Author Archives: dabacon

Goodbye Professor Tombrello

Posted on September 25, 2014 by dabacon

This morning I awoke to the horrible news that Caltech Physics Professor Tom Tombrello had passed away. Professor Tombrello was my undergraduate advisor, my research advisor, a mentor, and, most importantly a friend. His impact on me, from my career … Continue reading →

Posted in Caltech, Self: Meet Center. Center: Meet Self., Teaching | 5 Comments

Sailing Stones: Mystery No More

Posted on September 9, 2014 by dabacon

My first research project, my first research paper, was on a perplexing phenomenon: the sliding rocks of Death Valley’s Racetrack playa. Racetrack playa is a large desolate dry lake bed that has one distinguishing feature above and beyond its amazing … Continue reading →

Posted in Geology, Go Ahead, Waste Your Time | 1 Comment

Two Cultures in One of the Cultures

Posted on January 26, 2014 by dabacon

A long time ago in a mental universe far far away I gave a talk to a theory seminar about quantum algorithms. An excerpt from the abstract: Quantum computers can outperform their classical brethren at a variety of algorithmic tasks….[yadda … Continue reading →

Posted in Extralusionary Intelligence, Off The Deep End, Quantum Computing | 3 Comments

Error correcting aliens

Posted on January 2, 2014 by dabacon

Happy New Year!  To celebrate let’s talk about error correcting codes and….aliens. The universe, as many have noted, is kind of like a computer.  Or at least our best description of the universe is given by equations that prescribe how … Continue reading →

Posted in Astrobiology, Computer Science, Extralusionary Intelligence, Off The Deep End | 10 Comments

Portrait of an Academic at a Midlife Crisis

Posted on October 24, 2013 by dabacon

Citations are the currency of academia. But the currency of your heart is another thing altogether. With apologies to my co-authors, here is a plot of my paper citations versus my own subjective rating of the paper. Hover over the … Continue reading →

Posted in Go Ahead, Waste Your Time, Quantum Computing, Self: Meet Center. Center: Meet Self. | 1 Comment

When I Was Young, I Thought It Would Be Different….

Posted on October 8, 2013 by dabacon

When I was in graduate school (back before the earth cooled) I remember thinking the following thoughts: Quantum computing is a new field filled with two types of people: young people dumb enough to not know they weren’t supposed to … Continue reading →

Posted in Quantum Computing, The Loony Bin Called Academia | 9 Comments

Why I Left Academia

Posted on September 22, 2013 by dabacon

TLDR: scroll here for the pretty interactive picture. Over two years ago I abandoned my post at the University of Washington as a assistant research professor studying quantum computing and started a new career as a software developer for Google. … Continue reading →

Posted in Extralusionary Intelligence, Go Ahead, Waste Your Time, Off The Deep End, Programming, Self: Meet Center. Center: Meet Self., The Loony Bin Called Academia | 12 Comments

A Paradox of Toom's Rule?

Posted on May 11, 2013 by dabacon

Science is slow.  You can do things like continue a conversation with yourself (and a few commenters) that started in 2005.  Which is what I’m now going to do 🙂  The below is probably a trivial observation for one of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Physics | Leave a comment

4 Pages

Posted on May 8, 2013 by dabacon

Walk up to a physicist at a party (we could add a conditional about the amount of beer consumed by the physicist at this point, but that would be redundant, it is a party after all), and say to him or … Continue reading →

Posted in Go Ahead, Waste Your Time, Off The Deep End, Physics, Quantum, The Loony Bin Called Academia | 4 Comments

The Quantum Interregnum Decoherence Continues

Posted on August 5, 2011 by dabacon

The College of Cardinals has been in conclave for over a month now and leaks to the public indicate that the cardinals are still stalemated.  What does this portend for the world?  The end?  A new beginning?  Only entropy (which … Continue reading →

Posted in Off The Deep End | 2 Comments