Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Through the looking glass.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2013

One of my favourite lectures of 2012 comes from the field of quantum physics, entitled The End of Space and Time?, delivered by Robbert Dijkgraaf on 20 March 2012 at Gresham College in the United Kingdom. Dijkgraaf was President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), and is currently Director and Leon Levy Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.

Amongst numerous interesting theories of quantum physics presented by Dijkgraaf, it was this lecture that pointed me in the direction of the works of J. A. Wheeler, where a fascinating read for me was a chapter entitled “Law without Law” (Wheeler 1983). I thought the suggestion given by Wheeler in the mid-1900s on why electrons had identical charges and mass – due to that they were in fact a single particle that goes up in time and comes down again in a flux – was most interesting since this idea captured in essence, the non-linearity of the concept of time (see article by Alasdair Wilkins on why the single electron universe does not hold on experimental grounds).

Wheeler’s proposition focused on a radical point about particle physics, in which the directional flow of time is immaterial and in fact, completely reversible, much in my view like Gödel’s rotating universe (Barrow 2011). He also pointed out that each electron traces a unique path through spacetime, in its own world line. By use of metaphor, I could perhaps liken Wheeler’s one particle thought to how each individual traces their own world line path through spacetime, creating realities and shaping destinies as it were. It is this too that most of us would also tend to contemplate at year end via New Year’s resolutions or when faced with life’s important events / challenges, to sit down and re-evaluate, re-contextualize life vision and goals.

Continue reading “J.A. Wheeler’s one particle, the eve of 2013” →

A breezy summer staple in Scandinavia – sill and grädde with a sprig of chive.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

In the course of research, when speaking with people from different backgrounds on working across cultures, a common theme that arises is mismatched holiday times between Scandinavia and Asia.

Scandinavia doesn’t quite understand the Chinese New Year and spring celebrations in Asia for example, where in China, huge migrations of population can take place between cities and rural regions, and likewise Asia doesn’t quite understand summer holidays in Scandinavia, where a similar trend in migration occurs, except in Scandinavia, the movement would be towards the coastal regions, the waterways and fjords where plenty have their sailing boats. The logistics of mismatched holidays where Asia seems to run full steam during the summer months in Scandinavia could be potentially disastrous if you’re running a production line or seeing to that a delivery order is to be on time. In the automobile industry, July is the designated month for factory plant maintenance when the plant is shut down.

But as noted, it is only when you are there on location that you understand the local situation and thus view things in a different perspective, and where what once were problems and challenges now seem ‘natural’.

Whole grain bread, toasted with olive oil to get that perfect croûton base to sill and grädde.

When in Scandinavia, it becomes easy to follow the reasoning behind these long summer vacations, where most things go with the lightest of practical touches if need be. The very pragmatic reason behind being that true warm weather (July being the warmest month in the northern hemisphere) only comes in these short summer months, and if you wanted to get any enjoyment out of being outdoors for example, then these months would be it!

As deliveries of all kinds are put on hold, a priority shift takes place and the luxury of summer is to put time into spending on your own or with family, allocated to activities everything outside of what you’d classify as ‘work’.

A simple personal luxury – fresh light meals, no cooking needed – which leaves plenty of time to indulge in good reads, books unrelated to my research (a task difficult to accomplish) set aside since last summer or two, to indulge in the pleasures of the mind.

A dulche de leche breakfast with homemade rye bread.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

The first day of the New Year is usually known as ’Pizza Day’ in Sweden, only because people here have partied too much, too fast, too hard the previous night that ordering pizza to the home, or simply settling down in a restaurant for one seems to put into command everything else that is not, for the moment. It’s worry free. Continue reading “Dulce de Leche thoughts in the stillness of the first week of 2012” →