Cosmic Chemist

First SOLEIL paper (finally) published

I'm very happy to report that my first co-authored paper that includes work I've done since starting my current postdoc position has been published. It is astrochemistry-oriented and is entitled "Photoionization and dissociative photoionization of propynal in the gas phase: Theory and experiment". In short we used the SAPHIRS endstation at the DESIRS beamline at … Continue reading First SOLEIL paper (finally) published

Cosmic Chemist

The Science of Paul Anderson’s Event Horizon – The Science of Our Fear

As an eleven year old boy I started to watch horror films. Whether this had a negative influence on my psyche remains to be seen but this was really the consequence of circumstance rather than poor parenting on my folks’ behalf. It was just a really bad coincidence that the first horror film I (inadvertently) … Continue reading The Science of Paul Anderson’s Event Horizon – The Science of Our Fear

Cosmic Chemist

How to Destroy the Universe and 34 other really interesting uses of Physics

How to Destroy the Universe and 34 other really interesting uses of Physics by Paul Parsons. How to Destroy the Universe is a part of a series of books of a similar name, each of which emphasizes the various usages of science in our everyday and not-so-everyday life. This book series includes titles such as … Continue reading How to Destroy the Universe and 34 other really interesting uses of Physics

Cosmic Chemist

Biochemistry of Michael Bay‘s “The Rock”

Michael Bay is not particularly known within the scientific community as someone who cares about accurate representations of scientific principles (e.g. Armageddon… All of it). Nonetheless his 1996 release, The Rock, is one of my favorite action films and probably his best ever film release in terms of quality movie-making. Without spoiling too much of … Continue reading Biochemistry of Michael Bay‘s “The Rock”