WIMPs and MACHOs
“Cantankerous” isn’t usually a word frequently used to describe cosmologists, but in the case of Fritz Zwicky, pictured below, it has been used more than once.
Zwicky was a visionary and a brilliant nonconformist. His eccentricities were legendary, but his ideas about the nature of our universe shaped modern astronomy.
Zwicky spoke abut “the useless trash in the bulging astronomical journals,” and said, “Astronomers are spherical bastards. No matter how you look at them they are just bastards.” Is it any wonder few people have heard of him?
While these frank assessments certainly didn't win him many friends in the scientific community, I have to admit that they add a certain panache to his legacy. And: what a legacy it is.
Today, I’ve brought in
, who writes Arkinfo Notes, to talk about Zwicky’s enduring legacy. Mir writes very accessible descriptions of physics and other complex things, translating them into easy to understand p…Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
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