March 14 is a glorious convergence of nerdiness. It was the birth date of Albert Einstein—the greatest mind ever graced the Earth—and the date that resembles the mathematical constant pi, hence Pi Day. With the recent detection of gravitational waves, astronaut Scott Kelly’s safe return to earth after a year (or to be precise, 340 days) in space, and our recent visit to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL, our household has been especially, giddily geeked out this year.
Our house has been experiencing a resurgence of scientific interests, and if you’re feeling nerdy too, you may be interested in the following educational resources we’ve been consuming:
1. Scott Kelly: A Year in Space, TIME’s Documentary Series
This is an 8-episode series of about 15 min each documenting the preparation, launch, and duration of Kelly’s mission at the International Space Station (ISS). It’s such a bold and difficult, understatedly, mission that humans undertake in the name of science. Incredible.
2. A Year in Space, PBS
Similar, but different.
3. The Fabric of the Cosmos, NOVA Series
That hyperlink will direct you to the PBS website, but you can also view it on Amazon here if you have Prime subscription. Yes, we’ve been seeing a lot of Brian Greene on our screens.
4. Half Price Books
We spent 2 hours on Saturday night browsing the aisles of our local site of Half Price Books. If you haven’t been to one, check if one exists in your area. Some stores are better stocked than others, but the one near us is awesome. Since I’ve been wanting to study Physics again, this is a great place to find used books at low prices. The clearance section is also super; I got these books for $2 a piece.
Today, I’m celebrating with this gem, which is amazingly concise considering it is packed with groundbreaking science.
Happy birthday, Einstein, and Happy Pi Day to you all.
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