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Britt Lundgren

@brittlundgren.bsky.social

2.5K followers 1.2K following 1.2K posts

Quasar gazer | data miner | science / education policy wonk | Associate Prof. of Physics & Astronomy at a public liberal arts college | Illinoisan

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Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · Apr 6

My article on the likely influence of the experiments of polymath Thomas Young on the early abstract art of Hilma af Klint is now published & open access at Leonardo / MIT Press 🎉 direct.mit.edu/leon/article...

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Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 4h

Rowan doesn't even attempt to provide any supporting evidence for his laundry list of gripes. Compare it to the official response from MIT's President, an actual serious person: orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart

orgchart.mit.edu

Reposted by Britt Lundgren

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 5h

Stephen Miller just said that Chicago ICE raid was one of the most successful law enforcement operations ever. I asked Pritzker to respond.

"If this was Pinochet’s Chile, if this was Argentina under authoritarian rule, maybe you’d call it successful," he said. 2/

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

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Josh Moody @byjoshmoody.bsky.social · 4h

MIT rejects "compact" proposed by the Trump administration.
MIT prez wrote: it "would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution" and "is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone."
orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart

orgchart.mit.edu

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Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 4h

Did you go to college once and become a rich but disaffected investment banker? The NYT considers you an expert on the entire academic system & will gladly publish your loose collection of gripes about progressive society in an ROI trench coat. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...

Opinion | Academia Is Broken. Trump’s University ‘Compact’ Can Help Fix It.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Britt Lundgren

Jocelyn Leitzinger @jocelynl.bsky.social · 1d

Armed, masked thugs are kidnapping our neighbors and terrorizing our communities

This was in front of an elementary school in the West Loop in Chicago today. Sharing because everyone needs to see what is happening here daily

Originally posted by @erynfreepress on IG. Her story is in the alt text

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Reposted by Britt Lundgren

Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 1d

So far the astronomy PhD programs that have cancelled admissions are Washington, Michigan State, and Case Western.

Meg Schwamb @megschwamb.bsky.social · 2d

Sad to see the University of Washington Astronomy Department has suspended graduate admissions for the 2026-2027 Academic Year. astro.washington.edu/graduate-adm...

Graduate Admissions | Department of Astronomy | University of Washington

The Department of Astronomy has suspended graduate admissions for the 2026-2027 Academic Year. General Information for applying to UW Astronomy Graduate Program. Applications must be submitted using ...

astro.washington.edu

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Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 2d

"The wind points out of the plane of the galactic disk at a 45° angle and spans a length of about 3 light-years. That angle also implies that Sgr A* is spinning out of alignment with the orientation of the galactic plane, the researchers say."

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 2d

For essentially every supermassive black hole that astronomers have studied, they've spotted powerful winds blowing out from the event horizon to shape the surrounding galaxy. Except for the one in the Milky Way. 🌟 ⚫ 🌬️

The case may now be closed. @science.org tinyurl.com/5y99b7az #space #astronomy

Missing wind from Milky Way’s giant black hole finally found

Astronomers may have glimpsed a long-predicted wind of gas blowing out from Sagittarius A*

tinyurl.com

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Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 2d

Scrolled past an article that I don't want to share about people using AI to create deepfake videos of Stephen Hawking being physically attacked. This is the tech most folks' retirement savings are now deeply invested in.

Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 2d

Can confirm that Rockford is the gateway to the upper midwest.

William Hazen @williamhazen.bsky.social · 3d

This is the most accurate depiction of the Midwest to date. Wichita has always felt like the last Midwest city while also being the first plains city.

Reposted by Britt Lundgren

Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 2d

"It wanted to signal strength. Instead, it’s revealing its weakness. The administration’s need to break the academy is forcing it to make a desperately risky gamble." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...

Opinion | You Beat Trumpism by Banding Together. It’s as Hard and as Simple as That.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Britt Lundgren

J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 2d

It’s hard not to see tools like this as a strong threat to the common human decency that I have spent the last 15 years working for. So I would genuinely like to know what public goods are worth all this.

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Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 2d

"At Powell Elementary.. across the street from the raid, children share a similar fear. A source who requested anonymity because they work at Powell described the predominantly Black school as welcoming to new arrivals. While there are language barriers, he said the children support each other."

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 2d

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 2d

Maybelle Blair, a former pitcher for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, spoke yesterday at the groundbreaking for a new stadium on the site of the Rockford Peaches' baseball field. (I'm pleased to see my old elementary school, still standing in the background! ❤️)

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Reposted by Britt Lundgren

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 3d

eventually politicians need to start advocating for criminal and civil penalties for people involved in fabricating stories to get citizens incarcerated.

or, put another way: a society that would like to keep functioning has to discourage baldfaced lying, especially by authorities

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 3d

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.

trib.al

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Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 3d

Oregon Republican Party’s X account replied: “We’re not reporters, just bad memers.”

There are no lies. Only meme.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 3d

“.. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that the image was not a photograph of a real event in Portland, but instead a fabrication created by combining two photographs of scenes that unfolded in South America nearly a decade apart ..”

@theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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Reposted by Britt Lundgren

Paul Guinnessy @paulguinnessy.bsky.social · 4d

Physics students are told their degree is a ticket to anything but during their time at university, it's rarely elaborated on. So Toni Feder has gone out and interviewed physicists with varied careers away from the field (Posts the physicist whose job title is digital experience director...)

What can physicists do?

Interviews offer a glimpse of how physicists get into—and thrive in—myriad nonacademic careers.

pubs.aip.org

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Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 4d

brb - off to write a white paper for $1B and control of all the world's telescopes outside of any formal solicitation.

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Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 4d

Oh, ok. 👍

"Organizational Structure -- Executive Board: A streamlined decision-making body for sensitive scientific opportunities. Composition: - Director-General (proposed: Professor Abraham Loeb, Harvard University).

(ii) Characterization Assets:
- Guaranteed time on major observatories (minimum 500 hours annually);
- Dedicated spectroscopic follow-up capabilities
- Multi-wavelength monitoring capabilities including infrared for outgassing detection.
- Magnetic field sensors for metallic composition assessment
- Coordinated radar observations for trajectory refinement.

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Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 4d

Helpful history lessons from the 1920s. Gift link www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/o...

Opinion | How to Save the American Experiment

www.nytimes.com

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Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 4d

Refusing to provide this info in any additional language is a tell.

Sexy CHOAM Nomsky costume @samthielman.com · 5d

At the Asheville regional airport. Fuck these people.

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Reposted by Britt Lundgren

James Ball @jamesrball.com · 4d

*gasp*

“Everyone thought we’d come in and there were going to be these huge costs we could cut away but there just aren’t,” said a third senior Reform cabinet member in Kent.

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 5d

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

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Reposted by Britt Lundgren

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 4d

This evening, President Trump is ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States. No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate.

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Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 6d

Errands done, heading home.

Britt Lundgren @brittlundgren.bsky.social · 6d

New baby raccoon neighbors 🥰

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