Timothy Ferris Contributions

“The power and beauty of physical laws is that they apply everywhere, whether or not you choose to believe in them. In other words, after the laws of physics, everything else is opinion.” An astrophysicist by training but an energetic, effective communicator by nature, Neil deGrasse Tyson offers a brief introduction into the origin and evolution of the universe. Compacting the entirety of the universe into a conglomeration of two-hundred pages requires Tyson to move swiftly through his analysis, often employing wit, anecdotes, and science-fiction references to maintain his narrative have an ecstatic atmosphere. His goal throughout this book is as astronomically large as the cosmos itself: to create a scientifically literate population. Speaking

Bronowski, J. (2012). Science. In The Norton reader: An anthology of nonfiction (13th ed., pp. 886-889). New York: W.W. Norton

Fahnestock investigates how original science writing is primarily devoted to presenting facts and assumes the audience has relevant background knowledge and understands the significance. Conversely, accommodated writings shift the genre to become epideictic and thus neglect addressing facts, instead focus on emphasizing the importance of a discovery. One reason Fahnestock provides for the shift in genre is in order for an audience to realize the significance of a discovery accommodators must ensure the audience is able to accept a fact and align it according with existing beliefs. To ensure they are successful, Fahnestock argues that accommodators rely on

The article ‘On the Recentness of What We Know,’ written by Verlyn Klinkenborg, is a pleasant read about the author’s fondness of astronomy and his insight regarding the science of it and knowledge gleaned from it. Klinkenborg recounts a few of his star-gazing memories and then proceeds to analyze the effects cosmological discoveries have on him personally and humanity in general. The author shares bits of theoretical history of the universe and information on the early astronomers whose hypotheses have developed that history. He goes on to reference various well known discoveries throughout the years and marvels at how drastically information in recent years has changed the stories of our universe.

It wasn’t long before Gould’s precision became apparent, as he revisited most of his references in order to explain their significance. Although not all of the references were accessible to the general reader from the beginning, the eventual unfolding and connecting of key ideas were rewards for the diligent reader. It felt like an accomplishment to be able to fill my partner in on the details, as if Gould had given me permission to reap the benefits of his expertise.

This story’s title also serves an important purpose, and was certainly a deliberate choice on Carver’s part to enhance his theme by use of tone. It alludes to the well-read science magazine ‘Popular Mechanics’, and this creates tone via irony in that, when considering the scientific mechanics of

Barry identifies the obstacles a scientist must conquer in this passage. When describing the movement of a scientist throughout their field, he uses the words “forcefully and aggressively”. The use of this diction persuades the reader of the difficult work of scientific research and the strength of scientists. The phrases “grunt work” and “tedious work” in line 37 describe the strenuous workload of a scientist. The field of scientific research can be viewed as a frontier but the author takes this comparison further. In lines 25 to 29, the scientific field is likened to the wilderness. This descriptive diction highlights the uncertainty mentioned throughout the account and emphasizes the depth of scientific research. Throughout the passage, diction is used as a tool to persuade the reader that scientific research is

John M. Barry uses the various different types of rhetorical strategies to characterize scientific research by comparing the opposites of both certainty and uncertainty, by referring to life in the woods as a metaphor towards the mind and creation of science, and a series of rhetorical questions that shows the process and mind of the scientists portrayed in John M Barry’s essay.

I am not the writer of this journal. The writer and the rest of the scientists and engineers have been killed by the protestors. The rest of the engineers in the world were not able to continue the mission. Stephen Hawking

In the article “How Science Made Me a Writer” by Andy Weir is in the end of The Martian. Weir explains how he writes The Martian and use scientific details into the story.

Was there ever water on its surface? Will we find life there? Answers to these questions and others will come from studying and traveling to Mars. ”(Bowers, 1) We only know/see 4% (we only see 4 out of every 100 stars, planets and galaxies) of what is out there in space and we would learn so much more about planets and long-term space travel if we went to Mars because a normal rocket would be too small to be in for about 6 months. We would need to advance in the technology to colonize another planet and we would need to advance in our technology for long-term space travel.

The science of Star Wars is book written by Jeanne Cavelos, it tries to link the content of the Star Wars trilogies with modern science. It offers the readers the plausibility of the phenomena that occurs in the world of Star Wars. The book is divided into five chapters excluding the introduction. She proceeds from environments to aliens and androids to spaceships and weapons to end with a chapter on “The Force”.

Attention-getter: Have you ever just gazed at the night sky and looked at the stars and thought to yourself “Is there life on other planets such as, Mars?” Then, you begin to think if NASA will hire you after you applied 20 years ago.

In summer of 1609, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) pointed his revolutionary astronomical telescope to the heavens under the starry Venetian sky; his greatly important observations unveiled the mysteries of universe and would end up changing the course of scientific thought forever. Galileo lived in an age where there was much status quo, when scientists and philosophers would accept scientific and religious doctrine that had stood for hundreds, if not thousands, of years instead of challenging the accepted knowledge in favor of intellectual progress. Galileo’s scientific methods lead to significant discoveries explaining key scientific laws, such as the

On May 24, 2005, Warren E. Buffett, the chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., announced that MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, would acquire the electric utility PacifiCorp. In Buffett’s largest deal since 1998, and the second largest of his entire career, MidAmerican would purchase PacifiCorp from its parent, Scottish Power plc, for $5.1 billion in cash and $4.3 billion in liabilities and preferred stock. “The energy sector has long interested us, and this is the right fit,” Buffett said. At the announcement, Berkshire Hathaway’s Class A shares closed up 2.4% for the day, for a gain in market value of $2.55