Ryerson Astronomical Society (RAS) in 1950s

As a science major student, I always learned about history of science, specifically physics and astrophysics. For example, Galileo created the first telescope, or Newton invented Newton's three laws of motion, then Einstein found Relativity that contradicted with almost everything Newton said. "Why do we have to learn Newton's three laws then?" I often asked myself why they have to teach about the history of science since it will never help me solve Schrödinger equation equations or any physics equations.

It is not until I learned that these discoveries did not happen far away from where my classes are that I realized how amazing it felt to be a part of the big community of science. Milikan's oil drop experiment occurred in the basement of where I took my first-year Calculus, or Enrico Fermi engineered the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction happened at the library where I often cramped my final exam studies until the last minute. 

Prof. Vandervoort gave a talk on the history of RAS on 1/27/2014

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space - Carl Saga

The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of planet Earth taken in 1990 by the Voyager 1 spaceprobe from a record distance of about 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles) from Earth.

From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. 

Unexpected Trip Back to the US

I was meant to write this blog since I arrived Chicago during the summer. But because of my sickness and other stuffs that are coming during school year, I have not had a chance to write this until today. This is my little journey back from Bangkok to Chicago during the end of the 2013 summer.

 The first thing that happened for this trip is that I thought my flight was one day later than it supposed to be. I checked email that morning and got a message saying that I should check in 24-hour before the flight, and that when I realized that I got the date of my flight wrong. Fortunately, I packed all my stuffs before (Thanks to mom), so I am basically ready to go to the airport.

After saying goodbye to my family, I got on a plane as it supposed to be. However they said that there was some technical problem at the engine,  so we have to wait in the airplane for two hours. While waiting, I watched "The Internship" and almost forgot that we were still on the ground and haven't moved an inch for two hours. Then, they said that we had to catch the next flight next morning (10 am), and that was about 2 am. We took a bus to Novotel near the airport. Here is the view from my hotel suit.

View from my hotel near the airport

Winter Break in San Francisco

Golden Gate Bridge: one of the most recognizable bridge in the world

Finally, I got a chance to visit one of the most famous landmark in the United States; The Golden Gate Bridge. There are many films and TV shows that often shoots near the bridge. Even though I didn't have a chance to visit the exact place, it still looks really cool. However, San Francisco has much more to often than just one big red bridge. 

Wealth Inequality Around the World

income inequality | Create Infographics

One morning, I found a youtube video about Wealth Inequality in America. I started to wonder whether the distribution like in my home country, Thailand, and other parts of the world. I searched for it in the internet for a while, but it seems like I could not find any graphs or chart on this similar topic. So, I decided to do some research on this topic.

Then, I found the data that I want from World Development Indicator which is the one of many database of World Bank. But I just do not like the chart that it had on its web interface, so I designed to create my own chart, called 'Income Inequality', about this topic using Infogr.am. I found that using this type of method is a good way to convey the information to other people.

I want this post to be all about how I get to make this infograph, so if I did not put any of my interpretation in this post since we should separate between facts and opinion. Nevertheless, others still argue that by displaying numbers like this infographics, a creator intended to persuade readers to a certain direction which is already an interpretation of a creator.

Note: If you want to learn more about infographics, you can learn more about it from Cool Infographics Blog by Randy Krum

Change: Israel love Iran Campaign

     Today, I have a chance to listen the Ronny Edry talks. If you do not know who he is, you are not alone. I went to event without having no idea what he did, but I am interested in the issue of Middle East especially the issue of Israel and Iran country.

A Trip to War Memorial of Korea

War Memorial of Korea, Seoul, South Korea

     This was my first time visiting Seoul, South Korea. Apart from the palace (Gyeongbokgung) and Namsan Tower, I had limited knowledge about Seoul and places that I should visit. One day, I had some time in the morning to look up for places that I wanted to go. I found this war museum, and I immediately knew that I had to go to this place. I was really excited to learn more about the history of Korea.