Jim Baggott
Science writer based in Cape Town. Author of 'Discordance', 'Atomic', ‘The Quantum Story’, ‘Quantum Drama’ (with John Heilbron), and lots more. Migrant from symbol-formerly-known-as-Twitter. Also on Substack: jimbaggott.substack.com. www.jimbaggott.com.
- Reposted by Jim BaggottPlease share. 💔
- This is an absolute disgrace. So the values held by society haven’t changed in 323 years (Isaac Newton was elected president of the Royal Society in 1703)?
- "I think it is naive, frankly, to say that we should get rid of him because he’s a bad person," the new UK Royal Society president says of Elon Musk's membership. The society would have expelled Isaac Newton if it made judgments on character & behaviour, Paul Nurse says. www.ft.com/content/088b...
- Alternative headline: ‘Astronomers are still arguing about the dark energy equation of state’. Dark energy just got even weirder and why the Universe may end in a 'Big Crunch' www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- *Hapgood* was one of my favourite Stoppard plays. Playwright Sir Tom Stoppard dies at 88 www.bbc.com/news/article...
- Reposted by Jim BaggottThe remarkable story we discussed this morning. (No paywall but do consider subscribing.) www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-e...
- Well worth reading in full. open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
- Reposted by Jim BaggottBritain is not a country of racist bigots. Time for the decent majority to "take back control". Repost if you agree.
- The answer is, of course, no. As Nigel explains.
- Is matter conscious? app.thenewworld.co.uk/story/144378...
- Reposted by Jim BaggottNew books this week. @foliosociety.bsky.social @greatdismal.bsky.social @brianclegg.bsky.social @alekskrotoski.bsky.social @jimbaggott.bsky.social @markcooperjones.bsky.social @jayforeman.bsky.social
- Haven’t seen this anywhere yet so I guess I’m going to say it. OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN.
- Reposted by Jim BaggottFresh JWST view of Uranus taken Oct 6 2025 with NIRCam. Full size & more info: flic.kr/p/2rByidu 🔭🧪 Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Andrea Luck CC BY Proposal PI: Varun Bajaj Proposal ID: 8975 Filters: F150W2-F162M, F410M
- Are we *sure* everybody’s seen this now?
- "Baggott’s book is a masterpiece that combines depth with clarity and comprehensiveness with readability,” says renowned historian of physics Helge Kragh in his review of my new book ‘Discordance’. 😳 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- Today is UK publication day for my new book *Discordance: The Troubled History of the Hubble Constant* To celebrate, I’m posting an essay on the trailblazing women who transformed our understanding of the universe. open.substack.com/pub/jimbaggo...
- Has everyone seen this yet? 😉
- "Baggott’s book is a masterpiece that combines depth with clarity and comprehensiveness with readability,” says renowned historian of physics Helge Kragh in his review of my new book ‘Discordance’. 😳 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- "Baggott’s book is a masterpiece that combines depth with clarity and comprehensiveness with readability,” says renowned historian of physics Helge Kragh in his review of my new book ‘Discordance’. 😳 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- Chinese Nobel laureate and physicist Chen Ning Yang dies aged 103 www.bbc.com/news/article...
- Hey! Look what just arrived. 😎
- Physics Nobel awarded to three scientists for work on quantum computing www.bbc.com/news/article...
- PS: quantum computing is a bit of a stretch. The Nobel was awarded for quantum tunnelling experiments performed in 1984/85, which arguably laid the foundations for superconducting qbits.
- The Cepheid found in Andromeda by Hubble had been discovered earlier by Milton Humason. But when he showed the marked image to Harlow Shapley - who had argued that the Milky Way *is* the entire universe - Shapley erased the marks.
- VAR! In the early morning hours #OTD in 1923, Edwin Hubble took a photo plate of M31 that showed a Cepheid variable star. Using Henrietta Swan Leavitt’s distance-luminosity relationship, Hubble concluded that M31 is another galaxy outside the Milky Way. 🧪 🔭 ⚛️ Image: Carnegie Observatories
- I’m heading into a studio next week to record the audio version of my new book ‘Discordance: The Troubled History of the Hubble Constant’. This will be a new experience for me. Anyone have any tips?
- Nostalgia attack! I remember reading this as a young kid (about 8 years old). It featured Fireball XL-5 and Stingray and a cartoon strip featuring Lady Penelope. When a reader wrote in to ask who she was, the editor explained that she was a character in a new show called Thunderbirds, which …
- … would be broadcast soon. The first episode of Thunderbirds was screened on 30 September 1965 - 60 years ago today! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
