Quantum Diaries

For some strange reason, I have always been accused of thinking like a physicist. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that I became a theoretical nuclear physicist. I have worked in a number of different areas of nuclear physics: low energy nuclear structure, pion physics, relativistic heavy ion physics, and intermediate energy nuclear physics.I delight in annoying experimentalists, most recently those who foolishly claim to measure spectroscopic factors. Even more recently, I have been "promoted"; and do project coordination. That may seem rather different than theoretical physics, but they have a common thread: overanalyzing data and annoying people. I have been at TRIUMF for so long that when I tell newcomers when I came, they say: But, I was not even born then! Young whipper-snappers.

I was born in Middle Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia, Canada and grew up in Centre Musquodoboit. You may wonder what the difference is between Middle Musquodoboit and Centre Musquodoboit. The answer is 10 miles. In my spare time, I put together a genealogy of the main families of Middle, Centre, and Upper Musquodoboit. After pruning, it was only a thousand pages long. It is still on the web somewhere. I found two distressing things from the genealogy. First, I had a family thicket not a family tree. Second, that all the people I did not like in high school were actually relatives. There is always danger in learning more.

I have a one daughter, adopted from China. Fortunately, Metro Vancouver is so multicultural that no one bats an eye at Caucasian parents with a Chinese daughter; although we did get very good service at Chinese restaurants when she was young.

Finally one should not expect any humour in my posts. Part of the secret initiation rites as a theoretical nuclear physicist is a sacred vow of humourlessness. You may have heard about mysterious disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle. That is what happens to people who break the vow.