of The Accidental Mathematician.
Source and more posts (in time): Mathematical Instruments.
Higgs boson discovery passes peer review
The discovery of the Higgs boson, which “completes the standard model [of particle physics]” according to New Scientist, has passed peer review. Two papers, from the two experiments which each contributed to the discovery, have been published in Volume 716, Issue 1 (17 September 2012) of Physics Letters B, the same journal as Peter Higgs’ original paper which proposed the existence of a “mass-giving boson”. Despite declaring the standard model complete, the New Scientist piece says it is “lacking” and welcomes “the hunt for new physics”. Both papers are “Universally Available” at Science Direct (links below).
Source: Higgs boson gets peer-review seal of approval (New Scientist).
Papers:
Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC (ATLAS Collaboration, 2012, Physics Letters B, 1-29);
Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC (CMS Collaboration, 2012, Physics Letters B, 30-61).
Math/Maths 111: A Domino Computer on a Penrose Tiling
A new episode of the Math/Maths Podcast has been released.
A conversation about mathematics between the UK and USA from Pulse-Project.org. This week Samuel and Peter spoke about: Making Heisenberg more Certain; Matt Parker’s domino computer challenge; Turing Machine on a Penrose tiling automata; Bletchley Park Bombe hut restoration; Turing Monopoly; Measuring Women’s Progress in Mathematics; Mochizuki on ABC; Google Earth Fractals; and more.
Get this episode: Math/Maths 111: A Domino Computer on a Penrose Tiling
Aperiodcast – 09/09/2012
Leaves are falling, a chilly wind is blowing and I can hear the distant thunder of undergrads’ hooves as they stampede towards my department. Yes, Summer is giving way to Autumn, so it’s time for another Aperiodcast. If you had “42 days” in the “when will the next Aperiodcast appear” sweepstake, report to the comments section below for your prize.
In this episode Peter and Christian were enjoying the comforts of their respective homes, while Katie was preparing to be sawn in half by a crazed Matt Parker at the British Science Festival. We talked about:
As always, we’re keen to hear about your mathematical exploits at root@aperiodical.com, and you still have eight days to submit items for the 90th Carnival of Mathematics, which you can do through our form.
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The Bletchley Circle: codebreaking thriller on ITV1
ITV will show a new period drama called The Bletchley Circle from Thursday 6th September at 9pm on ITV1. According to the Milton Keynes Citizen, the story “follows the lives of four fictional women whose brilliant work at Bletchley Park during WWII helped to smash codes used by the German military.”
Susan, Millie, Lucy and Jean are back living normal lives, but behind Susan’s conventional exterior as a 1950s housewife and mother is a steely determination that really shouldn’t be under-estimated.
The unresolved murders of Jane Hart and Patricia Oakes bring Susan’s detective skills to the fore once more, and armed with handwritten charts of numbers, dates and times, she spots a pattern of behaviour that no-one else has seen…
The Milton Keynes Citizen quotes Laura Mackie, part of the ITV Drama Commissioning team, saying “The Bletchley Circle combines a vivid portrait of post-war Britain with a taut and original codebreaking thriller”. Here’s a very short trailer for the show:
Source: More drama at Bletchley Park! – Milton Keynes Citizen.
More info: The Bletchley Circle on ITV.com
Ri grants for UK schools mathematics enrichment activity
The Royal Institution of Great Britain are offering 72 grants of up to £500 for schools for mathematics enrichment activity. These are available to UK teachers of mathematics to primary or secondary aged pupils to support activities from the STEM Directories, a list of enrichment schemes, in the 2012-2013 academic year.
‘Enrichment’ is activity that is relevant to the subject being taught but that doesn’t directly address the curriculum – for example, through more depth, a broader coverage or additional subject areas. Grants will be allocated in two stages. Applications to round 1 close on Wednesday 26 September 2012 and round 2 on Friday 30 November 2012. The grants are funded by The Clothworkers’ Foundation.
More information: The Royal Institution of Great Britain Grants (NCETM).