Author Archives: Dennis SILVERMAN

About Dennis SILVERMAN

I am a retired Professor of Physics and Astronomy at U C Irvine. For a decade I have been active in learning about energy and the environment, and in lecturing and attending classes at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UC Irvine.

Talk by Genevieve Bell of Intel on “Does Data Have a Secret Life: An Ethnographic Account of ‘Big Data’ and the Cloud”

On May 10, Genevieve Bell of Intel gave a Department of Informatics talk at UC Irvine, titled “Does Data Have a Secret Life: An Ethnographic Account of ‘Big Data’ and the Cloud” For her remarkable achievements, I quote from the … Continue reading

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Communicating Climate Science and Earth System Sciences

While I am in no way a climate scientist, I use the occurrence and predictions of more climate change to motivate the study of present and future clean energy sources, conservation, and efficiency improvements.  I also added commentary to our … Continue reading

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Why It Is Hard to Convince the US Public of Climate Change

The primary reason that acceptance of climate change has been opposed in America, is that climate change is mainly caused by CO2 from fossil fuel burning, and is strongly opposed by those industries, which are the richest in America.  They … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Fossil Fuel Energy, Natural Gas, Oil, Politics, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Wind Energy | Leave a comment

Kenneth Feinberg’s Talk at UC Irvine, March 21, 2013

Kenneth Feinberg spoke to the UCI Law School in the Disaster Law Lecture Series sponsored by the Center for Law, Environment and Natural Resources, on March 21, 2013. He has now taken on the task of distributing charitable contributions for … Continue reading

Posted in Fossil Fuel Energy | Leave a comment

Ocean Acidification Conference by the Newkirk Center, May 3, 2013

Toward a Sustainable 21st Century Ocean Acidification There was a great one day conference on Ocean Acidification (OA) at the Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering next the UC Irvine.  The speakers were the major researchers … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Conservation, Ocean Acidification | Leave a comment

UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake’s Address to the Retiree’s Association on April 30, 2013

In discussing the financing of students, the tuition is $13,400. Yet with aid, the average tuition paid per student is $5,000. Also, 45% of students pay no tuition. UCI is rated in the top 20 for value. In applications, UCI … Continue reading

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Comments on the Movie “Switch” and discussion at UC Irvine

I have just returned from a showing of the movie Switch about forms of energy generation, and searching for our energy future, sponsored by the Newkirk Center.  Presenting was the film’s director, Harry Lynch.  We are planning to show this to … Continue reading

Posted in Autos, Conservation, Electric Power, Energy Efficiency, Fossil Fuel Energy, Oil, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Wind Energy | Leave a comment

Universal Background Check Defeat and its reflection on the US as a democratic nation.

In some past posts, I have commented on how the US differs from a perfect, real, or even effective democracy.  There have been many excellent articles in major newspapers on the need for universal background checks, and I don’t have to … Continue reading

Posted in Guns, Politics | Leave a comment

Higgs contributions to Weak Bosons With Weak Isospin and Spin

Here we attempt a diagram to show where the Higgs Bosons fit into the Weinberg-Salam Electroweak Unification Bosons, when the symmetry breaking turns on the particle masses. Initially, all particle masses start out at zero, so that there is weak … Continue reading

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Musings on the Naming of the Higgs Boson

First of all, I am the world’s worst science historian, so don’t take this as a reputable history article.  Second, the field will sort out the historical credit, so I am not concerned with that.  Here is a picture of … Continue reading

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