About

I teach an introductory course in big bang cosmology at Waterford Institute of Technology in Ireland and this weblog will be mainly concerned with the universe and its puzzles (see Categories)…with occasional pieces on science and society, surfing, skiing and whatnot
Dr Cormac O’Raifeartaigh
ANTIMATTER: an exotic form of matter in which the electric charge of each particle is the opposite of that in normal matter. Question is, why is our universe made up almost entirely of matter?
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If this is working correctly, you should get this comment and have the option to add it to the blog, or discard it.
Is it working?
Hi,
Just testing to see if this works.
Alice
Yep, active at last!
I saw that you discussed my distant cousin, Venetia Phair (namer of Pluto) briefly. Her grandfather was Falconer Madan (Librarian of the Bodleian), whose brother was Henry George Madan (Science Master at Eton), who was the namer of Deimos & Phobos – the moons of Mars, of course. Given your connection with Waterford, I thought you might be interested to know that they descended from the Madan family of Waterford (as am I).
very interesting read!!
Hey Rachel, good to hear from ya!
hey cormac, fascinating stuff, but hopefully you’ll take a rest from explaining the universe and hit those slopes with us again! ;-)
Hey Frederik, great to hear from ya. I certainly hope to go skiing this year. How about one of the week-long FISC trips?
Are you on facebook?
Hi Cormac,
I met you at your talk in Trinity College on Thursday evening but unfortunately didn’t have much time for a decent chat. The first thing I’d like to say is that I thought your talk was excellent – beautifully presented slides and a wonderfully clear and enthusiastic talk. I had been at a maths talk the previous evening with several of the same people and, although they found that talk very impressive, many of them really hadn’t a clue what was going on. Afterwards the general consensus was that it was a bit like a television spectacular – all show but unintelligible content. On the other hand, the word about town after your talk was very positive. Not just nice clear slides but an enthusiastic speaker who presented his case concisely and in a logical order. It certainly went down well. As you said in your blog, it’s a pity there weren’t more people there.
Did you have to travel back to Waterford that evening? I hope not, but then for someone of your energy it wouldn’t surprise me.
I do hope I get to meet you again soon and, more importantly, that I am privileged to hear another of your fine lectures.
With best wishes,
Robert Kerr.
** Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana. **
Great topics – I look forward to reading and participating in the ongoing discussion.
Thanks Samiam – enjoying your blog too
Hi Cormac,
It was a surprise to see your name turning up on Peter Woit’s blog like a bad penny :-)
I’m back living in Århus again these days – this time as an IT developer at the University Library. What have you been up to in the last decade or so? Do you ever visit Denmark or have any contact with the crowd we used to hang about with back then – at the ISC and the like?
Are _you_ on facebook?
cheers,
Colin
Hey Colin, long time no hear!
No I’ve never been back, except one week shortly afterwards – you lucky lucky thing. I would have happily stayed in Denmark or Germany, it’s becoming more and more of a problem. Ireland drives me nuts sometimes…
Yes I’m on FB, be delighted to hook up with any of the old crowd. Paul moved to Ireland, but I lost track of him…
Is the ISC still going? I think that was the apex of my miserable little social life…
From your website…
“There were several prominent references to corporate greed, to unsustainable energy consumption and to America’s reduced standing in international affairs. He sounded like he meant it. It will be interesting to see whether an intelligent man who is clearly well-motivated will be able to stand up to the vested interests of ideologues and big business…”
Before you are quick to criticize big business,you should remember that it is big business that allows you to be able to spend your life cloistered away from the real world!
Real world? here speaks a man who has clearly never taught.
It is also Big Business that practically crashed our entire financial system.
Hi Cormac, great blog! Looking forward to working my way through it over the next few weeks :) Maybe I’ll see you next year – if you can convince them to run Phys/Comp again!
Enda.
Hey Enda, you can find the cosmology posts by using the category section.
Re next year, you never know – there has still been no final decision..