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Competition Shines Light on Dark Matter
- ekanes 15y agoVera Rubin (discovered dark matter) is a close friend of mine. We don't usually talk about science, but I'm happy to pass along any questions.
- rooshdi 15y agoCould multiverses be playing a role in the mass of our own universe? And if so, would the mass of dark matter within our universe far outweigh any of those effects?
- ekanes 15y agoNext time I see her I'll ask.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- creativeone 15y agoI am interested in this generally, and wasn't sure if it was appropriate to ask, but after reading the wikipedia page about her religious background, I think its ok, as Vera seems to be an observant Jew. In her opinion, why are Jews so heavily involved with physics? And why does she think they are so successful in the field (something like 40% of physics nobels are given to someone with at lea one Jewish parent. She has clearly given her own family a strong drive for academics (4 kids, 4 PhDs), I wanted to know if that was the same for other Jews in her space or some other reason. Sorry I don't have a more technical question.
- ekanes 15y agoI'll ask her about it. I don't think she'd mind the question at all.
- Stormbringer 15y agohttp://www.jinfo.org/Nobel_Prizes.html http://www.jinfo.org/Nobel_Prizes.html Has more info on this. Not sure how accurate/up to date the stats are.
- cynest 15y agoI would imagine Jewish communities push higher education and achievements relating to it at a rate well above the norm. They are also a sizable minority in countries likely to produce nobel laureates. I suspect given a few decades asians will have similar recognition as another generation or so of people coming from a somewhat similar community reach the height of their careers.
- datageek 15y agoFWIW, Martin O'Leary doesn't sound like a Jewish name.
- creativeone 15y agoONLY 40% of Physics nobels are given to jews, that leaves 60% to non-Jews. So, its not surprising that Martin O'Leary isn't Jewish. Unless his mom is and he took his dad's non-Jewish name. :)
- ars 15y agoIn "Surely You’re Joking" Richard Feynman said: Something else happened at that time which is worth mentioning here. One of the questions the rabbinical students and I discussed at some length was why it is that in academic things, such as theoretical physics, there is a higher proportion of Jewish kids than their proportion in the general population. The rabbinical students thought the reason was that the Jews have a history of respecting learning: They respect their rabbis, who are really teachers, and they respect education. The Jews pass on this tradition in their families all the time, so that if a boy is a good student, it's as good as, if not better than, being a good football player. It was the same afternoon that I was reminded how true it is. I was invited to one of the rabbinical students' home, and he introduced me to his mother, who had just come back from Washington, D.C. She clapped her hands together, in ecstasy, and said, "Oh! My day is complete. Today I met a general, and a professor!" I realized that there are not many people who think it's just as important, and just as nice, to meet a professor as to meet a general. So I guess there's something in what they said.
- vecter 15y agoAnyone with expertise in dark matter care to comment? I love pop physics but I never got beyond E&M in college
- bugsbunnyak 15y agoIt's nothing to do with dark matter physics directly. "just" a hard deconvolution problem: improving the image-analysis of ellipticity in (telescope) images. Dark matter is inferred from this apparent ellipticity, as evidence of gravitational lensing.