Hello world! Welcome to my first blog. I can’t thank Young Post enough for giving me this chance to write a regular blog about physics and maths. I must also thank YOU, no matter who you are: the one forced to read this due to my fierce Facebook messages, the one forced by your teacher to read Young Post, or even the one who brilliantly follow the updates of Young Post, for reading my first blog in life (and for being a potential constant viewer).
Okay, to keep you here, I’d better get to the point at once!
Who am I?
My name is Harry Tam Pok-man. I’ve just turned 18 and graduated from Sing Yin Secondary School. The reason why I’m invited to write a regular blog for Young Post is that I’m incurably interested in physics and mathematics. I started developing this passion for physics when I stumbled across a book Black Holes and White Holes, in Primary 5. I used to read it during lessons (don’t follow suit) and I felt like I was being brought into a wonderland! Since then, I have read various books about physics, and due to a strong correlation (what a useful technical term) between physics and maths, I have become a math lover as well.
More than just having a strong liking, I’m also lucky enough to have the privilege of representing Hong Kong in several physics competitions overseas, including the 44th International Physics Olympiad last summer, and the 45th International Physics Olympiad the coming summer.
But what is important to you, my dear readers, is that I’m enthusiastic about popularising science. I enjoy sharing with you what I have learnt in physics and maths. I presumably don’t have the ability to make one understand the theory of relativity in five minutes, or make one understand quantum mechanics in five years (as the Nobel laureate Richard Feynman once said, “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics”), but I’m the kind of person who is always willing to try! Indeed, as I am at about your age, I believe you can understand physics and maths as well as I do (assuming that you follow my blog constantly).
So, am I a science geek and is this blog for geeks? By no means! Scientists are not all with chaotic edges (please refer to my picture) who focus only on science. Many of them live a colourful life and it is the colours that keep their brains vibrant. I, a quasi-physicist, am also interested in running, playing football, watching Hollywood films, listening to Taylor Swift … and I am also a Sherlockian. (Or a Holmesian, which is a simple way of naming a fan of Sherlock Holmes.)
PS. My favorite topic in physics is high-temperature superconductivity.
Then what is this blog really about and what is it for?
Bingo, this blog is about popularising physics and maths, and it’s totally for YOU. In this blog, I’m going to share with you some current breakthroughs in physics and maths. (In a reader-friendly manner, of course.) Being a keen storyteller, I will also tell you about fascinating anecdotes about famous scientists. (How about the romance of Einstein?) Above all, I’m going to introduce to you the coolest concepts and ideas about physics and maths, which I think are enough to make you a real geek ... joking!
Frankly speaking, reading this blog isn’t going to make you an expert, simply because the guy here writing this blog is not an expert either (yet). Still, I promise I will try my best to show you the inner beauty of this world. Physics and mathematics together unveil a whole lot of dazzling stories about nature. These stories don’t really require their readers to be a genius, only a willing heart to understand.
Sometimes, I will also share with you my experience of studying physics and maths, including my experience of partaking in the physics competitions overseas. There, I met many young and brilliant physicists (who are not geeks either) and also learnt about their cultures.
By the way, solving problems is an important spirit of science and thus I will irregularly post funny problems on my blog. Problem solving is very interesting, but only when you can solve it. Get stuck? Don’t be frustrated, I'll be responsibly and post the answers as well.
So I think this is it. You can leave your comments down hbelow or send me your feedback to [email protected]. You can also find me on Facebook, just search “Harry Tam” or do a search using the email address mentioned above. I’m always willing to make new friends. (See, I’m not a geek!).
Remember to come back!