Robert Fisher
@fisherastro.bsky.social
Caltech-UC Berkeley-LLNL-Chicago-UMass Dartmouth. Sabbatical 23-24 @ Institute for Advanced Studies and Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies. American & Italian Theoretical and Computational Astrophysicist. Professor. He/him/his.
I have been experimenting with large language models to "collaboratively" write code to illustrate key physical concepts for my junior-level mechanics class for physics majors. It did a very nice job in generating an animation of the "tennis racket theorem."
November 3, 2025 at 8:27 PM
I have been experimenting with large language models to "collaboratively" write code to illustrate key physical concepts for my junior-level mechanics class for physics majors. It did a very nice job in generating an animation of the "tennis racket theorem."
It's always great to see the successes of former students. Postdoc Chris Byrohl @cbyrohl.bsky.social, whom I've known he was an undergraduate, published an amazing paper this week on his new GPU accelerated Ly-α radiative transfer code THOR Hugely impressive results! arxiv.org/abs/2507.11603
July 27, 2025 at 6:31 PM
It's always great to see the successes of former students. Postdoc Chris Byrohl @cbyrohl.bsky.social, whom I've known he was an undergraduate, published an amazing paper this week on his new GPU accelerated Ly-α radiative transfer code THOR Hugely impressive results! arxiv.org/abs/2507.11603
Experimenting with the @anthropic.com Claude Code command line beta. In some ways, it is a natural extension of the familiar chat LLM interface. In others, it offers a brief glimpse of more agentic AIs to come -- building and running code and analyzing results largely on its own.
May 4, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Experimenting with the @anthropic.com Claude Code command line beta. In some ways, it is a natural extension of the familiar chat LLM interface. In others, it offers a brief glimpse of more agentic AIs to come -- building and running code and analyzing results largely on its own.
¡Todavía tengo el vinilo original!
April 25, 2025 at 1:08 PM
¡Todavía tengo el vinilo original!
Kramers and Holst (1923) captures the brief "old quantum mechanics" of Bohr and Sommerfeld in beautiful illustrations. archive.org/details/atom... Ht/Paul Prudence
March 2, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Kramers and Holst (1923) captures the brief "old quantum mechanics" of Bohr and Sommerfeld in beautiful illustrations. archive.org/details/atom... Ht/Paul Prudence
I’ve written a short Docker file to easily enable anyone to run Blondin & Tonry’s SuperNova IDentification (SNID) code on almost any platform. (1/2)
December 23, 2024 at 1:58 AM
I’ve written a short Docker file to easily enable anyone to run Blondin & Tonry’s SuperNova IDentification (SNID) code on almost any platform. (1/2)
So many Weinberg gems in this talk. This one slide distills the essence of his approach to science wonderfully. As someone who interacts primarily through the command line still, I feel for the loss of the “good old days” of MS-DOS. 🙂
December 7, 2024 at 2:11 PM
So many Weinberg gems in this talk. This one slide distills the essence of his approach to science wonderfully. As someone who interacts primarily through the command line still, I feel for the loss of the “good old days” of MS-DOS. 🙂
Exciting to see so many new folks here. I’m a computational astrophysicist working to understand how dead cinders of stars can blow up and light up the sky in a last hurrah. We use big computers. (Figure below courtesy of current PhD student Vrutant Mehta and collaborator Ruediger Pakmor.)
December 1, 2024 at 5:48 PM
Exciting to see so many new folks here. I’m a computational astrophysicist working to understand how dead cinders of stars can blow up and light up the sky in a last hurrah. We use big computers. (Figure below courtesy of current PhD student Vrutant Mehta and collaborator Ruediger Pakmor.)
Necessary ingredients are all ready.
September 22, 2024 at 12:58 PM
Necessary ingredients are all ready.
The great astro Exodus from X took place early in Bluesky’s development, thanks to @astrokatie.com’s engagement. With X continuing to melt down, these numbers will only grow with time.
September 22, 2024 at 6:40 AM
The great astro Exodus from X took place early in Bluesky’s development, thanks to @astrokatie.com’s engagement. With X continuing to melt down, these numbers will only grow with time.
My Heidelberg Joint Astronomical Colloquium, “An Emerging Consensus on White Dwarf Supernovae” is now available to view on YouTube. youtu.be/ZlRBn8PAyX8?si… @hitsters.bsky.social @mpi-astro.bsky.social
June 29, 2024 at 9:02 AM
My Heidelberg Joint Astronomical Colloquium, “An Emerging Consensus on White Dwarf Supernovae” is now available to view on YouTube. youtu.be/ZlRBn8PAyX8?si… @hitsters.bsky.social @mpi-astro.bsky.social
Huge congratulations to Logan Cabral-Pelletier and the other recipients on receiving a DOE CSGF fellowship! Logan is the second member or alum of my group to have garnered this highly selective honor, after Gabriel Casabona. www.energy.gov/science/arti...
June 14, 2024 at 1:19 PM
Huge congratulations to Logan Cabral-Pelletier and the other recipients on receiving a DOE CSGF fellowship! Logan is the second member or alum of my group to have garnered this highly selective honor, after Gabriel Casabona. www.energy.gov/science/arti...
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the ground-breaking ceremony at SMTI, the institution which later joined the University of Massachusetts system as the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 1991, bringing a world-class research university to the South Coast of Massachusetts.
June 14, 2024 at 12:04 PM
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the ground-breaking ceremony at SMTI, the institution which later joined the University of Massachusetts system as the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 1991, bringing a world-class research university to the South Coast of Massachusetts.
On this pi day, give a thought to Ludolph van Ceulen, who spent 25 years calculating pi to 35 digits. Prior to the 18th c., pi was known as the "Ludolphine number." Even in his home town of Delft, van Ceulen is remembered only by a printout in a window.
March 14, 2024 at 10:11 PM
On this pi day, give a thought to Ludolph van Ceulen, who spent 25 years calculating pi to 35 digits. Prior to the 18th c., pi was known as the "Ludolphine number." Even in his home town of Delft, van Ceulen is remembered only by a printout in a window.
“Bones of the Earth” is one of LeGuin’s finest short stories.
November 5, 2023 at 10:21 PM
“Bones of the Earth” is one of LeGuin’s finest short stories.
Heidelberger Schloss on All Hallow’s Eve. Happy Halloween! 🎃
October 31, 2023 at 8:07 PM
Heidelberger Schloss on All Hallow’s Eve. Happy Halloween! 🎃
I think it's an important conversation worth having. Asking a factual question without requesting a reference is probably the most dangerous way to use a LLM. I rephrased the question and turned on the search engine plug in. I'm not a baseball fan but this looks approximately correct.
October 23, 2023 at 8:31 AM
I think it's an important conversation worth having. Asking a factual question without requesting a reference is probably the most dangerous way to use a LLM. I rephrased the question and turned on the search engine plug in. I'm not a baseball fan but this looks approximately correct.
It’s been wonderful spending the first leg of my sabbatical at the Institute of Advanced Studies. I had the opportunity to work with some amazing junior scholars and reconnect with some distinguished senior folks. Nächster Stopp: Deutschland!
September 28, 2023 at 5:17 AM
It’s been wonderful spending the first leg of my sabbatical at the Institute of Advanced Studies. I had the opportunity to work with some amazing junior scholars and reconnect with some distinguished senior folks. Nächster Stopp: Deutschland!
“We have learned that no theory of everything can include every interesting thing.” - Leo Kadanoff
September 11, 2023 at 9:17 PM
“We have learned that no theory of everything can include every interesting thing.” - Leo Kadanoff
Proud of undergraduate research student Amelia Melhem, who was selected to participate in Caltech’s FUTURE program! Amelia is on a paper coming soon, and will be a great student for one lucky PhD program next year! https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/helping-shape-future-women-scientists-84418
August 17, 2023 at 11:36 PM
Proud of undergraduate research student Amelia Melhem, who was selected to participate in Caltech’s FUTURE program! Amelia is on a paper coming soon, and will be a great student for one lucky PhD program next year! https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/helping-shape-future-women-scientists-84418