Skip to content
By using Twitter’s services you agree to our Cookies Use. We and our partners operate globally and use cookies, including for analytics, personalisation, and ads.

This is the legacy version of twitter.com. We will be shutting it down on June 1, 2020. Please switch to a supported browser, or disable the extension which masks your browser. You can see a list of supported browsers in our Help Center.

  • Home Home Home, current page.
  • About

Saved searches

  • Remove
  • In this conversation
    Verified accountProtected Tweets @
Suggested users
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Language: English
    • Bahasa Indonesia
    • Bahasa Melayu
    • Català
    • Čeština
    • Dansk
    • Deutsch
    • English UK
    • Español
    • Filipino
    • Français
    • Hrvatski
    • Italiano
    • Magyar
    • Nederlands
    • Norsk
    • Polski
    • Português
    • Română
    • Slovenčina
    • Suomi
    • Svenska
    • Tiếng Việt
    • Türkçe
    • Ελληνικά
    • Български език
    • Русский
    • Српски
    • Українська мова
    • עִבְרִית
    • العربية
    • فارسی
    • मराठी
    • हिन्दी
    • বাংলা
    • ગુજરાતી
    • தமிழ்
    • ಕನ್ನಡ
    • ภาษาไทย
    • 한국어
    • 日本語
    • 简体中文
    • 繁體中文
  • Have an account? Log in
    Have an account?
    · Forgot password?

    New to Twitter?
    Sign up
blockspins's profile
bgc
bgc
bgc
@blockspins

Tweets

bgc

@blockspins

readin and writin

Joined January 2010

Tweets

  • © 2020 Twitter
  • About
  • Help Center
  • Terms
  • Privacy policy
  • Imprint
  • Cookies
  • Ads info
Dismiss
Previous
Next

Go to a person's profile

Saved searches

  • Remove
  • In this conversation
    Verified accountProtected Tweets @
Suggested users
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @

Promote this Tweet

Block

  • Tweet with a location

    You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more

    Your lists

    Create a new list


    Under 100 characters, optional

    Privacy

    Copy link to Tweet

    Embed this Tweet

    Embed this Video

    Add this Tweet to your website by copying the code below. Learn more

    Add this video to your website by copying the code below. Learn more

    Hmm, there was a problem reaching the server.

    By embedding Twitter content in your website or app, you are agreeing to the Twitter Developer Agreement and Developer Policy.

    Preview

    Why you're seeing this ad

    Log in to Twitter

    · Forgot password?
    Don't have an account? Sign up »

    Sign up for Twitter

    Not on Twitter? Sign up, tune into the things you care about, and get updates as they happen.

    Sign up
    Have an account? Log in »

    Two-way (sending and receiving) short codes:

    Country Code For customers of
    United States 40404 (any)
    Canada 21212 (any)
    United Kingdom 86444 Vodafone, Orange, 3, O2
    Brazil 40404 Nextel, TIM
    Haiti 40404 Digicel, Voila
    Ireland 51210 Vodafone, O2
    India 53000 Bharti Airtel, Videocon, Reliance
    Indonesia 89887 AXIS, 3, Telkomsel, Indosat, XL Axiata
    Italy 4880804 Wind
    3424486444 Vodafone
    » See SMS short codes for other countries

    Confirmation

     

    Welcome home!

    This timeline is where you’ll spend most of your time, getting instant updates about what matters to you.

    Tweets not working for you?

    Hover over the profile pic and click the Following button to unfollow any account.

    Say a lot with a little

    When you see a Tweet you love, tap the heart — it lets the person who wrote it know you shared the love.

    Spread the word

    The fastest way to share someone else’s Tweet with your followers is with a Retweet. Tap the icon to send it instantly.

    Join the conversation

    Add your thoughts about any Tweet with a Reply. Find a topic you’re passionate about, and jump right in.

    Learn the latest

    Get instant insight into what people are talking about now.

    Get more of what you love

    Follow more accounts to get instant updates about topics you care about.

    Find what's happening

    See the latest conversations about any topic instantly.

    Never miss a Moment

    Catch up instantly on the best stories happening as they unfold.

    1. bgc‏ @blockspins 6 Mar 2019
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      bgc Retweeted Nigel Goldenfeld

      Really nice slides on one of the great journals in physics! Great selection of highlights (including a paper of Kadanoff on beautiful paradigm-shifting work on scaling in phase transitions that led to much of modern stat mech, field theory... as well as my twitter handle 😉).https://twitter.com/NigelGoldenfeld/status/1103314489548652544 …

      bgc added,

      Nigel Goldenfeld @NigelGoldenfeld
      Thrilled to talk last night at the #apsmarch March meeting session on the 90th birthday #rmp90 of @APSphysics journal Reviews of Modern Physics (no Twitter handle?!). My talk: Previews of Modern Physics = review articles about fields not yet existing. http://guava.physics.uiuc.edu/~nigel/Talks/v2.1%20Previews%20of%20Modern%20Physics.pdf … pic.twitter.com/FisRK1zJ5Z
      1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
      Show this thread
    2. bgc‏ @blockspins 6 Mar 2019
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Also featuring my Ph.D. advisor Randy looking uncharacteristically serious in his role as a visionary editor! #rmp90pic.twitter.com/LPhSX6KVlf

      https://www.ias.edu/scholars/randall-d-kamien
      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      Show this thread
      bgc‏ @blockspins 6 Mar 2019
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      It's probably a good occasion to reflect on the RMP article that's had the greatest influence on me: The topological theory of defects in ordered media, by N. D. Mermin (1979) https://journals.aps.org/rmp/abstract/10.1103/RevModPhys.51.591 …. I remember @takuyakitagawa first showing it to me when we were undegrads!pic.twitter.com/pMzL4Zk6OT

      First page of the article, consisting of the abstract and most of the table of contents
      The last sentence of the second page continues: "Bridges would not be safer if only people who knew the proper definition of a real number were allowed to design them."
      12:02 PM - 6 Mar 2019
      2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. bgc‏ @blockspins 6 Mar 2019
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Here's the topic: one way of classifying materials is by their symmetries, e.g. crystals have discrete units repeating in space, but gases and liquids are (after averaging) spatially uniform. These symmetries turn out to determine the defects that can appear, such as dislocationspic.twitter.com/0xryT7Ao4T

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
          Show this thread
        3. bgc‏ @blockspins 6 Mar 2019
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          bgc Retweeted Vance Williams

          (which show up as flaws in diamonds, silicon, and other crystals). This linked tweet shows disclination defects in a nematic liquid crystal https://twitter.com/vancew/status/1004872092678963200 …. Mermin's article explains how all this can be studied using an arcane branch of topology called "homotopy theory"!

          bgc added,

          0:16
          Vance Williams @vancew
          Endlessly fascinated by liquid crystals #sciart pic.twitter.com/oEqDG4wpgP
          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
          Show this thread
        4. bgc‏ @blockspins 6 Mar 2019
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          It's a very ambitious article: fearlessly guiding physicists into deep waters with few proofs but many pictures and appeals to intuition about strange materials like the aforementioned nematic LCs (famous for their use in displays) and the two flavors of superfluid helium-3.pic.twitter.com/7AaOeVa15P

          1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
          Show this thread
        5. bgc‏ @blockspins 6 Mar 2019
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Many elegant diagrams, which came in handy when I hit the math books later. Here are a few of my favorites: the 2nd homotopy group (pi_2), the Eckmann-Hilton argument, the action of the fundamental group on pi_2, and a truly magnificent sketch of a "commutator" loop!pic.twitter.com/IU4jqJArRW

          Fig. 46
          Fig. 48
          Fig. 49
          Fig. 45
          1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
          Show this thread
        6. bgc‏ @blockspins 6 Mar 2019
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Long story short, Gareth Alexander, @Sabetta_, Randy and I eventually wrote an RMP article ourselves, with more about how point and loop defects in nematic liquid crystals can interact https://journals.aps.org/rmp/abstract/10.1103/RevModPhys.84.497 … @Sabetta_ did all the illustrations herself! How are these for #SciArt?pic.twitter.com/I2juB4xqYZ

          1 reply 1 retweet 5 likes
          Show this thread
        7. bgc‏ @blockspins 6 Mar 2019
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          I'm the proud owner of the original "Figure 10" (framed in my old bedroom), which illustrates the pattern on the surface of a sphere (colloid) that you'd see if you submerged it in a liquid of rectangular prisms (biaxial nematic) that want to "point outwards" (radial anchoring)!pic.twitter.com/hJZyYS8CcB

          1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
          Show this thread
        8. bgc‏ @blockspins 6 Mar 2019
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          If you made it here, thanks for reading, and I'd love to hear about any review articles or expositions that have had a big impact on your work, in RMP or elsewhere!

          1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
          Show this thread
        9. End of conversation
        1. New conversation
        2. Takuya Kitagawa‏ @takuyakitagawa 8 Mar 2019
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation
          Replying to @blockspins

          Really? Funnily, I don't remember lol this is indeed a great paper!

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        3. bgc‏ @blockspins 8 Mar 2019
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation
          Replying to @takuyakitagawa

          I'm pretty sure it was during this Morse theory summer tutorial! http://www.math.harvard.edu/tutorials/index2006.html#4 … Amazed that the website is still up...

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        4. 1 more reply

      Loading seems to be taking a while.

      Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.

        Promoted Tweet

        false

        • © 2020 Twitter
        • About
        • Help Center
        • Terms
        • Privacy policy
        • Imprint
        • Cookies
        • Ads info