These articles and stories are short, less than 2,000 words, and are published either on my blog or, in the case of longer ones, here on the site.
Diary: Open University Summer School 2008 (Electromagnetism)
... I knew that dinner would be uncomfortable. A big refectory crammed with people from four separate summer schools, none of whom knew each other. I tried to time my arrival to when I thought they’d all be leaving (45 minutes after opening time). Imagine my horror, finding it absolutely full of people, many of whom did not look ready to leave. I sat on a relatively empty table, which filled up slowly. In these circumstances I notice there are two responses. One is to sit in stressed, painful silence; the other is to gregariously make conversation like a chat show host. I believe this personality distinction was first formalised by Drs Freud and Jung, who noted that the two styles do not interwork well. ... moreQuantum Dot
Here is where the mystery begins. Imagine the smooth flat surface of a black granite slab. Just in front of you there is a circular pit, about 20 cm wide, maybe twice as deep. It could be used for storing a stack of small dinner plates. This imagined reality has been magnified one hundred million times. My circular depression is a quantum dot, two nanometres in diameter. And in the centre, I am going to trap an electron. .... more
Occupation 1973
In 1973 General Pinochet launched a military coup which overthrew the democratically-elected government of Salvador Allende. The aftermath was terrible, with widespread atrocities, torture and disappearances conducted against the Left. At the time I was a leading member of the International Marxist Group, and headed the so-called ‘Red Defence Force’ (RDF) which stewarded our demonstrations and did various revolutionary stunts. Under the influence of our French sister organisation, the Ligue Communiste, which had a history of special forces-like operations which they conducted with characteristic élan, we decided to occupy and hold the Chilean Embassy in London just before a major demonstration against the coup, which would pass it. ... more
The Strawberry
The bomb exploded in the forward compartment, I guess about 12 rows ahead of me. First the raw sound, so loud it hurt. My seat rose up as if on a see-saw – I was actually looking down on the carnage when slowly the plane tore in half and I was projected - through gut-wrenching pressure and unbearable force - into the night. Some moments of tumbling as my seat righted itself – I was falling bottom first with the air howling around. Shielded from the blast, I entered a curious state of peace, despite the whistling of the wind around me, and the constant chaotic buffeting. ... more
Asteroid Impact Effects
They both turn round on the log, and, with the sun on their backs, look towards London. Right on the horizon, Stephen can just make out tiny skyscrapers, a distant toytown.
“That’s right,” says Emma, “you can just see the towers at Canary Wharf, next to the Thames in East London. Do you know how far away they are? About 30 kilometres from here.”
Emma is warming to her theme.
“You’re trying to divert the asteroid to just miss the earth - what we call a grazing trajectory. You want to leave it as late as possible to minimise the chances of countermeasures, so you’re going for a very, very close encounter, right?” ... moreFailure or Mismatch?
Tuesday evening we drove up to Cambridge, where I had an interview the following day with a consultancy company. I have to say I did not have a good night: the bed was small and lumpy, and the sheet did not properly keep the blankets off - when will hotels get their act together on duvets? Strictly speaking it was not an interview - I was to turn up the next day at 10.30 to take two screening tests. I whiled away the time in the hotel lounge after breakfast listening to ‘The Well-Tempered Clavier’ and feeling increasingly nervous. I was not expecting these tests to be easy. ... more
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