Michael T. Starks

Category: Physics

  • Inspirational Science

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    Here are a few stories that I find inspiring. The fact that we continue to make progress in science is exciting.

  • More People Should Know about JCM

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    James Clerk Maxwell is one of my heroes. It seems to me that more people should know about his amazing contributions to physics and see him as a true hero. This is why I’m writing a screenplay about his life. It’s why I hope to make a movie about his extraordinary accomplishments. I’m in the…

  • My R2-D2 Calendar

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    I’ve come to love this R2-D2 calendar! Sure, I like that it’s a fun Star Wars toy that makes several different R2-D2 sounds when you select the day of the month. But I’m more intrigued by the mathematical questions it poses. For example, what is the minimum number of blue items needed to represent every…

  • What If? 2

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    Yesterday, I discovered that Randall Munroe has written another What If? book. Now, I’m thrilled to be reading What If? 2! Writing books like this is a great way to leverage a background in math and physics! I’ve been a fan of his web comic xkcd for many years. While searching for the images above,…

  • Better?

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    There are people who do better than me in every area of life. Ramit Sethi is wealthier than me. Lee Smolin, Carlo Rovelli, and others are much better physicists than me. Robert Reich, Richard Feynman, and others are better teachers than me. Linus Torvalds, Donald Knuth, Bjarne Stroustrup, and others are much better computer programmers…

  • The Question of Free Will

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    Throughout the ages, people have debated the question of whether we have much of a choice in the actions we take. While we seem to have the appearance of Free Will, sometimes we also seem to be bound to our individual fates. I’m excited to see James Clerk Maxwell join in the conversation. The Life…

  • Theoretical Physics

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    When James Clerk Maxwell turned his attention to the stability of Saturn’s rings, he did not rely too much on observations. He began with a series of mathematical models. He responded to the following questions. Can solid rings be stable? Can fluid rings be stable? Can rings composed of distinct solid particles be stable? He…

  • Flickering Lights

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    I associate flickering lights with campfires. I remember camping with my dad when I was a kid. We would make s’mores after roasting marshmallows over the campfire. Sometimes, I would stare at the movement of the flames, entranced. Imagine my surprise when I was flying over San Antonio on Friday night before our airplane landed.…

  • RHIC to EIC!

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    Wow! It’s the end of an era, one that I was able to sample over 25 years ago. This article tells part of the story. I suppose some people can work on a single project throughout their entire careers, but this has not been my experience. One of my first “work” adventures happened while I…

  • Discoveries

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    I’m fascinated that each scientific discovery tends to happen only once. Granted, a discovery can be made simultaneously by two different people. Both Newton and Leibniz discovered the Calculus without collaborating. Because we keep decent records, once a discovery has been made, no one else is likely to make the same discovery a century later.…