Achintya Rao • ಅಚಿಂತ್ಯ ರಾವ @RaoOfPhysics@scholar.social

Here's a much-overdue introduction!

I am a science writer by training and profession, working at #CERN since Sep 2010 and communicating everything to do with #particlephysics.

Since Jan 2014, I've also been pursuing a PhD in #scicomm, from UWE Bristol (remote, part-time -- a hell of a combination that I do not wish upon anyone).

I love learning (about) programming.

When I can spare the time, I also attend #taekwondo training and play #thecricket for the CERN Cricket Club.

Snuck into the ATLAS experiment’s cavern around 100 metres underground, on my first day back at #CERN since March.

If you are interested, join my #SummerSchool talk tomorrow evening, where I will tell you all about the #LargeHadronCollider and the #HiggsBoson.

Send me a DM to get the video-conference info for tomorrow.

So t-rust-worthy!

Boss during a video meeting: “Why does no-one have their cameras on? Are you all in your pyjamas?”

Me, a scholar (but also an Indian): “AKSHULLY, that word comes from the Persian term for ‘leg garment’ and refers to formal leg-wear in the South-Asian subcontinent, so I will say that I _am_ wearing pyjamas, but I’ll leave it open to interpretation.”

For various reasons, I’ve been cooped up at home since March even though Switzerland has started to ease restrictions since May.

This morning, @cassandreces and I took a bike ride near home, and I felt so happy being out in nature.

It has been a difficult few months, on the mental-health front, and I am glad I was able to get some fresh air that was more than a short walk to the lake. We also had lunch on the balcony for the first time in ages!

Sick today and not at $DAYJOB, so wondering if I should work on my thesis instead.

I should probably just recover first, but you know… I could be writing / staring-at-my-computer.

A few days ago, I saw a link here for a website (and some sites inspired by it?) designed as an experiment, allowing anyone to SSH into a space and edit their HTML homepage as they wanted. There were some lovely pages there.

I can't seem to find the page anymore and it's not in my browser history / bookmarks.

Does anyone have any clue what I'm talking about?

Anyone else dislike being really good at something specific?

I’m really good at proof-reading.

I hate that I am.

It means I get asked to proof-read documents before we send them for printing, when my primary skill (and interest) is science writing.

Versatility at work comes at a price.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Wikipedia and I know it is supposed to curate primary sources, not be one.

But when most (UK-based!) primary sources lump Hardy’s name with Ramanujan’s, what can you do?

What a surprise, a Wikipedia Administrator undid my edit, asking me to “just Google it”.

And of course this person’s a white European man.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1729_(number)&oldid=941251063

Someone asked in the Talk page in 2018:

“Why is 1729 named Hardy-Ramanujan and not Ramanujan-Hardy? Ramanujan should have top billing - he did the work here. Hardy did nothing other than relate an anecdote. Did Hardy get his name first because he is the white guy?”

Silence followed.

The Wikipedia entry for “1729 (number)” referred to it as the “Hardy-Ramanujan number”, but since all Hardy contributed was taking a taxi that coincidentally had that as its number and it was Ramanujan who pointed out why it was special, I changed the entry to remove Hardy’s name.

Decolonise science, friends.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1729_(number)&oldid=941220216

Inspired by @kensanata, and because – despite having a very good memory for obscure facts and random incidents from my past – many of the things I learn / need to remember fall out of my brain (yay #ADHD), I decided to store notes in a personal #Wiki.

Does anyone else here do the same, and do you have any advice for me?

(Although mine is publicly readable, it's not publicly editable, as I don’t have the necessary skills to run such a service.)