Two friends of mine were recently inducted into the National Academy of Sciences: Adam Riess and Alex Filippenko.
I worked with Adam ages ago when we were both grad students; we were on the same team looking at supernovae with Hubble. He later went on to co-discover dark energy; I wound up writing fanboy blog entries about Doctor Who. I think we know who got the better deal.
Alex was initially on the other team that co-discovered dark energy, but eventually joined the team with Adam on it. I met Alex a few years ago, and we quickly became friends; we both love astronomy, and we both love talking about it to the public. Alex has won Berkeley’s student-voted Best Professor on campus something like 6 times, while I of course tied for Best Science Blog with an anti-global warming site. I think we know who got the better deal.
My sincere congrats to both Adam and Alex; this is a prestigious honor and well-deserved!
May 8th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Go Adam and Alex! I’ve actually heard of Alex because I bought his astronomy course from The Teaching Company. Good stuff!
You know what, though, you got me interested in the JREF, and you’ve worked so hard educating the public about skepticism so I think you’ve done pretty well!
May 8th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Climate Audit isn’t an anti-global warming site. It’s an anti-bad climate science statistics site. Some of the comments might go the way you say, but Steve McIntyre steadfastly refuses to endorse either side of the political debate. From your comments, Phil, I don’t think you’ve ever spent any time reading his posts. Be skeptical of your own misinformed opinion on this one, please.
BTW, being an unabashed fan-boy isn’t so bad. You’re having fun.
May 8th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
A few years ago I watched Alex Filipenko’s freshman astronomy lectures on webcast.berkely.edu.
If you have any interest in astronomy, but never had the chance to take in college, it is
time well spent.
May 8th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Big ditto on DB’s comment about the Berkeley webcast. Far and away the best university course I never took. Really great viewing, can’t recommend it enough.
May 8th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Dude,
As important as the discovery of dark energy/matter is, I would argue that in your role as a populizer of science and president of the JREF you serve a greater good than any single discovery ever could.
Sure, Wilson and Penzias won a Nobel prize, but Carl Sagan inspired many to take up careers in science. You are doing the same.
So stop whining about what you haven’t done and get started on your PBS series!
Congrats to Adam & Alex!
May 8th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Drat!! The fake embed tags didn’t show up! Was supposed to be enclosed with (be nice to phil)…(/be nice to phil) tags. (with “< ",">” instead of “(“, “)”. Was funnier that way
May 8th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Eeeexcellent.
Well BA, you’ll have to become more popular than the anti-global-warming blog because they’ll be extinct in a few years. Corporations who are fighting any change are being pressured by other corporations to join their consortia and help fund research for abatement schemes (this has actually been going on since 1992, so you can see how long it takes to change things). One comment I recall from a recent meeting was “you’re pretty stupid to take your course of action; you do realize you won’t have a business in 10 years, don’t you?” Since that particular corporation did admit that they will fail with their current plan (which favors short-term gains), perhaps pressure from stockholders can change the companies; after all, it’s criminal to run a corporation into the ground because that isn’t in the interest of stockholders.
May 8th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Hmm.
Here is RealClimate claiming that
And here is Deltoid claiming that
I haven’t read and understood the critique, but it seems at a distance that ClimateAudit may actually be a bad climate science statistics site with anti-global warming motivation.
May 8th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
I don’t know, I think educating millions of people who read your site every year about space and the need for skepticism isn’t that bad of a deal…
May 8th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Oh, I forgot: McIntyre isn’t actually a climatologist according to Wikipedia.
May 8th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
They definitely both deserve it. I’m lucky to have had a number of conversations w/ Alex, mostly in airports when one of os was going to a telescope and the other coming back. He definitely has a fun time playing this game, which is always great to see.
May 8th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
I like Alex Filippenko too. I have listened to his podcasts of the intro to astronomy classes he teaches. I highly recommend them to the regulars of Bad Astronomy. (Richard Pogge is another great astronomy instructor available on podcasts also, in case anyone here is interested).
Hey Phil, do you have recordings of you teaching astronomy classes?
May 8th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
What all your adoring fans? Even those of us who have unabashed mancrushes on you?
Oh yeah… we’re supposed to make you feel better…
Well, congratulations to Adam and Alex. I bet they wish they had as awesome a blog as you do!
May 8th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I’ve long been a fan of Dr. Filippenko’s work. I’m happy to see he was inducted.
Phil, I’m also happy for your other Close Personal Friend named Adam, that he was inducted as well.
May 8th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
We BAblog readers did!
Congrats to Adam and Alex, too!
May 8th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
There was a Fermilab symposium that I went to a few years ago and Alex Filippenko was one of the lecturers. On a day of really good lectures, his really stood out. That guy knows how to teach! I, for instance, will never confuse a “cosmologist” with a “cosmetologist” ever again. ;^)
May 8th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
What the heck is in my last comment that made it need moderation?!?!? I long ago gave up on posting links…
May 8th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Alex Filipenko has made several appearances on the History Channel’s “The Universe” series. Certainly sounds like he knows what he’s talking about. Of course, a lot of PhD types have a tendency to know what they’re talking about.
Regarding climate: I love how climate skeptics manage to latch on to the tiny minority of alleged climate experts who question the existence of global warming, thereby ignoring the consensus opinion of the vast majority. Reminds me of a cigarette smoker who would rather believe the tobacco company “scientist” who claims there is no link between smoking and cancer.
May 8th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
You get to write what ever you want. You’re a household name (I was actually in a neighbour’s house when they asked, “have you heard of Philip Plait?“). You have a readership measured with the “mega” prefix.
I think I know who got the better deal.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
A mnemonic for the types of main sequence stars (O, B, A, F, G, K, M) is:
“Oh Boy Alex Filippenko Gives Killer Midterms”
May 9th, 2009 at 2:18 am
Congratulation to both Alex and Adam. I too can highly recommend the introductory astronomy course on the Berkeley webcasts – very entertaining as well as informative. Whilst you’re there you might also check out Professor Richard Muller’s Physics for Future Presidents lectures which gives the lowdown on some common misconceptions about energy use and such.
May 9th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Alex Fillippenko is seriously awesome!! I can attribute my entire geekism to him (and Richard Mueller). After watching some of Alex’s material (TTC Stuff) I decided to change my major to Physics/Astronomy. His passion for teaching is unmatched by anyone else I have ever seen, and it’s evident that his students feel the same when. Plus, when I e-mailed him he e-mailed me back the next day!! What an awesome guy, congrats Alex!!
May 9th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Phil: Issac Asimov was a Phd Biochemist, associate professor at Princton in the ’50s, when he decided he had a lot more fun and could make a LOT more money writing SciFi and assorted other books. Therefore you’re in good company. Entertaining thru science blogs and books is, by my rekoning, a more productive use of your intellect, passion and time than getting a mere Nobel prize(though the prize IS a great ego massage).
Who knows. MAybe someday the Nobel committee will award a prize for “Person Who Has Done the Most to Educate the Public on Science,,,”.
I’ll vote for you,,,
In the meantime, cudoes to your friends,,,
GAry 7
May 9th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
PS:
I’ve had a very few low friends in high places, but those who were the most fun were high friends in low places,,,
Gary 7
May 9th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Alex F. is indeed a great lecturer to both his peers and to undergraduates. As did Feynman , he does have the great advantage of only teaching one or at most two undergrad classes per year. Though to Alex’s credit, Feynman is also known for teaching best to those who had already seen the material 3 or 4 times and you can hardly say that about a typical undergrad astro class!
May 13th, 2009 at 3:03 am
Oh. A concluding note to my post (just minute ago submitted here-I assume awaiting review-it is not visible to me now). Steven Chu in an Energy Department document shown to Congress last month, uses the discredited “Hockey Stick.” Now, if McIntyre and Bishop Hill are correct and it is fraudulent, what does this say about our Nobel Prize wining energy Secretary’s reliability?
May 17th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
tengo informacion sobre universos paralelos,(lo llamo realidad alterna). pudieras darme tu correo directo alex f. ó si alguien lo sabe y me lo puede decir…gracias!!!