In December I moved to Hannover, Germany to start a postdoc at the Albert-Einstein-Institute, a Max Planck institute dedicated to developing instrumentation and conducting data analysis for gravitational wave astrophysics. I've started work on the AEI 10 m prototype, which is an absolutely awesome experiment, but that's for another post …
I recently passed by DVSA theory test, which is a requirement for sitting the practical driving test to legally drive on UK roads. I booked my theory test 3 days ago, grabbing a last minute slot for earlier today, having not studied before then. Normally the waiting time is around …
Ever notice that resistors come in logarithmic increments? There's a lot of sense behind it. Resistor series typically follow the E-series of preferred numbers, codified into an IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standard after World War II (IEC 60063:1963 to be exact). The smallest …
Last year I completed my PhD studying interferometry for the detection of gravitational waves. My thesis is now available in electronic form that anyone that wishes to read it can obtain, and the source code is on GitHub. A paper copy - following the standard fabric-bound, A4 format specified by the …
Anyone who's ever had to buy resistors from sites like RS, Farnell or DigiKey will know that there are myriad types to choose from: "carbon composite", "wire-wound", "carbon film", "metal film"... what do these mean, and in which applications are they useful and harmful?
Assorted resistors. Which type is useful …
I like StackExchange newsletters, which send you weekly emails for each site you sign up for containing top rated discussions. I subscribe to Electronics, Physics and, for fun, Aviation.
In February, I changed the email address associated with my StackExchange account to use my own server. After that, I noticed …
The Spectra Microvision Plus is a nice residual gas analyser (RGA), allowing one to examine the elements and molecules present within a vacuum system. In the speed meter group at the Institute for Gravitational Research, we use it to test our vacuum system for cleanliness, leaks and the presence of …
Over at my workplace, the Institute of Gravitational Research at the University of Glasgow, we undertake lots of experimental research (primary physics) and produce lots of data. For the most part, this data is saved on individuals' computers (centrally backed up but only accessible to that user), a shared hard …
I recently hosted a Halloween party and I thought it would be a cool idea to have my Raspberry Pi set up to take photos every few seconds and display them in some sort of slideshow. After a few hours of tinkering with my Raspberry Pi and Camera Module (technically …
During my recent trip to Germany, I took a whole bunch of photos with my smartphone. While I was out there, I experimented with a different operating system on my phone. Since my regular contacts from home were communicating with me using different channels (email, WhatsApp, etc.), I could afford …
Page 1 / 2 »