Showing posts with label Cora Lee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cora Lee. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Children's Authors Win Big at Physics Conference

Last month, authors Cora Lee and Gillian O'Reilly traveled to Portland, Oregon, to accept an American Institute of Physics writing award for their book The Great Number Rumble. Congratulations, Cora and Gillian! Here's Cora's account of their trip:
Come join the circus... or maybe a physics conference?

The American Institute of Physics and the American Association of Physics Teachers does controlled chaos quite well, juggling hundreds of sessions, workshops, committee meetings and receptions as well as, literally, balls in the air (more on that below). How would two writers know? We were there--last month we traveled to Portland, Oregon to receive our AIP Science Writing Award for The Great Number Rumble, and to speak on a panel discussion on publishing science in popular forms. When we weren’t needed, we peeked into various conference venues.

Highlights? Getting the award, of course. But also: surviving the panel discussion without a microphone... watching unicycles and contortionists, jugglers and jokesters in their Physics of Vaudeville show... overhearing a request for The Great Number Rumble and The Great Motion Mission at Powell’s, Portland’s humongous bookstore!

 Left to right: Philip W. Hammer, PhD, Associate Vice President, Physics Resources Center, American Institute of Physics; Cora Lee, author; Gillian O'Reilly, author.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Math for Mom and Me

A little rambling on my roots: I rarely think about the fact that my ancestry is Chinese, but recently there’s been some excitement surrounding that culture. The Olympics? Maybe for some. But for me, it was the arrival of the Complex Chinese version of The Great Number Rumble in my mailbox, and on its heels, the news of an impending deal for Simplified Chinese rights.

Finally, I can show my mother what I spent almost all of my spare time doing the last 3 years! Her English is bare bones, and my Chinese is … well, let’s call it immature (to give me some credit, I found the character for my last name easily enough)…so our conversations are rather limited in their scope and depth. I showed her the North American and Korean editions, but this one’s different – she’ll actually be able to read it! So that takes care of one mystery for her. Now to explain what I do with the rest of my life: how does one say “regulatory documentation for the biopharmaceutical industry” in Chinese?

Thursday, March 20, 2008

A New Holiday? Yes, math can be everywhere!

When Cora Lee and I wrote The Great Number Rumble: A Story of Math in Surprising Places, my friend and math-teacher-extraordinaire Nancy Rawlinson gave us lots of useful advice. Last Friday, March 14, Nancy turned up at my house with a lovely, freshly-baked pie. Why? Because it was Pi Day!

Pi Day? Yes, it's the third month and the fourteenth day -- 3/14. And what is pi? 3.14 approximately.

Nancy had wanted to celebrate Pi Day with her students but it's March break in Ontario, so she she thought of her fellow pie and math enthusiast -- and my family got a delicious dessert that disappeared faster than you can say "irrational number."

For those of you who really love math, the pie was unveiled just before 2:00 o'clock -- 1:59 to be precise. Can you guess why?

Gillian O'Reilly
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