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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 56m

The prizes are always announced at 11.45am Swedish time or later, and they contact the laureates a little before then. The “Nobel call in the middle of the night” phenomenon is thus entirely due to the recent dominance of US science, as 11.45am in Sweden is 12.45am-5.45am in the US.

Reposted by Margaret Harris

Chemistry World @chemistryworld.com · 3h

Congratulations to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi! For more reaction, follow our live blog.

The 2025 Nobel prize in chemistry as it happens – live

Join us as we provide analysis and commentary in the run up to the announcement of the biggest prize in chemistry

www.chemistryworld.com

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 7h

My favourite overlap is that Harvard University could have offered Galileo a professorship. And according to some sources, it actually did.

rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 15h

you ever think about those real weird overlaps. like tennessee williams might have listened to the ramones

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Reposted by Margaret Harris

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 7h

ME/CFS is a devastating condition that has long been denied, dismissed, psychologised and underdiagnosed. Research is at last starting to catch up with it, with glimmers of hope for those who have been left untreated for so long.
There's a huge BUT coming ...🧵
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Scientists develop first ‘accurate blood test’ to detect chronic fatigue syndrome

Research could offer hope for ME patients – but some experts urge caution and say more studies needed

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Margaret Harris

Patchen Barss @patchenbarss.bsky.social · 20h

Question about fiction from a non-fiction writer: I'm trying to think of protagonists who do not have a character arc, who end their story the same as they began. My one candidate: Ferris Bueller, who catalyzes change in others, but does not himself evolve or grow. Any others you can think of?

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

De nada!

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

Brian Josephson has a method for rotating his mattress according to the principles of symmetry group theory: physicsworld.com/a/how-to-rot...

How to rotate your mattress like a physics Nobel prizewinner – Physics World

A tongue-in-cheek e-mail exchange with 1973 Nobel Prize winner Brian Josephson shows that for some laureates, scientific rigour extends to ordinary life, too

physicsworld.com

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Reposted by Margaret Harris

Physics World @physicsworld.bsky.social · 1d

Back in 2013, we interviewed one of the newly-announced Nobel laureates in Physics, John Martinis, about his work on quantum computing for our weekly podcast. Listen to it here: physicsworld.com/a/quantum-co... 🧪⚛️ #NobelPrize

Quantum computing: challenges, triumphs and applications – Physics World

Leading experts explain how quantum mechanics could be harnessed to revolutionize computing

physicsworld.com

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Reposted by Margaret Harris

Physics World @physicsworld.bsky.social · 1d

🚨The 2025 #NobelPrize for Physics goes to John Clark, Michel Devoret & John Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantization in an electric circuit”. More details soon... ⚛️🧪
physicsworld.com/a/john-clark...

John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis win the 2025 Nobel Prize for Physics – Physics World

Trio honoured for their work on quantum tunnelling

physicsworld.com

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Reposted by Margaret Harris

Benjamin Pope @benjaminpope.bsky.social · 1d

it's actually not two Nobels for Josephson junctions, just one that tunnelled over a gap of 52 years

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

I'd have gone with integrated circuits (2000), BEC (2001), graphene (2010), gravitational waves (2017) and exoplanets (2019), with neutrino mass (2015) as a runner-up, leaving out the Higgs boson and the accelerating expansion of the universe (which we still don't understand). What are your picks? ⚛️

Physics World @physicsworld.bsky.social · 1d

At PW headquarters, we're all waiting with bated breath for this morning's physics #NobelPrize. If you're doing the same, why not pass the time by reading/arguing with our editor @matindurrani.bsky.social's picks of the 5 most notable physics Nobels this century? physicsworld.com/a/the-top-fi... 🧪⚛️

The top five physics Nobel prizes of the 21st century revealed – Physics World

Matin Durrani counts down the five most significant physics Nobels since 2000

physicsworld.com

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

Part 2 of PHYSICS NOBEL PRIZES YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF is now up: bsky.app/profile/drml...

Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

Okay, today is physics #NobelPrize day, so there's just enough time for another instalment of...

PHYSICS NOBEL PRIZES YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF – PART 2

In 1912, a Swedish inventor called Gustaf Dalén beat Albert Einstein and Max Planck (inter alia) to the biggest prize in physics. How? Well...🧵🧪⚛️

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

Wow! Yes, it was a hard job, and very important.

Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

Oh, and in case you don't believe me about the "wife guy" thing, here's a photo of Gustaf Dalén with his wife, Elma, in later life. I think they look like the perfect Swedish great-grandparents, don't you? 😍

A black-and-white photo of Elma and Gustaf Dalen. He's wearing a three-piece suit with a watch chain, she's got a 1930s hat and a dress with a top that resembles a suit jacket and a string of pearls. He's also wearing dark glasses and not looking at the camera, and she holds his arm protectively while looking slightly sceptically at the camera.

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

The explanation for why Gustaf Dalén won the 1912 #NobelPrize involves a horrific industrial accident, sympathetic colleagues, a household appliance that's still manufactured today, and Dalén turning out to be a total wife guy. Read it here for free: physicsworld.com/a/nobel-priz...
(12/ends) 🧪⚛️

Nobel prizes you’ve never heard of: how a Swedish inventor was honoured for a technology that nearly killed him – Physics World

Gustaf Dalén is nowhere near as famous as his contemporaries, but does that make him undeserving of the prize? Margaret Harris investigates

physicsworld.com

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

“This lighthouse acetylene valve stuff is all well and good,” I hear you say, “but that doesn’t explain why Dalén won the Nobel Prize for Physics for it in 1912. After all, Einstein and Planck were *right there*.”

How did Dalén win out over the authors of relativity and quantum theory?” (11/n)🧪⚛️

albert einstein is a very old man with gray hair and a mustache .

Alt: Albert Einstein winking with the caption "Just what I was thinking!"

media.tenor.com

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

Dalén’s third invention was a sunlight-sensitive valve that turned the acetylene off when it was sunny and on when it wasn’t, no humans required. This was especially good for light buoys (which aren’t designed to be staffed), and it was extremely reliable, requiring almost no maintenance. (10/n) 🧪⚛️

A photo of Dalen's sunlight valve, which looks like a set of tubes in a glass case. This valve worked by means of a set of metal rods, one of which was blackened while the others were polished. When the blackened rod absorbed enough heat from the Sun, it would expand and close the valve. At dusk, or in foggy conditions, the blackened rod would return to the temperature of the others, contract, and open the valve.

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

Having made acetylene safe to use, Dalén turned his hand to making it economical. His second invention was a device that automatically turned the acetylene supply on and off every few seconds. This saved fuel and enabled the light to flash in a distinctive pattern without rotating. (9/n) 🧪⚛️

a pixel art drawing of a lighthouse and houses with the number 00 in the top right corner

Alt: A pixel art drawing of a lighthouse and houses. The lighthouse light flashes on and off without rotating.

media.tenor.com

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

Under these conditions, you could store acetylene, ship it, even drop it off the side of a lighthouse without having it explode on you. It was perfectly safe...for users.

Spoiler: it was still very dangerous for the people making it. Including the eventual Nobel laureate, Gustaf Dalén. (8/n) 🧪⚛️

Black-and-white photograph of Nils Gustaf Dalén as a young man. He's wearing an old-fashioned high-collared shirt and has a large, bushy moustache.

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

By filling a container with agamassan, wetting it with acetone and then forcing acetylene into the container under pressure, Dalén showed that the acetylene would dissolve in the acetone and become trapped like water in a sponge. (7/n) 🧪⚛️

a cartoon of spongebob laying on the ground next to a pizza

Alt: A cartoon of Spongebob laying on the ground next to a pizza and letting water out

media.tenor.com

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

To tame the acetylene dragon, Dalén developed three separate inventions. The first was a combination of asbestos and diatomaceous earth he called “agamassan” after his company and the Swedish word for compound, massan. (6/n) 🧪⚛️

a woman in a chef 's hat is holding a spoon in her mouth

Alt: The Swedish Chef Muppet banging spoons against some fruit while pans swing behind him. He's really rocking out.

media.tenor.com

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

Making lighthouses cheaper required two things: greater automation and a different fuel. Acetylene was attractive because it produces a bright light and was manufactured industrially.

Unfortunately, it's also *highly* explosive. Like, "look at it wrong and it goes boom" explosive. (5/n) ⚛️🧪

a comic book explosion with the word boom in the center

Alt: A comic book explosion with the word "boom" in the centre

media.tenor.com

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

Before GPS or reliable radio communications, lighthouses were the main way of warning ships away from danger. They were also extremely expensive, requiring 24-hour attention from skilled, hardy humans, plus frequent (and frequently dangerous) deliveries of tonnes of propane fuel. (4/n) ⚛️🧪

A lighthouse in Fécamp, France being hit by a wave on a windy day. It really doesn't look pleasant out there, although there's some pale sunlight streaming through the clouds. Photo by Benoît Deschasaux on Unsplash

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

Sadly, this wasn’t the invention that won Dalén the Nobel Prize. That came later, when he was chief engineer at a company he founded in Stockholm called Aktiebogalet Gasaccumulator. And it involved something very important in a northern country with a long, complex coastline: lighthouses. (3/n) ⚛️🧪

Photo of a lighthouse on a small rock in a bay with the coastline clearly visible close behind. This is the first light designed to use Gustav Dalén's technology and it's located near Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It has since been converted to run on electricity. (Courtesy: Holger Ellgard, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 1d

Now, back to Dalén. Like Alfred Nobel, Dalén was Swedish, born in 1869 in the small farming community of Stengstorp. There’s now a museum there dedicated to him and his inventions, which included a machine to make coffee and turn on the lights in the mornings. #relatable (2/n) 🧪⚛️
www.dalenmuseet.se

Photo of the Dalen museum in Stengstorp, which is a large white building with many windows. The photo is taken in twilight, and a light on a pillar burns outside it.

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