Wednesday 25 November 2015

Einstein's Greatest Moment

It's November 25th, 2015 -- exactly 100 years to the day since Einstein presented the final, complete version of his general theory of relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences. For eleven months I've managed to maintain a mask of disdainful cynicism, but now that we reach the hallowed day I cannot resist making some appreciative comment.

Monday 9 November 2015

Free publicity, and Free Speech

I was pleased to see Cardiff University getting international media attention recently. Not because of our incredible research and teaching, of course. Don't be silly. It was a minor kerfuffle over Germaine Greer.

For those unaware, Germaine Greer is an Australian academic who became famous as a hard-fighting feminist with her 1970 book The Female Eunuch. Since then her career in controversy has ranged across many topics. Of late, outraged attention has focussed on her view that men who undergo surgery to become women are, in fact, still men.

What does that have to do with Cardiff?