Barbara Ryden
@bsryden.bsky.social
Writer of astrophysics textbooks, servant to cats
Oh, darn! This means I missed this year's "Revolution in Science" Day. (Headline in the Times of London from Nov. 7, 1919 about the same eclipse results.)
![REVOLUTION IN SCIENCE.
NEW THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE.
NEWTONIAN IDEAS OVERTHROWN.
Yesterday afternoon in the rooms of the Royal Society, at a joint session of the Royal and Astronomical Societies, the results obtained by British observers of the total eclipse of May 29 were discussed.
[Times, November 7, 1919, page 12]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yzfqfs2pagb63bgij4fzummk/bafkreiclmsoermwtxcg2s73ivrofziiae4ussveketuwxscpaz7dxujpp4@jpeg)
November 10, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Oh, darn! This means I missed this year's "Revolution in Science" Day. (Headline in the Times of London from Nov. 7, 1919 about the same eclipse results.)
Why didn't geologists take Snider- Pelligrini seriously in 1858? Partly because of the lack of a known mechanism for plate techtonics. Partly because of his involvement in a wonky French plan to colonize Texas.
October 28, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Why didn't geologists take Snider- Pelligrini seriously in 1858? Partly because of the lack of a known mechanism for plate techtonics. Partly because of his involvement in a wonky French plan to colonize Texas.
The deer are taking over, one back yard at a time.
October 23, 2025 at 9:15 PM
The deer are taking over, one back yard at a time.
For the love of Love...
October 20, 2025 at 8:18 PM
For the love of Love...
Finn has received his copy!
October 12, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Finn has received his copy!
Happy Fat Bear Week to those who celebrate!
September 28, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Happy Fat Bear Week to those who celebrate!
I'm not certain this is the best possible epigraph for a chapter on accretion, but I was feeling Rabelaisian when I chose it.
September 22, 2025 at 6:32 PM
I'm not certain this is the best possible epigraph for a chapter on accretion, but I was feeling Rabelaisian when I chose it.
The Sydney Harris cartoon is great!
August 28, 2025 at 11:22 PM
The Sydney Harris cartoon is great!
Although a quotation about the incomprehensibility of turbulence (even with divine intervention) is often attributed to Werner Heisenberg, this statement by Horace Lamb seems to have priority.
![Epigraph to Chapter 6 of Astrophysical Has Dynamics:
It was at a meeting of the British Association in London in 1933
that I remember that [Horace] Lamb remarked, "I am an old man
now, and when I die and go to Heaven there are two matters on
which I hope for enlightenment. One is quantum electrodynamics,
and the other is the turbulent motion of fluids.
And about the former I am really rather optimistic."
Sydney Goldstein](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yzfqfs2pagb63bgij4fzummk/bafkreig5xxwb2nmlj5rjv3kl252pdwi6bqxe5yfifdartlp4kcbaql3at4@jpeg)
August 17, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Although a quotation about the incomprehensibility of turbulence (even with divine intervention) is often attributed to Werner Heisenberg, this statement by Horace Lamb seems to have priority.
Roundhay Scene (1888)
July 23, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Roundhay Scene (1888)
No pressure, but... When is the projected publication date for your book? I am not the only astronomer who loves Frost!
July 22, 2025 at 10:54 PM
No pressure, but... When is the projected publication date for your book? I am not the only astronomer who loves Frost!
For balance, a chapter that contains Maxwell's Equations must start with Maxwell's Poetry.
![Epigraph to Chapter 5 (Mangetohydrodynamics):
The world may be utterly crazy,
And life may be labour in vain;
But I'd rather be silly than lazy,
and would not quit life for its pain.
-- James Clerk Maxwell [1858]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yzfqfs2pagb63bgij4fzummk/bafkreifskr3623bxavjwyf4reuqnt76hggu5g4whpvyjijts5o52fmelj4@jpeg)
July 14, 2025 at 6:30 PM
For balance, a chapter that contains Maxwell's Equations must start with Maxwell's Poetry.
All I know is that Truckin' provided the 3 key concepts of my "Tests of the Big Bang" lecture.
July 13, 2025 at 5:42 PM
All I know is that Truckin' provided the 3 key concepts of my "Tests of the Big Bang" lecture.
I continue my cinematic era with the epigraph to Chapter 4 of Astrophysical Gas Dynamics.
![The beginning of Chapter 4 ("Advanced Shocks") of Astrophysical Gas Dynamics, to be published in 2026. The epigraph of the chapter is
Captain Renault: I am shocked, *shocked*, to find that gambling is going on in here.
[Julius Epstein, Philip Epstein, and Howard Koch. Casablanca screenplay, 1942]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yzfqfs2pagb63bgij4fzummk/bafkreibo5ev7uxwnckb3ai2kvz5wbpcsgv6qgf347zyhnuxn3qnadjwd3q@jpeg)
June 28, 2025 at 8:20 PM
I continue my cinematic era with the epigraph to Chapter 4 of Astrophysical Gas Dynamics.
I would call it "insanity." (To be fair, there is a significant overlap in the Venn diagram of "sport" and "insanity.")
May 26, 2025 at 12:43 PM
I would call it "insanity." (To be fair, there is a significant overlap in the Venn diagram of "sport" and "insanity.")
I cannot guarantee that I will stop crabbing. I will try, however, to stop doing it from pontoons.
May 24, 2025 at 10:30 PM
I cannot guarantee that I will stop crabbing. I will try, however, to stop doing it from pontoons.
Given 274 confirmed moons of Saturn, Lucy definitely has a point.
March 18, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Given 274 confirmed moons of Saturn, Lucy definitely has a point.