Sometimes life is rough and you just gotta struggle through it. A couple days ago, I returned from a 10 day trip to Hawaii. (Did I mention the life is rough part?) The reason for the trip was, of course, physics! But this time, and it’s been too long of a time, the physics was for me. Not for the lab, not for the linear collider, not to save the particle physics planet, but simply to get my hands dirty and do real science. It was the best time I’ve had in a year. And, it just happened to be in Hawaii….
A gang of 4 of us have been working on this paper. We’ve actually been doing it in drips and dabs for awhile now (I won’t say exactly how long), and quite frankly, I’m amazed that we haven’t been scooped. (The project requires a certain degree of tenacity and a wide spectrum of talents, so perhaps that’s why nobody else has tackled it, don’t know. But, experimentally, it has never been more relevant than it is now – so our timing will be perfect!) All 4 of us are dedicated to getting it finished now. To meet this goal, the gang decided to meet at one of our home institutions. Being based in almost perfect Northern California, I would normally play the role of host. However, one of our collaborators is based at the University of Hawaii. And naturally, that takes precedence over California! A note to all young physicists out there: It is important to have collaborators in nice places!
So, we all 4 met and worked hard for a week and accomplished much. A great time was had by all, doing science, undistracted! I can’t say how nice it was to devote an entire week to science and get away from everything else. We’ve set ourselves a deadline for a full draft of the paper, and we intend to meet it. (Note: I was in the lab today, Sunday afternoon, working away on the project and interacting in real time with 2 of my collaborators.) It will be done by the end of the summer.
Naturally, since I was already in Hawaii at the start of Memorial Day weekend, I hopped over to the Big Island and spent the long weekend there. (Did I mention the life is rough part?) I was completely incommunicado for 4 days, and loved every minute of it. Saw volcanoes, green sand beaches, drank Kona coffee, and had my very own private sea turtle (dubbed George ) visit me. Life really doesn’t get any better!
June 5th, 2006 at 1:37 am
It’s around 10°C in Brussels and raining.
I think I might have to kill you now…
(Note to self, remember to write papers later with people from Tuscany, California, South Africa,…)
June 5th, 2006 at 1:46 am
Ah – I have yet to recruit collaborators from Tuscany (a major wine growing region I have never visited). Thanks for pointing that problem out Dimitri!
June 5th, 2006 at 4:18 am
Dear Joanne, I’m entranced by those sea turtles. I was born and grew up in Hawaii; my family lived on a boat in Honolulu for a time too, making my childhoold a little bit unusual (my introduction to the night sky was as a child from the deck of our boat), but for some weird reason I didn’t see sea turtles very often; I saw porpoise and manta rays much more. Last September I had a dust meeting in Kauai and took extra time to go to Molokai and visit a relative I have not seen in 30 years. During that Molokai visit, I bonded with a sea turtle. Well. I don’t know about him/her bonding with me, but we swam together for some 20 minutes, and sea turtles are glorious when they swim. Just like birds, their grace makes one want to sprout a hard shell and some flippers and become one of them.
You went to the ‘best’ island; the Big Island is my favorite!
June 5th, 2006 at 7:57 am
I’m intrigued by your teaser that the results, experimentally, are especially relevant now… Can you give us a hint? Well, if not, please keep working – and let us know when your paper is available publicly!
June 5th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Michael,
Yes, I was trying to avoid the teaser, but I must confess that I’m intrigued as well…
June 5th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
Now, now… don’t be pestering for hints! We all know how these exotic island physicists must keep an air of mystery about them.
p.s. Love the pictures! I’m pretty sure I’ve been on that exact same lava-blocked road.
June 5th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
Indeed, the aura of mystery must be maintained at all times!
Actually, it’s a process which is now finally on the verge of being measured (there are some enticing hints in the data) at heavy flavor factories. I really shouldn’t say more…..and keep in mind that small hints in a data sample can come and go with ease.
June 5th, 2006 at 8:30 pm
[...] Read about the tough summer life of theoretical physicists in Paul Cook’s report from Cargese (which reminded me of when I went there as a grad student), and JoAnne Hewett’s report from Hawaii (which reminded me of a very pleasant vacation I spent on the Big Island). [...]
June 6th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
Is the lava flow reaching the water again? It’s been awhile since I was there on the Big Island, but it looks like there is some steam near the water in one of your pictures.
I also am very excited to hear about your new paper!!
June 6th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
AstroCook: Indeed, that huge plume of steam you see in the picture is from lava flowing into the ocean. I went back at night (with camera tripod!) to hopefully catch a glimpse of an orange glow, but flow was too far away to get a good view. I was disappointed, but getting closer would have involved a mile hike on unchartered lava in the dark. DOE safety regulations would have been maximally violated!
June 10th, 2006 at 1:26 am
“doing work in nice places”
When I was at JPL, I was on a project (Reagan’s SDI nonsense) involving a 40″ telescope used to monitor Russian satellites. People would stay at condos on Maui (I never did, since I got blackballed by the jerkoffs). It was a big topic of discussion by other group members, who were envious of our “work/play” opportunity. Sunrise from Mt. Haleakala was supposed to be a hot thing to do.
BTW, THAT telescope ended up in Dr. Eleanor Helin’s hands, to do Asteroid hunting/detection (?) I saw a science show which showed some that project, which was a FLAT-OUT joke
You can see re-runs of Hawaii Five-O on local LA KDOC channel 56. It’s one of my favorite series, since it’s a PERFECT metaphor for Scientific Research:
“Sometimes, you have to do some digging on the beach..to find the answers?”
– McGarrett
[ this is what Dr. Charles Townsend/Physics Nobelist said on "From Student to Scientist": "You turn over one stone, then another researcher turns over other stones..& so on" ]
- McGarrett
PI, Principal Investigator..leads a team of “detectives”
stays in office late, like many research Profs
- Dano, Chin Ho Kelly, Duke, Kono
worker bees (”graduate student slaves”), who do a LOT of legwork interviewing witnesses, checking records, etc.
Science Research involves a LOT of legwork & gathering of data (”Critical Observation”). The actual conclusions (”Critical Thinking”) is a pretty quick thing.
- they draw up the data on a glass “blackboard” & begin “firing away” various theories on the crime
[ Linus Pauling was asked how he does such good work, & he replied "try a LOT of ideas" (shotgun approach) ]
- then they GET THE BAD GUY (“Book’em Dano, Murder 1..TWO COUNTS!”..yeah, Baby..”there is Justice in the World”)
equivalent to Science figuring out the answer (which often lead to other questions, & future research topics)
June 12th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
[...] Physics in ParadiseSometimes life is rough and you just gotta struggle through it. A couple days ago, I returned from a 10 day trip to Hawaii. (Did I mention the life is rough part?) The reason for the trip was, of course, physics! But this time, and it’s been too long of a . [...]