Dr. Christopher Bird

March 21, 2014 - With the end of classes fast approaching, I have been receiving a number of requests for tutoring services. Although I am busy this year, I will be doing some online tutoring and possibly some group sessions if students are interested (it will be up to the students themselves to form groups and find a suitable location for these sessions).

March 17, 2014 - The rumors have now been confirmed - the team at Harvard have successfully measured the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background. Or in non-specialist speak, they have found stronger evidence that the Universe underwent a period of rapid inflation in its first second of existence, confirming theories that were proposed over thirty years ago.

March 15, 2014 - For those who are interested in theoretical physics but lack time or money, there is a new project online called World Science U. Their goal is to offer three levels of instruction - either quick answers to questions, or full length lectures for laymen on topics in modern physics, or perhaps most exciting a series of university level courses on quantum mechanics and general relativity (they aren't recognized for credits yet, but perhaps some day in the future).  It will be interesting to see how it evolves over time.

March 14, 2014 - Happy Pi-Einstein Day! Being 3/14 on the calendar gives the mathematicians an excuse to celebrate the number pi (3.141528) and promote mathematics, while this also happens to be the birthday of the most famous physicist of the last century, Albert Einstein. So don't be surprised to see a lot of physicists and mathematicians going a little irrational tonight ;)

March 12, 2014 - It was 25 years ago that the World Wide Web was invented at CERN. (Who says that high level particle physics research never yielded any benefits :) ). Amazing how far it has progressed in such a short time.

March 11, 2014 - On a happier note, I finally managed to get ROS-hydro (Robot Operating System) fully installed on my RaspberryPI single board computer. I am not sure if my method will work for others, but if any of my immediate circle of nerdy friends need instructions or guidance let me know and I will try to repeat the feat.

March 11, 2014 - I have just learned that an old Twitter account that I no longer use has been compromised, and is being used to send links and messages in Russian. Please do not click through, these are fraudulent and potentially dangerous and should be ignored.

March 9, 2014 - A reminder that Cosmos is about to premier, and should be interesting to watch. For those who have been hidden in a cave for the lst few months, Carl Sagan's original series is being updated with Neil deGrasse Tyson taking over hosting duties. So many exciting discoveries have been made since Sagan first hit the airwaves in 1980, so it should be interesting to see these new episodes of the classic documentary.

February 26, 2014 - An interesting announcement from the Kepler mission today, in which they have discovered 715 new planets outside our our solar system, bringing their total to over 900 and nearly doubling the number of known extrasolar worlds.

February 20, 2014 - A quick reminder that this is the last week to see the visible supernova in M82, at least for those of you with good observing conditions. 

February 16, 2014 - My friend has just launched a new crowd funding project called MERLIN, with the goal of setting up an independent, non profit research center for testing new products related to home automation and alternative energy sources. It is a worthwhile cause, and I encourage those who are interested to have a look at it and maybe contribute a few dollars.

January 30, 2014 - I just read the news that John Dobson has passed away at the age of 98. Anyone who has done any serious amateur astronomy will of course recognize the name from the Dobsonian Telescope, which he popularized (if not invented) as an alternative to bulky reflectors for amateurs and which now form the bulk of backyard telescopes. He was a great advocate for astronomy as a hobby, and he will be missed.