Time has a way of getting away from us. This particular piece is one which I have been meaning to write for a while. Although I finished my Marie Curie fellowship officially in August 2021, I haven’t felt like I’ve been in a position to write this piece until now. Back in 2019 I won … Continue reading My Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (2019 – 2021(2)) – Part 1 of X, X = 2-5
The Accidental Scientist: The Role of Chance and Luck in Scientific Discovery
by Graeme Donald The world of science is indeed filled with many stories bustling with serendipity...as such. I was quite excited about reading this book and it makes for a quite interesting read. I use that phrase intentionally because it is written almost as the sort of mini stories told on the excellent QI, which … Continue reading The Accidental Scientist: The Role of Chance and Luck in Scientific Discovery
Ruminations of strange times
I‘m writing this because I need to write something. Not because there is something poignant I want to get across. But because I have inadvertently erected a barrier that I now want, no, need to break. Wait. I guess that is a pretty poignant thing. After starting as a Marie Curie fellow at the Leiden … Continue reading Ruminations of strange times
2020 – What the f***
This is the first thing I've written on this site for a little over a year. Well, that's not strictly true, I have been updating the reports on how my Marie Curie fellowship is going as well as my publication list. But that's not really important in the grand scheme of things. For the entire … Continue reading 2020 – What the f***
My Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath number
Sometimes there are so many things on your agenda that you need a little bit of a break and perspective. And what better way to do so than by calculating your Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath number?! Let me explain. The Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath number (or EBS number) is the summation of your individual Erdos number, Bacon number, and Sabbath number. … Continue reading My Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath number
The Cosmic Chemist enters the Leiden Observatory as a Marie Curie Fellow
This is a bit overdue, but better late than never. Just over a month ago I came crashing into Leiden from Paris, thus starting my two-year Marie Curie Fellowship at the Leiden Observatory. The landing was a tad rough I must admit. Simultaneously moving in officially with my partner and starting this postdoc without a … Continue reading The Cosmic Chemist enters the Leiden Observatory as a Marie Curie Fellow
Mr Freeze‘s Freeze Gun – The Real One…. or Fake One… Which is Real…yes
Two and a half years ago I wrote about the science of Mr. Freeze´s freezing gun with reference to the 1997 epic (flop) Batman and Robin. This small blog is still generating views and is the most visited thing on my site that I've ever written. But why is that? What is it about the … Continue reading Mr Freeze‘s Freeze Gun – The Real One…. or Fake One… Which is Real…yes
Some recent research successes
Doing research is not a good way to get instant gratification for what you are doing. It’s an arduous process that involves collecting and interpreting data in search for answers to specific questions. This can be a very lengthy process that involves checking, re-checking and starting all over again. It can be frustrating, demoralizing, and … Continue reading Some recent research successes
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
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
The Cosmic Chemist 