Hopp til innhold

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til T-105

105 days left before I have to finish the PhD:

-       up at 4:30 AM
-       travelled from Bruges to Brussels to the airport (LOTS of security there...)
-       thought quite a lot about neutrons (I’ve got some questions about these, and i’ll try to explain in more detail when I have more time 😉 )
-       just got to Oslo; to meet Anders, Alexandra, my sister, Andrea and Arian (niece and nephew), and my mother – we’ll have a real family weekend in Copenhagen (and on the boat – mostly on the boat, actually)

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Most of the pictures I've taken this last week is of slides, which I really don't think you'd like to see 😉 But there are a couple onhes from outside the conference. Basically  they're from the trip down and the trip back, and when we eat.

I thought this was a little bit funny; isn't breakfast sort of by definition in the morning..? 😛


Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til Three crazy weeks
So I started this blogpost on Sunday, actually, but it was first now I’ve had the time to continue and finish – and of course, most of what I wrote on Sunday (like being at Gardermoen, drinking a glass of wine, on my way to conference) is not true anymore. Now I amat the Nuclear Data 2016 conference, and this first one of three crazy weeks is going to an end.
So here’s s small recap of this week:
-       I gave my talk yesterday – it went quite well, I think
-       We have discussed quite a lot about what to do about the neutrons that we know are part of what we see in our gamma detectors (I’m really looking forward to get all the new detectors, that will be able to distinguish between neutrons and gammas!)
-       I still get quite nervous about talking to other scientists, but it’s better now than it was before
-       it’s very hot here – more than 30 degrees
-       it’s very hot in my hotel room (no AC) – probably more than 30 degrees, and if I open the window, I get many many many mosquito bites (temperature and mosquitos are the reasons why I only slept for max one hour at the time this night, and that I had to get up three times to take a super quick shower just to cool down)
-       Bruges is a very beautiful city. Unfortunately there’s not much time to see much when you travel to these kinds of conferences, but I’ve seen enough to know that this is a place I need to get back to with Anders – it really seems like the ideal place for a romantic weekend <3
-       the top people in IAEA, NEA and other such organisations are not able (at least none were able this week) to give a speech with any kind of substance. For example, one of the top people of one of these organisations basically said I’m a biologist, you’re nerds, I’m too important to stay here for the conference*, water’s becoming more and more important. Maybe I’m naïve, but I’d think those kinds of people were able to at least give motivating speeches to 400 scientist…
-       I’ve learned a little bit more about (prompt) fission gamma rays
-       I now know we need to analyse the plutonium experiment so that we hopefully can use that as a test to if we manage to estimate how much neutrons we measure together with our gammas
-       there are a lot of things I don’t understand, and I feel kind of stupid for much of the time (I don’t think it’s all my fault, though, since I think many of the speakers don’t really think about us in the audience – that we should be able to understand what they’re saying, and maybe even learn something)
-       Americans are mostly good at giving talks, and not just because they don’t have language issues; they’ re simply (often) good at explaining what they’re doing, in a simple language, and they don’t forget that 90% of the people in the audience are actually not experts in exactly the same field as themselves

-       there are actually people wearing corderoi pants here
-       I just heard someone using the word ”guesstimate”, which is just an awesome word, completely covering the process of getting rid of these neutrons 😀

II
The ”crazy” part of these three weeks is that I’m going to be ”on the road” for most of the time:
On Sunday I left Oslo, for Brussels, and then Bruges. Tomorrow I’m going back to Oslo, only to go directly on the boat to Copenhagen (Family trip, with Anders, Alexandra, my sister, her kids, and our mother). We’re coming back to Oslo on Sunday morning, and then I need to get back home and quickly re-pack my bags, before I’ll meet NHO just after lunch. Then I’m starting the two weeks long #jenterogteknologi-tour: we’re going to visit en different cities all around Norway – a new one every day, and I’ll be giving a talk in all of these cities. It really is all around Norway; from Kristiansand in the south, to Alta in the North, and we’ll be driving around in a van 😀 Luckily I get to go home and see Anders and Alexandra next weekend, but it will be sad to only see both of them once a week for three weeks (I saw them last weekend, and I’ll meet them this weekend, and then the weekend after).
I’m looking forward to October now, and ”only” having to finish my PhD…
Unfortunately, I’ll miss the very end of the conference, since  have to be back in Oslo by noon’ish tomorrow. This means I have to be on the train from Bruges at 6AM. Hopefully then I can sleep on the train.
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*He din’t say that he was too important, but he made a point out of leaving just after the first Keynote session. The other things he actually said…

5

Publisert 5 kommentarer til Neutrons, neutrons everywhere…
I've earlier stated that the neutron is my favourite particle, but right now I'm starting to hate it 😛 I've spent more or less all of yesterday and all of today thinking on how to subtract the right amount of neutrons from my plots, and right now, I can feel my pulse going up just by thinking about it... The stupid thing about the neutrons is that in our type of detectors, the signal that the neutrons and the gammas make is the same. Therefore we need to take away some part of the counts, but it's a little bit hard to know how much :/ (I have an idea, but it's also hard to know if it's good enough - what will the referees say, or the other scientists listening to my talk on Wednesday?)
this is supposed to be a plot of (only) the gammas, but in reality, some of this is neutrons...

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til Another side of PhDLife: Banquet in Oslo City Hall
Last night Anders and I did something we've never done before: we attended a banquet in Oslo City Hall, to celebrate the laureates of this year's Kavli Prize! 
There were several firsts, yesterday, for example:
  • first time I've heard the prime minister speak live
  • first time in the City Hall (and it was really awesome - so much better than it may look like from the outside!)
  • first time Anders wore a tuxedo (definitely not the last!)
I got my dress just a couple of weeks ago, from Tina Ritzi, in Kirkeveien - the best place for ball gowns in Oslo, really <3

The Kavli Prize is a partnership between The norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, The Kavli Foundation (United States), and The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research.
The prize recognizes scientists in three research areas: astrophyics, nanoscience, and neuroscience, and each of the three prizes consists of $1 million U.S.
Read more about the prize, and the winners this year HERE .
Highlights of the evening:
  • Anders in a tuxedo
  • the Prime Minister's speech - especially the part where she talked about the end of the movie "Interstellar"; she asked Kip Thorne (who was one of the laureates, and also was the scientific advisor on "Interstellar") to explain what goes on at the end of the movie, when they fall into a black hole, and instead of being torn apart by gravitational forces, there are a lot of bookshelves...
  • the food (in particular the starter and the dessert) and the wine <3
  • being in City Hall; it's really beautiful there, and for some reason I was not expecting that
  • the entertainment 
  • the entertainment had a highlight in itself also; when suddenly Darth Wader appeared, playing the theme from Star Wars on the carillon of the towers 😀

And now we have to look very serious... -Anders

2

Publisert 2 kommentarer til "De smarteste vi kjenner"

 

I dag skal jeg være med på programmet "Hallo P3", i spalten "De smarteste vi kjenner" (på P3)!
Opplegget i denne spalten er at programleder finner spørsmål fra diverse forum på internett som ikke har fått de svarene de kanskje fortjener, og så er det "de smarte" som får lov til å svare på disse. Den andre som er "smart" sammen med meg i dag er Karina Hougen, som er lege, og visstnok har vært med i denne spalten mange ganger før (første gang for meg 🙂 ). Vi snakker om tre ting i dag:
  1. Bly og strålebeskyttelse. Jeg avslører et stoff som beskytter 5 ganger bedre mot gamma- og røntgenstråling enn bly, og jeg forteller om gull er bra å bruke mot gammastråling, eller ikke.
  2. Kolonisering av månen. Vil det ha none effekt på jorden, og hvordan kan den brukes som mellomlandingsplass?
  3. Å donere kroppen sin til vitenskapen. Hva kan man gjøre for å bidra, og hvordan går man frem?
Spalten går på luften ca klokken 18 <3

 

1

Publisert 1 kommentar til This week
Right now
I've spent much of today watching the show "Occupied" (Okkupert), and later Anders and I are going to watch the last episode - SO exciting! 
Also I'm looking forward to (and maybe also dreading) the week to come; lot of fun going to happen, but it will also be tiring. Tomorrow I'm going on the radio, on Tuesday Anders and I are going to the Kavli banquet (I have a new dress, and you can all guess three times if it's pink <3 ), on Wednesday I'm going to have dinner with NHO and the people I'm going on tour with ("Jenter og teknologi") later in September, on Thursday and Friday it's "nothing" (except, of course, tons of work), Saturday we're going to one our best friends' 10 years wedding anniversary party - where I'm going to be the toastmaster, and on Sunday I'm leaving for a week in Bruges, Belgium, and the ND16 conference.  

Feeling of the week
Stress. There's no secret there's a lot of work to be done these days, and it stresses me. Either I'm stressed because I work a lot, or I'm stressed because I feel bad since I haven't done enough. 

I guess I just have to make this work count, and "just do it" - I mean, that's the only way...sometimes there's no "logic way to do it", sometimes the only way to do it is brute force, right? Then hopefully, next week I'll tell you feeling of the week is accomplishment 😉

Boost of the week
On Friday, Anders and I went on an after work date to Champagneria at Mathallen - one of my favourite places in Oslo. When we were paying, the waitress told me she thought it was so exciting to "follow me". These kinds of happenings are the best, and they make me so happy. If what I'm doing can be an inspiration to just one person, it'd worth it <3

Bummer of the week
After one more week popping antibiotics, I'm still not finished with this stupid urinary tract infections. So now I'm starting to be "sure" it's cancer 😛

Person of the week
Alexandra. It's weird how much "bigger" she has become, just because she started school. She's doing homework and learning all kinds of cool things, and just being a big, happy, smart girl <3
Craving of the week
Gum and Coke Zero.
Picture of the week
This picture just really sums up what I've been working on this week: error bars, error bars, error bars. They're really making me crazy, and I've cried, and I've been angry (at Anders, poor guy - not his fault, at all!). Fu****g error bars. 
Turns out the random errors on this plot are so small you can't even see the error bars, actually. The really hard part is to say something about the so called systematic errors, and that question I can't answer (yet)... #phdlife 😛
Reader of
the week
The one who sent me this on Snapchat (feel free to follow me at sunnivarose :)) - these kinds of things make me so happy!

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til Happy Birthday, University of Oslo!
Dear Univeristy of Oslo! 
You are a place for learning, love, laughter. A place I've cried (more than once), or been so frustrated I could've thrown my computer in the wall, but I've smiled and laughed more. You are green gras, and brick-stone buildings. A place for coffee, beer, friends, and fights. Discussions and debates. Knowledge. Science. You are fantastic people - from the oldest emeriti to the youngest students.
Socializing, fun, exciting, tiring. Challenges, difficulties, boredom, loneliness. Interesting, developing.
Dear Univeristy of Oslo, I've been with you for 13 years now (with just a little bit on and off) - you've helped me with my Bachelor's degree and my Master's degree, and soon (hopefully) my PhD degree. 
Dear Univeristy of Oslo, today it's September 2nd, the sun is shining, and you're turning 205 years - happy birthday to you! I think I may love you a little bit, you're one of my favourite places in the world, and you'll always be a big part of me and who I am <3
my university

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til It's reading day!
I was at my office at nine this morning, and after a quick discussion with Gry (with whom I share my  office), I realised today has to be reading day. I need to read stuff - and a lot of it.

My biggest problem right now is that I need to correct my data for neutrons: 
The thing is that we have different kinds of detectors, and one of these detectors measure all the gamma radiation that comes when the nucleus fission. The problem is that when a nucleus fissions, it will also send out neutrons (in addition to gamma radiation), and the detectors that is really there for the gamma radiation will also measure the neutrons, and it can't see the difference between these two (the neutrons and the gammas). So when I have a nice plot from the detector that's only supposed to measure gammas, it's also showing me neutrons, and they all look the same. Therefore I need to (try) to make a correction to these plots, so that they're more less telling the truth about the gammas from fission - this time I don't care about the neutrons, except I want them to go away 😉 (Dear neutron, please forgive me, you are still my favorite particle <3)
Now I have this gut feeling that I can do this correction in a straight forward and simple way (I've actually already done it), but I need to read more what other people say about the subject to (scientifically) justify the way I do this. It's not exactly enough to say well I have this gut feeling so this is right, I'm kind of sure about it...that's not science 😉
Gut feelings can be helpful though; they help you to get a starting point, and know where to start looking. Hopefully, by the end of this day, I've justified my choice, and can defend it in the article (number three!) and the talk in Bruges!
Most of today will be spent on reading "Energy and Isotope Dependence of Neutron Multiplicity Distributions", and "The prompt response of bismuth germanate and NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors to fast neutrons". These to articles will hopefully tell me more about how our kind of detectors (NaI(Tl)) see neutrons, and what the shape of the neutron spectrum looks like *fingers crossed*.
Maybe two articles don't seem like much, but trust me, reading this is though, and if I'm going to read all of it thoroughly, it will take time...

This is the gamma spectrum that isn't just gammas, but also some neutrons - probably around 20% of this thing. I made it three dimensional yesterday- isn't it pretty? <3<3<3

Ok, now back to my articles; I think I'll start with the one about multiplicities 🙂
Wishing you all a happy day <3

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til Predictions about the future
Predicting the future is hard. Maybe even impossible, at least to get it right...
I started my talk on Wednesday with some quotes from different people, about the future, that turned out not to be right (the theme for my talk this time was the future, and what kind of skills we need):

Lord Kelvin, who was a  physicist and an engineer, and a smart guy, said in 1883 that X-rays is a fraud, and in 1895, Machines that are heavier than air will never be able to fly.

Dr. Lee de Foster, who was an inventor (he invented vacuum tubes), said that Man will never go to the moon, no matter what kind of scientific break-throughs we might achieve. 

Marechal Ferdinand Foch was a strategy professor, and he said: Air planes are interesting as toys, but they will never have any military value. 

An engineer in Boeing said, in 1933, when they had just built a plane (Boeing 247) that could take ten people: We will never build a bigger plane. 

In 1943, Thomas Watson, who was the president of IBM, said: I think there is a world market for maybe five computers. 

And Ken Olsen, the founder of Digital Equipment Corporation , said in 1977 There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.

Naturally, people laughed. Then I got a comment that there were very few quotes by women (there were none, and I had several more quotes in total - by men), so I told the audience that maybe I would say something stupid that could go into the history books (I really don't think I will go into the history books :P). I pointed out that I think that where these predictions go really wrong is when they say never.  You should probably never say never, or something meaning more or less that. Then I think I managed to be just as definite, and potentially silly, as these men (it was a joke when I said that I could say something stupid for the history books, but maybe I did it anyway)...

When it came to my "predictions" for the future, I talked about how computers may take the role of diagnosing patients, instead of doctors. Already today the most powerful computers are actually better at diagnosing, and come up with a plan for the best treatment for the patients. So will computers take the job from the doctors? I honestly believe that computers will be very important in the diagnosing part of treating a patient. Maybe we won't even meet doctors before we've actually been diagnosed - we'll "just" meet nurses? Maybe we'll only meet the doctors when we actually get to the hospital, with a diagnosis that a computer already made, after checking all kinds of symptoms and health data, and comparing them to all medical knowledge (that a person could never have)?
I was quite certain, though, that I don't think machines will ever replace the "human touch" - we need to actually see and talk to people, not machines. But after I had finished my talk I realised; I had been saying stuff like "I don't think doctors will ever be replaced by machines. Of course, machines will never replace the human touch, we'll always need to see and talk to actual people when we're not feeling good...", but what do I know?
Maybe one day, I can be quoted on "silly things people predicted about the future"; It may be silly that I said that machines will diagnose us, instead of doctors, or it may be silly that I said that we'll always need to see actual people in the doctor's office, and that a machines can't replace the human touch. Time will show 😉

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Last week was shitty work wise, by the way; Alexandra got sick just after two days in school, and then so was I - just four weeks after I started my last cure of antibiotics, I've started a new one. Fingers crossed this time it will finally help(!)

My talk in Bruges is coming up very soon (two weeks to go), so I'm going to - I have to - make this week count <3 One step towards being (much) more productive is that I now start the SelfControl app when I wake up in the morning, and thus block all the different (disturbing) web pages until noon. The plan is to give myself a little "procrastination break" at noon, and then I'll block everything for five more hours. The reason is that, recently, I've spent too much time procrastinating in the morning, when I get into the office, before I start the SelfControl - it has actually gotten out of control. Therefore, measures have to be taken 😉

Alexandra and me wishing everyone a great (and productive and fun!) week <3

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til Wednesday
This has been a busy and kind of lazy day at the same time...
Yesterday, Alexandra wasn't feeling well, so she was picked up early from AKS. Luckily it was possible for her to attend school today (we don't want her to miss day three, right?), but no AKS, and also I wanted to be close by - just in case they called and said she couldn't be there anymore. Therefore I worked from home today. 
They didn't call, though, so I could focus 100% on the talk I gave at Riksarkivet today; I spent the morning finishing my talk, then I spent a certain amount of time on getting ready and picking out the perfect outfit (what I felt was "perfect" today 😉 ), and at one o'clock I left home.

The subject of my talk was the future, and a little bit about what I think will be important in the future. It's a tricky question, since so often before, smart people have been so off in their predictions. However, I do think we need to be able to process a lot of information, and we need math and physics and chemistry (and more - knowledge, really) to be able to do that. In order not to make really bad decisions for us self, and economy, and environment, and health...
My talk was at three, and I think I was back home again around five. Somehow I've been busy since then; spending time with Alexandra, washing clothes, and making food. But no science today :/
So it's been going non stop, from 6:30 this morning, 'till I sat down just now to write this, but also, I haven't done "anything". I'm still happy with the day, though - I gave a talk that went well (I think), and we'll go to bed soon (after we've eaten some hot chili <3 ), so that tomorrow I'll be super ready to work on the plotting/analysis program, and the talk about fission that I will give in Bruges in September (we're all going to practice together next week 😀 ).
Hope you're enjoying the evening! Kisses from here in Rose-castle <3