Is the Universe Shaped Like a Doughnut?
I’m fascinated by a New York Times article “Universe as Doughnut: New Data, New Debate”, by Dennis Overbye, which I’ve read and reread all this week. Checking early this Saturday morning, it is still online free, along with an accompanying interactive: “Is Infinity an Illusion?” To read the full article, go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/11/science/space/11COSM.html?8isc
The article tells about a new interpretation of data obtained by means of a NASA satellite, in operation since 1992, that measures the faint microwave radiation that fills the sky. “This radiation is believed to be the afterglow of the Big Bang itself, and thus constitutes a portrait of the universe when it was only 380,000 years old.” The COBE satellite (for Cosmic Background Explorer) is providing data about the early universe which leads Dr. James Peebles of Princeton to say: “Cosmologists have built a house of cards and it stands.”
But, Hey! - The universe as a doughnut? The article mentions that an early computer game called Spacewar gives a picture consistent with space shaped like a doughnut – if battling rocket ships drift off one side of the screen, they reappear on the opposite side. And it seems to me I read a science fiction story “umpteen years ago” :-) that includes the idea of space shaped like a doughnut. In fact, I have a faint notion that my good friend Jerry and I had a discussion of this idea way back when we were next door neighbors. (??)
Now rather than computer games and science fiction, new experimental developments come from the University of Pennsylvania where Dr. Angélica de Oliveira-Costa and Dr. Max Tegmark have generated a detailed map of the early universe using COBE satellite data. Based on a far from certain interpretation of the map, “... Rather than being infinite in all directions, as the most fashionable theory suggests, the universe could be radically smaller in one direction than the others. As a result it may even be shaped like a doughnut.”
Being mostly an experimental scientist and engineer myself, rather than a theorist, I find extra fascinating that a seemingly simple way exists for astrophysicists to test the theory. According to Dr. Tegmark, “There’s a hint in the data that if you traveled far and fast in the direction of the constellation Virgo, you’d return to Earth from the opposite direction.” And in the interactive accompanying the article, testing of the theory is proposed by looking at opposite ends of the sky to see if similar patterns and scales appear in the cosmic background radiation.
Wow! I like it like that! Not only is a hypothesis proposed, but a means of experimental proof is offered. That’s what Albert Einstein did with his relativity theory and experiments bore out the validity of his concepts. Thinking back to my days as a voracious science fiction reader, I wish my favorite science fiction author and science interpretation writer, Isaac Asimov, was still alive. I would love to read a column on the subject like those he used to write every month in Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine.
March 11, 2003
Reaping the Wind in Western Oklahoma
At the beginning of the year, I joined the Weatherford Area Economic Development Foundation (WAEDF) at the urging of a good friend who thought the foundation can benefit from more diversification in its members. Most of the present members are business people of some sort.
Well, so far I interpret my role in the foundation to include contributing an engineering viewpoint and generating fresh ideas for economic development projects. In this vein, something "jumped out at me" from an article in Chemical & Engineering News, February 24, 2003 edition (free Web access only to American Chemical Society members.) The cover story is on wind energy and a map shows active wind energy projects in the U.S. represented by the total megawatt capacity on line in each state. A startling find for me is that Oklahoma has no active wind energy projects while most of the states around Oklahoma have relatively high activity. I brought this up at a WAEDF meeting and found out to my liking that potential wind energy projects are being pursued by the foundation and by the town Economic Development Director. Also the state legislature recently passed legislation to encourage wind energy development.
Meanwhile I am having great fun! As is my habit, I got single-minded about learning all I can on the subject. I started over the weekend on an Internet search to learn more about current wind turbine technology and I got experience using the Oklahoma Legislature website to find a bill status. The bill for wind energy is in the House Appropriations Committee awaiting funding with an "emergency" priority. By Sunday I found myself ordering an expensive technical book covering up-to-date engineering aspects for large wind turbines.
In my reading I found this approximate quote: "Wind is to the American Great Plains as oil is to Saudi Arabia." Western Oklahoma is part of the Great Plains. The time is at hand to reap the wind in our region - and I look forward to playing some part, small as it may be, in getting the job done.
At the beginning of the year, I joined the Weatherford Area Economic Development Foundation (WAEDF) at the urging of a good friend who thought the foundation can benefit from more diversification in its members. Most of the present members are business people of some sort.
Well, so far I interpret my role in the foundation to include contributing an engineering viewpoint and generating fresh ideas for economic development projects. In this vein, something "jumped out at me" from an article in Chemical & Engineering News, February 24, 2003 edition (free Web access only to American Chemical Society members.) The cover story is on wind energy and a map shows active wind energy projects in the U.S. represented by the total megawatt capacity on line in each state. A startling find for me is that Oklahoma has no active wind energy projects while most of the states around Oklahoma have relatively high activity. I brought this up at a WAEDF meeting and found out to my liking that potential wind energy projects are being pursued by the foundation and by the town Economic Development Director. Also the state legislature recently passed legislation to encourage wind energy development.
Meanwhile I am having great fun! As is my habit, I got single-minded about learning all I can on the subject. I started over the weekend on an Internet search to learn more about current wind turbine technology and I got experience using the Oklahoma Legislature website to find a bill status. The bill for wind energy is in the House Appropriations Committee awaiting funding with an "emergency" priority. By Sunday I found myself ordering an expensive technical book covering up-to-date engineering aspects for large wind turbines.
In my reading I found this approximate quote: "Wind is to the American Great Plains as oil is to Saudi Arabia." Western Oklahoma is part of the Great Plains. The time is at hand to reap the wind in our region - and I look forward to playing some part, small as it may be, in getting the job done.
