Brian Koberlein
Astrophysicist and Author
What’s New
There’s a new type of article focusing on privacy and cybersecurity, under the Tech category. Expect new articles when you see them.
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The Way the Universe Changed
At the end of the 1800s we finally knew how the universe worked. Our classical laws of physics worked extraordinarily well. At the time it was thought that the last few mysteries of physics would soon be solved. But they weren't. Instead, small mysteries became large ones. Science would soon undergo a quantum revolution.
Blog
The Librarian and the Astrophysicist
When I was about nine my parents finally allowed me to go to the library on my own. As a resident of the county, I had my own library card, and that meant I could check out up to five books at a time. For a midwest farm kid, it was like the entire world lay open before me. For free.
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Proven World
In Medieval Europe, the physical universe could be divided into two parts: the Earth and earthly events (chaotic and temporary) and the heavens (structured and eternal). Two things changed this view. The first was rise of accurate astronomical measurements. The second was the rise of the physical sciences. Read about how our views of the universe changed in this series of posts.
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Science Fiction, Science Fact
We love dreaming of new horizons, and science fiction can create entire tales from the the mere whiff of scientific possibility. This can be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand science fiction lets us explore the possibilities, and can inspire an interest in science. On the other hand, the trappings of science fiction can make awesome feats of human engineering seem trivial.
Recent Work
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Breathe
It’s a nightmare. Just a nightmare. It isn’t real. Breathe. Just breathe.
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Alien Invasion
Some asteroids orbit the Sun in highly inclined orbits, and they might be aliens to our solar system.
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A Star’s True Size
Four gamma ray telescopes have used a new method of interferometry to measure the size of two stars.
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Adrift
Timon was wakened by the sudden feeling of weightlessness. It was probably just a shift to avoid unmapped debris, but if they were under attack…
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Ghost in the Shell
If we treat every interaction as transactional, we lose an important bit of our humanity.
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Cough It Up
If wormholes really exist, we should be able to identify them by gravitational wave astronomy.
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How Galaxies Die
A new study finds that while black holes drive the formation of galaxies, they are also what kills them in the end.
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Lithium Express
A type red giant stars known as red clump stars could help solve they mystery of missing lithium in the universe.