Category Archives: Humour

Humour, Physics and Astronomy at Western Blog, Physics and Astronomy at Western What's Happening

Electrons on the beach

Some of the best science writing I have read recently was in the novel Red Plenty: Inside the Fiftie’s Soviet Dream by Francis Spufford.  There is a passage on the behaviour of electrons in a vacuum tube that is vivid and beautiful (Part Two, Chapter 2), and a rather frightening description of lung cells mutating under the influence of carcinogens (Part Six, Chapter 1).  The novel overall is a fascinating treatment of science and economics at the height of the Cold War in the USSR.

Here’s a Soviet joke from Spufford’s website:

Yuri Gagarin’s daughter answers the phone.  ‘No, mummy and daddy are out,’ she says.  ‘Daddy’s orbiting the earth, and he’ll be back tonight at 7 o’clock.  But mummy’s gone shopping for groceries, so who knows when she’ll be home.’

Humour, Physics and Astronomy at Western What's Happening

PA building renovations committee honours local Movember team.

If you look up, waaay up, when passing by the Physics and Astronomy building these days you may notice subtle changes.

Some of the historical building sculpted gargoyles had seen better days and indeed were crumbling and deteriorating beyond hope.

As part of the building renovations, a local stone sculptor was commissioned to replace some of the gargoyles with the likenesses of our Movember team, The Physics Phuzzy Lips.

You can still donate to this team in support of men’s prostate cancer and mental health research.