View source for User:Art Carlson

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This user believes it is a waste of time to format his user page for aesthetics.

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<br><br>I am a Ph.D. [[physicist]] raised in [[Oregon]] and [[Mississippi]] and living since 1986 in [[Munich, Germany]]. I spent most of my career doing research on [[fusion energy]] before leaving to do software development with a [[Dot-com_bubble|dot-com]] [[Startup company|start-up]]. After free-lancing a while in [[Plasma_(physics)|plasma]] technology, technology assessment, and project management, I worked several years on [[grid computing]] and [[astronomy]], originally in [[D-Grid#AstroGrid-D|AstroGrid-D]] at the [[Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics]], then in various [[D-Grid]] projects at the [http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/english/index.html Leibniz Supercomputing Centre], and finally at the [http://www.usm.uni-muenchen.de University Observatory Munich]. I did image processing at the [[Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry]] for a while and then several years of mass spectrometry-based proteomics ([http://141.61.102.17/maxquant_doku/doku.php?id=start MaxQuant]) there. Every day I work in biology, I am reminded how easy physics is. My hobbies (not all currently pursued) include various forms of mountaineering and snow sports, tennis, and piano. I am married to a [[Germany|German]] [[journalist]] and have four adorable [[child]]ren.

I have made sizeable Wikipedia contributions on [[plasma physics]] (especially [[Langmuir probe]]s), [[fusion energy]] (especially [[aneutronic fusion]]), on sundials (the [[Equation of Time]]). I have also dabbled in things like [[homeopathy]], [[modern geocentrism]], and [[astrology]].

In summer of 2009 my interest in [[field-reversed configuration]]s as a potential basis for fusion power plants was rekindled. I would like to build up a comprehensive source of information on this possibility somewhere on the Web. Certainly expanding the Wikipedia article is a good way to start, and worthwhile independent of what other portal might be created. To provide a workspace for this, I am creating the sub-page [[/Expansions of FRC article]] here. You are encouraged to contribute. (Note: This project has gotten drowned by more pressing concerns. It's still a good idea, though.)

I toyed a bit with the physics of the [[Gyroscopic exercise tool‎|Powerball]]. My notes are [[User:Art Carlson/Gyroscopic exercise tool‎|here]].

I have become less active in Wikipedia in the last few years, but that is bound to change again someday.

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|style="font-size: large; padding: 0; vertical-align: middle; height: 1.1em;" | '''The Original Barnstar'''
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|style="vertical-align: middle; border-top: 1px solid gray;" | For a long, enviable and inadequately appreciated record of contributions to Wikipedia. [[User:Joke137|Joke]] 04:41, 27 October 2006 (UTC) 
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|style="font-size: x-large; padding: 0; vertical-align: middle; height: 1.1em;" | '''The Original Barnstar'''
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|style="vertical-align: middle; border-top: 1px solid gray;" | For a voice of reason in cosmology wars. [[User:Art LaPella|Art LaPella]] 05:14, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
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