My name is Joshua Ryan Smith and I am a physicist. This is my blog. For several years now I've been thinking that I need a place to put ideas, and I think pelican + github is a really elegant way to create a blog.

Based on my experience as a working scientist, I've learned some practical lessons about the practice of science -- particularly computational and experimental surface science. I've also developed a perspective of what science is as well as how it relates to the wider society. I want to record these ideas and share them. I also want to have a mechanism of accountability in the sense that I'd like to rebalance on the side of getting ideas out sooner that may be less polished (or just plain wrong) rather than waiting for them to attain an impossible perfection.

Regarding audience, I have a few people in mind to whom I'm writing this blog, both scientists and non. My goal is that colleagues in my field of research read this blog. Additionally, I want to write such that people from other fields find the material approachable and interesting.

I'm aiming for about 1000 words per post and one post per week. I'm not going to have comments at first because I have no idea how to manage them. However, feel free to contact me via email: joshua.r.smith@gmail.com. I'm also on twitter: @joshua_r_smith.