Carl Willis
@carlwillis.bsky.social
I am Professor of Practice on the Nuclear Engineering faculty at the University of New Mexico, where I teach with and supervise the AGN-201M nuclear reactor.
I'm a husband, and stepfather to three wonderful kids.
🚫MAGA 🚫bots 🚫scams
Opinions my own.
I'm a husband, and stepfather to three wonderful kids.
🚫MAGA 🚫bots 🚫scams
Opinions my own.
WaPo wants my subscription dollars back. But as long as this is a Jeff Bezos-owned rag, they have no hope of "holding power to account" and no chance of getting me to subscribe again. Laughable.
August 11, 2025 at 12:00 AM
WaPo wants my subscription dollars back. But as long as this is a Jeff Bezos-owned rag, they have no hope of "holding power to account" and no chance of getting me to subscribe again. Laughable.
☢️fun gamma ray spectrum of the day: photonuclear activation from a 15-MV cancer therapy accelerator. As part of our summer camp, we ran 5000 MU (5 kGy in water, basically) with an HPGe detector in the vault. Some of the observed nuclides are formed in the detector itself, some in the linac head.
August 2, 2025 at 4:52 AM
☢️fun gamma ray spectrum of the day: photonuclear activation from a 15-MV cancer therapy accelerator. As part of our summer camp, we ran 5000 MU (5 kGy in water, basically) with an HPGe detector in the vault. Some of the observed nuclides are formed in the detector itself, some in the linac head.
"Experience Nuclear Engineering 2025"--a pilot one-week residential summer camp for high-schoolers--concluded at #UNM this past weekend. I had a lot of fun planning all the hands-on components, including #nuclear reactor operations, and made a lot of new friends! ☢️fun #NukeSky
July 30, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Albuquerque rose to the occasion today to send a message of resistance against the lawless Trump regime and its sycophants. I saw a lot of enthusiasm and homemade signs.
June 15, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Albuquerque rose to the occasion today to send a message of resistance against the lawless Trump regime and its sycophants. I saw a lot of enthusiasm and homemade signs.
The UNM NE Department is hosting a FREE residential summer camp July 20-26 for HS students. See link in attached flyer for details. #Nuclear #Engineering @unm.edu @unmengineering.bsky.social #NukeSky ☢️fun
May 16, 2025 at 9:22 PM
The UNM NE Department is hosting a FREE residential summer camp July 20-26 for HS students. See link in attached flyer for details. #Nuclear #Engineering @unm.edu @unmengineering.bsky.social #NukeSky ☢️fun
The Mind Research Network (www.mrn.org) on UNM North Campus uses a nice 3-tesla MRI for research. If you're in #Albuquerque, sign up for a study, contribute to important research, get cool images & corporeally experience Faraday's Law. T1- and T2-weighted examples of my own dome attached.
May 15, 2025 at 7:41 PM
The Mind Research Network (www.mrn.org) on UNM North Campus uses a nice 3-tesla MRI for research. If you're in #Albuquerque, sign up for a study, contribute to important research, get cool images & corporeally experience Faraday's Law. T1- and T2-weighted examples of my own dome attached.
Gingersnap is home and ready to #chonk out after getting treated for hyperthyroidism with iodine-131. His head reads about 10 mR/h at 10 cm. Not great, not terrible, as they say. ☢️fun
April 19, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Gingersnap is home and ready to #chonk out after getting treated for hyperthyroidism with iodine-131. His head reads about 10 mR/h at 10 cm. Not great, not terrible, as they say. ☢️fun
F-18 is widely used in medical PET imaging. I ran a gamma spec on a discarded F-18 vial (F-18 all decayed away, no activity measurable on a Geiger counter), and the traces of radioactive Re, Co, Cr, and Tc point to a variety of proton reactions on W, Fe, and Mo in the cyclotron target! ☢️fun
April 13, 2025 at 10:35 PM
F-18 is widely used in medical PET imaging. I ran a gamma spec on a discarded F-18 vial (F-18 all decayed away, no activity measurable on a Geiger counter), and the traces of radioactive Re, Co, Cr, and Tc point to a variety of proton reactions on W, Fe, and Mo in the cyclotron target! ☢️fun
It's wages-of-sin-are-death Wednesday out on Central Avenue. I was invited to "get up with Jesus on the cross today," which I politely declined.
March 5, 2025 at 8:39 PM
It's wages-of-sin-are-death Wednesday out on Central Avenue. I was invited to "get up with Jesus on the cross today," which I politely declined.
Jeff #Bezos is a disgrace--an enshittifying force in US civics and the marketplace, along with fellow dissipated plutocrats / trumpanzees Musk & Zuckerberg. Accordingly, I've decided to unsubscribe from his rag (WaPo) and his junk emporium (Amazon Prime). Feeling better already.
February 27, 2025 at 5:25 AM
Jeff #Bezos is a disgrace--an enshittifying force in US civics and the marketplace, along with fellow dissipated plutocrats / trumpanzees Musk & Zuckerberg. Accordingly, I've decided to unsubscribe from his rag (WaPo) and his junk emporium (Amazon Prime). Feeling better already.
...And, this is why you don't automatically congratulate a Trump nominee.
February 26, 2025 at 8:14 PM
...And, this is why you don't automatically congratulate a Trump nominee.
For sale: Polimaster PM1703GN PRD. Working fine (both gamma & neutron response). This device uses both CsI and LiI scintillator modules and reads in roentgen units for gamma and counts/sec for neutrons. Has data logging abilities. $200 OBO. #HobbyNuke
February 5, 2025 at 10:30 PM
For sale: Polimaster PM1703GN PRD. Working fine (both gamma & neutron response). This device uses both CsI and LiI scintillator modules and reads in roentgen units for gamma and counts/sec for neutrons. Has data logging abilities. $200 OBO. #HobbyNuke
For sale: Exploranium GR-100 PRD, working fine but heavily used, with scratches on the screen! The GR-100 is the gamma-only version of this detector (though it has a neutron indicator lamp). It's a little CsI scintillator with dosimetric readout and data logging. $150 OBO. #HobbyNuke
February 5, 2025 at 10:26 PM
For sale: Exploranium GR-100 PRD, working fine but heavily used, with scratches on the screen! The GR-100 is the gamma-only version of this detector (though it has a neutron indicator lamp). It's a little CsI scintillator with dosimetric readout and data logging. $150 OBO. #HobbyNuke
As in most fission events, you get about 200 MeV in kinetic energy produced, distributed into multiple charged fragments. Some energy leaves the detector (neutrons, most notably, and any charged particles whose range is longer than the dimensions of the detector).
February 1, 2025 at 9:36 PM
As in most fission events, you get about 200 MeV in kinetic energy produced, distributed into multiple charged fragments. Some energy leaves the detector (neutrons, most notably, and any charged particles whose range is longer than the dimensions of the detector).
FREE to a good home: 3-rank 2-manual + pedal pipe #organ located in storage in #Albuquerque. Pipes & chest vintage 1917 Moller, case is hardwood & more recent. Action is electric. 8' closed wood, 4' open metal, 8' reed (oboe). You need to have a hobby mentality to set up & maintain.
February 1, 2025 at 8:50 PM
FREE to a good home: 3-rank 2-manual + pedal pipe #organ located in storage in #Albuquerque. Pipes & chest vintage 1917 Moller, case is hardwood & more recent. Action is electric. 8' closed wood, 4' open metal, 8' reed (oboe). You need to have a hobby mentality to set up & maintain.
Greetings from our new fixer-upper rowhouse in #Baltimore. We booked travel here for the inauguration back when we dared dream about a Harris presidency. Alas!
Instead, we're enjoying each other, this great city, & the kindness of neighbors. In the spirit of Candide, we'll cultivate our garden.
Instead, we're enjoying each other, this great city, & the kindness of neighbors. In the spirit of Candide, we'll cultivate our garden.
January 21, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Greetings from our new fixer-upper rowhouse in #Baltimore. We booked travel here for the inauguration back when we dared dream about a Harris presidency. Alas!
Instead, we're enjoying each other, this great city, & the kindness of neighbors. In the spirit of Candide, we'll cultivate our garden.
Instead, we're enjoying each other, this great city, & the kindness of neighbors. In the spirit of Candide, we'll cultivate our garden.
America's #oligarchs are a dissolute, intellectually-bankrupt, and deeply insecure bunch. #Zuck wouldn't be able to cut it as a $20/h offshore code monkey for his own company & I'm pretty sure #Elon hasn't done any work AT ALL in twenty years. We need to really rethink our notions of meritocracy.
January 20, 2025 at 11:38 PM
America's #oligarchs are a dissolute, intellectually-bankrupt, and deeply insecure bunch. #Zuck wouldn't be able to cut it as a $20/h offshore code monkey for his own company & I'm pretty sure #Elon hasn't done any work AT ALL in twenty years. We need to really rethink our notions of meritocracy.
I tossed up an indoor dipole antenna in our rowhouse in Butcher's Hill, Baltimore, connected to an AirSpy HF+ Discovery SDR, and just now noticed that I received my own 3-watt FT8 signal on 15m (from a QRPLabs QMX+) back in Albuquerque. #HamRadio #AmateurRadio
January 20, 2025 at 9:40 PM
I tossed up an indoor dipole antenna in our rowhouse in Butcher's Hill, Baltimore, connected to an AirSpy HF+ Discovery SDR, and just now noticed that I received my own 3-watt FT8 signal on 15m (from a QRPLabs QMX+) back in Albuquerque. #HamRadio #AmateurRadio
Introducing the #HobbyNuke feed, a way to keep up with the amateur / avocational / student nuclear physics community on BlueSky--focusing on experiments, demos, projects, & gear (toys). To submit posts to the feed, tag posts with #HobbyNuke or ☢️fun (I will add you to the approved list). #NukeSky
January 20, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Introducing the #HobbyNuke feed, a way to keep up with the amateur / avocational / student nuclear physics community on BlueSky--focusing on experiments, demos, projects, & gear (toys). To submit posts to the feed, tag posts with #HobbyNuke or ☢️fun (I will add you to the approved list). #NukeSky
More nuclei exploding on an ABQ-BWI flight. These can be caused by neutrons, pions, and rarely, muons.
January 20, 2025 at 4:18 AM
More nuclei exploding on an ABQ-BWI flight. These can be caused by neutrons, pions, and rarely, muons.
And some more x-ray II autoradiographs, this time of classic specimens for this type of imaging--polished pieces of Ruggles Mine uraniferous pegmatite. These exposures were about 15 minutes at low base ISO with a small aperture. They're very bright.
January 10, 2025 at 6:11 AM
And some more x-ray II autoradiographs, this time of classic specimens for this type of imaging--polished pieces of Ruggles Mine uraniferous pegmatite. These exposures were about 15 minutes at low base ISO with a small aperture. They're very bright.
Here is the a pic of the image intensifier tube with camera. These are used in fluoroscopy, but getting supplanted by semiconductor tech that is not nearly as sensitive at ultra-low dose rates.
January 10, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Here is the a pic of the image intensifier tube with camera. These are used in fluoroscopy, but getting supplanted by semiconductor tech that is not nearly as sensitive at ultra-low dose rates.