Philip Morrison died Friday, April 22, at home, at the age of 89. A man that had a great influence on life as we know it. Being one of the men that made the Atomic Bomb (became a strong opposed of nuclear weapons after he visited Hiroshima).
Morrison was widely known for his research and professional contributions in quantum electrodynamics, nuclear theory, radiology, isotope geology and, since the 1950s, in cosmic-ray origins and propagation, gamma-ray astronomy and other topics in high-energy astrophysics and in cosmology.
He also was the voice on the Powers of Ten video from 1977 by the Eames Office. Saw it for the first time in october 2004 on the The fifth international Powers of 10 Day (on the VPRO website). It’s a video you should see.
- Watch it at the VPRO (320 x 240)
- Watch it on a somewhat modified page on 960 x 720 (in the spirit of the relative size of things – be patient on loading)
- Read about it in Dutch at the Noorderlicht
- Read the memorial page at MIT
- Info on Philip Morrison at wikipedia.org
- And here you can find the people that made the video (technically a huge performance)