Free Republic

White Semidouble IT IS FROM A COURT that we are to be taught today the most heroic virtues. Casimir is a Prince; he is surrounded by all the allurements of youth and luxury; and yet he passes through the snares of the world with as much safety and prudence as though he were an Angel in human form. His example shows us what we may do. The world has not smiled on us as it did on Casimir; but how much we have loved it! If we have gone so far as to make it our idol, we must...

A Force from Empty Space: The Casimir Effect Credit & Copyright: Umar Mohideen (U. California at Riverside) Explanation: This tiny ball provides evidence that the universe will expand forever. Measuring slightly over one tenth of a millimeter, the ball moves toward a smooth plate in response to energy fluctuations in the vacuum of empty space. The attraction is known as the Casimir Effect, named for its discoverer, who, 50 years ago, was trying to understand why fluids like mayonnaise move so slowly. Today, evidence is accumulating that most of the energy density in the universe is in an unknown...

Science Daily — St. Andrews scientists have discovered a new way of levitating tiny objects - paving the way for future applications in nanotechnology. Artist's impression of a mirror levitating using a repulsive version of the Casimir effect. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of St Andrews) Theoretical physicists at the University of St. Andrews have created 'incredible levitation effects' by engineering the force of nature which normally causes objects to stick together by quantum force. By reversing this phenomenon, known as 'Casimir force', the scientists hope to solve the problem of tiny objects sticking together in existing novel nanomachines. Professor...

The quest for a single theory that unites all of the universe's fundamental forces has thus far eluded physicists, but that has not stopped a team of them from clearing the way for nanotechnologists while they look for it. The group, which includes Purdue University's Ephraim Fischbach, has recently completed research that improves our understanding of how tiny objects placed very close together can influence each other. Their experiment, which involves the behavior of a minuscule gold ball as it moves over different substances, shows that gravity behaves exactly as Isaac Newton predicted, even at small scales. Unfortunately for those...

LEWISBURG — Louis J. Casimir Jr. of Lewisburg died Feb. 5, but almost two months after his death, or in his words, "bought the farm," he continues to bring chuckles. Casimir, a former Bucknell University English professor, penned his own obituary — with a heaping dose of wit — and last weekend, the Feb. 7 obit went national. The popular hosts of National Public Radio’s Car Talk, Tom and Ray Magliozzi (aka Click and Clack — the Tap It Brothers), read the obit word for word during March 20’s installment of Car Talk. The obit, in which Casimir said his...