Daniel Kleppner, Physicist Who Brought Atomic Clock Precision to GPS, Has Died(www.nytimes.com)
35 pointsby NaOH7 days ago4 comments
  • kwoff7 days ago
    "He also helped to create an advanced physics course for M.I.T. freshmen with more than a rudimentary knowledge of the subject. He and Robert J. Kolenkow wrote a 2013 textbook for the course, “An Introduction to Mechanics.”"

    I used Kleppner/Kolenkow's intro to mechanics (copyright 1973) in 1993 or so, not at MIT. Seems 2013 is referring to the 2nd edition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kleppner#Books Maybe the 1st edition was created for the "mechanics for masochists" MIT course.

    • mng26 days ago
      I think you're right; I imagine the reporters wouldn't be familiar with physics pedagogy and just picked up the first date they saw in the google search.

      I was too intimidated to take the honors series in undergrad but I sat in on one lecture and was totally lost in a room that seemed to be nodding along with the preacher, so to speak. From the syllabus I found out they used K&K, so I asked my father to buy it for me so I could study it at my leisure.

      At the end of one of the first chapters there's a statement about how we can trivially extend the equations of mechanics to three dimensions. It blew my mind at the time, but after spending enough time studying physics, I am in agreement.

  • andbberger7 days ago
    "The first scientists to succeed, in 1995, were Eric Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle and Carl Wieman at JILA (formerly known as the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics), a research institute in Colorado." incredible underhanded dig from the NYT (against the rest of the Boulder physics dept)
    • nobodyandproud6 days ago
      If you don’t mind, would you elaborate? What’s the subtext, etc.?

      I’m quite dense when it comes to more refined insults.

      • denimnerd426 days ago
        I think it’s just lazy reporting as JILA google search comes up with those exact words but the insult is that you would ordinarily just say The University of Colorado, or say JILA at The.. Leaving it out completely is quite a diss but probably not intentional.
      • andbberger6 days ago
        JILA is the golden child of the physics dept for reasons no one quite knows. Better facilities, higher stipends, separate events programming, same department!