Paul Halpern

Win a free autographed book or bookplate! Follow @phalpern.bsky.social Preorder The Great Atom Debate greatatomdebate.com Post proof of preorder with hashtag #GreatAtomDebate First 20 entries get free autographed bookplate On Nov 1, five winners randomly chosen to get free autographed book #booksky

“A truly fun dual biography… that should be of interest even to people who don’t care a whit about physics but love a good story, especially one showcasing two fascinating, driven characters.” ―Forbes www.amazon.com/gp/product/1... greatatomdebate.com #GreatAtomDebate #booksky #science #physics

Painting of Albert Einstein on violin and Paul Ehrenfest on piano. Ehrenfest was a student of Ludwig Boltzmann, an extraordinary physicist in his own right, and a dear friend of Einstein. Original watercolor by Marijke Kamerlingh-Onnes, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives #Einstein #science

In the golden age of Vienna, two brilliant thinkers vied to shape the future of physics. Their passionate struggle led directly to the quantum and relativity revolutions. History of science at its most gripping! THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE Preorder now www.amazon.com/gp/product/1... greatatomdebate.com

"The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible." -Albert Einstein #Einstein #science #physics

Using the Uncertainty Principle to Shield a Shy Quantum Physicist: Heisenberg and Dirac were on a trip to Japan, when a reporter wanted to interview both of them. Knowing that Dirac was very shy, Heisenberg pretended not to know where he was, when he was actually standing close! #science #quantum

My heart is heavy. Walter Koenig, our Ensign Pavel Chekov, passed away early today. Walter and I met on the bridge of the Enterprise in the 1960s, and we stayed friends for nearly six decades. When Brad and I married in 2008, Walter stood beside us as our best man.

Using the Uncertainty Principle to Shield a Shy Quantum Physicist: Heisenberg and Dirac were on a trip to Japan, when a reporter wanted to interview both of them. Knowing that Dirac was very shy, Heisenberg pretended not to know where he was, when he was actually standing close! #science #quantum

“A truly fun dual biography… that should be of interest even to people who don’t care a whit about physics but love a good story, especially one showcasing two fascinating, driven characters.” ―Forbes www.amazon.com/gp/product/1... greatatomdebate.com #GreatAtomDebate #booksky #science #physics

The weird, colourful garden where CERN's obsolete particle detectors enjoy their quiet retirement #science #physics #CERN

In this spooky house in Leiden, Holland, so different from other houses in that picturesque city, physicist Paul Ehrenfest once lived. There he hosted friends such as Albert Einstein. #science #physics #Einstein

Spooky Physics: In 1933, the New York Times compared Niels Bohr's quantum concept of complementarity to the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde #HappyHalloween #Spooky #Physics

'You know I am in disagreement with most of my colleagues on the quantum theory. They are not facing the facts [and] have abandoned reason! Bohr's thinking is clear but when he begins to write he becomes very obscure and he thinks of himself as a prophet.' -Albert Einstein #science #quantum

Dr. Paul Halpern on his new book The Great Atom Debate youtu.be/ajNhO4-30cs?si… #greatatomdebate #sciencebooks #science #physics #booksky

Check out my new official TikTok account for fun video posts: tiktok.com/@paulhalpern5

Albert Einstein moved to the United States on 17 October 1933. Two weeks later, Halloween arrived. When a group of girls knocked on his door that evening and shouted 'Trick or Treat,' Einstein came to the front porch and played the violin for them: capitalcentury.com/1933.html #Halloween

'The non-mathematician is seized by a mysterious shuddering when he hears of “four-dimensional” things, by a feeling not unlike that awakened by thoughts of the occult. And yet there is no more commonplace statement than that the world in which we live is a 4D space-time continuum.' -Albert Einstein

'If... all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generation... what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis... that all things are made of atoms' -Richard Feynman #GreatAtomDebate

The strange, hypothetical notion of Boltzmann Brains, entities assembled by mere chance elsewhere in the cosmos with false memories of lives never lived. Video by Mauritz Wilshusen, starring Paul Halpern greatatomdebate.com #greatatomdebate #BoltzmannBrain #booksky #science #physics #Boltzmann

Thrilled that Nobel laureate astrophysicist Jim Peebles has endorsed THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE, calling it "a fascinating account of the roles Ernst Mach and Ludwig Boltzmann played in the establishment of modern physics" Preorder now amazon.com/gp/product/1... bookshop.org/p/books/the-... #booksky

Thinking about what to wear for Halloween? Nuclear shell model pioneer Maria Goeppert Mayer, the second woman to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics, shows off her wonderful bat costume (AIP ESVA) #HappyHalloween #science

SPOOKY QUANTUM PHYSICS! 🎃👻 'I cannot seriously believe in [quantum mechanics] because the theory cannot be reconciled with the idea that physics should represent a reality in space and time, free from spooky actions at a distance.' -Albert Einstein to Max Born March 3, 1947

Dr. Paul Halpern on his new book The Great Atom Debate youtu.be/ajNhO4-30cs?si… #greatatomdebate #sciencebooks #science #physics #booksky

'You know I am in disagreement with most of my colleagues on the quantum theory. They are not facing the facts [and] have abandoned reason! Bohr's thinking is clear but when he begins to write he becomes very obscure and he thinks of himself as a prophet.' -Albert Einstein #science #quantum

The weird, colourful garden where CERN's obsolete particle detectors enjoy their quiet retirement #science #physics #CERN

Spooky Physics: In 1933, the New York Times compared Niels Bohr's quantum concept of complementarity to the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde #HappyHalloween #Spooky #Physics

In this spooky house in Leiden, Holland, so different from other houses in that picturesque city, physicist Paul Ehrenfest once lived. There he hosted friends such as Albert Einstein. #science #physics #Einstein

Check out my new official TikTok account for fun video posts: tiktok.com/@paulhalpern5

I can’t wait to read it!

In the golden age of Vienna, two brilliant thinkers vied to shape the future of physics. Their passionate struggle led directly to the quantum and relativity revolutions. History of science at its most gripping! THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE Preorder now: www.amazon.com/gp/product/1... greatatomdebate.com

Albert Einstein moved to the United States on 17 October 1933. Two weeks later, Halloween arrived. When a group of girls knocked on his door that evening and shouted 'Trick or Treat,' Einstein came to the front porch and played the violin for them: capitalcentury.com/1933.html #Halloween

Thrilled that Nobel laureate astrophysicist Jim Peebles has endorsed THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE, calling it "a fascinating account of the roles Ernst Mach and Ludwig Boltzmann played in the establishment of modern physics" Preorder now amazon.com/gp/product/1... bookshop.org/p/books/the-... #booksky

Carve your Halloween pumpkins into scary versions of scientists (Symmetry Magazine): Paul Dirac-ula Mummy Noether Albert Frank-Einstein Werewolfgang Pauli Scary Curie (Photo for Symmetry by Reidar Hahn, Fermilab with Sandbox Studios) #Halloween #science

Need a great costume idea this Halloween? Dress up as your favorite Feynman diagram! symmetrymagazine.org/article/octo... #Halloween #Feynman #physics

Thinking about what to wear for Halloween? Nuclear shell model pioneer Maria Goeppert Mayer, the second woman to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics, shows off her wonderful bat costume (AIP ESVA) #HappyHalloween #science

Acclaimed horror director John Carpenter's spooky story "The Ghost Maker," about Schrödinger's Cat: nytimes.com/1988/10/31/o... #HappyHalloween #SchrodingersCat

The strange, hypothetical notion of Boltzmann Brains, entities assembled by mere chance elsewhere in the cosmos with false memories of lives never lived. Video by Mauritz Wilshusen, starring Paul Halpern greatatomdebate.com #greatatomdebate #BoltzmannBrain #booksky #science #physics #Boltzmann

I have finally submitted my paper on Pauli and CS Lewis. It’s titled ‘When Pauli Read Lewis: A Quantum Physicist Examines That Hideous Strength Through Jungian Lenses’. And it was prompted by a post here on Pauli’s library by @phalpern.bsky.social so thanks for that!

'It is nothing short of a miracle that modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.' -Albert Einstein #Einstein #science #physics

Forbes Review of THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE "The Great Atom Debate by Paul Halpern is a truly fun dual biography about two eminent 19th-century scientists who had a long-running, almost cutthroat rivalry centered on the question of whether atoms exist." www.forbes.com/sites/rebecc... #science #BookSky

Albert Einstein moved to the United States on 17 October 1933. Two weeks later, Halloween arrived. When a group of girls knocked on his door that evening and shouted 'Trick or Treat,' Einstein came to the front porch and played the violin for them: capitalcentury.com/1933.html #Einstein

Albert Einstein, in his final years, was a fan of comedian Sid Caesar, and invited him to visit. Sadly, Einstein died before that could happen. But Robert Oppenheimer later met with Caesar, after a lecture he gave, and conveyed Einstein's deep appreciation web.archive.org/web/20111229... #Einstein

'It was Ernst Mach who, in his History of Mechanics, upset [my] dogmatic faith [in Newtonian mechanics]... I see Mach's greatness in his incorruptible skepticism and independence.' -Albert Einstein #Einstein #Mach #GreatAtomDebate #science #physics

'If... all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generation... what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis... that all things are made of atoms' -Richard Feynman #GreatAtomDebate

SPOOKY QUANTUM PHYSICS! 🎃👻 'I cannot seriously believe in [quantum mechanics] because the theory cannot be reconciled with the idea that physics should represent a reality in space and time, free from spooky actions at a distance.' -Albert Einstein to Max Born March 3, 1947

Albert Einstein moved to the United States on 17 October 1933. Two weeks later, Halloween arrived. When a group of girls knocked on his door that evening and shouted 'Trick or Treat,' Einstein came to the front porch and played the violin for them: capitalcentury.com/1933.html #Einstein

Albert Einstein, in his final years, was a fan of comedian Sid Caesar, and invited him to visit. Sadly, Einstein died before that could happen. But Robert Oppenheimer later met with Caesar, after a lecture he gave, and conveyed Einstein's deep appreciation web.archive.org/web/20111229... #Einstein

The Quantum Omelette Problem: How Much Energy Belongs to the Yolk? quantumfrontiers.com/2026/10/11/t...

Mindscape Ask Me Anything | October 2026. We talk about philosophical naturalism, what Einstein would think about Many-Worlds, and the impact of AI on science and math. #MindscapePodcast preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026...

7 mind-bending comparisons between the Universe and the human body The Universe is too vast for our minds to comprehend, while the cellular, molecular, and atomic world within us is mind-numbingly small. These 7 comparisons help bridge that gap. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #human