Ethan was born in New York City as the son of a Jewish postal worker. He did his undergrad at Northwestern, taught public school in Houston, Texas and Los Angeles, California, before moving to Florida, where he got his PhD in theoretical astrophysics at the University of Florida. After that, he moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where he taught at the University of Wisconsin, ate too much cheese, and also met his life partner, Jamie. After working in astrophysics research at the University of Arizona and starting the world-renowned science blog, Starts With A Bang, he moved from the hellish desert to rain-soaked Portland in 2008. Since then, he's been a professor at the University of Portland and Lewis & Clark College, grown a nationally renowned beard and mustache, got invited to join a circus and probably drank more beer than a healthy person should. He currently works as the head curator at Trapit, and can't wait to tell you a little bit more about the Universe.
“He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast.” -Leonardo Da Vinci
There's an attitude that's very, very common in America: the notion of the rugged individualist. Part of that ethos is the idea that, "if I…
“In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,’ and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are…
“Whenever I gaze up at the moon, I feel like I’m on a time machine. I am back to that precious pinpoint of time, standing on the foreboding — yet beautiful — Sea of Tranquility. I could see our shining blue planet Earth poised in the darkness of space.” -Buzz Aldrin
If you look at Earth from space…
“From our home on the Earth, we look out into the distances are strive to imagine the sort of world into which we are born.. But with increasing distance our knowledge fades, and fades rapidly, until at the last dim horizon we search among ghostly errors of observations for landmarks that are…
“It is worthwhile, too, to warn the teacher that undue severity in correcting faults is liable at times to discourage a pupil’s mind from effort.” -Quintilian
We live in a society where we often draw this dichotomy between "our side," which is always right, and "their side," which is against us…
“Making a wrong decision is understandable. Refusing to search continually for learning is not." -Phil Crosby
From searching for ET to galaxies beyond what Hubble can see, as well as two great guest posts, it's been an incredible week here at Starts With A Bang. Best of all, you've had…
“To me there has never been a higher source of earthly honor or distinction than that connected with advances in science.” -Isaac Newton
If Newton truly meant that sentiment, perhaps he would have been happy to find out that his theory of gravitation -- which stood unchallenged for over 200 years…
“The great oak of Astronomy has been felled, and we are lost without its shadow.” –Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, on the passing of Jan Oort
In our Solar System, we have the inner, rocky worlds, an asteroid belt, the gas giants and then the Kuiper belt. Out beyond that, in theory, we have the…
“Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will…
100 years ago, Einstein put forth his General Theory of Relativity, and 99 years ago, Karl Schwarzschild came up with the mathematical solution describing a black hole, a solution we now know is not only physically valid, but one that has many examples all across the Universe.
Image credit: NASA…
When we think of our origin story -- the origin of everything in the Universe -- many of us think of, "let there be light!" This is true whether you consider the Big Bang origins of our Universe or the biblical stories we've told for thousands of years, yet few of us pause to consider what the…
“This then, I thought, as I looked round about me, is the representation of history. It requires a falsification of perspective. We, the survivors, see everything from above, see everything at once, and still we do not know how it was.” -W.G. Sebald
From their discovery in the 1600s, Saturn's…
“Drawing is not only a way to come up with pictures: drawing is a way to educate your eye to understand visual information, organizing it into a more hierarchical way, a more economical way. When you see something, if you draw often and frequently, you examine a room very differently.” -Vik Muniz…
"I am quite surprised that it happened during my lifetime. It is nice to be right about something sometimes." -Peter Higgs
The LHC at CERN proved its value, for sure, but there are lots of other opinions floating around. On this and all topics at Starts With A Bang, you're free to have…
“[W]hat Fermi immediately realized was that the aliens have had more than enough time to pepper the Galaxy with their presence. But looking around, he didn’t see any clear indication that they’re out and about. This prompted Fermi to ask what was (to him) an obvious question: ‘where is everybody…
“A cosmic mystery of immense proportions, once seemingly on the verge of solution, has deepened and left astronomers and astrophysicists more baffled than ever. The crux … is that the vast majority of the mass of the universe seems to be missing.” –William J. Broad
When Fritz Zwicky first…
“There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.” -Lord Kelvin
When Kelvin said that over 100 years ago, he was talking about how Newtonian gravity and Maxwell's electromagnetism seemed to account for all the known phenomena in the…
“The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful.” -Henri Poincare
It's the start of another school year, and that means literally tens of millions of students returning to school. While there are a few…
“The thing is, when you see your old friends, you come face to face with yourself. I run into someone I’ve known for 40 or 50 years, and they’re old. And I suddenly realize I’m old. It comes as an enormous shock to me. ” -Polly Bergen
It isn't just humans that age rapidly, but stars as well. For…
“The impact of an attacking tiger can be compared to that of a piano falling on you from a second story window. But unlike the piano, the tiger is designed to do this, and the impact is only the beginning.” -John Vaillant
I can't fault you if you've given up entirely on the perfume/cologne…
“I was strongly encouraged by a science teacher who took an interest in me and presented me with a key to the laboratory to allow me to work whenever I wanted.” -Frederick Reines, discoverer of the first neutrino
That kind of education is irreplaceable, and at Starts With A Bang we do our…
“There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition.” -Rod Serling
Of course, despite our best theoretical hopes, we know only of four…
“One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying.” –Joan of Arc
In 2012, I had the honor and the privilege to learn about Mariam Sultana, the first woman in Pakistan to be awarded a…
“When you see how fragile and delicate life can be, all else fades into the background.” -Jenna Morasca
The hot Big Bang -- proposed seventy years ago -- is a tremendous success story. Predicated on the assumption that the Universe was hotter, denser, more uniform and expanding faster in the past,…
When it comes to the Universe, physicists say things like: it originated in a Big Bang, it's isotropic (or the same in all directions), and it's homogeneous (the same everywhere), save for the effects of cosmic evolution. In every direction we look, we see galaxies expanding away from us, with the…
“It is marvelous indeed to watch on television the rings of Saturn close; and to speculate on what we may yet find at galaxy’s edge. But in the process, we have lost the human element; not to mention the high hope of those quaint days when flight would create ‘one world.’ Instead of one world, we…
“When he came home, I could see a change. He was quieter and he was a man and a hero to me. I watched him and listened to him. I’d never had an opportunity to do a superhero, and when that came, [that voice] just came right out of me and I sounded like Optimus.” -Peter Cullen, on his brother
If…
“To me there has never been a higher source of earthly honor or distinction than that connected with advances in science.” -Isaac Newton
And the advances continue, not just here at Starts With A Bang but everywhere humans are engaged in the practice of gathering knowledge about the world…
“Thus it seems Einstein was doubly wrong when he said, God does not play dice. Not only does God definitely play dice, but He sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can’t be seen.” -Stephen Hawking
You've no doubt heard that Stephen Hawking is claiming that the black hole information…
“When I say, ‘I love you,’ it’s not because I want you or because I can’t have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I’ve seen your kindness and your strength. I’ve seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you…
