Patrick Meade
Patrick Meade
@theorydad.bsky.social
Dad and occasional particle theory professor
587 followers324 following255 posts
Patrick Meade reposted
New: NSF is tightening its conflict of interest rules in what could be a headache for the understaffed agency. Starting in August, reviewers will no longer be able to participate in a panel with any proposals from their own institution. My reporting for @science.org:
Patrick Meade reposted
Breaking news: Multiple scientists who serve on an independent board established to guide the nation’s nearly $9 billion basic science funding agency were terminated from their positions Friday by President Trump.
Patrick Meade reposted
Okay, NSF is for some reason under an appendix, but they do have directorate-level numbers. Cuts pretty much across the board, including zeroing out SBE? which I suppose is what would happen with a 54% cut. Also worth looking at those FY26 estimates... www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
Strangely, there is no section for NSF, though they do have a topline number...
Patrick Meade reposted
More coverage of the move in Science. I had not realized the programs were managed (though had separate accounts) prior to 2003.
New: DOE is reorganizing the Office of Science, per email. Notably, it appears to be combining high energy physics and nuclear physics. Unclear if this keeps the funding pools separate. (I'll ask) Apologies for the low-res image; that's what they sent. On the right is the current org chart.
If well managed this amplifies the science and makes sure people focus on the interesting questions and technologies. If poorly managed this guts both programs. Fingers crossed for good management, there are interesting times ahead!
New: DOE is reorganizing the Office of Science, per email. Notably, it appears to be combining high energy physics and nuclear physics. Unclear if this keeps the funding pools separate. (I'll ask) Apologies for the low-res image; that's what they sent. On the right is the current org chart.
Patrick Meade reposted
Poignant and funny moment from CN Yang memorial, was Marilyn Simons recalling her and Jim’s friendship with him and still having the old dictionary the YITP gave Jim for the talks that started the connection of Physics/Math through YM theory(bc Jim was a bad speller😅) 🧪⚛️ @simonsfoundation.org
Incredible news of CN Yang’s lasting impact, thanks to Drs. Zhang and Luo for their generous gift that helps the Yang Institute for Theoretical physics carry on his legacy into the future @stonybrooku.bsky.social ⚛️🧪 news.stonybrook.edu/university/h...
Interesting Yang anecdotes, he often is remembered for opposing Chinese particle colliders, but he actually wanted his institute to go into accelerator physics. Physics is an experimental science and the machines are becoming too big and so he thought it was imperative to come up with smarter ways⚛️🧪
Patrick Meade reposted
Job alert: Data preservation for ALEPH data. I worked on ALEPH as a student, and as a junior faculty member analyzed archived ALEPH data to search for the Higgs. jobs.smartrecruiters.com/CERN/7440001...
Gotta say @f1tv.bsky.social is a lot more interesting this year so far!
Patrick Meade reposted
These cuts to physics research will be a disaster for UK scientists – and for our standing in the world www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Patrick Meade reposted
This seems especially short sighted by the UK after just having a Brit start as the CERN DG www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Patrick Meade reposted
The article is good but not sure it’s hard to know what to think about or look for, just hard to look resource wise/technologically🧐
Particle physics hasn't yet found the new physics needed to resolve its deepest mysteries. It’s hard to know what to think about or look for. But the most devoted particle physicists are thinking and looking all the same.
I'll go with hard. The existential questions about our universe and EWSB have only become sharper since the LHC, the problem is that only collider experiments are relevant for them generically. If the world were less myopic now we'd invest more in R&D, but accelerator breakthroughs take time/suport🧪
First column for Quanta Magazine's new essay section, Qualia. I take stock of particle physics, a field in crisis. What happened, and what now? Commentary here from many angles. Please lmk your thoughts, or any tips or topic ideas I should look into. 🙏 www.quantamagazine.org/is-particle-...
Patrick Meade reposted
Science and Technology Facilities Council told staff it needs to reduce its spending by £162 million by 2029-30, requiring “substantial savings” to be made. 😬 www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
Patrick Meade reposted
@cern.bsky.social 's Future Circular Collider program is scientifically well motivated. However, concerns remain regarding financing, tech development and locking the community into a long term vision. Prof @johnwomersley.bsky.social explains! Link: www.youtube.com/shorts/Uojh2... ⚛️🧪
Patrick Meade reposted
Did you know that your old TV was an in home particle accelerator? Old cathode ray tube TVs generated particles, accelerated them, diverted them, and smashed them into a phosphor coated screen to create images! Link: www.youtube.com/shorts/4rPRg... #physics ⚛️🧪
Patrick Meade reposted
The mathematician Pasha Galashin recently proved that the amplituhedron, a shape that encodes particle interactions, can be built from patterns that arise in origami. www.quantamagazine.org/origami-patt...
Patrick Meade reposted
Patrick Meade reposted
“Fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone,” Dr. Kornbluth wrote. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...
Patrick Meade reposted
Because the academy seems like a great idea and such... Come join us! We're hiring an Asst Professor in Particle Theory at @UTKPhysAstro! Tell your friends and do some science with us! inspirehep.net/jobs/2977853
Patrick Meade reposted
This isn’t what the article nor what the players said. Definitely abhorrent behavior by some US fans(also turns out it wasn’t thrown but knocked out of someone’s hand), but we don’t need to embellish the stories either.
This is America. Where we have turned golf violent. European players have vowed to never return to America to play the sport.
Patrick Meade reposted
Somewhere between outsourcing and crowdsourcing, gravitational wave researchers got 1,000 participants on Kaggle to create the best algorithm to identify continuous GWs (shed by a swiftly tilting neutron star). Top 10 submissions reduced compute by 1–3 orders of magnitude. arxiv.org/abs/2509.06445
Patrick Meade reposted
Patrick Meade reposted
Yesterday the Supreme Court issued a convoluted, 36-page emergency order about NIH grant terminations. Two main takeaways: -$2 billion (not the government # of $780 million) in NIH grants will likely be re-terminated -future legal challenges will be much harder w/ @maxkozlov.bsky.social:
Patrick Meade reposted
Patrick Meade reposted